Posted on November 10, 2025
A major federal beach replenishment and dune building project for the Wildwoods has collapsed after years of planning because two key communities have withdrawn support.
That’s bad news for North Wildwood, which desperately needs reinforcement for its battered beaches. And it marks another blow to erosion projects at the New Jersey Shore, which received zero federal dollars for replenishment projects this year — the first time since 1996.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced Friday that the Hereford Inlet to Cape May Inlet Storm Risk Management Project for Five Mile Island has been officially suspended and that federal funds reserved for the project will be redirected.
The DEP said that because it had lost the cooperation of Wildwood and Wildwood Crest, a federal deadline imposed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which was to manage the project, had passed.
“Unfortunately, after years of costly engineering work and many attempts by DEP to help resolve local disagreements, the project reached an impasse necessitating its termination,” said a letter from the office of DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette to the mayors of Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, North Wildwood, and Lower Township.
