Madison Adams, Nora Lucas and Joe Kuklinski with Constellation pictured above on the PSEG Wetlands Tour.
We are able to breathe, drink, and eat in comfort because millions of organisms and hundreds of processes are operating to maintain a livable environment, but we tend to take nature’s services for granted because we don’t pay money for most of them.
~Eugene Odum, The Father of Ecology, 1975
On a cool, misty day in May PSEG’s Rich Cary, Biological Programs Manager and Becky Clanton, Senior Environmental Specialist, toured WRA members and guests through the unique wetlands stewarded by PSEG. The Estuary Enhancement Program (EEP) has worked to restore over 21,000 acres, its boundary in places clearly demarcated by an abrupt change from the flowing wetland grasses tended by PSEG to a wall of phragmites, a tall invasive plant that creates a dense barrier of monocultured greenery inhospitable to fish and fowl.
Supported by water flow revitalized by newly formed channels designed so fish can access the marsh and to promote the growth of indigenous plant species, this nursery for fishes is an excellent home for ducks, osprey and eagles, turtles and frogs.
The more time we spent in this wonderland, at one time considered the largest privately funded wetland restoration project in the country, the more we appreciated the diversity of the ecosystem. Would we have spotted the muskrat lodge without our guides? Some in our group had serious wildlife biology credentials, but it takes a trained eye to site or find traces of the shy creatures who inhabit the EEP marshes.
In 1994, PSEG launched the EEP as part of the permitting program for the Salem Generating Station in Lower Alloways Creek Township, New Jersey. Together with the Hope Creek Generating Station, the Salem–Hope Creek complex produces 3,572 megawatts, more than 40% of the electricity produced in New Jersey and more than 80% of the state’s air pollution-free generation. The plants, and their more than 1,600 employees, help keep electricity rates affordable, support reliability of the grid and reduce public health costs. Constellation is a 43% owner of the Salem Generating station.
“What struck me most about the Salem project is how it exemplifies a positive relationship between industry and environmental stewardship,” said Vinod Jose, an investor who supports innovation in the water sector. PSEG has worked in partnership with scientists, non-profits, the local government and schools to advance scientific understanding of wetlands, develop approaches to wetland restoration, and share the lessons learned with researchers and students. Dozens of scientific papers have been published on the lessons learned as PSEG and their partners worked to restore them.
The majority of the restoration work is done, the invasive phragmites exculpated and a rich mix of animal friendly greens thriving in its place. But the conservation and stewardship continues. Using insights about how to cultivate the local species and best serve the now thriving fish and wildlife population, PSEG works throughout the year to keep the phragmites at bay, monitor vegetation and channel growth, maintain osprey platforms, and keep the viewing stations and walkways in pristine condition.
Plan your visit for the spring or fall, otherwise you risk being swarmed by the vibrant insect population that serves as real fast food for animals who live there. PSEG maintains walkways and viewing platforms at the various EEP sites, with informative kiosks doting the landscape to help visitors understand the ecosystem. You can find more information about the EEP here.
There is a precedent for research and educational partnerships between energy companies, universities, national laboratories, federal and state agencies and non-profits, which are crucial to advance energy technologies and address global energy challenges. The father of Ecology, Eugene Odum (quoted above), started his career studying wetlands adjacent to a nuclear site, the Savannah River Plant, in 1951. The work done there formed the foundation for The University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (SREL), which has grown into a premier ecological research institution working in collaboration with the USDA Forest Service, US Army Corp of Engineers, Longleaf Alliance, Georgia and South Carolina Departments of Natural Resources, and others.
Thank you to Helen Gregory, PSEG Nuclear Director – Environmental and WRA Board and Executive Committee member, who orchestrated this amazing visit!