Healthy Port Futures: Research and Implementation of Passive Sediment Management Techniques

Session: Coastal Resilience in the Face of Change (2)

Theresa Ruswick, Cornell University, tmr45@cornell.edu
Sean Burkholder, University of Pennsylvania, seanburk@design.upenn.edu
Brian Davis, Cornell University, brd63@cornell.edu
Walter Dinicola, Anchor QEA, wdinicola@anchorqea.com
Matt Henderson, Anchor QEA, mhenderson@anchorqea.com
Nathan Holliday, Anchor QEA, LLC, nholliday@anchorqea.com

Abstract

The Healthy Port Futures project is a research and implementation project that explores the potential role of passive and adaptive sediment management strategies for ports in the Great Lakes Basin. The project views sediment as a resource, the material in which to build ecologically and socially-valuable landscapes, and sediment management as a process in which to design and create these landscapes.

Within the Great Lakes Basin, ports are situated at highly urbanized river mouths, a pivotal location both ecologically and socially. Historically, these areas were rich wetland resources, formed by sediment accretion and movement around the confluence of the river and the Great Lakes. Increasing development and the need for maintained navigation channels have led to a more engineered sediment management approach, often through the dredging and placement of sediment outside the navigation channel and harbor.

Healthy Port Futures stresses the use of natural systems in the sediment management process, typically replacing or augmenting one of its three phases - uplift, transport and/or placement-- in order to improve the function, experience, and complexity of these places over time. The presentation will walk through the process, methods, and initial outcomes of this project, looking specifically at two pilot projects underway in