290 



about 5 miles north of the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge. Efforts of 

 State conservation officials and citizen groups to persuade the company to locate 

 on the upland instead of on the marshes have proved futile. The company has 

 acquired some 1,000 acres of natural estuarine marsh and is continuing a 

 program of further acquisition. I am told that the vote of one member of a small 

 township zoning board was the decisive factor in determining whether there 

 should be 1,000 acres of prime estuarine resources or 1,000 acres of bottom silt 

 landfill. 



(3) Recently the B. F. Goodrich Co. applied to the Corps of Engineers, U.S. 

 Army, for a permit to dredge in the Chesapeake-Delaware Canal (the connect- 

 ing link between the Delaware River Estuary and the Chesapeake Bay Estuary) 

 for the purpose of constructing a dock and berthing facilities for a plant to 

 be constructed on the edge of the canal. Over 1,000 persons attended a public 

 hearing on the application on February 9. Over 90 percent of those attending 

 were opposed to the granting of a permit. Yet this may not be decisive with the 

 Corps of Engineers. The corps is concerned primarily, almost solely, with the 

 effect on navigation of the proposed dock and berthing facilities. If the comjiany 

 can show that the proposed facilities would not seriously hamper navigation 

 it is not at all unlikely that the corps will grant a dredging and filling permit. 



(4) Two or 3 years ago the Sinclair Oil Co. acquired 300 acres of estuarine 

 marsh near Milford Neck, Del, 18 miles south of the Bombay Hook National 

 Wildlife Refuge, for use as a tank farm and unloading port 



(5) A recent newspaper article, confirmed by the New Jersey Division of 

 Fish and Game, states that the Atlantic City Electric Co. has acquired 4,500 to 

 5,000 acres of marsh between Stowe Creek and the Oohansey River along the 

 Delaware River near Bridgeton, N.J. The company intends to construct a nuclear 

 energy plant and industrial complex. The New Jersey green acres program and 

 the division of fish and game had both marked this area for preservation. These 

 are some of the finest estuarine marshes of the estuary. 



Connecticut coast 



Connecticut State Board of Fisheries and Game "Tidal Marsh 

 Area — A Summary as of February 1965" says that the earliest record 

 that seems to have been accurately obtained gives a figure of 36.5 square 

 miles. This figure was published in 1914 in the First Annual Report 

 of the New Jersey Mosquito Extermination Association, In the "1954 

 Wetlands of Connecticut," published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, about 21.7 square miles of this area remained, a reduction of 

 9,500 acres in 40 years. This reduction averages slightly less than 240 

 acres per year, slightly less than 1 percent per year. 



A resurvey in 1959 led to the publication of a second "Wetlands of 

 Connecticut, Revised June 1959". At that time these areas had been 

 further reduced to about 20.2 square miles — 12,937 acres. This reduc- 

 tion averaged about 190 acres per year, slightly less than 1.4 percent a 

 year, 6.8 percent for the 5-year period. Hence, while the actual acreage 

 lost during this period is less than in similar periods, earlier, the 

 percentage lost each year is increasing. A second resurvey in 1964 

 shows a further reduction to about 18.6 square miles — 11,900 acres 

 for the areas of the 1914 survey. This reduction averaged about 200 

 acres per year, 1.6 percent per year of the 1959 acreage, 7.9 percent 

 reduction in acreage over the 5-year period. Both percentagewise and 

 in actual acreage lost the 1959-64 period is higher than was 1954^59. 



The data in the wetlands publications are not directly comparable 

 to those given above, since some upriver tidal marshes are grouped 

 with the saline marshes. These are, in some cases, somewhat less 

 vulnerable to destruction. 



About 20,500 acres of tidal marsh in the State were rated for their 

 value to wildlife in 1954. The high- and moderate-value acreage 

 totaled about 13,000 acres, about 63 percent of the area. The resurvey 



