Sounds of the marsh

Braddock Bay's Unique Landform: the West Spit

Braddock Bay in Monroe County NY is located on the south shore of L. Ontario about 12 miles northwest of Rochester NY.  It is part of the NYS DEC Braddock Bay Wildlife Management Area, a 2,400-acre complex of marsh, ponds, bay and upland. 

At its western mouth a spit occurs due to the littoral or longshore drift that curves around a bend that [by definition] is greater than 30 degrees, thereby depositing soil over the centuries.  The West Spit is privately-owned and is about eight acres of northeast-facing land with underwater sandbars shifting out into Lake Ontario and coming up against the now-defunct Manitou Trolley foundation which extended across the entire bay in the late 1800s.  

Spits are specialized landforms which can protect a bay. The water behind the spit is sheltered from wind and waves and increases the likelihood of marshland being formed. Braddock Bay was formed ~10,000 years ago after the last glacial retreat in New York State and drains a large area of Monroe County extending via Salmon and Buttonwood Creeks as well as West Creek and Little Salmon Creek northwesterly into the towns of Parma, Ogden and Sweden where the terrain slopes upward gradually.

US Army Corps changes plan for Braddock "Make-Over"

The public meeting May 7 at the Greece Town Hall featured a significantly revised plan to permanently alter the mouth of Braddock Bay.  Unlike the original plan, now the concrete headland is moved closer to the center of the bay mouth and an additional overflow channel on the east side of the bay was proposed.  The EPA "has not released the funding" according to Craig Fourchette of the Army Corps/Buffalo.  

Comments referring to "Braddock Bay Application # 2015-00095" may be submitted throughout the month of May and into June and should sent to:   

US Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District
(Attn:) Kathleen Buckler
1776 Niagara Street
Buffalo, NY 14207

Brenda R. Jones
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Great Lakes National Program Office
77 West Jackson Blvd.  (G-17J)
Chicago, IL  60604
(312) 886-7188 phone
(312) 697-2069 fax
jones.brenda@epa.gov  

My comment:

May 7, 2015

To: USACorps, EPA, Town of Greece NY

RE: Proposed concrete headland across eastern side of mouth of Braddock Bay

Braddock Bay, within the NYS DEC Braddock Bay Wildlife Management Area, has been holding its own for ~10,000 years since the glacial retreat. Don’t change the long-term hydrology of the bay. The unique estuarian environment with storm surges from L. Ontario primarily from the northwest combined with the recharge from Salmon and Buttonwood Creeks, make the bay a stable and yet still fragile ecosystem. Any manmade attempt to destroy this is at our peril. Continue to dredge the channel, but don’t destroy the bay with concrete headland at its mouth.

Barbara Carder, 330 Manitou Beach Rd., Hilton NY 14468