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THE IM~RT~CE OF ~NSID=ING ~IRO~NT" EFFECTS IN THE DESIGN
OF ENTRANCES TO PORTS AND HARBORS
Scott McCreary
The Conservation Foundation is principally a re~earab and
communication organization. We are often engaged to carry out case
studies, and from these we make recommendations for various agencies
and re~earab organizations. I would like to take a similar line in
this presentation, reviewing a number of case studier undertaken to
inform and promote the integrated management of estuaries and wetlands.
~ want to suggest that at least one important dimension of port
planning is the fact that the environmental consequences are a local
planning issue, and one that ebould receive attention in the context of
other important dimensions.
The Ballona Wetlands
An interesting case study is the bigotry of the Ballona wetlands,
located in an unincorporated area of Orange County, California. The
Ranab of Ballona, at the time some 14,000 acres in size, Is outlined on
an 1888 map of California in Figure 1. It included about 2000 acres of
what were then called Cla"~-4 lands, which means land" inundated by
tidal action, or mostly wetlands and estuaries. In 1896, the marshland
in this area extended to tbe Santa Monica Branch of the Santa Fe
Railroad (as indicated in Figure 1~. In 1934, a project was undertaken
to straighten and channelize the upper portion of Ballona Creek, but
seaward of this project, the natural wetlands were still intact.
Between 1930 and 1950, a number of oil rigs were located in the wetland
area, as were a number of roads, an illustrated in Figure 2.
More dramatic changes occurred in the early 1960s with the
construction of Marina del Rev.
· _
.
Fiqure 3 shows the first appearance of
Karma eel Hey on a map made in 1962. An overview of the area as it
appears today (Figure 4) indicates tbe course of the Ballona Creek
Channel.
Most of the wetlands remaining outside the boundaries of Marina del
Rey are the property of the Summa Corporation, a division of Signal Oil
Company. Of the original 2000 acres of wetlands, 120 acres are still
what we might consider well-functioning and productive {Figure 5~.
About 180 acres along the fringes of these areas are converted wetlands
141
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Figure 1. Ranch of Ballona, 1888.
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Figure 2. Oil rigs and roads in
Ballona wetlands, 1930-1950.
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Figure 3. Construction of Marina del Rey Figure 4. Ballona wetlands today.
in early 1960s.
it=
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Figure 5. About 120 acres of original 2000
remain productive, well-functioning wetlands.
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that could easily be used for tidal action, but 215 acres along the
edges could be restored to wetlands only with great difficulty.
The alteration of the wetlands resulting from diking and filling
for agricultural use and the construction of Marina del Rey left 120
acres of functioning wetland of the original 2000 acre-, a rather
substantial effect. Figure 6 illustrates the area. Obviously, this
area could only be restored with a major public works project that
would itself affect the environment, and that would likely be costly.
The County of Los Angeles has expressed some interest in restoring
portions of the Marina del Rey area and the Ballona Wetland to tidal
action. The county's local plans allow for designation of special
ecological areas, and this designation has been proposed for the area.
The proposal is incorporated in current efforts to carry out
coastal plans in the Marina del Rey and Ballona wetland area. In 1972,
the voters of the State of California enacted an initiative for coastal
planning. This initiative produced the Coastal Act, passed by the
California legislature in 1976. The act calls on local units of
government to prepare coastal programs for their jurisdiction
addressing the policies of the Coastal Act.
The major port districts are also required to draw up local coastal
programs, taking into account issues of environmentally sensitive
habitats, public access, and effects on nearby bousing opportunities.
The effect of this legislation has been to broaden consideration of
port development beyond the design of the works themselves to take some
of other larger planning issues into account.
Marina del Rey is pictured in Figure 7. It is one of the largest
marina facilities in southern California. I want to point out that
Marina del Rey and the conversion of other components of the Ballona
system is not an isolated event in California. Prior to the enactment
of the coastal initiative in 1972, approximately 102,000 acres of
wetlands and estuaries were removed from the original 197,000 acres of
mambos, mud flats, bays, lagoons, alougbs, and estuaries. Of the
remaining estuaries, 62 percent have been subjected to severe damage,
19 percent have suffered moderate damage, and in southern California
alone, 75 percent of the wetlands have been destroyed. I do not imply
that these alterations result from port construction, of course. The
important point is that the history of wetland alteration must be taken
into account when new port facilities are designed. There are few
wetland resources left, especially in beavily populated areas. The
intense pressures of urbanization are patent in Figure 8, an overview
of the entire Ballona area.
An organization known as Friends of Ballona, a citizen"' group
bared in Los Angeles, teas been working with the California Coastal
Commission to try to bring about restoration of Ballona Lagoon. Those
efforts have stalled. The local government was to have completed a
plan by the end of the year, but has only just completed the work
program. .
The Summa Corporation is contending in court that the work program
gives inadequate attention to the potential for industrial development
in this area.
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144
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Figure 6. Heavily used areas of Ballona
wetlands.
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Figure 7. Marina del Rey.
Figure 8. Overview of Ballona area
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The Conservation Foundation has recommended that the entire wetland
area be restored. We have made proposals that go beyond the designation
of a special ecological area suggested by Los Angeles County; we called
for the restoration program to address the entire ecological unit. The
fate of both proposals in suspended until the local coastal program is
completed.
Beacb Erosion
The waterfront of Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the
Atlantic's largest ports, and clearly the hub of South Carolina's
economy. In the 1930s, the port was protected by jetties. The
construction work was preceded by an Army Corps of Engineers study,
"Charleston Harbor Jetties,. stating that jetties usually affect
neighboring shorelines above and below the harbor project itself for
about a mile. The effects are often greater. Figure 9 shows Folly
Beacb, South Carolina, one of a dozen barrier islands in the Carolina
low country along the waterfront of Charleston County. It is the
second island south of the entrance channel to Charleston Harbor, six
miles away. Unlike Kiawa and Seabrook Islands, it is predominantly
available to the public, and as Figure 9 indicates, there is public use
of the beaches.
The problem at Folly Beach is the erosion occuring at least since
records were first kept in 1849. This erosion has been exacerbated by
efforts to protect the harbor facility around Charleston. In Figure
10, the stairway down from the sea wall has lost a bit of its footing,
but this is a rather minor problem compared to others that we see in
this area.
A number of attempts have been made to counteract the processes of
erosion and beach recession, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers teas
concluded that bad there been no efforts to control the erosion at
Folly Beacb, the condition of the beach in the future would be
essentially the same as it has been in the past. Essentially, the
reflective character of shoreline structure" has furthered erosion on
Folly Island.
The graph In Figure 11 charts the substantial shoreline recession
on Folly Island between 1849 and 1977. Approximately 560 acres of
beach front have been lost from Folly Island since 1849, at an annual
rate of about 5.9 feet a year.
Erosion rates have accelerated in recent years. Along the reach
illustrated in Figure 12, the erosion rate is close to 20 feet a year.
The area i" in Bird Key, on the end of Folly Island. The Corps has
proposed a program to restore Folly Island. In addition, citizens have
solicited the assistance of the Conservation Foundation and Coastal
Plains Regional Commission to develop a comprehensive plan for the
shoreline.
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Figure 9. Public beach on barrier island, Figure 10.
Folly Beach, South Carolina.
FOLLY ISLAND ~
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300
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Figure 11. Shoreline recession at Folly Beach.
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Erosion at Folly Beach.
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Figure 12. Erosion at Bird
Key, end of Folly Island.
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Estuarine Systems
The next case which I would like to consider briefly is that of the
White Oak River in North Carolina, an estuary near Swansboro (Figure
131. In earlier days, the Swanaboro River discharged through the
area. The causeway built for Highway 24 now occupies much of the inlet
in Bogue Banks.
The first major alteration to this area was the construction of the
causeway itself. The original river extended approximately to the
point marked. The second major modification is the Intracoastal
Waterway.
Water now flows east and west through the waterway rather than
toward the ocean through the inlet, as it did previously. The arrows
in Figure 13 indicate spoil islands in the Swansboro-White Oak
estuary. It is thought the spoil islands tbemselves may be
contributing to rapid shoaling and sedimentation of the upriver areas.
That, of course, has not been proved, but it is an opinion that is
widely held by people in the Swansboro area.
Although the southeast bridge no longer crosses a usable channel,
the northwest clearance is still passable by very small pleasure
craft. There have been some very interesting side effects that are
thought to be associated with the combination of the causeway
construction, the construction of the Intracoastal Waterway, and dredge
spoil disposal.
Particularly hard hit has been the oyster fishery, which was never
important commercially, but has always been important to the local
population. It is thought that siltation and sedimentation have
covered some of the oyster beds, and in areas of low turbidity, the
oysters are stunted.
One hypothesis is that the water temperature in the estuary has
been lowered as a result of the rapid sedimentation and siltation.
Another factor is that there is a rather sharp salinity gradient in the
White Oak estuary. We find a range from 32 parts per thousand to 0
parts per thousand within just five miles. A curious aspect is that
salinity is optimal for oyster growth at beds of stunted oysters. No
one knows exactly what causes the stunted oyster".
Similar problems have been reported by the long-term residents of
the area involved in crabbing, shrimping, and mullet operations. Local
citizens have been attempting to get the Corps of Engineers to take
action on what they consider to be the cause of some of these problems,
but the causes have not been unambiguously identified.
The Isask Walton League has become concerned with the problems of
this area, bringing them to the attention of Congress. A meeting was
convened with an environmental mediator in which an agreement was
reached between the towns and county, the Isask Walton League, and
local fishermen to designate representatives for an advisory council to
work with the Corps.
The concept of environmental mediation is a relatively new one
borrowed from labor arbitration. The idea is that in environmental
disputes of several parties, tome parties with a genuine stake in the
outcome should be encouraged to sit down at the table together, to
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Figure 13. White Oak River estuary and surrounding area, North Carolina.
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Figure 14. Georgetown, near Winyah Bay,
North Carolina.
Figure 15. Winyah Bay.
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identify areas of agreement and disagreement, and to move toward
consensus on a course of action.
Winyah Bay, South Carolina, is a project in which the Conservation
Foundation has recently been engaged. Winyah Bay supports Georgetown,
which is a small maritime community of about 40,000 people, shown in
Figure 14. Winyab Bay has been subject to shoaling problems as long as
records have been kept.
The watershed of Winyab Bay was one of the very first areas where
tobacco and rice were planted. It also has the distinction of being
one of the largest watersheds in the United States, draining about
18,000 square miles.
Here again, it is appropriate to look beyond the port itself and
consider what the causes are of the shoaling. In this case, the
widespread agricultural use of the watershed is the predominant cause
of shoaling, yet very little was done in either the distant or recent
past to correct the attendant problems. Shoaling in many parts of the
estuary is apparent in Figure 15, and can be seen in maps made long
before any kind of human intervention.
In 1896, the first steam dredging took place, and at this time, the
area was shifting from the rice plantations that bad been important
during the period of slavery to other uses.
In 1926, a federal channel wan dredged through the lower reaches,
but the upper area, as indicated in Figure 16, was still unchanged. In
1928, finally, a channel was dredged, about 18 miles in length.
Several industrial proposals have been made for the Georgetown area.
The earliest called for an enormous dredging project, turning basins
and full port facilities.
That concept gradually evolved into the suggestion that Georgetown
would be more appropriate for industrial growth. Recently, there has
been still another proposal for the area known as the Estherville
Plantation (Figure 17~. In the 1930s, the dominant industry was paper
companies. In 1970, Georgetown Steel was brought in, and this
initiated more ambitious industrialization.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering proposals for this
area now. One is to maintain the existing channel to Georgetown, which
was indicated in the earlier photographs, at its 27-foot depth.
Another is to dredge a deeper channel, 35 feet deep, that would require
dredging to 47 feet, and allowing it to shoal in because of the rapid
rates of shoaling. This last proposal would require an enormous amount
of dredge-spoil disposal. Maintaining the original 27-foot channel
requires dredging 2 million cubic yards a year. Dredging a new 35-foot
channel would require disposing of 22 million cubic yards of dredge
spoil.
Figure 18 indicates some of the potential dredge-spoil disposal
sites. It i" important to note that much of this estuary is bounded by
marshes and wetlands. After this vast area is allocated for
dredge-spoil disposal--and keep in mind we are talking about an 18-mile
channel--many uses that would have been possible for this land will
disappear.
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ma_ 'I
Figure 17. Estherville Plantation.
Figure 16. Upper area of Winyah
Bay.
Figure 18. One proposal would
deepen channels from 27' to 35'.
Figure 19. Yawkey Wildlife
Center.
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151
A new proposal that has been put together by the Carolina Refining
and Distributing Company calls for the creation of a 30,000 barrel per
day refinery in the vicinity of the Sampit River near Georgetown. The
greatest threat that people perceive from the oil refinery is an oil
spill. The vicinity of Estherville Plantation has seven rare,
endangered, or threatened species, and includes eagle-nesting areas as
well as habitats of red-cockaded woodpeckers, loggerhead turtles,
alligators, and peregrine falcons. This has been a very significant
source of concern.
The Yawkey Wildlife Center manages approximately 3000 acres of land
impounded for the propagation of waterfowl in this area (Figure 19~.
The Corps of Engineers has taken a close look at all proposals, and has
tried to work with national environmental groups to bring comprehensive
planning to bear on the decisions to be made for Winyah Bay.
Summary
Many primary and secondary environmental effects are associated
with port construction. Environmentalists, conservationists, or
resource management agencies may raise some of these. There are as
well the concerns of citizens who must live with the environmental and
other consequences. These are factors to be considered with others in
the design of entrances to ports and harbors. These groups should be
considered in the exchange of information that informs decision making,
and to that end, I would urge that you consider making a summary of
your reports and other publications available to organizations suab as
local planning agencies and citizens' groups. Additional efforts
should be undertaken to enable all interested parties to make their
knowledge and views known in an open and accessible process for port
planning. This will not only enable interested groups to share the
knowledge and views of others, but also enable the planning of ports
and harbors to be better integrated with other aspects of coastal zone
management and the management of natural resources.
DISCUSSION
MAGOON: You addressed primarily marsh developments that are
internal to the coast. Have you thought about, say, the effects of
harbors that might be built on islands offshore?
MC CREARY: If we are talking about the Gulf Coast or the
Atlantic Coast, we may well be talking about barrier islands. The
Conservation Foundation has been involved in a number of studies and
programs to manage barrier islands, and actually, to suggest better
strategies.
SAVILLE: I wonder if you weren't talking about the possibility
of artificial islands constructed offshore?
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MAGOON: Really, I was just thinking that in your array of
considerations, obviously one type of concept would be building port
facilities offshore, rather than in or near wetlands. That would be an
alternative that could be looked at. Obviously, as the dredging costs
go up, perhaps it would become more attractive to go out offshore
somewhat, and this could be one of the alternatives.
MC CREARY: I think that could be a very appropriate
suggestion. We have not considered it, mainly because we typically get
involved where there is a real controversy or a real cause, and we have
not been confronted with this sort of proposal. I think it would be
very interesting to do that.
BERTSCHE: A lot of these projects you get into come as a
result of, say, local plans or the proposals of manufacturing
interests, and yet on a national scale, clearly some of these things
need to be done some place but not in my back yard. Is there a
national direction on certain issues? For example, we may have to
accept the loss of some marebes, come lands, in order to achieve a
certain order of trade. Are we strictly limited to brush fires
locally, or is there some national coordination of some of these
decisions?
MC CREARY: Most of our work does happen to be in the local
case study area, but we always take the study or the project with the
idea in mind that we are creating some sort of a model for a broader
approach that can inform other areas and national policy. One of our
biggest complaints is that we have a Coastal Zone Management Act that
was enacted in 1972, yet it really does not deal very comprehensively
at all with estuaries and wetlands. It ignores their watersheds which,
as I have indicated, are a very real problem. To my mind, the best
approach I have seen so far is that of the State of California, which
has in its Coastal Act a eerie" of guidelines for constructing ports
and harbors in wetlands. It addresses the idea of creating ports and
harbors in degraded wetlands rather than in those that are productive.
The act also speaks to the idea of restoration or
compensation. In fact, there is an agency in California, the
California Coastal Conservancy, that seeks to restore, and often would
seek to restore an area Such as Ballona, next to an area that has been
committed to marina development.
Finally, the California program has recently come up with a
set of wetland guidelines which I think are the best in the country
right now and guide the construction of harbors, among many other
projects.
~, ~.. , .~_ . ., ~
BERTSCHE: That may be a singular example, since the state
owns three-guartere of the coast, and can readily set policies for its
use. The problem on the East Coast is that many states, each state
would have to have this individual -
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MC CRBARY: I think perhaps you are right, a regional
perspective is warranted. Certainly each state has chosen a different
approach to coastal zone management. Many of the southern states have
not chosen to participate in federal programs at all. Others are much
more limited in scope, compared to California, and lack the public
support.
WEBSTER: Do you ever get involved with the business of
proposing sites? It always seems to me that you have difficulty in
this process of selecting.
MC CREARY: Many state agencies try to do industrial siting on
a state or regional level, and the same approach might be appropriate
for harbor and port siting. The approach is usually to go through an
analysis of constraints and then select from among the areas that pass
through all the screens.
In our work, again, typically we are limited to alternatives
within the scope of the project. In the case of Winyah Bay, I believe
one of our recommendations is among the alternatives the Corps is now
pondering, for a channel enlargement. ~ also believe that our
recommendations might address alternative industries besides the
refinery to bring jobs and economic growth to the Georgetown area.
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WORKSHOPS
1S5
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
del rey
