With rising sea levels and increasing salinity, how can water be accommodated to structure new relationships with land and promote ecological resilience? Unlike metropolitan cities where climate resiliency funding is usually channeled, the lower density and abundance of vacant land in cities like Salem can allow for the implementation of experimental large-scale nature-based solutions and other pilot projects to test climate resilience interventions. The recent acquisition of 63 acres of land by the Native American Advancement Corporation in Salem county and the establishment of the Cohanzick Nature Reserve acts as a catalyst for public land acquisition and stewardship.
DESIGN INTERVENTIONS
This project assumes the strategic and equitable depopulation and relocation of existing industry and residences. We propose marsh restoration and wood vaulting as processes that can be adapted to estuarine and forested wetland conditions in both Salem and the broader New Jersey context. These interventions deepen ecological and social resilience through ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and social practices such as recreation, harvesting, and foraging.
Barber’s Basin / Floating Estuarine Marsh
Due to industrial activity at the waterfront, Salem residents do not have adequate access to the river. Barber’s Basin is one of the few areas that connects residents to the waterfront; however, it is privatized and only consolidators and boat owners have access. Due to sea level rise, the basin will be over five feet underwater. In order for residents and small businesses to safely transition away from the flood zone, policies such as open land acquisition and conservation trusts can be used to acquire the changing waterfront for public use. To accommodate water, design interventions such as floating wetlands are key elements that enable residents to engage with the landscape in a way that transforms what it means to live with water. This reconnects residents with the land promoting stewardship and a blue-green economy.
Salem Water Tower / Estuarine Marsh
Salem is located ten feet above sea level and faces significant challenges with rising sea levels. To accommodate water and increasing salinity, policies such as the Blue Acres buyout program are used for managed retreat and the acquisition of land for estuarine marsh restoration and public stewardship. Strategically adjusting the elevation of parts of the town allows for the natural expansion of marshes as sea levels rise. Spartina is used as the dominant marsh species due to its salt tolerance, mutualism with molluscs, flood mitigation properties, and carbon sequestration benefits. The marshes will unlock opportunities for new economies like carbon offsets and wetland banking. These landscape practices are anchored in communal gathering and offer space for healing and community bonding.
Salem Friends Cemetery / Forested Wetland
The historic district in Salem has iconic landmarks such as the precolonial Oak trees in the Salem friends cemetery that shape collective identity and memory in this industrial city. With impending sea level rise and retreat, the area around the trees and the adjacent public library is leveraged as a space for the sharing of knowledge, collective research, and gathering. The industrial warehouse is relocated and replaced with an elevated seed bank and the area around it becomes a research wetland for woody vegetation and wood vaults that shift with increasing inundation and salinity. This allows for the experimentation and preservation of plant material, strengthening the ecological and social resilience of the town in the face of rapid climate change.
Cattus Island / Ghost Forest
Increasing saltwater intrusion has created vast swathes of ghost forests across New jersey. Atlantic White Cedar, among other species, are unable to tolerate the increasing salinity. These dead trees are harvested and converted into anaerobic wood vaults that preserve the trees as carbon sinks. Wood vaults are used to create berms that can mitigate floodwater, a less expensive and structurally sound alternative to moving the same amount of earth. These vault landforms can be terrestrial or submerged and are adapted at the territorial scale to structure opportunities for recreation, solar farms, or habitat. Together with the NJDEP Atlantic Cedar restoration efforts that is funded through Natural Resources Pollution Damages, wood vaulting practices also create climate corps employment.