Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources professor Rhett Jackson and Ducks Unlimited Natural Infrastructure Fellow Nicholas Austin joined representatives from Ducks Unlimited, USACE, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), USFWS, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, New Jersey Conservation Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Conserve Wildlife NJ, and NOAA on Monday, July 22 to discuss plans for the restoration of the eroded Mannington Meadows marsh complex and the ongoing restoration of eroded area marshlands of the Supawna Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. 

Mannington Meadows is a freshwater swamp formed by the Salem River, in Salem County, NJ, just east of Pennsville Township. The area is surrounded by agricultural land, wetlands and the larger Delaware River, and is designated as a Natural Heritage Priority Site by the state. The swamp provides important grassland, woodland and wild bird habitat, including a “state stronghold” for bald eagle habitat (NJConservation.org), but has been severely eroded by a succession of human activities including agricultural ditching and drainage, construction of the Salem ship canal (1925) and diversion of the Salem River (1935) to the Dupont/Chemours plant on the Delaware river.

The group began with a meeting at Stanton’s Marina prior to launching a four-boat flotilla. On Tuesday, July 23, Jackson and Austin joined Ducks Unlimited biologist Jim Feaga and NJDEP staff to sample marsh soils from an NJDEP boat and from kayaks. Austin is originally from Stewartsville, NJ, a two-hour drive north of Mannington Township. He is currently working towards a Master’s degree in Natural Resources with a focus on water and soil sciences and is researching wetland restoration methods through projects like Mannington Meadows.