Dunes in the northern section of Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge are the last line of defense for residents and the delicate marsh ecosystem.

A series of powerful nor’easters has decimated the dunes, leaving behind several breaches allowing saltwater to flow into Prime Hook’s freshwater impoundments, the hallmarks of the refuge. The loss of sand along the dune line also leaves the small village of Primehook Beach vulnerable to nature’s wrath.

Scientists studying Prime Hook say sea-level rise is expected to escalate over the next 50 to 75 years, so the outlook for the small town and the refuge that nearly surrounds it is pessimistic at best.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) is planning to rebuild the dunes one more time. But the administrator of the refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has served notice it will no longer provide dune repair work on private property. Several sections of the beach in the northern area of Prime Hook are private property.

Tony Pratt, program administrator for DNREC’s Shoreline and Waterway Management Division, said using state equipment and staff to repair the dunes would save money. He said crews would push as much sand as possible up to the dune line along a one-mile stretch starting north of Fowler Beach Road and going south. The work could begin this summer.

“We are working now to get permission from some property owners because part of the beach is private,” Pratt said. “We are willing to give it one more shot. The question is how many storms it will last. It could be two weeks or three years.”

Pratt said DNREC and Fish and Wildlife have rebuilt the dunes several times over the years. But the next time the dunes are breached, it appears nature will be permitted to take its course.

A move to saltwater marshes

Michael Stroeh, project leader for Prime Hook and Bombay Hook refuges, says the only hope to preserve the marshes and prolong the life of the current refuge might be an eventual total conversion to a saltwater marsh. Currently, nearly half of the refuge’s 10,000 acres is made up of freshwater marsh impoundments controlled by a system of water-control devices; only 20 percent is saltwater marsh.

Stroeh said some hard decisions must be made, but those decisions require more studies and analysis. “This is new territory for us,” he said.

Stroeh said recent studies show the freshwater marsh impoundments are losing ground to the Delaware Bay. “The bay is rising faster than the marsh – it’s not building enough,” he said.

He said there could come a time in the not-too-distant future that the refuge would no longer be able to manage the freshwater impoundments as they return to saltwater marshes and eventually become open bay water.

Maintaining marshland along the Atlantic Flyway is essential and the objective of the refuge, he said. That could require a change to saltwater marshes in the near future. Stroeh said saltwater marshes, with an elaborate underwater root system, would be more viable than a freshwater marsh with exposed mud flats.

“We have been trying to maintain the freshwater marshes, but we have a bigger problem down the road,” he said. “We may have to convert to saltwater to help keep up with sea-level rise.”

He said that could buy some time. “Right now, no one has the answer,” he said.

If predictions of sea-level rise come to pass, where will the ducks go? Stroeh said the answer to that question should be a top priority.

In the short term, the refuge environment would be fine for shorebirds, but even their future is in jeopardy if the marshlands revert to open water.

Ducks Unlimited, one of the major stakeholders in the refuge, is also focused on the future.

The organization plans to work to acquire new property inland of the current marshes and help restore wetlands and uplands, providing a new line of defense against erosion. “We support wiser uses of resources. Anything else would be throwing money away,” said Ducks Unlimited biologist Kurt Anderson.

The immediate needs

While predictions for the future look grim, there are immediate needs.

The problems facing Primehook Beach are in part the town’s own doing. As a private beach town, Primehook has not taken advantage of 40 years of state-funded beach replenishment projects from Lewes to Pickering Beach, Pratt said.

A recent application permit for scraping, a method of beach replenishment, filed by Primehook residents was denied by DNREC.

That could change, according to John Chirtea, representing the homeowners association. “We’ve never taken $1 from the state for repairing our dunes,” he said. Other bay communities allow public access to their beaches, and Primehook residents might be forced to make a change to save their properties.

“It’s an issue the community is dealing with right now,” he said.

He said an obvious solution is to pump sand from the bay bottom to the beaches. “Looking at all of the beach communities, the only solution I see is to pump sand on the beaches,” he said.

Chirtea said residents are willing to face the inevitability of sea-level rise, but that’s decades into the future. “In the meantime we need to do what we can do,” he said.

He agrees with Sen. Gary Simpson, R-Milford, that every effort should be made to rebuild the beach and dunes.

Chirtea supports the upcoming dune replenishment project to refill the breaches and cut off excessive flooding of the marsh at extreme high tide and in storms. He said a more permanent solution would be to use sand dredged from the Delaware River project to build up all Delaware Bay beaches. However, Simpson said there is a strong possibility the Army Corps will not allow the dredged material to be placed along the shoreline.
Simpson is not a stranger to the issues confronting the refuge and those who live along the shores of the Delaware Bay.

Along with Rep. George Carey, R-Milford, he was able to secure funding for beach replenishment in Slaughter Beach and Broadkill, but not Primehook because it is a private beach community.

Simpson has met several times over the past few months with DNREC and refuge officials and Primehook Beach residents.

He said he differs somewhat with recommendations from DNREC and the refuge to eventually allow nature to take its course. Even with the threat of more storms and eventual sea-level rise, Simpson said it’s not time to give up just yet. He said every effort should be made to replenish bay beaches, even if that requires establishment of a special beach residents’ tax.

Simpson said it comes down to money. Millions are spent on beach replenishment for the ocean beach resort towns because of the return on investment for tourism, he said.

Primehook Beach is an eclectic, quiet town with a mixture of modern homes and homes that are almost past their prime. Most are second homes used only during the vacation season.

The 200 or so residents who call Primehook Beach home are an independent lot who love the beach area, but hate the usual crowds and congestion that invade most coastal regions. Only about 30 percent are full-time residents, with 103 homes along the beachfront.

Primehook Beach, similar to other Delaware Bay beach towns, owes its existence directly to the sea, beaches and marshes that surround it.

Chirtea, who has lived along the bay most of his adult life and for 10 years in Primehook, called Primehook Beach a jewel. “We have a very close-knit community that is very peaceful,” he said.

For residents there is only one way in and one way out: Prime Hook Road, which has taken a severe beating from flooding this winter. Of the three roads used to access the refuge and two small Delaware Bay beach towns, two, Prime Hook and Fowler Beach roads, are in desperate need of repair.

Simpson said the most immediate need is to work with Delaware Department of Transportation to get Prime Hook Road raised to preserve the hamlet’s only evacuation route in a storm. “The people there are living in some peril,” he said.

It doesn’t take much of a storm with a high tide to flood the road, which is only a few inches higher than the marshes on both sides of it. The road was flooded out this week.

Simpson said Fowler Beach Road might have to be abandoned even though it serves as an important access road for nature lovers to get out into the marsh. “My hope is that they raise the road, but it would be a while before that happens. If this year is any indication, we are in for more serious flooding,” Chirtea said.

DelDOT is committed to make road repairs to Fowlers Beach and Prime Hook roads, but not until the dune line is replaced, said Mike Williams, DelDOT spokesman. “Until the dune is repaired, roadway repairs will not likely prove successful,” Williams said. He said DelDOT has fast-tracked the approval process to complete repair work when the timing is right.

Williams said work would include multiple drainage pipe replacements and road-surface repairs. “Department staff believe that pursuing both repairs at the same time is the most productive way to do it,” he said.

Next: Scientists weigh in on sea-level rise and its effect on Delaware Bay beach towns.