Great Blue Heron at Trap Pond, by 2021 contest winner Sharon Denny.

Photographers of all ages and skill levels are invited to participate in the Delaware Watersheds Photo Contest. Hosted by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, the contest will share the beauty of Delaware’s diverse environment while acting as a vivid reminder that everything that happens on land directly affects what happens in our waterways.

A watershed is land that water moves across or under while flowing to a specific body of water. All land in Delaware is part of a watershed. This year, images taken in any watershed within the state of Delaware will be accepted. The contest opens online for entries on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022 and closes on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2022.

“This contest challenges photographers to go out to capture and share the unique beauty and functionality of Delaware’s watersheds,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. “In addition, sharing these photos will help highlight areas of the state that have an important and significant role in improving our water quality and managing water quantity, which are both under threat due to the impacts of climate change on our state.”

A panel of judges consisting of a photographer, an educator and a scientist from DNREC staff will be looking for striking photographic images of Delaware’s waterways, landscapes, sustainable watershed practices, native plants and animals and agricultural practices. The judging panel will determine the finalists whose work will be posted online, with the winning photograph to be chosen by public voting through the DNREC Watershed Facebook page.

The winner will receive a prize pack including a $250 Visa gift card, a 2023 Delaware State Parks annual pass, a print of the winning photograph, and a certificate signed by Governor John Carney and DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. The winning photo also will be published in Outdoor Delaware online magazine at de.gov/outdoordelaware.

To enter the Delaware Watersheds Photo Contest, use the online submission form at de.gov/watershed. The form should include the entrant’s name, phone number, address, email address, a photo description and the location where the image was taken. A legal parent or guardian must complete the form for contestants under the age of 18. Images must be at least 1650 by 2100 pixels resolution but no larger than 10MB, and the digital image must be submitted in .jpeg or .png format. Only photos that meet the criteria, along with a completed form, will be eligible. DNREC staff members and immediate family are not eligible to submit photos in the contest.

Learn more about Delaware watersheds at de.gov/howyoucanhelpwetlands.

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

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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.

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

Outdoor Delaware online magazine, produced by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, earned a first-place award in the National Federation of Press Women awards competition during its annual ceremony on Friday, June 11.

Outdoor Delaware had been in publication since 1956, but when print subscriptions reached an all-time low, it was time to find another way to educate the public about the state’s natural resources. DNREC’s Public Affairs team transitioned Outdoor Delaware from a print publication to an online magazine in 2020. Hosted on the DNREC website at de.gov/outdoordelaware, the new Outdoor Delaware online magazine is a lively guide to nature, conservation and fun.

“This award marks a significant achievement for the DNREC,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn M. Garvin. “It recognizes the success of the new format and is a credit to the many DNREC colleagues who contribute engaging content to the online magazine. We are pleased our online magazine has been acknowledged for excellence by the National Federation of Press Women.”

Readers are able to meet lemurs and radiated tortoises, watch a ship sink to an artificial reef, learn about electric vehicles, explore underwater jellyfish, find out where recycling ends up, and so much more. Every month, DNREC adds new posts with photos and videos, each authored by a DNREC employee, showcasing the department’s talent of engineers, scientists and other experts.

“Thanks to the transition from print to digital, we’re able to reach more people about Delaware’s natural resources and the many ways DNREC works to protect, preserve and enhance them,” said Nikki Lavoie, DNREC chief communications officer.

The National Federation of Press Women (NFPW), founded in 1937, is an organization comprised of women and men from across the communication spectrum including reporters, editors, bloggers, authors and photographers to promote professionalism and ethical activities in journalism and communications.

Each year since 1940, NFPW has sponsored a professional communications contest to reward excellence in communication in a wide range of categories, with entries judged by leaders in their fields of expertise. NFPW affiliates throughout the U.S. hold annual communications contests that provide affiliate members an opportunity to compete against state and regional colleagues in a broad range of categories set by NFPW.

Outdoor Delaware online magazine won a first-place award in the blog category from the NFPW- affiliated Delaware Press Association earlier this year.

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. For more information, visit the website and connect with @DelawareDNREC on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

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

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The new Outdoor Delaware online magazine, launched today, is the go-to guide to enjoy and learn about animals, nature, science, adventure, conservation and many other topics. It is produced by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.

Outdoor Delaware provides engaging articles, photos and videos for visitors to discover places to go, what can be seen and done there, and the countless ways to experience the beauty and wonder of the outside environment in Delaware.

“Outdoor Delaware is where nature comes alive,” said DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin. “We are excited to offer this new way to enjoy our award-winning conservation magazine. More visitors to the site will be informed about Delaware’s natural resources and the many ways we work to protect them.”

In the inaugural issue, visitors will learn what a radiated tortoise is, why artificial reefs and electric vehicles are important, and how to play disc golf – accompanied by beautiful photographs and peppered with videos. The first issue also features articles on jellyfish to watch out for, kestrel banding, where recycling ends up, words of wisdom from a longtime hunter and much more.

Like the print version before it, Outdoor Delaware offers articles and photos, now available without a subscription. Visitors to the Outdoor Delaware site will also find articles posted on a frequent basis, not just four times per year.

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. For more information, visit the website and connect with DNREC on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

Media Contacts: Nikki Lavoie, nikki.lavoie@delaware.gov or Beth Shockley, elizabeth.shockley@delaware.gov.

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