The Innovation Lab advances dredging and marsh restoration techniques through innovative research, collaboration, and practical application. It is the result of a groundbreaking partnership between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the State of New Jersey, The Wetlands Institute, and the USACE Engineer Research and Development Center.
“The Seven Mile Island Innovation Lab is pioneering the effort to advance innovative approaches to restoring these marshes and reversing decades of damage.”
THE SMIIL encompasses more than 24 square miles of tidal marsh, coastal lagoons and bays behind the developed barrier island communities of Avalon and Stone Harbor. It is bisected by the NJ Intracoastal Waterway and the home of five beneficial use project complexes.
USACE Engineers and Barnegat Bay Dredging Crew Site Inspection and Planning – Sturgeon Island
Dredged material placement on Sturgeon Island to build marsh resiliency
USACE ERDC Scientists and Engineers testing a new dredging technique – Sturgeon Island
TWI Scientists monitoring wading bird colony to document site usage at restoration sites – Gull Island
The Wetlands Institute scientists servicing an automated sampling system in the Avalon marshes
USACE ERDC scientist monitoring marsh restoration – Gull Island
USACE scientists collecting data for engineering design – Gull Island
TWI Scientists monitoring water chemistry at marsh enhancement site – Avalon Marshes
Explore SMIIL Resources
Beneficial Use Project Factsheets (2-page project overviews)
- Introduction to SMIIL
- Field Sampling in SMIIL
- Sturgeon Island Restoration
- Gull Island Restoration
- Great Flats Habitat Creation (coming soon)
SMIIL Partner Factsheets
- ERDC beneficial use factsheet, Gull Island Restoration
- ERDC beneficial use factsheet, Sturgeon Island Restoration
SMIIL Partner Videos
Hear From the Experts (Podcasts)
- Protecting Fragile Coasts and Improving Community Resilience (podcast)
- Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association (AIWA) (podcast)
More About Beneficial Use and What it Means (articles & press)
- TWS2021: Dredged Material Provides Nesting Areas for Birds
The Wildlife Society, 03/07/2022 - A Winning Team: Seven Mile Lab Partners are Advancing the Science of Marsh Restoration
Seven Mile Times, 08/2021 - Army Corps, partners conducting monitoring in New Jersey estuaries and back bay marshes
USACE news release, 07/08/2021 - An Innovative Approach for Wetland Restoration: The Time Is Now
EarthShare New Jersey, 05/2021 - On New Jersey’s barrier islands, a needed focus on saving bayside seashores
NJ Spotlight News online, 11/2020 - One Person’s Trash is Another Person’s Treasure: How dredged sediments can help rebuild drowning coastal marshes
Story Map online, 10/2020 - Improving Dredging and Marsh Restoration Techniques
Seven Mile Times, 05/2020 - Rebirth of New Jersey Marshland
BoatU.S. Magazine, 10/2019 - Coastal Resiliency
Seven Mile Times, 12/2018 - Effects of Rising Sea Level
Seven Mile Times, 12/2017 - Beneficial Reuse of Dredge Materials
Seven Mile Times, 12/2016 - Can Dredge Materials be Beneficial to Marshes?
Wetlands Institute
Dig Deeper (conference presentations & workshops)
Advancing Science and Practice
- 2020 Restore America’s Estuaries (presentation PDF)
- 2020 Delaware Wetlands Conference (presentation PDF)
- 2019 American Intracoastal Waterways (presentation PDF)
Creating Vanishing Habitats and Restoring Tidal Wetlands
- 2021 Delaware Estuary Science Summit – Using Dredged Sediment to Uplift Marshes… (presentation PDF)
- 2020 USFWS Atlantic Coast Venture – Dredged Sediments to Create Habitat… (1-hr technical presentation)
- 2020 Waterbirds – Wading Birds Nesting on Marsh Islands in NJ… (presentation PDF)
- 2019 Waterbirds – Establishing Higher Ground for Nesting Birds… (conference poster)
Adaptive Management