We have been getting tons of questions about the trackers being on the beaches of Cape May. We figured we would write a quick little article explaining whats going on.
Explaining The Cape May Beach Project
Back in October the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded a contract to Yannuzzi Group of Kinnelon, NJ for $1.1 million to conduct periodic nourishment of the Lower Cape Meadows-Cape May Point.
This project calls for sand to be excavated 164,000 cubic yards from areas along the upper beach and moved down to the Point to be spread out to extend the beach.
The sand will then be placed in two locations: the Cove Beach in the City of Cape May (114,000 cubic yards of sand) and Saint Pete’s Beach in the Borough of Cape May Point (50,000 cubic yards of sand).
The redistribution of sand from the upper to lower beach will return the area to the design elevation and will also serve to benefit beach nesting birds such as the Piping Plover and Least Terns.
The reason for this project is that since the last ecological restoration was completed in 2007, a significant amount of sand has migrated from Cape May City beach fills to this area and raised the elevation of the beach dramatically. This has reduced the suitability for nesting birds for a few reasons.
Eleven pairs of Piping Plovers nested in the project area after it was originally built; however no birds have nested there in the past five years, in part due to the lack of suitable nesting habitat.
Work is designed to reduce damages from coastal storm events and to protect the valuable fish and wildlife habitat that exists on the beach and in the wetlands behind the dune.
This project started back in the Fall and will continue for the next few weeks.
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