#neil chambers

[bureauofoystertecture-blog]

Visual Assessment for Oyster-Tecture Expansion

We surveyed two estuaries today: White Point (WP) and Singleton (ST).  (For reference: both of these estuaries are called swashes within the local vernacular).  WP is the more naturalized of the two.  Both are much more naturalized than Withers Estuary (WE).  Of the three estuaries, WP has the largest existing population of wild oysters.  Clusters numbering between 10 to 30 were found throughout the survey area of WP.  A healthy reef of approximately 4,000 to 10,000 is present under a bridge crossing WP.  The piers of the bridge are caked with oysters…they look like balls the size of beach balls clustered together.  We evaluationed WP during low tide, and there were many signs of other biodiversity.  Razor Clam, stingray, fiddler crab, blue crab and an assortment of fish as well as aquatic flora are all present in WP.  WP is the largest of the 3 estuaries as well as the most naturalized. 

White Point Estuary

WP boundaries extend from the beach to HWY 17 to the west by development to the north, to the east is the Atlantic Ocean and to the south is the Baba Center.  The healthiness of WP may have to do with the fact that the Baba Center has not gone through a highly developed phase and is still very natural.  WP is not a nature preserve or protected by local, state or federal law. 

We identified 3 to 4 areas where oyster reefs would be appropriate and beneficial for the area.  A condition we found throughout WP is erosion of the tidal creek banks.  A long oyster reef measuring 4 to 7 feet in width and 40 to 50 yards in length at any of these identified areas would preserve the tidal creek bank and reduce or eliminate the erosion of the bank.  Currently, breakwater walls are installed to fortify the tidal creek banks or to completely replace them where needed to support a roadway, parking lot or development such as a hotel or condo. 

Eco-Zones

There appeared to only be two eco-zones throughout WP.  An estuary saltmarsh and a highland wooded area.  Trees such as oak and maple were present only when the elevation was more than 4 to 5 feet above the saltmarsh.  WE has an estimated 5 to 7 different eco-zones throughout its area – a significant determination with the size of WP being much larger than Withers.  WE is the location of the first establishment within the Long Bay area – in the 1800’s.  the topographic differences throughout WE is much more pronounced than WP.  WP is a flatter more constant condition.  WP has the opportunity to be restored and protected in ways that are not currently feasible for WE – specifically that the areas of WP are still far less developed than WE.  Steps should be taken to work with local stakeholders to set a suitable boundary for preserving the existing natural areas and to identify how ecological restoration can best serve the residents and businesses within the area. 

Singleton Estuary

Of the three estuaries, ST is the second largest behind WP and ahead of WE.  It is also less developed than WE but more developed than WP.  The development is not extremely dense but does affect the estuary.  A golf course is to the south of ST – the mouth of ST is pinched by hospitality development.  Oysters are present in ST – but not to the degree of WP.  There may be a large amount of harvesting of oysters and clams in ST.  During the time we were onsite surveying the area today – we witnessed 3 separate people collecting clams and oysters. 

Along the main tidal creek – there were no significant counts of wild oysters though substrate is present and available for inner tidal and subtidal growth of oysters.  The reason for this is not clear at this time.  We did find a colony of oysters on a mudflat numbering between 1000 to 2000 individuals.  The oysters were not supported on a reef or in large clusters but in small clusters of 5 to 6 individuals or smaller groups. 

We identified 2 or 3 areas for installing oyster reefs that could play a significant role to creating a living shore for the area that could protect Shore Dr that runs north to south along the estuary and as the closes road in the area to the beach. 

It is unclear if the condos, hotels or other developments in the area would be supportive of oyster restoration, but the addition of such fixtures could increase the value of the area as an eco-park amenity.  The density is low and a more naturalized master plan or comprehensive plan for ST could be envisioned if stakeholders could work together to develop and implement such an idea. 

Eco-Zones

There appears to be 2 to 3 eco-zones – primarily mudflats and estuary saltmarsh.  It was low tide when we evaluated the area.  ST does seem to have gone through an intense phase of vegetation removal.  The flora does not look naturalized as if native.  This is only a guess – but it is much different in appearance than WE or WP.  

[bureauofoystertecture-blog]

Five Oyster Habitats along East Coast

Oysters were everywhere along the east coast at one time, but virtually have disappeared from 85% of their historic range. Five separate habitats show great potential for restoration and to help repopulate the eastern seaboard of the United States.

There are currently active restoration projects in Long Bay, Chesapeake Bay and New York City Harbor.  At a recent event at the Academy of Science in NYC, Paul Greenberg, author of Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food, explained that there were once trillions of oysters in the New York City Harbor.  

  The image above are the five habitats compared at the same scale.  You can see that the NYC Harbor is one of the smallest areas of the five. WIth the potential of trillions oysters off the tip of Manhattan, imagine the number possible for Chesapeake Bay.  

The reestablishment of large oyster populations in these areas could kickstart the restoration of the invertebrates throughout the eastern waters of North America.  Oyster populations can't regrow naturally without the presence of a metapopulation - which is absent via the local extinction of oysters in 85% of the historically range. The creation of large-scale restoration projects in these five critical areas would essentially be the beginning of a new metapopulation.  A new metapopulation could fuel the genetic and spat (juvenile oysters) numbers needed to make other smaller projects along the coast more easily possible. 

[bureauofoystertecture-blog]

The Nature of Being Natural Human

There’re many that think the behavior of humans is proof we are not nature while others say that we are as much of nature as any other species.  The tendency to think of ourselves as non-natural comes from our higher intellect, more complex society or other factors rooted in cultural identity and religion.  Technology plays a big role in us seeing ourselves as more than just another animal, because what other fauna on Earth can manufacture a cellphone, iPad or teletubbie video? In the end however, we may have to stop thinking we are anything but just another animal.

We have always seen ourselves as something more than nature.  We have developed our society, seemingly on purpose, in a way that far outreaches the simplicity of ants, birds or other mammals. We are, in many ways, counter to the natural flow of biodiversity and ecology.  How? We modify habitats by turning them into cities.  We harvest forests of trees to make pencils, chopsticks and circle drums.  We fish to the extent we empty the oceans. We are able to do things other animals can’t like produce architecture, build spacecrafts and generate energy from uranium. But these things do not take away from our naturalness. In fact, these abilities we have is precisely because of the nature of our nature.

Like other species such as grizzly bear, beavers, oysters, oak trees, wolves and buffalo, we have a tremendous effect on the surrounding environment – what Clive Jones calls eco-engineers.  We transform wetlands into parking lots, deserts into resorts and rivers into power stations. All the while, redirecting, interfering and destroying a host of patterns engrained into the habitats we affect.  For example, dams block ancient river ways that anadromous fish use to migrate during spawning season.

Other species can have similarly large effects on ecosystems.  Grizzly bear introduce large quantities of nutrients to forested area adjacent to their hunting areas for salmon.  Beavers manipulate hydrology of rivers with dams – and have been know to make riverbank-dependent flora species locally extinct. Oak trees can overgrow an area killing all other tree types.  Wolves’ presences in woodlands manage the number of songbird, elk and size of aspen groves.    

Lemming and whales have been documented as committing mass suicide – a phenomenon not understood by science.  Our overwhelmingly misuse of natural resources is seen by many as a form of slow mass suicide. When lemming jump off cliffs or whales beach themselves, it’s not considered unnatural as much as it is thought of as dysfunctional or accidental.  So it may be best, when it comes to deciding if we are natural or non-natural to think of ourselves as dysfunctional nature, or accidentally non-naturalistic. But before you jump to the conclusion of us being dysfunctional…consider this!

We really didn’t understand what we were doing to ourselves until about 50 years ago.  In societal terms that’s just 1% of the time society has existed…and even less if you think about the time we’ve been Homo sapiens (about 0.01%).  The majority of our environmental problems can be traces back to infrastructure (see Urban Green: Architecture for the Future).  When the biggest efforts of infrastructure were being designed and constructed, we didn’t know much about ecology – and the term ecosystem didn’t even exist.  As the environmentalism has grown since the late 1950s and early 1960s, so has our understanding of how ecological networks are interconnected.  When I say “understanding”, I mean the scientific study of conservation biology, ecological functionality, evolutionary science, biogeography and genetic populations has proven the deep intertying of life to habitat to environment that we now call the biosphere.  We have come to know ourselves better over the last several decades as well as the world we occupy.  As that knowledge grows, it influences how we live our daily lives via architecture, technology, energy and infrastructure.  

We were unable to do anything of significance to this point .  We didn’t understand or had we proven the parts that fit together to be the global wilderness.  We had started the great experiment of society in the biblical times of the Middle East, then went west and eastward to Greece, China, Roman, Japan and England – all the time, believing in myths more than reality.   Accidentally we pieced together a world order that was counter to nature because, in my opinion, our nature is that we most fail to learn how to do things right. Our nature is to not know until we study a topic thoroughly, and experience the negative effects. As we fail, we make things better.  We clean up the mess and realign the parts to work more effectively. It those tendencies are not gone. Our nature (the nature that nature gave us via millions of years of evolution) is still providing us the background we use to paint a better future that includes a better relationship with the natural world.