» Ecological Risk Assessment and Swamp Forest Restoration

GEE began work on this forested wetland site in Morris County, NJ by conducting a detailed natural resource inventory of the 90-acre area. Forty years as a gun club shooting range had left the wetland contaminated with lead shot and associated arsenic and antimony. However, significant tracts of freshwater wetland habitats remain, and the contamination levels vary across the site. GEE helped determine the balance between remediation and preservation of a valuable wetland habitat.

The ecological assessment included a wetland evaluation; avian, herpetological, and benthic macroinvertebrate studies; stream assessment and plant community analyses. Later in the project, GEE conducted bioassay studies, trapped small mammals, fish, and earthworms on the site, and completed tissue toxicological studies on several species. This work evolved into an Ecological Risk Assessment (2006) that was accepted by the NJDEP. GEE also developed the Remedial Action Workplan (2007) for the site. This includes a forested wetland restoration plan with construction documents and a Natural Resource Damage strategy. Future work on the site will include construction administration and longterm monitoring of the wetland restoration.