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This is why beach replenishment is critical to protecting the Jersey Shore

Posted on November 9, 2022

As the executive director of the Jersey Shore Partnership and the former executive drector of the state Division of Travel and Tourism — I served during Superstorm Sandy — I feel compelled to respond to Asbury Park Press staff writer Dan Radel’s recent report on beach replenishment.

If I had been interviewed for this article, my answer would have been a hard yes.

First of all, some background.

New Jersey’s coastline is its first line of defense from devastating storms that cost lives, destroy livelihoods and devastate the state’s economy. The 10th anniversary of Sandy is a stark reminder of the importance of a defensive infrastructure. Periodic beach and dune renourishment projects protect what is behind the beach — millions of people, roads, walkways, homes, commercial and municipal buildings, restaurants, small businesses, utility infrastructure, schools and more.

New Jersey is home to one of the country’s most developed coastlines, with 127 miles of ocean beaches and 1,792 miles of tidal shoreline. Seventeen of New Jersey’s 21 counties border estuarine or ocean waters. All but one of the 21 counties is defined as coastal, making New Jersey highly dependent on coastal protection.

New Jersey’s cost-share partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has proven to be a very successful investment for the state and leverages substantial federal funding. Specifically, for every $1 of New Jersey money, the Corps pays approximately $2 of the replenishment construction cost.

Additionally, healthy beaches are a magnet for tourism that brings$20 billion in annual revenue to the state, reducing every homeowner’s property tax. The return on New Jersey’s investment in beach nourishment projects has been very high, in addition to helping preserve our state’s outstanding quality of life.

In the many decades of beach replenishment on the Jersey Shore, the corps and the state have determined that beach replenishment (including other natural elements like dunes and hard structures like seawalls as needed) is still the most cost-effective and efficient method of coastal protection.

Most importantly, the Jersey Shore Partnership supports and commends the state’s efforts to advance and adapt innovative resiliency strategies to protect our coastal and inland communities from the impacts of sea level rise, while seeking alternatives to further development in vulnerable coastal areas.

Grace Hanlon

In the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy, coastal replenishment projects were overwhelmingly supported in a bipartisan manner by our Democratic president, our Republican governor and our Democratic-controlled state Legislature. Today, beach protection has bipartisan support in the New Jersey Legislature, which recognizes that the threats of sea level rise require a resilient coastal infrastructure. Our federal representatives at the shore, Rep. Frank Pallone and Rep. Chris Smith, have been steadfast advocates in protecting our coastline and shore communities through beach replenishment for the past several decades. As Pallone told the Asbury Park Press, “I’m not going to abandon the shore.”

We couldn’t agree more.

Grace Hanlon is executive director of the Jersey Shore Partnership, which was created as a not-for-profit, non-partisan organization as a result of the 1991 devastating Halloween storm with the mission to guarantee that state and federal funding would be available to protect New Jersey’s coastal shoreline from the damages that storms can inflict. The Partnership is dedicated to raising the awareness of state and federal officials and the public to the need for safeguarding the shoreline through beach restoration and other shore protection methods.

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