Savannah Harbor Dredged Material Containment Areas Wetlands
Savannah Harbor, Jasper County, South Carolina, United States
The Savannah Harbor Navigation Project’s (SHNP) Dredged Material Containment Areas (DMCAs) are confined disposal facilities for dredged material. The material is collected by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Savannah District (SAS) on an on-going basis during Savannah Harbor maintenance operations and from SHNP activities currently underway in Savannah, Georgia. The DMCAs are managed to mitigate for lost wetland habitat that results from these USACE activities in the Savannah Harbor and for modifications to the DMCAs themselves. A long-term management strategy (LTMS) was developed to maintain specific quantities of wetland and openwater habitat to benefit seasonal waterbirds. A series of five DMCAs are subject to a deposition of dredged material rotation program; some DMCAs receive the material for a period of three years while other DMCAs remain dry. This rotation pattern serves to create open water habitats for waterfowl and other waterbirds on the DMCAs receiving dredged material, while mudflat and wetland habitats are available for shorebirds on the dry DMCAs. The rotation approach also promotes settling of material that helps extend the life of individual DMCAs. Additional material can be added to enhance levees around those DMCAs scheduled to receive dredged material. Four- and eight-acre islands created in the DMCAs provide nesting habitat for numerous shorebirds and colonial waterbirds.
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