Work is underway to build a resilient, "living shoreline" at Jamaica Bay in Gateway National Recreation Area/NPS file

More than eight years after Superstorm Sandy swamped and rearranged parts of Jamaica Bay National Wildlife Refuge at Gateway National Recreation Area work is underway to create a resilient "living shoreline" that should better stand up to future storms.

The storm back in November 2012 caused roughly $180 million damage to Gateway, which can be found in the greater New York-New Jersey metropolitan area. After the storm, Gateway's staff looked around their landscapes to see what fared well through the storm, and what didn't. 

"I'd love some peer-reviewed science that actually looked at what we are trying to accomplish, and what are some of the best ways of doing it," said Linda Canzanelli, Gateway's superintendent at the time. "I guess the question is, is Jamaica Bay (with its wildlife refuge and natural setting) the answer, or is the barrier peninsula of Rockaway the answer? Where do you need the protection, and what role did the (Raritan) bay play in Sandy?

"I have a gazillion questions and no answers. The natural systems did well. Where the marsh islands that have been restored within Jamaica Bay, they look like they did well with the inundation that occurred, and the area that had the marsh fringe," she told the Traveler in 2013, five months after the storm. "Places like Crooke's Point and Great Kills, I was out there the week of Sandy and you wouldn't even have known that there had been a hurricane. It was perfectly fine. But there's no wetland fringe around that area. Is it because that area is able to roll in a more natural way? These are all fascinating questions."

Now the Park Service, in partnership with the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy, a project of the Fund for the City of New York, is breaking ground on what is viewed as innovative living shoreline and restoration project at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. This green infrastructure project, designed by Dirtworks Landscape Architecture PC, Rippled Waters Engineering and Great Ecology, is expected to provide a resilient edge along the Refuge’s West Pond, an area breached during Superstorm Sandy and repaired by NPS in 2017.

The West Pond Restoration Project will restore 2,400 linear feet of heavily eroded shoreline at the refuge with the placement of 44,000 cubic yards of sand creating nearly 9 acres of marsh habitat. The living shoreline is expected to provide a resilient edge to protect against climate change and sea level rise encompassing over 200,000 new native plantings, a 5,000-oyster-shell-bag breakwater system, and natural erosion control features utilizing recycled trees and bio-degradable coir logs. Construction of the project is being led and managed by the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy.

“Our investment post-Sandy repairing the West Pond breach was only the first step. This project will protect the most vulnerable area of the pond from storm surge for years to come, while restoring valuable habitat,” said today's superintendent at Gateway, Jen Nersesian. “We appreciate the support of our partners. This is a great demonstration of what we can accomplish together – a mark of true resilience.”

“As a partner of the National Park Service and Gateway National Recreation Area, the Conservancy is ready to restore this vulnerable edge of the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge at West Pond with a living shoreline that will protect the pond and trail from extreme weather and climate change while enhancing visitor experience and the ecology of the bay with hundreds of thousands of native plants,” Tom Secunda, chairman, Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy said.

The project development team includes the Billion Oyster Project, which is providing 120 cubic yards of shell for the project from its citywide Oyster Shell Collection and Recycling Program. Volunteers worked with BOP on Governors Island to fill bio-degradable bags with cured shell that will be delivered to the site during construction to build out the unique breakwater feature.

“This restoration project has been a true collaboration between our crew at Billion Oyster Project, shell collection restaurant partners, and dedicated volunteers, said Pete Malinowski, executive director of Billion Oyster Project. “We can’t wait to witness the habitat these oyster shells can create for Jamaica Bay’s remarkable marine wildlife.”

The project began in mid-May and is expected to be completed by early fall. Funding for the project was made possible through private donations and the Nitrogen Settlement Fund, in partnership with the Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers, NYC Department of Environmental Protection, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and the NYS Attorney General’s Office.