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Charles "Chuck" Werbany  Working with the American Littoral Society has been an insightful opportunity to learn the importance of conservation and restoration while also providing a look into the challenges these efforts have today. Working in the field with the American Littoral Society was like walking into the lecture hall, seeing firsthand the significance of climate change and the work that is being done to do something about it. While working on projects aimed at conserving horseshoe crab populations, and monitoring restoration efforts and watersheds, I have seen the larger scope of the endeavors at play to tackle climate change. Observing different metrics of the coastal environment such as looking at the population health of local wildlife, the progression of reestablished habitat, and water quality informs us what else is needed to control the damage that we have done to our planet. These problems are not only specific to the Delaware Bay region but also the entire globe.
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Derick Smith, Restoration Corps crew member  Hi, I’m Derick and I am a Restoration Corp Crew Member here at the American Littoral Society. I am stationed at the office in South Jersey over in Millville. I have worked here for 3 years now. This little blog blurb will teach you all about rain gardens and why they’re so important.
Lucia Osborne, Delaware Bayshore Program Director Warning: Toilet Talk Ahead!  map of E.coli levels in the Delaware River Everybody poops! It’s a natural function and the body’s way of getting rid of excess waste. Our poop comes in a variety of sizes, colors, and smells, but for the most part, it’s all healthy and normal and bears little consequence on the rest of the world. It’s what happens after we flush the toilet that impacts our water, communities, and ecosystems.
A recent report from our partners at PennEnvironment showed that the Delaware River frequently has unsafe levels of E.coli, a bacteria that’s commonly found in poop, in the stretches of the river that flow through Philadelphia. That’s interesting because Philadelphia has a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) system. It’s an old style of water utility where the sanitary lines – the pipes that transport wastewater from where people live, work, and poop – are connected to the stormwater lines – the pipes that carry rainwater that runs off of our streets and buildings. When it rains too much, the system gets overwhelmed and raw sewage overflows into our waterways, and sometimes backs up into people’s basements and streets. Charlie O.D. Smith, Restoration Corps crew member  When Melissa Young, a professor at Rowan College of South Jersey, first suggested I apply for the American Littoral Society, I hesitated. Environmental science had never really been on my radar. As someone who’s always dreamed of becoming a physician, my focus was firmly on human health. But looking back, I’m so glad I took that leap of faith. This experience has completely reshaped the way I think about health. Through the Society, I’ve gained a deep appreciation for One Health [the idea that human health is inseparable from the health of our environment]. It turns out, you can’t truly care for people without caring for the world they live in.
Tara Tucci, Restoration Corps crew member  Tara conducting a horseshoe crab egg density survey on Sunray Beach My name is Tara Tucci, and I am a 2026 Restoration Corps member with the American Littoral Society. I recently graduated from Rowan University in May of 2026 with a Bachelor of Arts in Dance, a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science, and a minor in Biological Sciences. Although my academic background is in both the arts and environmental sciences, my experiences throughout college strengthened my interest in conservation and restoration. Joining the Restoration Corps gave me the opportunity to build on that interest through hands-on experience and introduced me to a career path I had not previously considered for myself. When I began this experience, I was uncertain about what I wanted my career after graduation to look like. By the end of my time with the Restoration Corps, I had gained a clearer sense of direction, a deeper appreciation for marine ecosystems, and a renewed confidence in pursuing a future in conservation.
Vanessa Garcia, Restoration Corps crew member  Vanessa searching for benthic macroinvertebrates at a stream near West Side Park, Vineland Out of sight, out of mind. That’s how a majority of people treat our wildlife. But, with a little time and a lot of care, we can save what we have broken. Most of what I see are streams because we do stream assessments at least once a week. A stream assessment is a protocol to evaluate the condition of aquatic life in our area. Basically, we write down the 4 senses: what we can see, smell, touch, and hear. Most of the streams have been good. They have all the healthy macroinvertebrates(small aquatic insects that you can see with the naked eye) and have clear water with fish swimming around.
Zack Royle, Habitat Restoration Manager In 1588, Thomas Harriot published his Briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia (as North Carolina was known at the time). It became a huge hit in Europe and largely shaped the European ideal of Native Americans for hundreds of years. Even today, it serves as one of our best accounts of how coastal Algonquians lived just after contact with Europeans. In a section on foods eaten by local tribes, Harriot provides the first European account of Atlantic horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) or Seekanauk: “ a kinde of cruftie shell fishe which is good meate, about a foote in breadth, hauing a cruftie tayle, many legges like a crab; and her eyes in her backe. They are founde in shallowes of falt waters; and fometime on the shore.” Later, in describing how coastal Algonquians fished, he notes that because they lack iron and steel, they make their fishing spears with "the hollowe tayle of a certaine fishe like to a fea crab” The image of a horseshoe crab can be seen in the accompanying drawing of the 1590 edition (Figure 1).
by Alexandra Kanonik, Program Director Jamaica Bay  July on Jamaica Bay marsh islands is a busy time for its human and animal residents. People are hitting the beach to cool off, fishes are migrating, terrapins are busy laying their eggs on sandy berms, cow nose rays are flapping in the surf, horseshoe crabs are wrapping up their spawning activity, shorebirds are coming in to feed on horseshoe crab eggs, herons like Edgar the Egret are busy feeding their fluffy young, and of course Osprey parents are working very hard feeding their own fledglings, as they need to grow large enough to migrate with their parents South for the Fall.
by Julie Schumacher-Carroll, Habitat Restoration Coordinator  In Shark River, the data from the 2026 horseshoe crab season is in, and the results are exciting! Shark River is a unique location for horseshoe crabs to access and utilize. Compared to the open waters on Delaware Bay, horseshoe crabs must travel through a turbulent inlet to access the Shark River basin and are then met with a predominately hardened shoreline.
by Zack Royle, Habitat Restoration Manager  Horseshoe crabs at Kimbles Beach. Photo credit: Sue Allen Over the past two months, we have been monitoring horseshoe crabs at Kimbles Beach to better support our restoration work. Every spring, thousands of horseshoe crabs crawl out of the surf and onto Kimbles Beach to lay their eggs. While only a tiny fraction of those eggs become adult horseshoe crabs, millions more provide food for fish, crabs, and migratory shorebirds, making horseshoe crabs one of the Delaware Bay's most important species.
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