Stories from the Bay |
Update By: Dr. Larry Niles, LJ Niles Associates LLC After a week of lovely spring weather, strong westerly winds blowing over a still cold sea reasserted winter’s hold on our beaches. Last week, the machine operators wore short sleeves, today they pulled out the camo down and Carhard woolen caps. I dug out my Patagonia down hoodie. The sea looked angry as wave after wave assaulted our new beach at Fortescue - three days so far. We lost sand but as Steve Hafner says, “it probably stayed in the profile” or within the beaches designed shape. Let's hope so. The impact of the wind today demonstrates the importance of giving the horseshoe crabs and the birds choices for which area they can respectively spawn and feed. Fortescue Beach faces the westerly wind, so no crab could even think about spawning in a full-on westerly gale. But as the pictures show, Thompson's Beach looks almost peaceful, its orientation shielding it from the harsh westerlies. Sand deliveries ended today at both beaches and each operation focuses on finishing touches. Boomer Huen of H4 will grade the beach to fit the profile today and the Wickberg crew will finish spreading stockpiled sand on Monday and finish on Tuesday. Both finished in good time for the crab spawn. Water temperatures hover around 52 degrees, around the same as last year at this time. Last year, the crabs didn’t start breeding in good numbers until after May 8th. I walk each beach fully nearly everyday and have yet to see crab one. More shorebirds arrive each day. Willets, who left for their South America wintering areas last July, once again own the Delaware Bay marshes, fighting for territories and generally making a racket throughout the marsh. All winter long we spotted sanderling, dunlin and occasionally black bellied plovers. This week, however, one could see tight flocks of Calidrids probably least sandpipers flying low over the distant marsh. Always the first to arrive in good numbers, leasts will stick to the marshes for the most part. Next week, will almost certainty bring semipalmated sandpipers and maybe the start of turnstones and even the odd knot moving up the coast from nearby wintering areas in VA or NC. The week after we will begin the fast climb to our stopover population of knots, sanderlings, semi p’s, ruddy turnstones, shortbilled dowitchers and dunlin. Soon 300,000 shorebirds will flood bay beaches and marshes. Dr. Larry Niles has led efforts to protect red knots and horseshoe crabs for over 30 years.
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Update By: Dr. Larry Niles, LJ Niles Associates LLC Both construction teams work hard to get done as soon as is possible. Both are on track to be done late this week, in good time for the horseshoe crab spawn and shorebird stopover. Last Thursday, the water temperature hovers around 9 degrees C (48 degrees F) which is slightly lower than previous years. The crab spawn is in part triggered by a water temperature of 14-15 degree C (59 degrees F) so the spawn is still a few weeks away. Last year, it began in the first week of May. Getting done on time depends on no emerging problems, and working out on the marsh and bay presents hazards. Last Wednesday, a 40 ton dump truck went off of the road and it took nearly the entire crew to prevent him from turning over and to get him back on the road. Last Tuesday, we hosted the team from Division of Land Use Regulation responsible for the state permitting of restoration projects. The team led by Joanna Davis and Colleen Keller must navigate the issues naturally presented by restoration construction. On one hand, the restoration achieves NJDEP goals for the creation of fish and wildlife habitat and deserves special attention. On the other, construction of any kind must consider the state’s complex web of interests from coastal planning to historic preservation. As testament to their good work, our project permits were approved leaving us sufficient time to complete the work before the crab spawn in early May. Our oyster reef has now withstood several days of significant on shore winds and accompanied waves. Every single reef block remains intact. Dr. Larry Niles has led efforts to protect red knots and horseshoe crabs for over 30 years.
Update By: Dr. Larry Niles, LJ Niles Associates LLC The movement of sand on the Delaware Bay remains a mystery to coastal geologists. Unlike the Atlantic coast, where currents create a longshore drift which pushes sand generally southward, Delaware bay sand moves at the whim of both bay and creek currents and prevailing winds. The sand on any beach can move differently than adjacent beaches and sometimes in different directions on the same beach. This is what Steve Hafner of Stockton University suspects will happen with the sand at Fortescue. A small point made by the bending road, divides the beach and may determine if sand moves to the north towards the town’s Fishermen's Beach and south towards Raybin's Inlet. It points to a beach maintenance strategy for the future -- place the sand at the point and it will slowly recharge the beach north and south. Sand movement on Thompson's Beach will also be defined by points, a result of rubble placed long ago by towns people defending their homes. The homes are gone but the rubble remains. These points are similar to two rubble points that remain on Moore's Beach, the subject of last year’s habitat restoration by American Littoral Society and Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey. At Moore's Beach, two points bound segment two but only the east end of segment one. Since we placed sand at Moore's, the sand in segment two mostly stayed put, while a significant portion of segment one sand drifted into the creek mouth. At Thompson's Beach, both segment one and two are defined by points so we hope the sand will persist. The work at both Thompson's Beach and Fortescue Beach proceeds slowly but without significant problems. Segment one of Thompson's is nearly complete, work begins on segment two this week. As of Friday, Fortescue Beach is about 60% complete. The pictures below show Thompson's Beach segment one before and now after completion and a view by the author looking north towards Fortescue's Fishermen's Beach and south down our new beach. Spring on the Bayshore is in full swing, there are ospreys hunting in Dividing Creek and a male turkey was seen displaying in Newport. Dr. Larry Niles has led efforts to protect red knots and horseshoe crabs for over 30 years.
Update By: Dr. Larry Niles, LJ Niles Associates LLC We constructed our first oyster reef on Delaware Bay as part of the weekend's “Shell-a-Bration.” On the day of the construction, a roaring northwesterly wind pounded Reed Beach highlighting the need for this research. The reef is modest by design, our goal is to create an experiment to help understand how reefs protect the beach, create sheltered water for breeding horseshoe crabs, and to find out if crabs can navigate past them to the beach. Joe Smith checked the reefs on Monday to determine the impact of the windy weekend assault and so far so good, the reefs held up. The beach work is progressing well. As seen in the pictures below, the first phase of the Thompson’s Beach project nears completion. A beach that was once rubble and sod is now a superior horseshoe crab breeding habitats. Our next phase will focus on the beach to the east. The equipment troubles of last week are past, but one dump truck nearly overturned after driving too close the road’s edge. The front end loader stopped the fully loaded truck from overturning with its bucket while the bulldozer pulled it out of the marsh. Boomer Huen and Eric Johnson press forward on the beach building at Fortescue. They continue to add sand to the top of the beach and the sea continues to smooth it into the inter-tidal zone. We expect the beach to be complete in two weeks. Last week a harp seal showed up on Thompson's Beach, alive but unable to swim away. As one might guess, harp seals are uncommon on the bay. It was taken away by the Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, who reported the seal as improving from an impacted intestine. Dr. Larry Niles has led efforts to protect red knots and horseshoe crabs for over 30 years.
Update By: Dr. Larry Niles, LJ Niles Associates LLC The two beaches slowly take form but already promise better breeding habitat for horseshoe crabs. H4 adds about 2000 tons of Ricci Bros Sand every day, slowly building towards our goal of 48,000 tons on Fortescue Beach. We are now at 20,500 tons. One can now envisage the final beach and the sheer volume of sand it will take to make it. Boomer Huen running the front end loader and bulldozer pushes sand into the inter-tidal zone and the night time high tide reshapes it. Its not a loss however, the sand moves into the designed beach profile that Steve Hafner and his crew from Stockton University determined when he laid out the beach at the start of the project. At Thompson’s Beach the Wickberg crew moved huge amounts of sand in the last few days, but are now plagued with equipment failures. Its not a small thing to have a 40 ton truck break down in what one might truthfully describe as in” the middle of nowhere”. Still the amount of sand stored over few days will keep the remaining equipment busy until the repairs are complete today. Thompsons is now at about 40% of it 48,000 ton target. Shane Godshall and Capt Al Modjeski trained a group of volunteer vets to lead teams in the construction our first oyster reef. Nascent oyster reefs really, essentially bags of conch shell stacked into 5 by 10 pyramids, in hope of creating beach protection from the bay beach-damaging waves. At only 2 feet high the reefs won’t do well against a catastrophic storm, but they may help in moderating the impact of prevailing westerly winds that whip up white-capped waves of short amplitude that pound the beaches and wear them down. We also hope that the reefs will help the crabs. Our best horseshoe crab spawning habitat lies at the many creek mouth that cut the Delaware Bay shoreline. At each mouth sand shoals and if there is enough sand shoals protect inner shoals. Crabs breed best on these inner shoals becaue outer ones modeate waves. On days of high westerly winds, the chop shuts down the crab spawn, except in the inner shoals. We hope our reef will act as an outer shoal giving them a chance to breed in higher winds conditions. Volunteers will build reefs at the American Littoral Society and Conserve Wildlife Foundation’s “Shell-a-bration” to be held this Saturday on April 4 at 200. Anyone wishing to help crabs and oysters should come and build a reef! A harp seal showed up on Thompson's Beach this Wednesday. They are a rare occurrence in the Bay, but do show up from time-to-time. This seal suffered from an unknown ailment, so we called the experts at the Marine Mammal Stranding Center. Their preliminary diagnosis was the seal mistook sand for ice as a source of fresh water, thus compacting her digestive system. The seal is now under thier care at the Brigantine center and recovering. Dr. Larry Niles has led efforts to protect red knots and horseshoe crabs for over 30 years.
Update By: Dr. Larry Niles, LJ Niles Associates LLC Although our project focuses on improving conditions for horseshoe crabs and birds, we also aim to improve the economy of rural bayshore towns in small but meaningful ways. This is important because, like much of the country’s rural areas, Cumberland County suffers enormous levels of poverty. According to a recent survey by NJ Times, Cumberland has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country with nearly 44% of working age males are out of work. We tried to help at the start of our work. We included the leaders of the bayside towns, Middle Township, Maurice River Township and Downe Township early in our planning, almost two years ago. Several of the projects were included in our proposal because the towns asked for them, such as the East Point project to be done next year. East Point Project In our work, we also tried to face the existential challenges concerning the towns. Like in Maurice River Township, where we will develop restoration designs and early permitting for the Cox Meadow, a once productive marsh with over a mile of beach, all lost when salt hay farming was abandoned. The growing eroding mud flat is now threatening communities along the adjacent upland. Following are four aerial photos of Cox Meadow marsh, a historically farmed marsh, that were hayed for salt hay or spartina patens. The salt hay farmer dikes much of the Delaware Bayshore for hundreds of years. They were mostly abandoned over the last 40 years, leaving marshes as much as 1.5 feet lower than unfarmed marsh. The following four aerial photographs show the impact of extraordinary tidal flows that eroded the barrier beach along the bay. This contributed to the loss of vegetated marsh and a growing mud flat. Besides being less productive, mudflat create long fetch that threatens nearby house located in the uplands with storm surge. Our project has more immediate economic impacts. We purchase our sand from local sand mines, thus providing income in late winter, when most of the mines are awaiting summer work. Most of our machine operators come from the area and are paid good wages. Through our various projects we embrace many volunteers including people living on the bayshore or in the area. These folks help spread the message that we are trying to create a new spirit on the bay, one of hope and progress. This is no more apparent in current two projects. Thompson's Beach hung by a thread after the state removed the rubble thus allowing the sea to threaten the marsh behind the beach, and the town of Hieslerville behind that. We will fortify the beach with life giving sand and will also work to restore eroding marsh later this year. As an added bonus the rubble we remove from the beach will be used to fortify the dike protecting the town’s marinas. In Fortescue, a beach town with only storm ravaged beaches, will now have nearly ½ mile of new beach. The town’s Mayor Bob Campbell is doing his best to build on our work with a new horseshoe crab festival on May 16th and by improving access that will help people use our beach after the crabs have moved back out to sea and the birds to their Arctic breeding areas. Dr. Larry Niles has led efforts to protect red knots and horseshoe crabs for over 30 years.
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