Originally posted on The Long Island Advance by Linda Leuzzi

September 17, 2014

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Mastic Beach Village Mayor Bill Biondi was cautiously optimistic when he heard from U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop’s office that dredging work for the dunes and berm at Smith Point County Park was about to begin. The bids had been open the week before, on Sept. 11.

“The dredge was going to start a strip up here,” Biondi said.

But the contract, which was to be awarded to a low bidder, was stalled Friday, Sept. 12, when a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order in response to a lawsuit brought by Audubon New York filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, yanking the Fire Island to Moriches Inlet Federal Stabilization Project targeted for Smith Point County Park and Fire Island Lighthouse Beach.

According to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Chris Gardner, the berm and dune would start just a bit west of Moriches Inlet and would continue west to Pattersquash Island; the berm continues further west than the dune and continues to the Fire Island Visitor’s Center.

“We were scheduled to award the contract at the end of last week,” he said. “Now we don’t have a definitive time at this point.”

Fire Island National Seashore Superintendent Chris Soller said the timing was key. “All of this is contingent upon having a contract in place, having good weather — it all just doesn’t happen overnight,” he explained. “The window of opportunity is short. If we have a mild winter, it will be easier to do, but if we have a lot of storms, then there are delays. The beach renourishment project in 2009 never got started until January or February because of weather conditions and then it was never completed.”

“[The corps and the bidder] were engaged in specific conversations, then they got word that Audubon was about to go to court to get a [temporary restraining order],” said Bishop. “They were going to move the dredge from New Jersey to Smith Point and lay the piping that moves the sand from the dredge location to the beach. We got the call Thursday evening from the Corps that Audubon was going to court the next day.”  Bishop said the dredger was then rerouted to a job in Alabama.

The low bidder has been identified, Gardner said. “It’s the Dutra Group.” The California-based company had been used before in beach restoration projects along the East Coast. Their proposal was $47.9 million.

The configuration of the proposed dune was designed at 13 feet high and sloped to provide easier access for the plover to move from the south side of the dune to the north side of the dune, Bishop said.

But Audubon New York Executive Director Erin Crotty commented their scientists said the sloping doesn’t help a piping plover chick. “They can’t fly for the first 30 days of their life and, unlike other bird species, they are not fed by the adults, so they have to immediately forage for food.” she said. ”So they can’t fly and they can’t forage for food and so there is their demise. The 4-foot height we think would be OK; they would be able to get up and over that height. We also think our proposed changes are minor in comparison to this entire project.”

Crotty said Audubon New York consistently participated in the regulatory process and had official comments on the record. “And we also voiced our concerns with the elected officials, the regulatory agencies and the project sponsor, in this case, the Corps. We believe the project is designed as a violation of the Endangered Species Act.”

Meagan Racey, spokesperson for U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Northeast Region, said the general numbers for piping plover on Fire Island dropped in half from 2008 to 2013, to less than 60 individual birds. “We have had a concern for the plovers on Fire Island,” she admitted. “But the agency was pleased with the Corps’ commitment of $10.5 million to maintain a habitat for the plovers, managing vegetation [which can hide predators], coordinating a stewardship in the visitor program to reduce disturbance. Overall, we think the best way to support the species is to work together to help the plover recover.”

Gardner underscored the commitment. “We’ll be maintaining habitat at Pattersquash, as well as at New Made islands and also in the area of the breach that was closed between those two islands two weeks after the storm, and we’ll be restoring habitat in the Great Gun area,” he said.

Soller pointed out that no one mentioned the habitat not being touched.

“The [Otis Pike] wilderness area is being left alone and we’re not building dunes there and there were many overwash areas created by Superstorm Sandy,” he said. “There are eight miles of wilderness with extensive plover habitat — that’s why we don’t allow driving there from March 15 to September, which is prime plover time. This was not just done willy-nilly; the Parks Service, the Corps, the county, state and Fish & Wildlife Service were all working it out. When you talk about plover numbers, it’s the potential that they could be there. Fire Island is 32 miles long. Where are they in the 32 miles? You start to look at that. And then, whether they come or not is the question.”

Bishop reiterated Soller’s point, that every level of government signed off on the beach replenishment project — federal, county and state. “There was a public comment period and some comments were incorporated,” he said. “It calls for vegetation or beach grass in the final plan, which was not as dense as the Corps recommended, but they agreed to change the dune slope and make the vegetation less dense to facilitate plover habitat and the project calls for snow fencing. For me, to be on the 1-yard line and to blow up is indefensible. To invest tens of millions to build a 4-foot-high dune is foolish and would not provide protection that the low-lying beach of Mastic and elsewhere would require.”

Bishop said he’d had two intense conversations with Audubon New York last Thursday evening.

Crotty said Audubon New York believes the Corps could develop a plan that can address the piping plover as well as protect the people on the mainland. “We have lots of examples of that in our Audubon network,” she added. Crotty was the New York Department of Conservation commissioner for a number of years and was used to working with several agencies at once, she said. “There’s no doubt that a compromise can be reached,” she said. “These are very rare habitats for piping plovers. If they’re destroyed, it will put them in jeopardy for survival.”

Mastic Beach Village Attorney Brian Egan said the village hadn’t seen the Audubon New York complaint yet on Tuesday. “The village is aware of the allegations and the argument made by the Audubon Society to stop the construction of the dunes opposite the village,” he said. “Those dunes are a critical component for the protection of the village. The mayor instructed me to make a formal motion, permission to intervene in the federal court to make sure the village’s interests are adequately represented in the lawsuit.”

The U.S. Attorney was representing the Army Corps and the Department of Interior, said a Bishop spokesperson. “There will be a preliminary hearing on Oct. 8 in Central Islip,” the spokesperson said.