Posted on October 20, 2025
Year in, year out, the Middlesex County Board of Supervisors seeks ways to address silt and sand that every ten to 12 months returns to blanket the waterside opening of Mill Creek public boat landing in Wake.
Middlesex County Planning and Zoning Director David Kretz reported to supervisors on Oct. 6 that the permit process for a routine maintenance dredge at the landing has been delayed because of the “potential” presence of northeastern beach tiger beetles on sand dunes east of the landing and a permit review slow down due to a possible furlough of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service personnel as part of the current U.S. Government shutdown.
“We thought this was going to be a pretty easy process (to have local contractors perform a maintenance dredge), but it does not appear that it is going to be so easy this time,” said Kretz.
The boat landing has had required maintenance dredging by volunteer contractors once or twice a year for the past five years.
Contractors have taken the sand as compensation and used it to support their businesses. Maintenance dredges last for about six months before the sand returns.
The Middle Peninsula Regional Planning District Commission has been working with the county to find a more permanent solution to slow down the sand. All kinds of fixes are being considered, including the building of a reef and other design work under study.
Kretz said that when he recently reached out to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Virginia Marine Resources Commission and other agencies for a permit to do a maintenance dredge at the site he found the process “might now be” more restricted.
Tiger beetles?
Mathews County knows about the tiger beetles as dredging near Bethel Beach Natural Area Preserve was delayed recently because of the presence of the beetles. Tiger beetles are a federally threatened species that relies on the soft sand of a beach for its entire life cycle. Adults and larvae live in burrows below the high tide line and hunt small invertebrates. Federal agencies are sensitive to protecting the beetles habitat as it is vulnerable to threats like pollution, development and human activity.
Kretz said that he hopes the boat landing can be dredged at some point during Virginia’s hook and line rockfish season that runs from Oct. 4 to Dec. 31. The landing is currently opened for small boats that can maneuver around the sand bar.
In the meantime, the sand keeps coming and coming.
