Changing fortunes on Delaware Bay

One might think a creature named the horseshoe crab would be naturally lucky–and in some ways it is. The prehistoric throwback has retained its basic physiology for around 350 million years, so it’s already far outlasted our own species on an evolutionary scale. Evolved as it may be, its luck has been challenged along the shores of the Delaware Bay. Beaches that traditionally serve as one of the crabs’ major spawning grounds were severely eroded by Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and the species is projected to be impacted by continuing shore development, frequent intense storms like Sandy and ongoing sea level rise.

The eggs of mating horseshoe crabs at Delaware Bay will sustain thousands of migrating shorebirds on their long trips to the Arctic. Credit: Gregory Breese/USFWS

Even less fortunate are the migrating shorebirds who depend on their critical stopover at Delaware Bay to refuel on sustaining horseshoe crab eggs on their way to the Arctic—a journey that, for some, clocks more than 18,000 miles annually. Take the rufa red knot for example, a species whose numbers have declined so sharply that it is being considered for federal Endangered Species Act protection. It’s estimated that more than 50 percent of the entire rufa red knot population stops at Delaware Bay, one of the last undeveloped shores on the Atlantic coast, making the area essential to the continuing survival of the species.

Fifty to 70 truckloads of sand are being added daily to five beaches on Delaware Bay that were badly eroded by Hurricane Sandy. Click below to view video of the beaches being replenished.

But sometimes good fortune is the result of foresight. To help both of these species and the beach habitats upon which they depend, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has broken ground on the first of 31 forward-looking Hurricane Sandy resilience projects: a $1.65 million restoration of several beaches along the Delaware Bay. The effort includes repairing storm surge and erosion damage at Reeds Beach, Kimbles Beach, Cooks Beach and Pierce’s Point in New Jersey’s Cape May County and at Moore’s Beach in Cumberland County (all important habitat areas for both crabs and shorebirds). The project involves  depositing some 50-70 truckloads of locally-mined sand daily to re-establish the diminishing coastline, with total sand replenishment estimated at 45,500 tons.

A map of the Reeds Beach restoration area. Inset: Greater Delaware Bay with beach restoration proposals highlighted in red. Credit: American Littoral Society.

Partners in the effort, including the American Littoral Society and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, are coordinating the restoration with the Service’s Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, and with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. These partners have not only been instrumental in helping to implement the Service’s core coastal resilience and habitat restoration goals, they’ve also been seeking to secure further funding to restore additional spans of Delaware Bay shoreline.

Restoration crews have been employing something of a hurry-up offense, as the sand must be added, spread and graded by early May, when the horseshoe crabs typically return for spawning.

Cape May National Wildlife Refuge hosts annual nighttime horseshoe crab tagging events on Kimbles Beach. Credit: USFWS.

Cape May Refuge Manager Brian Braudis says the refuge plans to host horseshoe crab taggings on May 15 and May 29 at 8:30 p.m. when the crabs return, on its Kimbles Beach parcel. Last year, volunteers including veterans, retirees and school children—some bussed in from upstate classrooms—tagged 1,000 horseshoe crabs. With a support network like this, who needs luck?

To read more about U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Hurricane Sandy recovery and resilience projects, visit http://www.fws.gov/hurricane/sandy. To view media coverage of Cape May beach restoration projects, click here. To learn about the Service’s broader conservation and habitat restoration efforts on Delaware Bay, click here.

Storm proofers: Preparing a New Jersey refuge for the next big event

Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge

When Hurricane Sandy hit at the end of October, 2012, the refuge staff at Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Basking Ridge, N.J., just 26 miles west of Manhattan’s Times Square, thought they were prepared. Winter hadn’t yet fully kicked in, and most of its buildings were equipped with generators that would provide backup power.

But no one expected that the severity of damage to the regional power grid would leave the refuge and general area without electricity for nearly two weeks. With numerous blocked roads and regional fuel shortages, trucks scheduled to deliver propane and diesel fuel were delayed, adding additional stress to an already difficult situation.

“We had to go as far as Pennsylvania to get fuel for the generators,” says refuge manager Bill Koch. “Some local gas stations that had fuel and the power to pump it were rationing at limits insufficient to our needs.”

A tree blown down by the storm falls on electrical power lines at the refuge. (Credit: David Sagan/USFWS)

Faced with the likelihood that there will be more frequent, intense storms like Hurricane Sandy in years to come, Koch and his staff have been planning and preparing the refuge for the next big one. Thanks to funding from the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, a propane tank at the refuge’s visitor center will be replaced by a permanent natural gas pipeline that will feed furnaces and generators. Solar-powered systems will be installed at headquarters and the visitor center. A gas line and generators will also be installed at the refuge’s dormitory and one of the living quarters. These measures will assure both uninterrupted heat and emergency electricity for headquarters, the dormitory, staff housing and the visitor center.

A rooftop solar array similar to the one pictured here is being designed and installed at the Great Swamp visitor center, which will make its electrical system more resilient to future storms. (Credit: USFWS)

The headquarters and visitor center solar-powered systems will be installed on new metal roofs which will be more durable, longer-lasting and recyclable. A small diesel generator will be installed at a heated public restroom, to prevent the recurrence of frozen pipes.

“We are in the planning and design stage of doing everything we can to become more self-sufficient,” says Koch.

To learn more about the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Hurricane Sandy recovery and resilience projects, visit our Hurricane Sandy Recovery page. For more about Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, click here.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service responds to Sandy in West Virginia

Greg Titus, division fire management office on assignment to respond to Superstorm Sandy in West Virginia.
Credit: Catherine Hibbard/USFWS

“This is more snow than I’ve seen in my entire life!” said Greg Titus while on assignment in West Virginia to respond to Superstorm Sandy.

Titus, a division fire management officer from St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, was one of several U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees deployed to snowbound West Virginia as members of the interagency Southern Area Red Type 1 Team.

Their direction from the Federal Emergency Management Agency was to help clear roads blocked by fallen trees and to work at National Guard airports in Martinsburg and Charleston, W.Va., where tractor trailers brought food, water and generators for storm victims.

READ MORE HURRICANE STORIES

Josh O’Connor, a fire management specialist at the Service’s Southeast Regional Office in Atlanta, Ga., was a division supervisor helping manage and track relief supplies at Yeager airport in Charleston. He worked side by side with workers from FEMA and the West Virginia Air National Guard. 

“It’s not the most glamorous job,” O’Connor said, “but it’s helping people out.” 

Tony Farmer, an information technology specialist on the Red Team. Credit: Catherine Hibbard/USFWS

The team also helped residents of Randolph, Tucker and Preston counties, where more than two feet of snow fell in blizzard conditions.

Within 30 minutes of Greg Titus’ arrival to snow he had only seen in movies and postcards, the division supervisor and his chainsaw crew began working with the National Guard to clear a road to a water tower in Tunnelton, a West Virginia town of 300 residents.

“They restored water supply, helped get electric crews access, and were overall great help,” said Captain Donnie Weaver of the West Virginia National Guard at Camp Dawson, where Titus’ crew was based. “Without their help, we’d still have only 40 to 50 percent of our secondary roads open.“

Crews in all three counties cleared more than 200 miles of road.

It’s that type of work that attracted Tony Farmer from the Service’s Southeast Regional Office to the Red Team, a “type 1” overhead team that manages people and equipment for the most complex incidents.

Incident commander Tony Wilder. Credit: Catherine Hibbard

An information technology specialist at home and on the team, Farmer said, “I enjoy working with people and being a part of the service of what we do in this country.”

Although the Red Team was one of two teams established in 1985 in the Southern Area fire management geographic area, members are from local, state and federal agencies from other parts of the country, including the Northeast. Catherine Hibbard, an employee of the Service’s Northeast Regional Office in Hadley, Mass., is a Red Team public information officer.

The team is led by Tony Wilder, incident commander and fire management officer at Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge. 

“I’m proud of what my team has accomplished,” Wilder said. “I’m also proud that my agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, supports team members who step up to help fellow Americans when they need it most.“

See other U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service updates for Superstorm Sandy.

Submitted by Catherine J. Hibbard, wildlife refuge and public affairs specialist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.