Beneficial Uses
of Dredged  Materials
Case Study: Poplar Island, Chesapeake Bay


A     consortium of federal, state, and private organizations is collaborating to restore a once rapidly
     eroding island in Chesapeake Bay by using material dredged from federal navigation chan-
nels serving the Port of Baltimore. This consortium includes the Maryland Port Administration, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The focus of the project is to
transport dredged material 25 miles to recreate Poplar Island, which in 1847 occupied more than
1,000 acres. By 1996, the island was reduced to less than four acres.

Starting in March 1998, Poplar Island rebuilding activities began with the construction of contain-
ment dikes in two phases: 1) 640 acres at a cost of $59 million in the first 2 years, and 2) 500 acres
at a cost of $45 million during the following 3 to 5 years. Using 40 million cubic yards of dredged
materials, this project will create 1,140 acres of remote wildlife habitat, 50% of which will be wet-
lands, while the other half will be uplands.

Through 2005, the total placement of dredged material has been 10.6 million cubic yards and has
created 45 acres of tidal marsh habitat. The island is scheduled to stop receiving dredged material
in 2015 and is expected to be fully developed by 2021.

Restoring Poplar Island was and continues to be a project initiated by the Maryland Port Admin-
istration's (MPA) Dredged Material Management Program  (DMMP), which is part of the MPA's
20-year planning cycle. Planning for specific projects by the Port proceeds through the collabora-
tion of three principal committees: Executive, Management, and Citizens. Participants on each
committee include federal and state natural resource management agencies, local governments,
regulatory and transportation agencies, conservation organizations such as the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation, and citizens. All meetings about specific proposals are open to public participation.
Proposals such as the Poplar Island project are assigned to work groups made up of professionals
from participating agencies as well as citizens.

Although none of the three committees is officially considered a beneficial uses group, beneficial
uses are considered throughout the planning and prioritization process. The purpose of broad in-
volvement by stakeholders is to identify  concerns to be addressed in project design. As planning
progresses, participants discuss and negotiate specific project aspects and objectives. In planning
the restoration of Poplar Island, for example, participants extensively negotiated about what per-
centage of the island would be restored as wetlands. Participating agencies  and organizations, each
with its own responsibility, used  the Poplar Island project as a way to achieve mutually beneficial
goals.

To rank projects in order of priority, MPA and other stakeholders use structured decision mak-
ing involving criteria definition, economic and environmental decision matrices, and fatal flaw
analysis. Members of the workgroup and the three committees participate in developing and imple-
menting decision-making tools and procedures. This process yields a short  list of options. MPA

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Beneficial Uses of Dredged Materials                                                       October 2007

Case Study: Poplar Island, Chesapeake Bay
prioritizes among these options for potential projects based on factors such as environmental ben-
efits and cost. (MPA estimates that beneficial use projects cost an average of $10 a cubic yard while
other less-beneficial disposal methods cost an average of $2 to $2.50 a cubic yard. Given that MPA
will be responsible for the management of 110 million yards of dredged material over the next 20
years, the cost of potential projects is an important factor to balance with long-term management
goals.) After evaluating potential projects, members select and carry out projects that mutually ful-
fill beneficial goals for the involved parties as in the case of the restoration of Poplar Island.
Contacts:
  David Bibo
  Maryland Port Administration
  (410)631-1102
  dbibo@mdot.state.md.us

  Kevin Brennan
  Project Manager-Poplar Island
  Restoration Project
  Baltimore District
  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
  (410)962-6113
  Kevin.M.Brennan@usace.army.mil


  U.S. Environmental Protection Agency                                               EPA842-F-07-001C
  U.S. Army Corps of Engineers                                                         October 2007

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