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.

DOVER – The results are in for the DNREC’s Shoreline & Waterway Management Section’s “Keep Off the Dunes” signage contest, which invited the public to submit eye-catching and effective original artwork and messaging to remind beachgoers of the importance of protecting Delaware’s vibrant but fragile dune system.

Winners were selected in three categories by Shoreline & Waterway Management staff from 36 entries:

Adult
First place – The Chesapeake Mermaid, Angela R. Mitchell, Chesapeake Beach, Md.
Second place – Jane Mruk, Odessa
Third place – Gregory Young, Wilmington

Teen
First place – Amanda Silar, Sussex Technical High School
Second place – Ally Collier, Sussex Technical High School
Third place – Nadjina Bogle, Sussex Technical High School

Kids
First place – Lily Reed, Felton
Second place – Ava Shilling, Hereford, Md.*
Third place – Sydney P., Hereford, Md.*
*Signs made in the Water Family Fest, held in June at the James Farm Preserve in Ocean View

Delaware’s Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay coastal dunes are vital in the state’s defense against coastal storms and extreme weather events. Dunes are also important natural habitats for plants and animals. To keep dunes strong enough to help protect our environment and the ecosystems they support, Delawareans need to protect the dunes by staying off of them. DNREC emphasizes this message by posting beach signs to encourage beach-goers to use provided crossovers along the dune system to avoid damaging the dunes.

To see the winners of the Keep Off the Dunes sign contest, please visit https://de.gov/dunesign. Winners will be announced and their entries displayed at University of Delaware’s Coast Day Oct. 6. The winning artwork in the contest may be reproduced as signs and placed near dunes along Delaware’s coastline.

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

DOVER – Online volunteer registration is now open for the 31st annual Delaware Coastal Cleanup, to be held from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Sept. 15. 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 45 sites in New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties are targeted for cleanup by volunteers.

Individual volunteers and groups are strongly encouraged to preregister on DNREC’s website at de.gov/coastalcleanup to ensure enough supplies are readied for each site. Preregistration will close Wednesday, Sept. 5.

Groups of 10 volunteers or more also are asked to contact Delaware Coastal Cleanup Coordinator Joanna Wilson, at 302-739-9902 or joanna.wilson@delaware.gov, or the appropriate zone captain listed on the website for advance site placement.

At last year’s Coastal Cleanup, 1,567 dedicated volunteers from civic organizations, youth groups, businesses and families collected 3.8 tons of trash from 47 sites along Delaware’s shorelines and tributaries. About one-quarter of that trash – mostly aluminum cans and plastic bottles – was recycled. Cleanup volunteers’ more unusual finds included a wallet, wrist watch, cell phone, parmesan cheese shaker, a large heavy rug, a statue of the Virgin Mary, golf tee, ant trap, Big Wheel tire, garden hose, vacuum cleaner, trailer registration tag, toy bulldozer, green army men, half a driver’s license and credit card, handle bars, snow hat, mermaid doll, Mardi Gras beads, confetti, glowsticks, oil cans, multiple gas tanks and televisions, and, at one site, 205 liquor bottles.

Delaware’s Cleanup is part of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, the world’s largest annual clearing of trash from coastlines, rivers, streams, 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. Information is recorded on data cards and sent to the Center for Marine Conservation, which compiles data for all cleanups to help identify debris sources and focus efforts on eliminating or reducing marine debris. For more information, visit www.oceanconservancy.org.

For more information about the Delaware Coastal Cleanup, please contact Joanna Wilson, Delaware Coastal Cleanup coordinator, at 302-739-9902, or joanna.wilson@delaware.gov.