Poplar Island is an enormous artificial creation rising out of the Bay's waters, 3.5 miles long and a half-mile wide. To build it, workers placed sand, rock, and dredged sediment on the remains of the original Poplar Island, which had nearly disappeared during the previous century. This massive feat of engineering, begun in 1998, is a large-scale experiment to test solutions to several challenges facing the Bay. One is to create enough storage space to contain all of the sediment dredged from the Bay's cargo-shipping channels. Another challenge is to rebuild and restore small, low-lying islands in the Bay that have been eroded and submerged by rising sea level. Yet another challenge is to reverse the loss of natural marsh and wildlife habitat around the Chesapeake. Scientists are studying the engineered marshes on Poplar Island to see how they compare to natural marshes in taking up excess nutrients and giving a home to birds and other wildlife.   more . . .