DOVER – DNREC Secretary David Small and Kitts Hummock residents gathered Thursday at the small community on central Delaware’s Bayshore to encourage volunteer signups for the 2016 Delaware Coastal Cleanup, to be held from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Sept. 17 at more than 50 sites statewide.

Sponsored by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the cleanup spans the First State’s 97-mile eastern coastline and includes Delaware River and Bay and Atlantic Ocean shorelines as well as wetland and watershed areas.

“With Delaware’s annual Coastal Cleanup, we know we are making a difference. Not only are we cleaning up trash from our beaches, waterways and watershed areas, we are raising public awareness about trash disposal and recycling,” Secretary Small said. “In addition, the data our volunteers gather helps identify the source of debris and focus efforts on reducing or eliminating it, both locally and internationally.”

Preregistration is open on the Delaware Coastal Cleanup page on the DNREC website, and is strongly encouraged to ensure enough supplies are packed for each site. Preregistration will close Monday, Sept. 5.

“Many of our sites need more volunteers, especially some of our smaller sites along the Delaware Bayshore and in our wildlife areas,” said Delaware Coastal Cleanup Coordinator Joanna Wilson. “The success of the Coastal Cleanup depends on a diverse group of volunteers, from civic organizations, youth groups and businesses to individuals and families, and we want to encourage both new and veteran volunteers to come out and join this important effort Sept. 17. And, it’s a great day outdoors in some of Delaware’s most beautiful and unique places!”

Some of this year’s sites that need additional volunteers are:

New Castle County

• Augustine Beach Wildlife Area – impoundment and boat ramp sites south of Delaware City*
• Cedar Swamp Wildlife Area – Collins Beach Boat Ramp and Thoroughfare Neck Road sites, northeast of Smyrna*

Kent County

• Little Creek Wildlife Area/Port Mahon Road, east of Dover*
• Big Stone Beach and Bennetts Pier, on the Delaware Bayshore near Bowers Beach/Frederica*

Sussex County

• Nanticoke Wildlife Area – Phillips Landing, on the Nanticoke River near Laurel*
• Slaughter Beach near Milford
• Boat Hole/Love Creek, near Lewes*
• Lewes Public Boat Ramp*
• Lewes Beach
• Dewey/Indian Beach
• Bethany Beach
• South Bethany Beach
• Delaware Seashore State Park – 3Rs Road, Keybox Road, North and South Indian River Inlet sites
• Fenwick Island

*Unique smaller sites that especially need volunteers

Popular sites that do not need additional volunteers include Cape Henlopen State Park sites and Rehoboth Beach.

Delaware’s Cleanup is part of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, the world’s largest annual clearing of trash from coastlines and lakes by volunteers. Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world help each year to rid the environment of marine debris and collect detailed information on the types and quantities of refuse they find. This information is recorded on data cards and forwarded to the Center for Marine Conservation, which compiles data for all of the cleanups held in the country and around the world. This information helps identify the source of the debris and focus efforts on eliminating or reducing it.

The Delaware Coastal Cleanup is sponsored by DNREC, which organizes the event, recruits volunteers, distributes supplies, ensures trash removal and tabulates all data collected. Co-sponsors are Edgewell Personal Care/Playtex Manufacturing, which provides gloves, and Waste Management, which hauls trash and recyclables. The Ocean Conservancy supplies trash bags, data cards and brochures on marine debris.

For more information about the Ocean Conservancy and the International Coastal Cleanup, visit www.oceanconservancy.org.

For more information about the Delaware Coastal Cleanup, please call Joanna Wilson, Delaware Coastal Cleanup coordinator, at 302-739-9902.

At the 2015 Delaware Coastal Cleanup, 1,492 dedicated volunteers collected 7.8 tons of trash from 50 sites along Delaware’s shorelines and tributaries. About one-quarter of that trash – mostly aluminum cans and plastic bottles – was recycled. Volunteers’ more unusual finds included a raincoat, a hair dryer, a wig, a perfume bottle, a can of Sterno, a tent, two propane tanks, a bow and arrows, a bike pedal, a dog leash and more than 20 bags of dog waste, a smoke detector, a recliner, a metal bed frame, light bulbs, a paint roller and paintbrush, ceiling tiles, a mop head, trash cans, a sink, a toilet seat, carpet pieces, batteries, a rusty fire pit, a microwave, plastic and wood fencing, a teacup, chopsticks, tiki torch holders and four shot glasses, one of which was still full.

Media Contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 46, No. 316

HARRINGTON – Today at the Delaware State Fair, Governor Jack Markell and DNREC Secretary David Small honored wetland professional and geologist Bartholomew Wilson and teachers Robin Moxley and Patricia Bear as Delaware’s 2016 Wetland Warriors for their efforts to conserve and restore wetlands and to educate young Delawareans about the importance of these vital areas.

“Wetlands are one of Delaware’s most important natural resources, buffering our land and communities against coastal storms, absorbing and filtering water on its way to the Delaware River, Bay and ocean or the Chesapeake Bay, and providing precious habitat for our wildlife,” said DNREC Secretary David Small. “Today, we are recognizing and thanking three Delaware Wetland Warriors who have dedicated their careers to wetlands protection, conservation and education.”

Bart Wilson, this year’s Wetland Warrior in the professional category, has spent his career working with state and federal agencies and non-governmental and private sector organizations to promote wetland restoration and water quality improvements across Delaware. He has worked on numerous committees and task forces, water quality best management practices (BMPs), living shoreline projects, and performed outreach and education to the general public.

Currently, Wilson works for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, managing the largest combined shoreline and marsh restoration project ever undertaken in the State of Delaware at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Milton. This $38 million project, which focuses on building storm and sea level rise resiliency back into the natural landscape and creating habitat for birds, is repairing breached marshes and reconstructing damaged shorelines to 4,000 acres of tidal marsh.

“As a resource, there is nothing else like wetlands. Wetlands are a dynamic intersection of land and sea that can be very robust yet fragile, and a vital and unique resource where life begins for so many species and where many components of our environment are recycled,” Wilson said. “My fascination with wetlands started with researching the evolution of wetlands after the last ice age. It always amazes me that during those extreme changes in sea level, tidal wetlands found a way to persist and continue to evolve, even as they do today on a different scale.”

Sharing this year’s Wetland Warrior Award in the education and outreach category are two veteran teachers from the Appoquinimink School District. Both recently retired – Robin Moxley with 30 years and Patti Bear with 31. For 21 years, Mss. Moxley and Bear team-taught fifth grade science, with a special passion for wetlands that they shared with several generations of students, leaving a legacy of young Delawareans well-prepared to appreciate and care for our wetlands for years to come.

“Patti and I always tried to involve our students with hands-on outdoor activities to enhance learning in the classroom,” Moxley said. “We drew on local resources – we took our students to [DNREC’s] Aquatic Resources Education Center, worked with their wetlands kits, did beach cleanups and other activities to let them see and touch wetlands and make them real.”

The Wetland Warrior Award, now in its ninth year, is presented annually to a citizen, organization or business that has demonstrated exemplary efforts to benefit Delaware wetlands in the areas of outreach and education, monitoring and assessment, or restoration and protection.

“Delaware’s wetlands are a valuable natural resource that helps defend our coastlines and purify our drinking waters,” said Brittany Haywood, DNREC Wetland Monitoring and Assessment Program. “A lot of great work is being done to protect wetlands throughout the state by everyday citizens, scientists and students. This award aims to acknowledge and thank them for all of their hard work.”

Next year’s call for nominations will be posted in the spring on the Delaware Wetlands website. For details about past Delaware Wetland Warriors, please click Wetland Warrior.

Media Contact: Joanna Wilson, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 46, No. 282

DOVER – Online volunteer registration opened this week for the 30th annual Delaware Coastal Cleanup, to be held from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Sept. 17. Sponsored by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the cleanup spans the First State’s 97-mile eastern coastline and includes river and ocean shorelines as well as wetland and watershed areas. This year, more than 50 sites in New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties are targeted for volunteers to scour and make cleaner.

Volunteers are strongly encouraged to preregister at the Delaware Coastal Cleanup webpage on the DNREC website to ensure enough supplies are packed for each site. Preregistration will close at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6.

At last year’s Coastal Cleanup, 1,492 dedicated volunteers from civic organizations, youth groups, businesses and families collected 7.8 tons of trash from 50 sites along Delaware’s shorelines and tributaries. About one-quarter of that trash – mostly aluminum cans and plastic bottles – was recycled. Volunteers’ more unusual finds included a raincoat, a hair dryer, a wig, a perfume bottle, a can of Sterno, a tent, two propane tanks, a bow and arrows, a bike pedal, a dog leash and more than 20 bags of dog waste, a smoke detector, a recliner, a metal bed frame, light bulbs, a paint roller and paintbrush, ceiling tiles, a mop head, trash cans, a sink, a toilet seat, carpet pieces, batteries, a rusty fire pit, a microwave, plastic and wood fencing, a teacup, chopsticks, tiki torch holders and four shot glasses, one of which was still full.

Delaware’s Cleanup is part of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, the world’s largest annual clearing of trash from coastlines and lakes by volunteers. Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world help each year to rid the environment of marine debris and collect detailed information on the types and quantities of refuse they find. This information is recorded on data cards and forwarded to the Center for Marine Conservation, which compiles data for all of the cleanups held in the country and around the world. This information helps identify the source of the debris and focus efforts on eliminating or reducing it.

For more information about the Ocean Conservancy and the International Coastal Cleanup, visit www.oceanconservancy.org.

For more information about the Delaware Coastal Cleanup, please call Joanna Wilson, Delaware Coastal Cleanup coordinator, at 302-739-9902.

Vol. 46, No. 273

DOVER – Final  amendments to Delaware’s Regulations Governing Beach Protection and the Use of Beaches – that implement legislative changes to the state’s Beach Preservation Act and clarify and codify the process for construction to help preserve the state’s fragile dune and beach system – will go into effect Aug. 11. The amendments, pursuant to 7DE Admin. Code §5102, were approved July 15 in an order signed by DNREC Secretary David Small, and will be submitted to the State of Delaware’s Register of Regulations for publication Aug. 1. 

Delaware’s Beach Preservation Act was passed in 1972 as the General Assembly recognized that Delaware’s beaches were rapidly deteriorating due to a combination of natural processes and continuing encroachment. DNREC was charged through the act to enhance, preserve and protect the public and private beaches of the state and to mitigate beach erosion and minimize storm damage.

A significant amendment to the Beach Preservation Act was passed by the General Assembly in 1996, requiring DNREC to take additional steps to minimize the impacts on the beach and dunes from any construction that took place seaward of the building line established to protect coastal dunes. The methodology for achieving the objective stated in the legislation was developed by the Department as a set of procedures and guidance that became known as “The Four-Step Process.” This guidance had not been incorporated into Delaware’s beach regulations until now.

“Delaware’s beaches and dunes are among our most vulnerable natural resources, a significant driver behind our state’s economy and critical to protecting our coastal areas,” said Secretary Small. “Incorporating the Four-Step Process into the regulation, as it has existed and been applied during the past 20 years, assures consistency, transparency and certainty for the public. It also allows the development and redevelopment of these sensitive areas to occur in an orderly and equitable fashion.”

Current Regulations Governing Beach Protection and the Use of Beaches were adopted in 1983. Since then, several amendments have been made to Delaware’s Beach Preservation Act that had not yet been incorporated into the regulations, along with several procedures used over the years to guide DNREC’s mission as stated in both the Beach Preservation Act and the state regulations for beach protection and use.

Notable proposed changes include:

• Changes to the Beach Preservation Act (Del. Code Title 7, Ch. 68) define a “Regulated Area,” which requires formal approval for construction activities for the first three buildable lots landward of the Mean High Waterline. “Regulated area” is the specific area within the defined beach that DNREC is directed to regulate construction of, to preserve dunes and to reduce property damage. The regulated area shall be from the seaward edge of the beach to the landward edge of the third buildable lot in from the mean high water line. This revision expands the amount of lots required to get approval in some areas and reduces it in others. Changes to the Act mandated this change in the regulations.
• The Regulations incorporate amendments to the Beach Preservation Act (Del. Code Title 7, Ch. 68), which direct DNREC to consider the effects of beach nourishment, where maintained to engineering standards, when existing houses located seaward of the Building Line are being reconstructed after being destroyed by an “Act of God or other accidental event.”
• Placement and approval of temporary structures are directly addressed in the revised regulations. The placement of temporary structures related to an event lasting 72 hours or less will be exempt from getting approval.
• The Four-Step Process for requiring proposed structures seaward of the Building Line to minimize encroachment onto beach and dunes, which is currently Department policy, is incorporated into the revised regulations.

Secretary’s Order 2016-WS-0023 about the amended regulations, as signed by Secretary Small, can be found on the DNREC website at: http://www.dnrec.delaware.gov/Info/Pages/SecOrders_Regulations.aspx. Paper or electronic copies of the regulations may be requested by contacting DNREC’s Division of Watershed Stewardship’s Shoreline & Waterway Management Section at (302) 739-9921.

CONTACT: Michael Globetti, DNREC Public Affairs 302-739-9902

Vol. 46, No. 262

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LEWES (July 15, 2016) –DNREC’s Delaware Coastal Programs and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Body (RPB) invite ocean stakeholders and the interested public to attend an open house to consider a draft Mid-Atlantic Regional Ocean Action Plan. The open house is scheduled from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 20 at The Virden Retreat Center, University of Delaware, 700 Pilottown Road, Lewes, DE 19958. The program will begin with a brief presentation on the draft plan, followed by a poster session and opportunities for questions and comment. The agenda can be found on the Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean (MARCO) website by clicking here.

“The draft Mid-Atlantic Ocean Action Plan represents nearly three years of deliberations and stakeholder outreach by the Mid-Atlantic Regional Planning Body in developing ocean policy for the region,” said Sarah W. Cooksey, Delaware Coastal Program Administrator, who along with DNREC Fisheries Administrator John Clark, is the state’s representative on the RPB. “With many people in Delaware depending on the ocean for its vast resources, the RPB is providing an opportunity for stakeholders and the public to learn about the plan and give comments that will be considered for the final document that will be submitted to the federal government.”

The draft plan outlines a series of actions on how federal and state agencies, tribes and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council can better collaborate to ensure healthy, productive, and resilient marine ecosystems and sustainable ocean uses in the Mid-Atlantic, including state and federal waters off Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. The draft Plan can be found on the RPB website at http://www.boem.gov/MidA-New/. The public comment period closes on September 6, 2016.

The draft plan supports improved government coordination and increased stakeholder participation to ensure healthy ocean ecosystems and sustainable ocean uses. The healthy ocean ecosystem goal promotes ocean health, functionality, and integrity through conservation, protection, enhancement, and restoration. Sustainable ocean uses require planning to provide for existing and emerging ocean uses that minimize conflicts, improve effectiveness of government, and support economic growth.

The draft plan has been developed by the RPB with the support of MARCO. Established in 2009 by the Governors of Delaware, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, and Virginia, MARCO provides a forum for the coastal Mid-Atlantic states to collaborate on shared regional priorities related to marine habitats, renewable offshore energy, climate change adaptation, and ocean water quality.

Last January, Delaware Coastal Programs hosted the MARCO forum on scientific data that was used to develop the draft Ocean Action Plan for the region. The content of the plan is the culmination of research, coordination and planning through contracted projects that included marine ecological data, human use data and the Regional Ocean Assessment.

President Obama’s National Ocean Policy mandated that each U.S. ocean and coastal region develop a plan to guide ocean use, manage resources, and utilize the principles of marine spatial planning for increased coordination across all levels of government. Additional information about the RPB may be found at http://www.boem.gov/Mid-Atlantic-Regional-Planning-Body/.

Contact: Sarah W.Cooksey, Delaware Coastal Programs, 302-739-9283; John Clark, Division of Fish and Wildlife, 302-739-9914; or Melanie Rapp, DNREC Public Affairs, 302-739-9902

Vol. 46, No. 258