Wetland Restoration Project
Dragon Products Company
Thomaston, ME
Kleinschmidt assisted Dragon Products Company in the development of a
wetlands restoration and enhancement plan to mitigate the impacts of expanding
a limestone quarry. Dragon's 20 year expansion project for cement manufacturing
will affect an existing 17 acre wetland. Kleinschmidt scientists and engineers,
Dragon personnel and their attorneys, developed alternative strategies
for mitigating and compensating wetland
impacts. The result was a wetlands
restoration and preservation plan that incorporates three innovative approaches
to wetlands restoration and creation: 1) restoration of a wetland by filling
an abandoned quarry, 2) restoration of a wetland by filling an old landfill,
and 3) use of a cascade basin system to manage stormwater runoff from five
individual wetland areas.
The cascade basin approach allows Dragon to adjust the design parameters on an as-needed basis to maximize the success of wetland restoration activities. The cascade design provides flexibility in the hydraulics, soils composition and vegetation plantings in each individual basin. This approach minimizes the total construction cost to the company, while assuring permitting agencies of successful restoration efforts before existing wetlands in the quarry expansion site are disturbed.
The Army Corps of Engineers has identified this project as an important test site for wetland restoration and creation activities. Success of the project will be confirmed within three years of completing the first cascade basin for the project.