by Dr. Lenore Tedesco, Executive Director

The Wetlands Institute opened its doors more than 50 years ago, and over the past half-century, much has changed – but much has remained the same. What hasn’t changed is the reliance of all species (us included) on a healthy, thriving coastal ecosystem. What hasn’t changed is our commitment to each facet of our mission – research, conservation, and education. What hasn’t changed is the tremendous support from our community.

What has changed is our vulnerability to risk associated with rising seas, driven largely by climate change. Today, rapidly rising seas pose the most serious threats to these coastal ecosystems – and with them, our coastal communities. Letting nature run its course – the “do nothing” strategy – is no longer viable because doing nothing is causing harm. Solutions are complex and at times seem unattainable – but there is hope. As we have done since our founding, The Wetlands Institute is once again taking a leadership role in bringing innovative and novel approaches to restoring and preserving our marshes – and by extension, our coastal communities.

In 2019, together with our partners at the US Army Corps and the State of New Jersey, we launched the Seven Mile Island Innovation Lab (SMIIL) as a think-tank and experimental showcase to develop, test, AND implement on-the-ground solutions. This partnership is helping create a sea change for our tidal marshes and the critical habitats that are vanishing around them. We are pioneering new techniques for marsh restoration and habitat creation using clean dredged materials; reducing coastal flood risk; and contributing to the tool kit to preserve our marshes and our way of life. To date, SMIIL projects have effectively restored or enhanced more than 85 acres of failing marsh and resulted in a paradigm shift that has helped make New Jersey a national leader in marsh restoration and coastal resiliency.

There is hope. Our early work confirms that the resiliency of marshes in the project areas has dramatically increased, ensuring that they will be here for generations to come – but there is so much more to do. Now, as our work continues, we must turn our attention to building resiliency for The Wetlands Institute campus itself – our building, our trails, and the marshes that are our backyard. Elsewhere in this newsletter, we told you we are planning a project in the marshes here – but that is only the first step. We intend to make The Wetlands Institute a model for building resiliency while living in concert with nature, and are identifying ways we can use green infrastructure and construction methods to bring this vision to reality. By using the best available science and planning with intent, compassion, and respect for the living world around us, we will set the example for how we can prepare for the changes already upon us, continue to live in a vibrant and healthy marsh, and invite nature to be an integral part of the campus – and our lives. We will share everything we learn with government agencies and our local municipalities and communities so that they too can enhance resiliency and address vulnerabilities while still allowing space for nature.

The challenges we face are great, but I have never been one to shy away from great challenges – and you have come to expect no less. We are again MAKING NO SMALL PLANS. Stay tuned and join us to learn how you can be a part of it.

by Dr. Lenore Tedesco, Executive Director

Many people ask me if things have slowed down now that the seasons have changed. The answer may surprise you. Our full-time year-round staff of 19 are always busy but our focus changes with the seasons. The research team is still in the field, but also analyzing data, preparing reports, writing grants, presenting their work to colleagues and peers, and planning for next year’s projects. The education team is delivering scout, homeschool, and outreach programs, continuing year-round animal care, attending conferences, and revising curricula, while our communications team is keeping our members informed and the news flowing. There is much to do with planning and renovations ahead.

During the busier programming season, our staff numbers swell to 52 when we add educators, interns, admissions staff, and seasonal scientists and conservationists to fulfill our research, conservation, and education mission and welcome visitors. We serve more than 13,000 schoolchildren and 17,000 visitors each year, and have more than 1,300 members that come from 42 states (some from as far away as California and Hawaii) and Canada. Something you may find interesting is that only about 15 percent of our members visit the Institute. Instead, they use membership as their way to support the crucial work that we do to preserve and protect our coastal resources and teach people of all ages of the importance of these ecosystems for our well-being. They are people, like you, that know our work is accomplished because of the broad support that we receive from our members and supporters. They recognize that we keep admission and program fees artificially low so that we can make sure our programs are accessible to all. They understand that our contract and grant work is competitively won and earned anew each year, without any guarantees. We are also able to accomplish so much because some of you underwrite programs with multi-year commitments, which is critical to helping maintain program effectiveness.

As we look ahead to year-end, we rely on our members and supporters to once again show their commitment to ensuring that our important work can continue. We are always interested in expanding our circle of support, and one of the best ways we do this is with your help. If you are interested in supporting a specific program, there are many needs. If you would like to introduce a friend, corporation, or foundation to our work, I would welcome the opportunity to share our story. Our story is enriched by all of you and your commitment to helping us serve our mission. As year-end approaches, now is a great time to lend a hand. Thank you for all you do, this year and always.

by Dr. Lenore Tedesco, Executive Director

Once again, I marvel at the inescapable feeling that time has a way of accelerating when it comes to summer at the shore. This year, like so many others, summer seems to have come and gone far too quickly. Time and the rate of change are curious things because we each bring a different perspective to our perception of it.

Many of you know that I am a geologist so my perception of time normally takes an incredibly long view and I see landscapes through a lens of eons and millennia and beyond. I often write about my observations of the changes that we are seeing and documenting in our local landscape. It seems like these changes are accelerating as well. Change is here and happening fast.

Sea level rise is a major concern for the entire Jersey Shore and our observations of the changes to the marshes here show a dramatically increased frequency of their flooding, changing their structure and the protections that they afford our coastal communities.

As the chief steward of The Wetlands Institute, time is now of the essence and it is time to focus our attention to enhancing the resiliency of the Institute. In July, The Wetlands Institute finalized the purchase of a property along Route 9 in Middle Township. The purchase of a site on the mainland is our first step in better preparing the physical infrastructure of The Wetlands Institute for the future. This new site – to be known as The Wetlands Institute Mainland Campus – strengthens the Institute’s position from the perspective of resiliency and is also an important step to accommodate our continued growth and development.

The 1.2-acre property includes a four-bedroom house, oversized garage, storage shed, lit parking, and a fully fenced yard, and will provide a multitude of benefits to the Institute. We plan to renovate the property for mixed uses including office space and seasonal housing for our summer interns. It will also provide much-needed storage and maintenance areas and secure boat and fleet parking. We have plans to move some of our computing facilities and records to the mainland site as well. We have just begun planning for the renovations and will work closely with Middle Township on all aspects of the project.

We also have plans to enhance resiliency for the main wetland campus that has been a fixture of Middle Township and Seven Mile Island for generations. Our sense of place is strong and our wetland campus will always be important to our mission. We are reimagining The Wetlands Institute campus and are exploring innovative projects to restore our marshes and protect the Institute from the increasing threats of rising seas and enhanced storms. It is our intent to make The Wetlands Institute a model for how we can build resiliency and continue to live in a vibrant and healthy marsh while inviting nature to be an integral part of the campus.

Stay tuned for more about our plans for the future and how you can contribute your ideas to the process.

by Dr. Lenore Tedesco, Executive Director

It’s in our nature to steward our fragile coastal ecosystems. It’s in our nature to conduct applied research to understand how these marshes are changing and how the wildlife that depend on them are impacted, and to use that research to inform conservation. It’s in our nature to educate people of all ages of their importance, and to connect them to the splendor of these ecosystems for everyone’s well-being. It’s in our nature to preserve, protect, and restore – and to inspire others to do the same.

More than 50 years ago, the World Wildlife Fund made south Jersey marshes a bastion of the fledgling conservation movement and protected them for the future. They founded The Wetlands Institute and built a research and education center here, so that people could experience the often inaccessible marsh. At the time, threats to wetlands came largely from coastal development. Losses were dramatic, and setting aside land through conservation was a highly effective strategy. Today, the most serious threats come from rapidly rising seas. They are more complex and affect marshes and coastal ecosystems regardless of their protection status. The effects ripple throughout the interconnected web, involving the systems themselves and all of the plants and animals within them. Solutions are much harder to come by. Letting nature run its course – the do nothing strategy – is no longer viable because doing nothing is causing harm.

Coastal flooding, marsh loss, and beach erosion are now everyday terms in our vernacular. The most widely employed response has been to harden our coastal defenses. Proposed solutions include building seawalls, raising bulkheads, and planning storm surge barriers that will close off the connections at major tidal inlets. Each of these dramatically interrupt the ebb and flow of the natural systems, and disconnect us from the nature that we so love and depend on for both physical and mental health.

The unintended consequences to the ecosystems are significant. A small change in the tidal flow through an inlet caused by a surge barrier can dramatically and negatively impact a marsh’s ability to build vertically to maintain its health. Seawalls and bulkheads block nesting areas for many species, notably diamondback terrapins. Juvenile fish, crabs, and birds rely on shallow mudflats and marshy edges that are absent along bulkheads.

It is against this backdrop that the Seven Mile Island Innovation Lab (SMIIL) was created. This partnership with the US Army Corp of Engineers and State of New Jersey is working to find ways to engineer with nature to reduce coastal flood risk, enhance marsh resilience, and restore vanishing habitats. We are implementing projects using clean dredged sediment; these have been working and have the potential to provide effective alternatives to coastal hardening. A next key focus of SMIIL will be to turn our attention to building resilience for TWI in innovative ways that preserve our connection to nature.

The Wetlands Institute opened its doors over 50 years ago. Over the past half-century, much has changed. What has remained consistent is our commitment to each facet of our mission – research, conservation, and education – and to maintaining the links between them. We are a distinctive organization because of this interconnectedness. It’s in our nature to connect people to the world around them, and this will always be at the heart of who we are.

by Dr. Lenore Tedesco, Executive Director

Fall is in full swing as I write this and the marshes are a vibrant golden color this morning. Later stage migrants are moving through and the wintering waterfowl and raptors are returning to the marsh. It’s a beautiful time, and while the shortening days are harbingers of the winter to come, it’s also a time to take stock of the past year and look forward to the quieter days ahead and think about our winter work. One of the things I love about my work here is that the rhythm of the seasons also dictates the schedule of our projects and programs. There really is not a slow time here anymore, but there is a quieter period that brings opportunities for planning and assessment.

As I look back at 2021 so far, it has been a good year for the Institute. We have gradually seen the resumption of more normal operations. Visitors returned in healthy numbers all summer to reconnect with nature. Our Summer Nature Programs for kids were incredibly busy, with record enrollments. It was wonderful to have the undergraduate interns here again this summer. Summer Celebration was a smashing success. This fall, school and outreach programs are gradually picking up again, though the uncertainty of the unsettled times for schools will continue for a while. Many of our University partnerships for research and course-work have resumed, and we are excited to welcome visiting scientists and students back to the Institute this fall. With fieldwork winding down for the season, our scientists are busy analyzing data and writing reports.

For the next several months, the board and leadership team will be undertaking quite a bit of planning. Several long-serving board members will be finishing their service in January, creating opportunities for more junior board members to move into leadership roles, and for new board members to join in guiding our journey. At the same time, we will be planning for how best to deliver our mission as the scale and complexity of Institute operations continues to increase. There is much to do and it’s refreshing to finally be able to move past the all-consuming work of managing operations around COVID and getting back to the business of serving our mission.

Overall, this has been a remarkable year. Thanks to the steadfast commitment of the trustees, staff, and all of you – our supporters – The Wetlands Institute is strong. I am honored to lead this organization as we move boldly forward, and will be reporting on our plans in the next several issues.

by Dr. Lenore Tedesco, Executive Director

I write to you today on the 10th Anniversary of my tenure as the Executive Director of The Wetlands Institute (TWI). It’s true that the past decade has seen unprecedented growth, and my mantra of making no small plans has been a guiding principal of the strategy that I have employed. The Institute has undergone a remarkable transformation, and research and conservation have been restored to the foundational status that this Institute deserves. Through it all, education programs and visitor services have blossomed, matured, and expanded. We’ve seen a lot of rocky roads including Sandy, an economic downturn, and now COVID, and I am proud to say we are financially strong and as the urgency of our work becomes more apparent every day, we are poised to truly make a difference as we serve our mission.

I am proud of The Wetlands Institute, our history, and our accomplishments. I also understand that perhaps my greatest achievement lies not in what I have done, but in bringing together a remarkable team to lead the way in developing excellence in each area of our work. My first move was to strengthen the financial side of the equation by completely revising Bonnie Girard’s role. Bonnie keeps the financial and administrative wheels turning. Her role has evolved constantly as grant accounting, human resources, and legal compliance efforts grow ever more complex. Bonnie has been the rock that helped build the foundation crucial to all else.

The second key decision was bringing Brooke Knapick to New Jersey. I recruited Brooke to work with me in Indiana, and as soon as I got to TWI, I knew that our education programs needed her. Brooke has an incredible ability to bring science and education together in dynamic and inspirational ways. She is driven every day to provide outstanding, impactful, and meaningful educational programming to TWI. She has transformed our programs across the board, embracing and enhancing a competitive advantage of TWI that is born from housing research, conservation, and education under one roof. Under her leadership, education and visitor programs are flourishing.

By the middle of my second year at TWI, I was able to put the last piece of the leadership puzzle in place. Dr. Lisa Ferguson joined the leadership team and undertook the daunting task of building a culture of research and conservation excellence that had faded in the intervening years following the separation from Lehigh University. Lisa possesses a rare gift. She is a talented scientist that believes in the importance of community, relishes mentoring young scientists, and values the role of applied research. She forged a path that honored the history of terrapin conservation championed by Dr. Roger Wood, added innovative new ways to understand terrapin populations, and has embedded emerging research into conservation best practices. She has done this while building a remarkable horseshoe crab conservation program, and created a coastal bird research and conservation program.

So upon reflection, my greatest accomplishments lie less in what I may have been able to achieve, but in the strength of the leadership team that has been so amazing in their excellence, vision, and commitment to ensuring that their Wetlands Institute is something we can all be proud of.

A Time for Renewal
by Dr. Lenore Tedesco, Executive Director

With summer comes renewal and hopefully the end of a long and difficult time for us all. These past several weeks have brought the first glimpses of a return to more normal times. Visitors are back at the Institute enjoying the wonders of the spring migration and myriad of remarkable creatures that spend the summers here – or are moving through to their final summering grounds. We’re gradually hearing the laughter of children again as educational programs begin to return. Every day we welcome seasonal staff, dramatically expanding our staffing numbers to meet summer program needs. With all the hustle and bustle here, the silence of last year is gradually fading into a distant memory.

There is so much that we missed over these past 15 months, but also so much that we have learned and discovered. Our staff have been simply amazing. They have navigated massive operational disruptions, retooled processes and procedures to continue the life-saving research and conservation work we do, and re-envisioned educational programs to help people connect – or reconnect – to nature.

It’s been a massive undertaking that stressed us to our core. It’s often said that you don’t learn your true strengths until you are tested. All of us have been tested. And we learned that we are strong, innovative, and valued. Perhaps equally important, we were reminded that our friends and supporters will stand by us. Stand by us you did – and more: your support and encouragement helped carry us through.

We’re looking forward with excitement. Though last summer marked the first time in more than 30 years that we were without our interns, we have welcomed them back and are thrilled to have a wonderful cohort of undergraduates working with us again this summer. Our seasonal scientists are here gaining valuable early career experience and supporting critical field research operations. Summer Nature Program registrations are robust. We are planning for in-person celebrations throughout the summer, and hope to see you at the Institute soon. Our future looks bright and your steady support was an important part of making that happen.

I’ve missed seeing you and sharing the excitement, but there is more ahead. As we emerge from the challenges of the pandemic, we are turning our attention to defining strategies for building additional resilience into the organization. You will be hearing about these efforts in the coming months.

Be sure to stay connected to all that is happening at The Wetlands Institute. I look forward to seeing you all. My door is open and most days you can find me here. Drop by, share your thoughts, and know I am always listening.