Builders filled wetlands partly because dredged bay-bottom made cheap fill

Evidence

The testimony also dramatized the role of homebuilders in the loss of tidal marshes. On Long Island, as witness after witness pointed out, the principal threat to wetlands was residential development. Throughout the 1950s, one conservationist testified, builders “seeking new lands to develop looked on the salt marshes on the upland side of Long Island as a cheap supply of marginal land – with a convenient and very low cost source of fill right next door by simply dredging up the bay bottom and pumping this material onto the marshes.” The Long Island suburbs were not unique. From New Jersey to California, wetlands were fast falling victim to urban sprawl. — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, 661

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Septic tanks let builders develop cheap land beyond sewer lines — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 376; The building trade celebrated filling wetlands as cheap premium building sites. — Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside:…, 641; Dredged sediment rebuilt a shorebird lagoon and beach park in West Oakland (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Dredged sediment rebuilt a shorebird lagoon and beach park in West Oakland #corroborates (0.82)