DNREC Works Into Fall on Beach Nourishment Projects

Having recently completed the Murderkill emergency dredging project which deepened and widened the river channel as depicted above (with marine dredge seen in background), the DNREC Shoreline and Waterway Management Section now turns to smaller truck-haul beach nourishment projects at Pickering Beach and other Kent County locations. The Shoreline and Waterway Management Section also will work on an upcoming nourishment project in partnership with the DNREC Division of Parks and Recreation at Delaware Seashore State Park. DNREC photo.

Pickering Beach in Kent County to Receive Sand Over Next Month,
With Other Bay Beach Communities Set for Sand Reinforcement Ahead

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control is set to continue beach nourishment along the Delaware Bay when the DNREC Shoreline and Waterway Management Section begins a month-long project Monday, Oct. 17 at Pickering Beach in Kent County that will bring some 3,500 cubic yards of sand trucked in from local sources to cover 2,500 feet of community beachfront.

The Pickering Beach nourishment project and others in Delaware Bay communities to be undertaken this year by DNREC are funded in large part by the American Rescue Plan. Funds totaling $1.3M will be used by the Shoreline and Waterway Management Section for deploying small nourishment projects along the Bay beaches to include Pickering Beach, Kitts Hummock, and Cape Shores, in addition to Atlantic Ocean nourishment work at Delaware Seashore State Park’s North Inlet Day Use Area. Work this fall and into winter is expected to lengthen the beach and dune life of a DNREC project that spanned five Bay beach communities and was completed last winter.

“Money from the American Rescue Plan enables us to continue performing these small-scale nourishment efforts both to further fortify some of the more vulnerable sections of Bay beach shoreline and to reinforce the work we’ve recently done in these communities,” said Jesse Hayden, DNREC Shoreline and Waterway Section administrator.

While DNREC’s beach nourishment projects introduce sand into the shoreline system to offset the effects of erosion, the Pickering Beach and Kitts Hummock projects aim more to strengthen – and lengthen – the life of the projects completed last winter in the same communities. “Coastal storms will continue to impact our coast, so having the opportunity to supplement some of the most vulnerable areas even after all of the work we did last year means we will be better prepared for the next storm,” said Hayden.

Because both the Delaware Bay and Atlantic beaches and dunes also provide crucial habitat for migrating shorebirds, including several threatened species, and other wildlife such as spawning horseshoe crabs, DNREC beach nourishment projects ordinarily are not permitted to begin until Oct. 1 each year, and must be completed by April 15 at most beaches, or by March 1 at others. The Bay beach nourishment projects beginning this month are expected to be completed far ahead of those 2023 deadlines.

Delivery of material by DNREC’s sand vendor Pennsy Supply will begin in Pickering Beach on the project start date listed above, while delivery from ML Joseph Sand and Gravel to the Delaware Seashore State Park project site is expected to begin by early November. Construction at Pickering Beach is planned for four weeks, weather-dependent, and with work occurring during DNREC standard business hours Monday through Thursday. The beach will be closed during construction activity but will be open Friday through Sunday for the duration of the project. Visitors should anticipate partial closures of the beach at Delaware Seashore State Park’s North Inlet Day Use Area while heavy equipment is on site during standard business hours Monday through Thursday.

More information about the work of the DNREC Shoreline and Waterway Management Section can be found at de.gov/shoreline. More information on beach nourishment in Delaware is available from Outdoor Delaware magazine, de.gov/outdoordelaware.

About DNREC
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control protects and manages the state’s natural resources, protects public health, provides outdoor recreational opportunities and educates Delawareans about the environment. The DNREC Division of Watershed Stewardship develops and implements innovative watershed assessment, monitoring and implementation activities. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media Contacts: Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov; Nikki Lavoie, nikki.lavoie@delaware.gov

###

With Delaware Bay Beach Nourishment Projects Complete, DNREC Now Works Toward Restoring Atlantic Coastline

DNREC’s completed Bay beach nourishment project in Pickering Beach, showing a wide beach berm and newly planted beach grass. /DNREC photo

Recovery from the Recent Nor’easter to Continue Into Fall

Having recently completed beach nourishment projects in five Delaware Bay beach communities, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control today begins the next phase of restoring parts of Delaware’s coastline, including the beaches that experienced widespread erosion and damage from a May nor’easter.

“Our Shoreline team will be hard at it for the foreseeable future on beach restoration priorities that this storm handed us,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. “While restoring the beaches will not be instant nor easy, we are confident of surmounting the challenge ahead. We’re working on making the state’s beaches accessible and in shape for the summer. Of course, we also welcome the communities’ help in restoring the beaches just as they – and we – value our federal partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers when expected beach nourishment projects begin in a number of these communities as early as next fall.”

“The damage done to our beaches by the recent nor’easter makes clear that robust federal, state and local partnerships are needed now more than ever,” said U.S. Senator Tom Carper, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “I have been fighting to give one of our key federal partners in this effort — the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — several new beach restoration tools in the 2022 Water Resources Development Act legislation. Among the provisions in the bill are: emergency authority to allow the Corps to help restore beaches in the aftermath of storms; a requirement that the federal government pay 90% of the costs of the Bay Beach nourishment project; and a reorientation of the Corps’ civil works program to proactively address climate change and streamline the implementation of shoreline protection and restoration projects. The state of Delaware should be able to count on the support of the Corps and other federal agencies to help restore our beaches and make sure our communities are protected.”

DNREC recently completed beach nourishment project in the Pickering Beach, Kitts Hummock, Bowers, South Bowers, and Slaughter Beach communities. This project used approximately 52,650 cubic yards of sand – enough to fill almost 11 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The next restoration phase spans the majority of the state’s coastline and will require DNREC to partner with the Army Corps of Engineers and affected communities to restore the coastline.

“The long duration of the storm and the post-storm wind direction mean we may not see a rapid natural rebuilding of the beach,” said DNREC Shoreline and Waterway Section administrator Jesse Hayden. “The dunes did their job protecting our communities from being inundated, but by absorbing the impact of the storm they suffered damage that affects people’s ability to access the beach. Our immediate goal is restore as much safe beach access in as many communities as possible so that beachgoers can enjoy a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day weekend. Our partners are a big part of that.”

DNREC’s post-storm work is set to begin this week in South Bethany, the community worst hit by the storm, and restoration work will then move south to north. At each juncture, DNREC will clean up debris such as smashed dune fencing and will re-grade numerous access crossings. DNREC also is working on a nourishment project north of the Indian River Inlet which lost significant sand from the dune critical to protecting the roadway and the Indian River Inlet Bridge.

“The first pass made by our team will focus on cleanup and restoring access,” Hayden said. “When that work is done, we will begin repairing the damaged dune fence.” Both post and rope and wooden dune fence do the job of keeping people off the sensitive dune. But where wooden dune fence can trap wind-blown sand at its base, a post and rope system allows a more natural exchange where vegetation covering the dune can trap wind-blown sand over a wider area. DNREC uses both types, depending on the management needs in each area.

DNREC’s beach nourishment projects introduce sand into the shoreline system to offset the effects of erosion. The beach and dune are an important natural line of defense between the ocean or bay and inland public and private infrastructure, including houses and roads. Both the Delaware Bay and Atlantic beaches and dunes also provide crucial habitat for migrating shorebirds, including several threatened species, and other wildlife, such as spawning horseshoe crabs – which, under ordinary circumstances, means beach nourishment projects must be completed by April 15 or by March 1 at some beaches, with beach nourishment not permitted again until Oct. 1.

However, after Pickering Beach was impacted by a nor’easter on April 18, the Shoreline and Waterway Management Section requested and received approval from DNREC’s Division of Fish and Wildlife to replace sand that had washed onto the road there back onto the beach. The sand was then reshaped into a dune at Pickering. The other Bay beach communities experienced some erosion of newly placed beach and dune sand, but none of the towns where the nourishment was made experienced overtopping of the dune from the most recent nor’easter.

Several bay beach communities experienced minor impacts from the more recent nor’easter that caused widespread erosion on the both coasts – some of the truck-hauled sand from that project was moved around and lost because of the storm. But the winter beach nourishment at South Bowers, Bowers, Kitts Hummock, Pickering Beach and Slaughter Beach largely held its ground and worked to protect the communities in the face of high tides and winds. Future nourishment is planned along both the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay coastlines. Along the Atlantic Ocean, large scale nourishment projects in partnership with the Corps of Engineers will include Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, Bethany Beach, South Bethany, and Fenwick Island. Along Delaware Bay, DNREC will perform small-scale nourishment to further fortify the most vulnerable sections of shoreline.

More information about the work of the DNREC Shoreline and Waterway Management Section can be found at de.gov/shoreline. More information on beach nourishment in Delaware available from Outdoor Delaware, de.gov/outdoordelaware.

Media Contacts: Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov; Nikki Lavoie, nikki.lavoie@delaware.gov

Beach Nourishment Projects Set for Pickering Beach, Kitts Hummock, Bowers, South Bowers, and Slaughter Beach

Widespread beach erosion such as occurred at Bowers from coastal storms this year will be mitigated when DNREC replenishment projects fortify the most vulnerable areas across five Delaware Bay communities. /DNREC photo

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) Shoreline and Waterway Management Section expects to begin beach nourishment work in the Pickering Beach, Kitts Hummock, Bowers, South Bowers, and Slaughter Beach communities in early January 2022.
Beach nourishment projects introduce sand into the shoreline system to offset the effects of erosion. The beach and dune are an important natural line of defense between the Delaware Bay and inland public and private infrastructure, including houses and roads. The Delaware Bay beaches and dunes also provide recreational opportunities to residents and visitors and habitat to an array of plants and animals.
The beaches and dunes in sections of these communities ranked high in DNREC’s 2020 assessment of beach vulnerability, and planning has been underway for a small-scale nourishment project since mid-2021. Additionally, recent beach surveys and monitoring by the Shoreline and Waterway Management Section, together with resident and community feedback, indicate these communities were among the most impacted by coastal storms that produced widespread damages throughout the Delaware Bay shoreline in October and November.
Within each community, DNREC crews will place sand on the sections of the beach and dunes most degraded by erosion and storms. It is not possible to place sand along the entirety of each of the communities during this series of projects.
For most communities, the nourishment project will consist of delivering and spreading truck-hauled sand fill from a clean inland source. DNREC expects the cost of sand to be high and availability of sand to be limited compared to past years, due to high demands for the same material from the construction industry.
At South Bowers, beach-quality sand will be dredged from the Murderkill River Inlet and entrance channel and placed on the beach. The beneficial re-use of dredged material for beach replenishment is a regional sediment management technique that allows sand to remain in the local coastal system and provides cost advantages by producing mutual benefits from a single project.
Site preparation work for the nourishment projects will begin in mid- to late-December, and DNREC anticipates starting nourishment activities in January 2022. The project will be multi-phased, with individual communities receiving sand at different times based on the availability of sand, personnel, and equipment.
The truck-haul projects must be completed by April 15 on most of the beaches and March 1 on Slaughter Beach, when beach and dune construction must end to avoid adverse impacts to fish and wildlife. Further replenishment for these communities will be considered for fall/winter of 2022.
More information about the work of the Shoreline and Waterway Management Section can be found on the DNREC website.

Media Contacts: Joanna Wilson, joanna.wilson@delaware.gov; Michael Globetti, michael.globetti@delaware.gov

###

Rehoboth Beach nourishment project to begin under direction of DNREC, US Army Corps of Engineers

REHOBOTH BEACH – The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control announced today that a beach nourishment project for the City of Rehoboth Beach partnering DNREC’s Shoreline & Waterway Management Section with the US Army Corps of Engineers expects to begin pumping sand this week along the north end of Rehoboth Beach.

Sand pumping operations by the project contractor Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company will coincide with planned temporary closures of sections of the beach to ensure public safety. The first closure area is near the Deauville Beach parking lot. Work on the beach nourishment project will continue south to Rehoboth Avenue in Rehoboth Beach before moving to Dewey Beach for a second nourishment project teaming DNREC and the Corps of Engineers.

The Oak Brook, Ill.-based Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company is operating on a contract managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which provided 65 percent of the project’s $7.2 million in funding. DNREC, as the non-federal partner for the project, provided 35 percent of the funds required for completing the nourishment project.

Contractor personnel have been moving equipment to the site during ongoing preparatory work the past few weeks. Rehoboth Beach’s beach closure areas will move south along with construction activity. Estimated completion for the nourishment project is 20 days in Rehoboth Beach followed by 25 days in Dewey Beach.

DNREC staff work closely with the Corps of Engineers on project oversight, participating in weekly project progress meetings, acting as liaison between the Corps and the municipalities where is occurring, and participate in inspections and acceptance of the project components upon completion.

For more information and questions about the project, please call Steve Rochette of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District at 215-656-6515.

Media contact: Beth Shockley, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

-End-

DNREC’s Shoreline & Waterway Management Section to hold informational meeting Sept. 17 in Bethany on Massey’s Ditch maintenance dredging project

DOVER – DNREC’s Shoreline & Waterway Management Section within the Division of Watershed Stewardship will hold an informational open house Monday, Sept. 17 to discuss the upcoming Massey’s Ditch maintenance dredging project. The public meeting will be held from 6 – 7:30 p.m. at the South Coastal Library, 43 Kent Avenue, Bethany Beach, DE 19930.

Topics for discussion will be current shoaling issues at Massey’s Ditch and the need for maintenance dredging; the beneficial reuse of the dredged material for beach nourishment on the north side of Indian River Inlet, and a general overview of sediment management in the Indian River Inlet system. Interested parties are encouraged to attend the open house to share ideas and comments on the maintenance dredging project, as well as to ask questions of DNREC’s Shoreline & Waterway Management Section staff about these important topics.

The Massey’s Ditch maintenance dredging project is anticipated to start in late fall or early winter.

For more information, please call the Division of Watershed Stewardship, 302-739-9921.

Vol. 48, No. 229