November 30th, 2016
We’ve all seen them: big signs on the beach that warn not to step or walk onto the dunes. But why? This Keep Off Dunes sign, available from New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium, seeks to go further than just warn the public to keep off the dunes by explaining the many important benefits of dunes.
While they play an important role in stabilizing beaches and protecting our homes and infrastructure, dunes provide an essential habitat for many plants and animals. Walking on dunes can destroy the plants that hold them together. Without these plants, wind would erode the sand off the dune, diminishing its effectiveness as a natural barrier. This is why it is so important to stay off the dunes and always use designated dune walkways.
So now if you tell someone they should keep off the dunes, you’ll be empowered to explain why.
New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium also offers a Dune Manual. The Dune Manual answers a variety of questions and provides valuable resources for community groups or towns looking to build or restore the dunes along the beaches in your area.
Municipal officials interested in obtaining these signs can contact the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium at 732-872-1300 ext 10.
July 20th, 2016
June 27 marked the launch of the High Water Mark initiative in Monmouth County at Belford Ferry Terminal. As many as 100 signs will be placed in the county in an effort to increase the local community’s awareness of flood risk.
Dr. Michael Schwebel, community resilience and climate adaptation specialist for New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute, has worked with local communities on resilience initiatives and was able to bring towns and the county together to generate interest in posting signs in prominent places of importance to the community.
The signs will be placed throughout the county to denote the highest level that flooding reached during Superstorm Sandy. These signs are part of a national collaboration with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), and its High Water Mark Initiative. One of these signs will be placed at New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and will be used as an educational tool.
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May 31st, 2016
Take a spin at the Climate Hazards Game with Dr. Michael Schwebel on June 5. Learn firsthand about the decision processes that emergency planners and public officials now face.
Schwebel, Community Resilience and Climate Adaptation Specialist at the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute, developed the game as a way to educate audiences of all ages about pressing threats coastal communities face and steps that can be taken to deal with them. Players spin wheels that show the likelihood of various coastal hazards taking place and are challenged to allocate a limited amount of funding to deal with each of them.
Dr. Schwebel’s presentation will take place on June 5 from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m at the Eatontown Community Center at 58 Broad Street, Eatontown, N.J.
Take this opportunity to learn the basics about climate change and coastal resiliency and answer the question of the difference between weather and climate. You will also learn what it means to choose eco or ego solutions.
No reservations are needed and the event is recommended for ages 10 and up. Light refreshments will be served.
The event is sponsored by the Eatontown Environmental Commission. For more information, email EEC@yahoo.com or call Sara at 732-890-6772.
March 2nd, 2016
New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium’s Dr. Michael Schwebel will present at the coastal resiliency symposium “Strengthening the Jersey Shore” on March 29. The symposium is co-organized by the Monmouth-Ocean Development Council and Mott MacDonald. It will be hosted by New Jersey Natural Gas at their headquarters in Wall, N.J.
Schwebel is the Community Resilience and Climate Adaptation Specialist for the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute. At the symposium, he will discuss his work helping shore area towns become better prepared for major coastal storms, sea level rise and other impacts of climate change. The workshop will also include another member of the NJSGC staff, Dr. Amy Williams. Williams is a post-doctoral associate at Stevens Institute of Technology. Dr. Williams will contribute to a panel discussion entitled “How does Winter Storm Jonas serve as a reminder to increase coastal resiliency?”
Additional presentations will cover topics including the COP21 climate change summit, adaptation initiatives in the U.S., sea level rise in New Jersey, and preparing for economic and infrastructure disruptions.
The symposium will be held from 8 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. at New Jersey Natural Gas, 1415 Wyckoff Road. Find additional details and registration information here.
November 13th, 2015
Dr. Michael Schwebel will serve among a select group of expert panelists in “The Shore’s Future: Living with Storms and Sea Level Rise,” a two-day conference sponsored by the Institute on Science for Global Policy from Nov. 20-21 in Toms River.
Dr. Schwebel is the community resilience and climate adaptation specialist for New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and Monmouth University’s Urban Coast Institute.
“The Shore’s Future” will utilize a debate-and-caucus format pioneered by the ISGP.
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October 9th, 2015
Update 7/19/2016: There is now an updated version of the Dune Manual available at njseagrant.org/dunemanual
FORT HANCOCK — Backed up by the latest research, best practices for dune restoration have changed dramatically in 30 years, which is why the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and its partners wants the Jersey Shore to Dune it Right.
The last manual providing instructions about how to restore dune ecology was published by the USDA Plant Materials Center in the 1980s, and much of that advice is obsolete.
At the time, the key to dune restoration was American beachgrass.
“We see people planting Ammophila breviligulata — beachgrass — everywhere,” said Dr. Louise Wooton, of Georgian Court University at a recent outreach workshop on dune restoration and storm surge.
Beachgrass is still vital to dunes, but more emphasis is being placed on the diversity of plant species, but also of the grass itself. Nearly all the grass in dune restorations is from one Cape Cod-based variety, according to research by Dr. Michael Peek . Researchers say that needs to change if the dunes are to become more resilient.
With support from the NOAA National Sea Grant Office, New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium and its partners are correcting and updating those instructions through the Dune it Right Manual, published on njseagrant.org.
Dr. Amy Williams of Stevens Institute of Technology will present Dune it Right at the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association later this month. Click here to learn more.
The manual is a living document written by researchers and extension agents at William Paterson University, Stevens Institute of Technology, Georgian Court University — all NJSCG members — and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Plant Materials Center at Cape May who have had dune and beach research funded by the consortium.
Coastal experts wrapped-up a round of workshops aimed at developing an understanding of storm surges and dune restorations last month. The latest round was the second time this year that workshops were held to publicize the dune manual and update stakeholders about the latest best practices and research in dune management and restoration.
Here’s a breakdown of some recommendations:
- Don’t plant beachgrass in rows, attempt to plant in circles instead.
- Try to plant beachgrass
- Know the habitats: Dune ecology changes rapidly going inland. What one species likes on the primary dune, isn’t necessarily going to work for them on a secondary dune.
- In built out communities, treat yards and garden spaces as secondary dunes or maritime forests, and select native plant species that thrive in back dune environments.
- Make dunes diverse environments. Don’t just plant one species of plant.
The first round in the spring were aimed specifically at government officials who might be managing public dune restorations. seminars were held in each of the state’s four coastal counties.
The second round, one held in Cape May and the second held in Surf City on Long Beach Island were open to the general public.
Dunes, and their protective power, were proven to be a vital assest to beach communities during the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy. Communities without dune protection, by and large, fared much worse if they had no protection. The protective power of dunes is, in part, why dunes and beaches are considered to be the Garden State’s most valuable ecosystem.
Intense development along the Jersey Shore and the heavy use of the beaches by humans has reduced most of the dunes and the ecological services they provide, especially wrack lines, secondary dunes and maritime forests.
This has been done to make the beach “clean” and easy to access, experts said.
State and federal parks and reserves, and a few communities like Avalon in Cape May County Bradley Beach in Monmouth County are exceptions.
“Bradley Beach made a committment in the 1980s to build dunes,” Wooton told the crowd at Long Beach Island. “For 30 years, without any major storms they may have looked pretty silly, but than Sandy hit and they don’t look silly anymore.”
The Dune It Right manual can be downloaded at by clicking here.
