Posted on October 18, 2022
Fewer visitors this time of year allows Delaware Bay beaches to get better.
These are certainly not the most-visited beaches in The First State. You will find no Ferris wheels or french-fry stands. Any boardwalks are on the narrow side.
However, according to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources, it is just as important to maintain and protect these bayside beaches.
This coming week, truckloads of sand will start rolling in for a nourishment project at Pickering Beach. Kitts Hummock and Cape Shores are also targeted for restoration. About 3,500 cubic yards of sand at Pickering Beach, brought in from local sources, will cover 2,500 feet of beachfront.
Funding comes in large part from the American Rescue Plan. The Shoreline and Waterway Management Section will also be working along the Atlantic Ocean at Delaware Seashore State Park’s North Inlet Day Use Area.
Some of this work is designed to fortify the beneficial effects of recent replenishment projects.
“Money from the American Rescue Plan enables us to continue performing these small-scale nourishment efforts both to further fortify some of the more vulnerable sections of Bay beach shoreline and to reinforce the work we’ve recently done in these communities,” DNREC Shoreline and Waterway Section administrator Jesse Hayden said. “Coastal storms will continue to impact our coast, so having the opportunity to supplement some of the most vulnerable areas even after all of the work we did last year means we will be better prepared for the next storm.”
The presence of migrating shorebirds, including several threatened species, and other wildlife such as spawning horseshoe crabs means that DNREC must generally start beach nourishment projects after October 1st each year and complete them in the following spring.
For more information and update on beach projects as well as access during nourishment projects, please visit de.gov/shoreline.
