In early 2008, the Town of Fairfield conducted a dredging project for the entrance to the South Benson marina that resulted in the destruction of sand dunes and sea grass at the mouth of the Ash Creek Tidal Estuary in an area we call the St. Mary’s sand spit. ACCA retained the services of an environmental consultant, Richard Orson, Ph.D., to obtain an expert opinion on habitat restoration. We then met with the City of Bridgeport and the Town of Fairfield to develop a habitat restoration plan, obtain funding, and restore the area to prevent flooding of homes, shoreline erosion, and the destruction of the fragile ecological balance of the tidal estuary.
Before and after photos of St. Mary’s barrier spit. The top row of photos shows the barrier spit prior to Hurricane Sandy and the bottom row shows the barrier spit after Hurricane Sandy. The tide rushed over the entire length…
The Ash Creek Conservation Association hired two environmental experts, a wetlands scientist, Dr. Steve Danzer, and an ecological landscape designer, Bryan Quinn to review the plantings by the City and provide suggestions for habitat improvements going forward. We’ve shared copies of the report with both…
This morning the City planted 300 containers of American Beach Grass, 50 Beach Plum shrubs, 50 Sand Cherry shrubs, and 50 Staghorn Sumac bushes at the sand spit. They didn’t prepare the soil and don’t plan to water the plantings (please click on Read More at bottom). The forecast doesn’t call…
The City of Bridgeport will begin plantings tomorrow along the area facing the Sound, where the beach grass plantings had been scraped off earlier this summer. The City met with the Ash Creek Conservation Association, the Black Rock NRZ, and…
ASSESSMENT OF STORM DAMAGE TO ST. MARY’S SAND SPIT, ASH CREEK The Ash Creek Conservation Association asked Steven Danzer, Ph.D., who has his doctorate in Natural Resources and is also a Soil Scientist (listed by the Society of Soil Scientists…
Thank You! We want to thank all 68 signers to the Letter to the Editor, which appeared most recently in The News (of Bridgeport’s North End and Black Rock) on July 28, 2011 in addition to publication by the Connecticut Post and Len Grimaldi’s Only in Bridgeport blog. …
A Letter to the Editor signed by 68 Black Rock residents appeared in the Connecticut Post on July 22, 2011 using the St. Mary’s sand spit as an example of the need to hold City officials accountable for their actions. The letter…
HABITAT RESTORATION TIMELINE June 13, 2007 DEP Permit for Dredging Issued: CTDEP COP-2007-098-SJ to the Town of Fairfield to dredge the channel using the City of Bridgeport sand spit as a staging area. The permit required the area to be restored…