As the 2023 Summer season came to a close, conflict arose again over public access to beaches at two locations in New Jersey.

This is an issue on which the American Littoral Society has repeatedly taken a stand, through lawsuits against entities attempting to limit public access and by helping to develop state laws that define what constitutes meaningful access.

On August 10, 2023, the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association – a Methodist organization that owns the land occupied by Ocean Gove, NJ – was warned in writing by the NJ Department of Environmental Resources that its practice of putting up chain-and-pad-lock at beach access on Sunday mornings was a violation of state law.

Then, in early September, almost all beach entrances in Point Pleasant Beach were abruptly closed by Jenkinson’s, a private company that owns the boardwalk and dry-sand area of the beach, as well as an aquarium and other attractions in the town.

"The beach is a public resource for all of us, not only swimmers and bathers, but also fisherman, surfers, birders and many other users, whose use is not confined to the summer season or normal business hours," said Tim Dillingham, Executive Director of the American Littoral Society. "Blocking public access to our beaches for any reason—whether it be to promote a private or financial interest, religion or exclusivity—is contrary to the inherent right of the public to access the shore."    ​

This year's horseshoe crab tagging season was one to remember. Coming on the heels of a successful campaign to protect Delaware Bay horseshoe crabs from harvesting, it not only saw hundreds of volunteers turn out to tag thousands of crabs, but also brought the Littoral Society a new partnership that will help us take our work for these living fossils to another level.

In May, we began working with the Cape May Point Science Center and Cellular Tracking Technologies to add cellular tracking devices to our horseshoe crab tagging program. The cellular tags help remotely monitor and track the crabs as they come ashore and provide a better understanding on how often female crabs emerge, general horseshoe crab movement, and what informs their movement decisions.

To gather this data, PowerTags which transmit radio telemetry data are glued to the horseshoe crab’s shell. Whenever the crabs come ashore, their location is tracked and recorded. These new PowerTags are in addition to the tags the Society has been using for years that provide some basic insight on crab movement when tagged crabs are recaptured.

This addition to the horseshoe crab tagging program was made possible thanks to our gracious donors, Rob and Wendy Wilson. Learn more about the new tags and how they are being used to track horseshoe crabs on the Cellular Tracking Technologies blog.

More than 400 people turned out on Saturday, August 19 to celebrate the diversity of New York City’s shorebirds at the 18th Annual Shorebird Festival at the Jamaica Bay Refuge. They were greeted by representatives from groups including NYC Audubon, the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy, NYC Parks, the Queens Bird Club, the NYC Plover Project, and the National Park Service.

The goal of the event was to raise awareness of the many different shorebird species that spend time in and around the bay, while also providing some understanding of the migration patterns that bring them to this area. Many of the avian visitors currently passing through Jamaica Bay are already on their way from nesting grounds in Canada to winter habitats in South America.

The event itinerary began began with a welcome spread of coffee, bagel and doughnut offered by American Littoral Society, followed by hikes led by naturalists Don Riepe and Kevin Karlson to the bay's East and West ponds. The day also included a 50-year refuge history slide program by Riepe and a shorebird presentation by Karlson. 

International Coastal Cleanup Day (ICC) is Saturday, September 16. The ICC is a global annual event that began in 1986, thanks to the efforts of Linda Maraniss and her Ocean Conservancy colleague Kathy O’Hara. The day aims to raise awareness about the problems that plastic pollution poses to our shorelines, our health, and our wildlife. 

Also in 1986, the American Littoral Society’s first Beach Cleanup Coordinator was appointed to assist in coordinating cleanup events and data collection in New York state. Since then, ICC Day has grown to an international effort that remains strongly rooted in volunteerism. 

During the 2022 New York State Beach Cleanup (NYSBC), 4,800 volunteers removed and documented nearly 32,000 pounds of trash and debris collected from over 184 miles of New York shoreline. 

But more needs to be done and we need your help to do it! Anyone can host or volunteer to be a part of the effort from August through December. 

This year, we have moved the registration process online. Fill out the linked form in order to become part of the NYSBC effort.

By Shane Godshall, Habitat Restoration Project Manager, American Littoral Society; and
Randi Rothmel, The Association of New Jersey Environmental Commissions (ANJEC) Project Director
Shared from ANJEC REPORT – Summer 2023 (Begins on Page 4)

The need to restore tidal salt marshes has been brought into sharp focus as we grapple with the realities of climate change. Their ability to sequester carbon and mitigate some impacts from storms and rising seas has prompted federal and State agencies, local municipalities, and various nonprofits to put a concerted effort into the restoration of New Jersey’s salt marshes.

Tidal salt marshes cover over 200,000 acres of New Jersey’s coastal landscape, providing vital habitat for wildlife, maintaining water quality and helping protect people from storm surge and flooding. A 2017 study concluded that NJ’s salt marshes prevented over $400 million in damages from Superstorm Sandy. Inland flooding can also be reduced by coastal ecosystems that provide resistance to the flow of water during a surge.

Over the last century, however, parts of New Jersey, such as Barnegat Bay, have lost more than 25 percent of their salt marshes due to infilling and development. The NJ Coastal Wetland Law, while limiting this loss, has not sufficiently protected the coastline. New NJ Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) coastal flood hazard area rules are anticipated as part of the Resilient Environment and Landscapes (REAL) initiative, under the NJ Protecting Against Climate Threats (NJPACT) program, to further protect the coastline.

Recognizing that a healthy ecosystem plays an important role in sustaining coastal communities, both people and wildlife, a NJ guidance document, “Building Ecological Solutions to Coastal Community Hazards,” was developed in 2017 by the National Wildlife Federation in collaboration with a consortium of nonprofit organizations. This guide challenges and empowers coastal communities to consider ecological solutions through approaches that work with nature towards coastal resiliency.