FOREWORD & ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

As part of a tidal marsh restoration feasibility study conducted during the early 1980's by Dr. Bill Niering, Dr. Scott Warren and myself, Sybil Creek was chosen for its restoration potential as well as its ability to represent the some of the more problematic situations associated with urban and suburban sites. When I first came to the site, I was struck by the fact that a number of homes were built at or below sea level and that some of the houses were built directly on marsh sediments. I felt that restoring this system would be a real challenge and one that would be important as a representative to many other sites throughout the State where tide gates had allowed people to build their structures in harms way. It has taken almost two decades of work, but through the perseverance of Mr. Ron Rozsa of the CT/DEP, plans and money are now in place to begin restoration of the Sybil Creek marsh system. In order to prepare for that effort, the Office of Long Island Sound Programs provided grant money to conduct baseline sampling and habitat assessments that will allow for more complete monitoring of the program once tidal flow has been restored to the system. The report included herein, is the result of sampling conducted by the Sybil Creek Restoration team (Drs. Osgood, Zajac, Tait and myself) during the summers of 1999 and 2000.

Endeavors such as these are important so that we can properly assess restoration efforts in the future. A knowledge of the on-site conditions prior to and after the reintroduction of tides will allow for a more complete view of the changes that occur as restoration efforts move forward. The more we know about these systems, the better we can mange our restoration plans in the future. Such information can be very important as we continue to restore coastal habitats and adjust our parameters in assessing these efforts. We hope that this report will be of value to future investigations as the restoration plans move forward and the habitat begins its swing back to conditions more closely related to historic conditions within the system.

The authors of this investigation would like to thank the many people who were involved in this effort. A special acknowledgment goes out to the students that helped collect much of the data and took most of the mosquito bites; Lisa Vasilakos, Tim Hoffman, Jen Codianne, Chas Jock and lately Ferah Refai and Sara Ignudo. A special note of appreciation is extended to Dr. Bill Horne and Ellen Page, CPA of the Branford Land Trust for their support in this endeavor. We would also like to show our appreciation to Mr. Ron Rozsa and the Office of LISP of the CTDEP for the financial support and the wherewithal to get this project off the drawing board and into the field.

Dr. Richard A. Orson
Project Coordinator

 

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