DNREC, City of Lewes to erect fencing at Lewes Beach primary dune beginning first week of November

DOVER – DNREC’s Shoreline & Waterway Management Section and the City of Lewes will begin erecting fencing along the bay side of the primary dune at Lewes Beach during the first week of November. The fencing is designed to help protect the dune’s fragile habitat, and act as a deterrent to area residents leaving personal effects and items on the dune that can damage it. The dune-fencing project is expected to take two weeks for completion, depending on weather conditions.

In August, the Shoreline & Waterway Management Section within DNREC’s Division of Watershed Stewardship distributed flyers by mail to area residents asking them to remove any items, such as bikes, boats, kayaks and other water sports equipment from the dune before the fencing project began. Any such personal property remaining on the dune at the start of the project will be removed by DNREC staff.

Earlier this summer, DNREC also placed signage at Lewes Beach reminding beachgoers to stay out of the dune. Lewes Beach residents and visitors were advised to use only existing pathways through the dune when crossing it.

The Shoreline & Waterway Management Section notes that for a dune to best provide protection for coastal communities, a continuous dune line must be maintained. Structures and recreational equipment illegally placed in the dune area, along with heavy use of dunes by pedestrians for access to the beach, can destroy vegetation, and lower the elevation of the dune, thereby reducing the dune’s protection capabilities.

Illegally-stored items also smother and kill the beach grass that supports and helps sustain the dune. Without beach grass, windblown sand is not trapped in the dune, creating weak spots that can be breached by flood waters during coastal storms.

For more information on dune protection, please contact DNREC’s Shoreline & Waterway Management Section at 302-739-9921 or the City of Lewes at 302-645-7777.


DNREC, City of Lewes launch outreach campaign to clear Lewes dune of illegally-stored personal items such as kayaks

Items stored on the dune can damage it, and the vegetation that helps hold it together.

DOVER – Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control and the City of Lewes will launch an awareness campaign next week aimed at clearing the Lewes dune of personal effects such as boats and kayaks that are stored illegally on the dune – not only causing harm to the dune but preventing it from protecting coastal properties and from providing natural habitat for native wildlife.

Lewes Dune Protection FlyerIn collaboration with the city, DNREC’s Shoreline & Waterway Management Section within the Division of Watershed Stewardship will distribute a flyer advising against storing items such bikes, boats, kayaks and other water sports equipment on the dune. DNREC is mailing the flyer as a reminder to all Lewes property owners seaward of the canal in Lewes Beach – property owners within walking distance to the dune – that storing items on the dune is breaking the law in Delaware.

A second reminder to property owners and their guests is obeying another state law limiting pedestrian access and vehicle traffic on the dune. This law prohibits operation of motorized vehicles, transportation or storage of any type of boat, and pedestrian traffic across or on the primary dune on any state-owned or state-maintained public beach, except at dune crossing locations approved by DNREC.

The Shoreline & Waterway Management Section notes that for a dune to provide best protection for coastal properties, a continuous dune line needs to be maintained. A low spot in the dune can allow storm tides and waves to create a dune breach, exposing properties behind the protective dunes to storm waves. Structures, cars, trucks, bikes, boats, and other equipment placed in the dune area and heavy use of dunes by pedestrians for access to the beach can destroy vegetation and lower the elevation of the dune, thereby reducing the dune’s protection capabilities. Illegally storing manmade items, such as kayaks, boats or beach chairs smothers the beach grass that supports and helps sustain the dune. Without beach grass, sand is not trapped in the dune – and when sand is not trapped, it can be blown away by the wind, creating weak spots in the dune that can be breached by flood waters during coastal storms.

DNREC also has begun placing signage at Lewes Beach to remind beachgoers to stay out of the dunes, and will begin installing sand fencing in the same area where the signs are erected later in the season. For more information on dune protection, please contact DNREC’s Shoreline & Waterway Management Section at 302-739-9921 or the City of Lewes at 302-645-7777.

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

Vol. 49, No. 210