NEWS FROM THE DELAWARE DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
April 8, 2008
Vol. 38, No. 143
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact Jennifer Wheatley, Division of Soil and Water Conservation, 302-739-9921 or Melanie Rapp, Public Affairs, 302-739-9902.
Beach Grass Planting Helps Stabilize Delaware Shoreline
19th Annual Beach Grass Planting Held April 5
More than 500 volunteers and DNREC’s Shoreline and Waterway Management team converged on public beaches along the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay on April 5 to plant beach grass that will stabilize and protect sand dunes. The event, held each year since 1990, is vital to help conserve Delaware’s beaches and protect inland properties from coastal flooding.
“Our beach grass planting is now in its 19th year,” said Jennifer Wheatley, environmental scientist and beach grass planting coordinator. “This year volunteers planted more than 95,000 stems of grass over two miles of coastline between Fenwick Island State Park and Lewes Beach. Volunteers are the backbone of Delaware’s shoreline stabilization program, and they make a tremendous difference in helping to protect our coast.”
Since the program’s inception, almost 4.9 million stems of Cape American Beach Grass have been planted by dedicated volunteers. Beach grass helps to build and stabilize dunes by trapping wind blown sand. As the grass traps sand, it builds the dunes higher and wider, which makes it more protective of the structures behind it.
Sand dunes are essential for protection against damaging coastal storms. Without sand dunes, storm waves can rush inland, flood properties and put lives at risk. Stabilized dunes absorb wave energy and also act as major sand storage areas which replenish sand to eroded beaches during a storm event.
DNREC’s Division of Soil and Water Conservation Shoreline and Waterway Management Section coordinates the annual beach grass planting. The section also implements beach replenishment and erosion control projects along the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay front communities to enhance, preserve and protect private and public beaches.
Partners for this year’s event included the Delaware Mobile Surf Fisherman, the towns of Bethany Beach and Slaughter Beach, and the Rehoboth Beach Homeowners Association. Beverages for volunteers were donated by Pepsi, Co., Safeway, Inc. and Super G Food and Drug.
For questions and more information, visit DNREC’s website, www.dnrec.delaware.gov/swc/Shoreline or call 302-739-9921.
