Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge undergoes big marsh restoration
For years, Prime Hook Road along Delaware’s coastline struggled when severe storms hit completely flooding the road making it nearly impossible for coastal residents to get in and out of the area.
The problem was the old bridge. The water flowing through the marshlands wasn’t properly going under the road like it was designed to, causing the water to overflow unto the road.
The new bridge now has special culverts that actually allow more water to flow underneath the road.
DNREC’s Deputy Secretary Kara Coats says its not only helping the marshland but the coastal residents as well:
“It’s a proactive approach to be able to have families to come out and go fishing and crabbing off the bridge as well as borders to be able to look at this amazing bay shore that we have behind us as well as meeting the transportation needs of the prime hook community.”
The opening of the new Prime Hook bridge is not the only major improvement made to the Wildlife Refuge. Although the bridge is key to improve the marshes, it was just one part of a multi-million dollar restoration project.
About 4,000 acres of tidal salt marsh restored at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge. A project essential to preserve the wildlife and marshland on Delaware’s coast.
Senator Tom Carper explains, “the vegetation here died, a lot of the mammals died and went away.”
For years, the state knew something needed to be done. Storms and even just high tides caused major flooding and nearly destroyed Prime Hook’s sand dunes, salt marshlands, and tidal channels.
Prime Hook beach resident, John Chirtea, saw it all, “We not only had flooding directly from the Delaware bay with the bad storms but we also got hit from the marsh side when the water from the bay flowed into the marsh and then the people who were along the marsh there was major flooding of houses along.”
But there was no funding until Hurricane Sandy hit four years ago. That’s when the project became one of the largest marsh restoration projects ever in on the east coast with $38 million in funding from the Department of the Interior.
“By restoring this marsh we’ve been able to provide additional habitat for water fowl and again as well as preventing flooding and making our coastal communities more resilient,” says DNREC Deputy Secretary Kara Coats.
The refuge marshes now have the ability to withstand future storms and rising sea levels without flooding and destroying wildlife habitats, making local residents who admire the area, like Chirtea, very happy.
He tells 47 ABC, “We can now live in a little bit of comfort that we’ve been protected to a large extent from the storms in the future.”
