Monitoring and Evaluation - Project Planning and Management for Ecological Restoration - page 209

mance is not known. It is entirely possible that it will require detailed investigation (e.g., soil chem-
istry analysis for heavy metals) that was not executed during the preproject inventory. Whatever
the plan of response, it is important that it be documented fully with the reasoning, or the response
action and any requirements, along with a schedule and further discussion as necessary. In the
final analysis, natural systems, whether human placed or spontaneously occurring, will behave
differently because each site is unique. Examining the data collected to establish trajectories will
provide additional information that may guide your response in a different direction. Dare we say
that you should exercise “common sense”?
Box 13-1. Restoration Project Highlight: Monitoring Data Allows Project Man-
agers to Modify Future Phases of a Large Project (Adaptive Management) to
Improve Overall Project Success
Location: Paul S. Sarbanes Ecosystem Restoration Project at Poplar Island, Maryland,
United States
The Paul S. Sarbanes Ecosystem Restoration Project at Poplar Island can be consid-
ered a model for beneficial use of dredged material. An extremely large undertaking,
the project involves the cooperation and partnership of eleven different organizations,
including federal agencies, state departments, and two universities. The principal
funding organizations and in the role of project management are the US Army Corps
of Engineers, Maryland Port Authority, and Maryland Environmental Service.
Located in the Chesapeake Bay seventeen miles south of Annapolis, Maryland,
the project seeks to “restore island habitat to the Chesapeake Bay” with the goals of
creating remote and diverse island habitat, restoring quiescent water habitat in Poplar
Harbor to promote submerged aquatic vegetation recovery, creating/enhancing tidal
wetlands to provide fish and wildlife habitat, and creating a bare or sparsely vegetated
island within the restored marshes to provide nesting habitat for birds
The ultimate plan for Poplar Island is to create 1,140 acres, half wetlands and half
uplands (570 acres of each), which approximates the configuration of the island in
1847. The wetlands will be primarily in the eastern half of the island, and the forested
and meadow uplands in the remaining area. The marsh will be a low marsh at 80
percent of the 570 acres, and the remaining 20 percent will be high marsh. The island
will have a capacity to receive 40 million cubic yards of clean dredge material from
the Baltimore approach channels.
The most recent cost estimate to completely create the island is 1.2 billion dollars,
with a completion year estimate of 2041. Initial construction began in 1998, with exte-
rior dikes of the island reaching ten feet above mean low water by 2001. The island has
been partitioned into approximately forty-acre acre cells for dredging and subsequent
habitat restoration activities. This method will permit a mosaic vegetation pattern and
also create habitat in parts of the island prior to receiving all of the dredge material.