DNREC Beach Nourishment Program Begins Monday Along DE Bay
Fall is here – beach replenishment is getting underway on Delaware’s beaches. A month-long DNREC nourishment project at Pickering Beach in Kent County will begin on Monday – and bring around 3500 cubic yards of sand trucked in from local sources to cover 2500 feet of community beachfront. Other Delaware Bay communities – including Kitts Hummock and Cape Shores – will also see nourishment projects by DNREC which are largely funded by the American Rescue Plan. In early November, the Delaware Seashore State Park’s North Inlet Day Use Area will also be replenished – that beach will be closed Monday through Thursday and open Friday through Sunday.
From a release from DNREC –
Delivery of material by DNREC’s sand vendor Pennsy Supply will begin in Pickering Beach on the project start date listed above, while delivery from ML Joseph Sand and Gravel to the Delaware Seashore State Park project site is expected to begin by early November. Construction at Pickering Beach is planned for four weeks, weather-dependent, and with work occurring during DNREC standard business hours Monday through Thursday. The beach will be closed during construction activity but will be open Friday through Sunday for the duration of the project. Visitors should anticipate partial closures of the beach at Delaware Seashore State Park’s North Inlet Day Use Area while heavy equipment is on site during standard business hours Monday through Thursday.
Work this fall and into winter is expected to lengthen the beach and dune life of a DNREC nourishment project that spanned five Bay beach communities and was completed last winter. While DNREC’s beach nourishment projects introduce sand into the shoreline system to offset the effects of erosion, the Pickering Beach and Kitts Hummock projects aim more to strengthen – and lengthen the life of – the projects completed last winter in the same communities.
Because both the Delaware Bay and Atlantic beaches and dunes also provide crucial habitat for migrating shorebirds, including several threatened species, and other wildlife such as spawning horseshoe crabs, DNREC beach nourishment projects ordinarily are not permitted to begin until Oct. 1 each year, and must be completed by April 15 at most beaches, or by March 1 at others. The Bay beach nourishment projects beginning this month are expected to be completed far ahead of those 2023 deadlines.
