Posted on August 22, 2016
By Meaghan M. McDermott, Democrat & Chronicle
A $9.5 million project to restore the ecosystem in Greece’s Braddock Bay is entering its second phase.
This week, crews working for the Wesson Group LLC of Johnston, Fulton County, began work on building a new barrier beach across a portion of the bay’s mouth.
“We’re trying to reproduce the natural function of the historic barrier beach in terms of habitat and to help reduce the amount of sediment that comes into Braddock Bay,” said Josh Unghire, a restoration ecologist and planner with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which designed and is overseeing the project. “It will also reduce the wave energy coming in from the lake that’s affecting the wetlands through erosion.”
Funding for the work was secured from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both D-N.Y.
When complete, the barrier beach will include a 1,675-foot continuous rubble mound breakwater — a “backbone” of rock — two 180-foot rubble mound groins, a three-acre headland beach and two 150-foot headland rubble mound breakwaters.
“They’re going to be placing stone for the next three months and after the stone is placed, they will be placing sand as long as the weather allows,” said Sheila Hint, project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “Then, in 2017, we will be creating a new emergent wetland and that will be completed during the summer and then, we will continue to monitor the results of the project with a partnership with SUNY Brockport until 2018.”
Part of the project also entails dredging out the bay’s clogged navigation channel, which is currently about a foot and a half deep, to a depth of more than 4 feet. That will clear the way for a resurgence of business at the town-owned marina on the bay’s western shore. Greece officials are hammering out details now, but plan to ink a contract soon with the Daniele Family of Companies for a refurbished marina that will include all new docks, a convenience store and a small concession stand-type restaurant.
Crews will also be treating and removing some invasive plant species and plan to build a three-acre emergent marsh, using sand removed from the channel.
If you were in a boat, you could see areas over there where the soil is exposed, and it’s exposed because plants can’t grow there because soil is eroding away at such a rate that nothing can get established,” Unghire said. “And this has been occurring over about 100 years and in that timeframe, we’ve lost a little over an acre a year.”
The Braddock Bay area is part of the Rochester Embayment — lakefront between Bogus Point in Parma and Nine Mile Point in Webster — that is considered an “area of concern” by the EPA. It’s designated as such due to the degradation of its wildlife habitats and pollution. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, its project would restore and protect 340 acres of coastal wetlands in the bay.
Access to areas near the new barrier beach will be restricted during construction and hunting in the Braddock Bay area will be prohibited within 500 feet of active work zones through at least the end of October.
Work is expected to be done in December.
Source: Democrat & Chronicle
