DOI Project #PKR 43; Implement Invasive Plant Control Measures, Parker's River NWR; Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief

This is an announcement for issuing a single source financial assistance award to Dr. David Burdick, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH. The Department of the Interior project is PKR #43. This announcement is for notification purposes only. This award will be made under the North and West Alaska Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, F13AC00619. The intent of the award is to implement innovative control measures for the invasive plant, Phragmites australis, and correct surface water drainage by installing a series of runnels, and removing failing ditches through a ditch remediation process. All work is to be conducted on the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge (Newbury, MA) or at properties of the University of New Hampshire. This award is issued to provide financial assistance to collaboratively-developed priority projects in Hurricane Sandy disaster areas that will restore environmental resources and reduce flood hazards through collaborative efforts with local communities. The project will improve salt marsh resiliency, restore ecosystem function, provide fish and wildlife habitat, and provide fish passage. Salt marsh resiliency will be increased in two ways. First, by restoring proper circulation to selected portions of the Great Marsh that area impounded through human alterations, resiliency is increased by preserving and improving the integrity of the salt marsh peat. The Great Marsh is a peat-based system. When healthy, the peat is resistant to erosion and protects shorelines from waves and storm surges. Secondly, most of the Great Marsh was ditched either for salt hay farming or mosquito control. By restoring failing ditches to functional salt marsh (ditch remediation), resiliency is increased by protecting the marsh from wave erosion, excess drainage and subsidence, and loss of vegetation through herbivory.