The following documents are for reference. The Borrow Pit Restoration project is currently inactive. If you have questions about these documents, please email [email protected].
Between 2000 and 2003 the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and the New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACOE) conducted a study of the potential for environmental restoration of underwater pits in Jamaica Bay using sediments dredged from the New York-New Jersey Harbor. The study stemmed from the 1999 Dredged Material Management Plan (DMMP) for the Port of New York and New Jersey. The DMMP identified the reclamation of borrow pits as a potential beneficial use of dredged sediment. Borrow pits are depressions on the bay floor that were once mined for fill material to create upland areas such as JFK International Airport.
The study looked at pits in Norton Basin and in Little Bay, two embayments in the southeast corner of Jamaica Bay. NYSDEC and USACOE examined the ecological conditions of these areas as a first step in evaluating the needs and opportunities to bring aquatic life back to these pit areas.
This Phase One study effort culminated in a series of findings and recommendations, which are presented in a formal Findings Statement (PDF). A Technical Evaluation Panel, comprised of experts from City, State, and Federal natural resource agencies, found that the pits in Little Bay are substantially impaired below approximately 25 feet, and that two pits in Norton Basin are impaired below a depth of approximately 30 feet. Depressed dissolved oxygen levels, low quality bottom sediments, and low numbers of benthic organisms are characteristics of these pits. Additionally, Little Bay was found to support almost no finfish. Based on the results of the study, the Panel recommended proceeding to an evaluation of alternatives for improving conditions in these pits. Each alternative would necessarily have to improve tidal circulation within the basins to improve water quality and sediment quality. Suggested options included recontouring the pits, improving the existing inlet, and establishing additional inlets.
Jamaica Bay Borrow Pit Evaluation Project Supporting Documents
These reports were reviewed by the Technical Evaluation Panel in development of the Findings Statement.
- Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc., (2001a). Norton Basin/Little Bay Restoration Project: Historical and Environmental Background Report (PDF)
- Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. (2001b). Norton Basin Restoration Project, Baseline Data Collection at Project and Reference Sites - 2000 (PDF). Final Report to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District. Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc., Kingston, NY.
- Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. (2002a). Sediment Profile Imagery: Norton Basin, Little Bay, Grass Hassock Channel, and the Raunt (PDF), prepared by (Interim report on SPI sampling conducted May 2002).
- Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. (2002b). Sediment Sampling and Analysis Reports: Norton Basin, Little Bay, Grass Hassock, and The Raunt (PDF). (Interim report on sediment characterization and contaminant analysis conducted May 2002).
- Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. (2002c). Bioassay analyses conducted on sediments collected from Jamaica Bay, Far Rockaway, New York, June 2002 (PDF). Final Report to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc., Mobile, AL.
- Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. (2002d) Gill Net & Otter Trawl Sampling: Norton Basin, Little Bay, Grass Hassock Channel, and The Raunt. (Interim report on fish sampling May/June 2002) (PDF).
- Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. (2002e) Gill Net & Otter Trawl Sampling: Norton Basin, Little Bay, Grass Hassock Channel, and The Raunt. (Interim report on fish sampling August 2002) (PDF).
- Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. (2003a). Norton Basin/Little Bay restoration project: Baseline data collection at project and reference sites - 2001 (PDF). Final Report to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District. Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc., Kingston, NY
- Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. (2003b). Benthic Macroinvertebrate Sampling, Norton Basin, Little Bay, Grass Hassock Channel, and the Raunt (PDF). (Interim report on benthic macroinvertebrate surveys conducted June and October, 2002).
- Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. (2003c). A Supplemental Bioaccumulation Study Conducted on Sediments Collected from Jamaica Bay, New York, May 2003 (PDF). Final Report to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc., Mobile, AL.
- Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. (2004a). Multivariate Benthic Community Analysis: Norton Basin/Little Bay Restoration Project (PDF).
- Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. (2004b). Norton Basin/Little Bay Baseline Data Collection - 2002: Fisheries, Benthic Communities, and Sediment Profile Image Analysis (PDF). Final Report to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc., Lake Katrine, NY
- Continental Shelf Associates, Inc. (2001). Initial survey of current speed and direction by acoustic Doppler current profiler for the Norton Basin Baseline Study (PDF). Final report to Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. Continental Shelf Associates, Inc., Jupiter, FL.
- Continental Shelf Associates, Inc. (2002). Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler Survey of Current Speed and Direction for the Norton Basin Baseline Study (PDF).
- Continental Shelf Associates, Inc. (2004). 2002 Water quality and current surveys in the Norton Basin/Little Bay complex (PDF). Final report to Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc. Continental Shelf Associates, Inc., Jupiter, FL.
- CR Environmental, Inc., (2001). Multibeam and Seabed Classification Surveys: Little Bay, Norton Basin, Grass Hassock Channel, and The Raunt, Jamaica Bay, New York (PDF). Final Report to Barry A. Vittor & Associates, Inc., Falmouth, MA
- Great Eastern Ecology, Inc. (2003). Norton Basin/Little Bay Statistical Analysis: Preliminary Project Report and Summary Of Data Analyses (PDF).
- New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. (2003). Jamaica Bay Borrow Pit Evaluation Project - NYSDEC Water Quality Monitoring Report 2000-2002 (PDF).