RGR Landscape worked with the NYC Parks & Recreation Natural Resources Group and consultant John Roebig to implement the restoration of a salt marsh at Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx. The project, which was funded in part by the NYS Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act, was intended to replace native habitat that had been lost during the construction of parking facilities at Orchard Beach. The project goals included preservation of the existing shoreline, the provision of diverse wildlife habitat, and establishment of self-sustaining native plant communities not prone to invasion by exotic species. Strategies were implemented to increase the areas of mudflat habitat, low marsh vegetation, and high marsh vegetation. The land was returned to grade elevations that favor inter-tidal plant communities, thereby reducing the area susceptible to invasion by exotic species, such as phragmites. Then, the RGR team selected vegetation for the newly created habitat that will help absorb flood flows, prevent erosion, and provide breeding areas for indigenous wildlife.
