Storm "retires" floating harbor wetland
Battered by Hurricane Irene, one of two small “floating wetlands” placed in the Inner Harbor a year ago to soak up pollution is being retired – to be replaced before long, supporters hope, by an even larger, though sturdier manmade island.
Laurie Schwartz, executive director of the Waterfront Partnership, a nonprofit promoting the Inner Harbor, said the dozen rectangular trays of marsh grass and flowers tied up by Baltimore’s World Trade Center are to be removed today (Friday, Sept. 16). They were showing wear and tear, she said, after a year of exposure to the elements – particularly the hurricane’s howling winds nearly three weeks ago.
“They stayed somewhat intact,’’ she said during the storm, but inspection afterward found the nylon ropes tethering them in place were frayed and some of the frames pulling apart.
The installation of the wetlands – seen in August 2010 photo above - was a largely symbolic first step in an ambitious campaign by the partnership to make Baltimore’s degraded harbor swimmable and fishable by the end of the decade.
Assembled by volunteers with the Living Classrooms Foundation, the wetlands were made out of wood, mesh and cast-off plastic drink bottles fished out of the harbor. The partnership and other sponsors of the project wanted to test whether the 200-square-foot array would remove any pollution and infuse the water with more oxygen for fish and crabs to breathe. They also hoped it would provide some food and shelter for fish and other aquatic creatures in a harbor that had lost all its natural marshland as the city developed over the centuries.
Chris Streb, an engineer with Biohabitats, a local ecological restoration firm that’s helped with the project, said he believed the wetlands “worked great” and were never meant to be permanent.
The grasses flourished, he said, and grew so tall in fact that he thinks now it would’ve been smart to cut them back before Irene blew through. Fierce 40- to 60-mile-per-hour winds tipped the trays on their side, he said. Though they righted themselves after the storm passed, the strain took a toll on the wooden frames and their tethers.
Perhaps the most productive part of the test wetland, Streb said, was its unseen underside. The plant roots and frame below water attracted lots of mussels, worms and microscopic aquatic creatures that in turn drew foraging fish.
“These things are chock full of ecology,” Streb said.
The frames are to be towed back to Living Classrooms in Fells Point, taken apart and studied, to aid in the placement of a new, much larger floating marsh by the World Trade Center. Students and other volunteers have been assembling new trays for months now, and the partnership is awaiting government approval to put up to 62 of them in the water – covering a total of 2,000 square feet of water this time.
And this time, supporters say, they’ll have reinforced corners and metal instead of nylon tethers to withstand the weather.
The new structure is to join another floating wetland of a different design that also was installed last summer by the National Aquarium. That one seems to have weathered the hurricane intact, as it was moved about 20 feet from its original location to one a bit more sheltered from wind and waves.
(Mike Trumbauer, from left, Adam Ganser and Bryon Salladin, all of Biohabitats, tow trays of floating wetlands to dockside. Baltimore Sun photo by Kenneth K. Lam)
Categories: Chesapeake Bay, News, Urban Issues
Comments
I think these things are so neat! With a harbor landscape that consists of concrete/brick piers, rock retaining walls, and a mess of trash, these tall grasses added a softer feel to the whole place. In landscaping terms, it was a different "texture" that added a more complete feeling to a living ecosystem. I would love to see these grasses expanded.
The confirmation that the roots and grasses became an integrated part of the ecosystem and provided habitat for mussels and types of worms, etc. is a huge success. I think 2k square feet is a vastly inadequate. But it is a great start. Would love to see these in Fells Point near the Rec Pier or by the boat marinas. Would love to see them near the marinas in the harbor. I would love to see them in the Jones Falls to slow down the flow and to help contain trash and sediment even slightly. There is no man-made problem that can't be fixed by smart thinking and ingenuity.
Thanks for the people who put this all together. Keep telling the story so more people know what you're up to.
Posted by: BP | September 16, 2011 10:23 AM
I was looking at the floating wetland all summer. It certainly was attracting the herons. My thought was it should be bigger. I'm glad there is a a plan in place.
Posted by: Cham | September 16, 2011 11:18 AM
You have rightfully noted that the Aquarium's Floating Wetland system - a "BioHaven" survived the storm intact. However, the island was moved on purpose by National Aquarium staff to tie it off to the bridge and bulkhead pilings as an extra measure against anchor cable failure during the extreme storm event.
TW: Thanks for the correction.
Posted by: Kevin Hedge | September 16, 2011 2:52 PM