Dredged sand placed on Avalon Boulevard for turtles to use to nest (home page). Gates placed along the causeway to prevent turtles from crossing and being killed. Photos by Leslie Truluck

AVALON – Sandy dredge materials were moved May 6 from the Avalon Yacht Club to a site along Avalon Boulevard as part of an experimental program to provide an alternative nesting habitat for marine diamondback terrapins.

The Stone Harbor Wetland’s Institute has tracked the untimely death of the species for over a decade and has salvaged eggs from dead females to nest hatchlings for eight years. The turtles usually begin laying their eggs in late May and incubate until early August. Some will hatch this summer while others may not until next year.

Public Works removed about five to seven cubic yards of sandy sediment from a recently dredged site at the Avalon Yacht Club and placed it along the boulevard to provide a nesting habitat that will prevent them from trying to cross the street and meet an untimely death.

The Stone Harbor Wetlands Institute and the Richard Stockton College Coastal Research Center spearhead the project along with participation from Ocean and Coastal Consultants, an engineering sub-contractor for the institute.

Dr. Stewart Farrell, the Director of the Coastal Research Center, and center members identified the ideal dredged materials to be moved by public works to Avalon Boulevard.

The relocated sand was approved for upland disposal by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) with an alternative use determination.

Mud from a recently dredged vessel mooring located on Nacote Creek in Port Republic at the Richard Stockton College Marine Station provided sediment that meets the opposite end of the distribution spectrum and will be blended with the sand to determine the best mix of mud and sand to maximize successful turtle egg hatching. However, too much mud in the mix could cause it to dry out and trap the hatchlings, Farrell said.

Fertile eggs were put into the blended mixes of dredge and sand materials to see which blend works best. Wetlands Institute personnel will monitor the locations during the nesting season to evaluate turtle nesting and hatching quality.

The two sediment types were blended into five ratio mixes so experts can determine which sediment blend produces the highest hatching rate with the healthiest turtles.

Farrell said the institute has established “hot-spots” where terrapin mortality is the highest. The materials were placed along Avalon Boulevard to establish an eight-foot wide by 50-foot long bed that is about 12 inches thick at the road’s highest mortality site, the southeast corner of Graven’s Thorofare Bridge. It was placed about three feet above average high tide near the border of the salt marsh.

The “I BOAT NJ” program run by the Department of Transportation (DOT) provided funding to the Stone Harbor Wetlands Institute to demonstrate that dredged materials made suitable habitat alternatives, especially along causeway roads like Avalon Boulevard.

Additionally, fencing was installed along Avalon and Stone Harbor boulevards, as a way to prevent the turtles from being struck by vehicles should they attempt to cross.

Contact Truluck at (609) 886-8600 Ext 24 or at: ltruluck@cmcherald.com