Posted on May 19, 2025
Presque Isle State Park won’t receive federal funding for sand replenishment work on peninsula beaches in 2025.
“Presque Isle is not in the (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) work plan for this year,” park Operations Manager Matt Greene announced during the May 15 meeting of the Presque Isle State Park Complex Advisory Committee.
Some sand work will still take place this year on the beaches using state funds, but it won’t be as much as in most prior years. Officials worried about what would happen if federal funding wasn’t restored in the future.
“We will commence with beach nourishment this year as we have in years past,” Greene said. “It will only be half funded though.”
Presque Isle typically receives $3 million annually for the sand replenishment project, with half coming from the state and the other half in federal funding. Greene said during the April 24 spring beach walk that Pennsylvania was ready with its usual $1.5 million for the project.
Park officials learned of the lack of federal funding during the Advisory Committee’s afternoon meeting. Greene said Presque Isle received no indication of why this year’s project wasn’t funded and he would reach out to the Army Corps of Engineers for a reason. Committee members wondered whether it was because the project didn’t rank high enough this year or if the pot of money for projects wasn’t as much this year.
“Obviously, this is not ideal,” Greene said. “If it continues down this road, we’re going to see major impacts. Two, three years down the road, we’re going to see serious impacts.”
He went on to say that the project is done not only to minimize erosion that happens at Presque Isle but also to supplement sand and sediment that would naturally have come to the peninsula before groins were installed along Lake Erie west of the park.
“If we continue to not have that funding, we’re going to see impacts,” Greene said. “That erosion is going to start eating back further and further and further.”
He did say the park is benefiting now from lower water levels in Lake Erie than in recent years. But even that won’t be enough if the funding doesn’t come back. And the erosion could get worse if the water levels rise again.
“If we get another year of no federal funding, then we’re going to definitely feel the pinch,” Greene said. “The beaches will definitely be more narrow.”
The erosion could eventually extend from the shores into the dunes and even affect infrastructure, such as park roads or buildings, he said.
How much money is available for 2025?
Greene said total funding for 2025 work would probably be $1.7 million to $1.8 million due to some leftover money. He said the money this year would most likely go toward removing tombolos, which are bars of sand and sediment that develop between beaches and breakwaters. That sand will be relocated to places where erosion has occurred. The usual amounts of new sand won’t be purchased and placed on the park, he said.
From April: Presque Isle spring 2025 beach walk reveals good conditions with federal funding uncertain
This isn’t the first year that federal money was nonexistent or late for the project.
In 2016, there was no federal money, but some sand work was done with $1.5 million from the state and $500,000 left from previous projects.
In a typical year, the work begins in the spring to respond to erosion that occurred during winter. Greene previously said work this year might not start until July. The park’s beaches open for the swimming season on Memorial Day weekend.
Due to a delay in the federal funding for 2022, sand work didn’t get started until after Labor Day that year. Work in 2017 didn’t start until August because confirmation of that year’s $1.5 million in federal funding wasn’t received until May.
Legislators’ response
In past years, members of Congress representing the Erie area have banded together to send letters requesting federal funding for sand work at the park. That hasn’t happened so far this year.
Staff members for U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick and state Sen. Dan Laughlin attended the Advisory Committee meeting virtually.
Ashley Megat from Kelly’s office told the group she would talk to the congressman’s Washington, D.C., staff about whether anything could potentially be done, including a meeting with Presque Isle officials.
“Obviously this is something that’s very beneficial to Erie so we don’t want to see this become underfunded,” Megat said about the sand work.
In response to an Erie Times-News’ request for comment from Kelly after the meeting, a staff member emailed this statement from the congressman: “While President Trump’s budget has not been fully released, I have been in close communication with the administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers advocating for sand replenishment funding. Our office has long been supportive and involved with Presque Isle receiving the annual sand replenishment dollars and we will continue to do so moving forward.”
Sheila Sterrett from McCormick’s office asked park officials to provide something in writing about the funding that could be shared with the senator’s D.C. staff. The Erie Times-News requested but hadn’t yet received a comment from the senator.
Katherine Nagle from Laughlin’s office said he was aware of the funding issue and would do anything he could to help.
Why is the money needed?
Greene and other officials have previously said that the purpose of placing sand on beaches isn’t to stop erosion but to allow the sand to move naturally through the system toward Gull Point on the park’s eastern end.
Groins installed along Lake Erie to the west block the natural movement of sand to the peninsula. The replenishment project, which involves bringing new sand to the park and moving other sand around, has therefore become a necessary project for maintaining Presque Isle, officials have said.
