Mapping Delaware River Habitat Restoration Opportunities

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and EPA Regions 2 and 3 are working with Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware to identify habitat restoration opportunities on the upper and lower portions of the Delaware River Estuary.

To encourage restoration projects, especially where brownfields redevelopment is occurring on the river, the agencies are developing a regional database and mapping tools to generate cleanup strategies and resources. By mapping sites and potential projects, those redeveloping sites can see and consider specific ideas for restoration as well as public access to the river. This project will be completed in the fall of 2006 and posted online. Attached is a map illustrating the project area (PDF). [1p, 709K, about pdf]

Shoreline habitat impacts in the
urban river in Fox Point, Delaware.

The Upper Delaware Estuary is highly urbanized and commercialized. It has the largest freshwater port in the country, the third largest petrochemical port, and five of the largest east coast refineries, with millions of gallons of crude oil transported on the river daily. Unfortunately, it is the most impacted area of the Delaware River system in terms of contaminants and habitat loss.

Cross-jurisdictional boundaries can complicate coordination of cleanups on the river. The regional database and mapping tool will improve inter-governmental coordination and planning for cleanups and will promote the restoration of critical habitats along the Delaware.

Shoreline habitat impacts in the urban river
on the North Philadelphia waterfront.

When the project is complete it will include GIS (geographic information systems) and other mapping information. It will also include contaminant data with links to sites about the habitat and living resources in the estuary. The database will include sites in Trenton, Camden, Philadelphia and Wilmington south to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

Identification of restoration opportunities, requirements, and impediments is an integral part of planning for the Delaware Estuary.

Simeon Hahn, NOAA scientist, has collected data from a range of sources for this project. If you have data that you would like to contribute to the research, contact Simeon Hahn at hahn.simeon@epa.gov.

Region 3 | Mid-Atlantic Cleanup | Mid-Atlantic Brownfields & Land Revitalization

Mapping Delaware River Habitat Restoration Opportunities

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