Project 1:

Atlantic & Burlington County Sites

Priority

72 - Black Point

Black Point is the largest site in Atlantic County and is located beside the NJ Intracoastal Waterway south of Great Bay adjoining the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge impoundments for bird nesting.  This is a confined site with substantial berm walls enclosing 2,571,527 square feet (59 acres).  The site has not been used in over a decade as evidenced by the density of vegetation in the interior.  There were multiple species of freshwater trees, abundant poison ivy plus the usual Phragmities stands.  On the northwest side are three freshwater ponds as habitat for multiple species of ducks and other shorebirds.  Evidence also was found for resident populations of deer, fox, raccoons, possum and other small mammals.  The southwest corner contained the highest elevation in the interior

Sediment sampling consisted of three cores positioned within the interior in diverse locations that showed the following:

1. Core #1 penetrated 8.0 feet of mostly sand (71.4%) of a fine dark gray to light gray color.  The silt/clay content was 28.6%.  There were two distinct sand layers of different color, but similar size characteristics.
2. Core #2 penetrated 10.0 feet of sand (88.2%), which appeared more uniformly sand of a gray to light gray color.  The surface material was yellow orange indicating an oxidized source environment.  The deeper material was muddy sand and constituted the 11.8% silt fraction in the composite of the entire core sample.
3. Core #3 penetrated 9.0 feet of sand overlying muddy sand.  The sand layer was relatively clean material with the composite of the core containing only 59.4% sand, the rest silt and clay.  This was the lowest composite sand percentage of the three sites.
4. A deep soil probe sample core was driven into the interior floor to a depth of 12.0 feet.  Sediment recovery was mostly sand to a depth of 9.1 feet where a layer of organic roots was encountered.  Below this was another 2.9 feet of fine sand.  The interpretation is that there is at least 12.0 feet of sediment within the berm walls and that the original salt marsh was not encountered.

No core reached the underlying salt marsh, but the elevation (~ 8 ft.) of the interior surface would indicate that the core reached at least to the elevation of the original salt marsh that once existed at this site.  This site is owned by the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, so reuse is probably limited by the presence of two other CDF sites along this section of the IWW and the communication from the wildlife refuge manager that the US Army once used the site as a bombing target during WW II, so the potential for parts of or unexploded ordinance is a possibility.