STONE HARBOR – The federal beach nourishment program is an essential activity at the core of Cape May County’s tourist economy. Stone Harbor was left off the replenishment effort, in 2019, and can ill afford a similar outcome in 2022.
At issue is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife interpretation of the 1982 Coastal Barrier Resources Act (CBRA), which bars the use of federal funds for mining sand in Hereford Inlet for use in replenishing eroded beaches in Stone Harbor, or any other municipality that sits outside the CBRA-designated area.
Stone Harbor, Avalon and North Wildwood have formed a united front in opposition to the Fish and Wildlife ruling, but at this moment in time, the ban still stands.
At its Jan. 18 meeting, Stone Harbor Borough Council heard a report from Dr. Stewart Farrell, who directs the Coastal Research Center at Stockton University. Farrell reported on a Dec. 1, 2021, meeting between officials from the three municipalities and Fish and Wildlife Assistant Secretary Shannon Estenoz.
That meeting has been described in previous Stone Harbor and Avalon governing body meetings as a positive one, in which Estenoz was engaged and willing to listen to the arguments against the ban on borrowing sand for replenishment.
Farrell also depicted the meeting in positive terms but noted that six weeks later, nothing changed. He presented a brief history of the CBRA and the subsequent instances when sand was mined from Hereford for the benefit of beach restorations.
Farrell argued that the true focus of the act should be on the protected Stone Harbor Point, which he said only benefits from beach replenishments in the borough. As Farrell explained it, the sand placed on Stone Harbor beaches naturally migrates to the Point, enhancing the restricted habitat. He said the periodic beach nourishments are a way of continuing to nourish those important habitats.
“We keep telling them how it works and hope they listen,” he said.
Farrell also spoke of alternatives the three municipalities have presented to federal officials.
One was to return to the 1996 exemption when the U.S. Department of the Interior allowed the mining of sand from the inlet specifically for beach replenishment.
Another and more preferred resolution of the issue would be to remove the sand borrow zones from the designated CBRA area, allowing the protected habitat areas to remain. That could also be achieved in another way, Farrell said, if the CBRA line, which designated the start of the CBRA protected zone, were to be “pulled back,” so that the sand borrow areas were no longer contained within it.
When asked what he felt the chances were that the borough’s beaches would succeed in gaining access to the sand, Farrell said a little better than 50/50.
In a Jan. 18 email, Stephen Rochette, public affairs officer for the Philadelphia District of the Army Corps of Engineers (ACE), said that there has been no change in the ban on sand mining in the inlet.
He added that the ACE project team was “evaluating other options.” He also noted that the scheduled 2022 replenishment is still awaiting funding from Congress.
Following Farrell’s discussion, Borough Engineer Marc DeBlasio informed the council on the activities of a committee that had interviewed candidates to serve as a consultant to the borough on the issue of replenishment.
He said the committee decided on its recommendation to the council. At an early February meeting, the council will be asked to authorize the hiring of Mott MacDonald’s Douglas Gaffney. Gaffney serves as the firm’s practice leader for coastal engineering and resiliency in the Northeast.
With the 2022 summer season fast approaching, several of the borough’s beaches, especially in the south end, need replenishment. The challenge to the borough is to find ways to manage its beaches for this coming season and to then ensure that they receive new sand as part of the federal effort scheduled for fall.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
