Letter to Gina McCarthy, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency - Braddock Bay Restoration Project

Letter

I am writing in support of the preferred approximately $9 million Braddock Bay Restoration project "Alternative 7c" developed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and request the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prioritize it for funding this year through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) program. Braddock Bay has long been treasured as a paradise for nature enthusiasts, boaters, fishers, and residents and as one of the last coastal wetlands of its size remaining in Lake Ontario, Braddock Bay is vital to the restoration of the Great Lakes ecosystem. For years the Braddock Bay community in the Town of Greece has sought to repair damage caused over several decades that has damaged fish and wildlife habitats, eroded wetlands, enabled invasive species, and hampered local marinas and recreational boating.

To reverse this damage, the USACE's preferred project will construct a new barrier beach, restoring a beach that eroded away decades ago and left the Bay fully exposed to Lake Ontario's wave action causing erosion and turbidity in the Bay. The new beach will serve as a breakwater to protect the Bay from damage caused by Lake Ontario and protect over 340 acres of coastal wetlands that the Army Corps will restore within the Bay by treating invasive species and channeling and potholing areas in the marsh wetlands to create fish spawning and wildlife habitats. Without the new barrier beach many of the improvements made by the Army Corps will essentially wash away or be undone.

This project is a win-win-win, benefiting the environmental ecosystem, recreation opportunities, and the local economy. Specifically, the barrier beach will aid in the maintenance of the Bay's navigation channel by helping to block Lake Ontario sediment from washing into the Bay and silting in the navigation channel. Indeed recreational boating and fishing on the Bay has declined over the past decade as the bay has become increasing too shallow to navigate leading to an estimated decline of 300-350 fewer boaters over the past decade. Moreover, the implementation of this restoration will directly help efforts to meet the goal of delisting the Rochester Embayment as an EPA Great Lakes Area of Concern (AOC) within this decade. As one of only two Areas of Concern on Lake Ontario, the Rochester AOC suffers from both degradation of fish and wildlife populations and habitats, both which can be addressed by implementing this project. In particular this project will restore habitats for fish species like the Northern Pike which is among New York's most important sportfish and bird wildlife like the state endangered Black Tern, American Coot and other shorebird species.

This project is supported by the Town of Greece and Rochester Embayment Remedial Action Plan Oversight Committee which concluded it "represents a well balanced approach to remedying the environmental issues affecting Braddock Bay." The project supports the objectives of the Rochester Embayment Great Lakes Area of Concern Remedial Action Committee and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) Focus Area 4 for Habitat and Wildlife Protection and Restoration. With this project, the Braddock Bay Wildlife Management Area (WMA) has the potential to be the first GLRI site to be recolonized by the now locally-extinct bird, the Black Tern.

I appreciate your consideration and request you approve funding for this project this year to enable construction and implementation to begin in the summer of 2015.

Sincerely,

Charles E. Schumer

U.S. Senator

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