Originally posted on The Long Island Advance by Peggy Spellman Hoey

Oct. 24, 2014

The dredge slated to gather sand for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Fire Island to Moriches Inlet dune replenishment project is scheduled to be at Smith Point County Park by the end of November, U.S. Rep. Tim Bishop said this afternoon.

The dredge is in Alabama on another project and once that job is completed, it will be transported up to New York to begin gathering sand at Smith Point, he said.

“Now we have to wait until [the dredge] finishes the job,” he said. “But the contractor will be on-site doing preparatory work before then.”

With that timeframe in place, it’s likely the dunes will be rebuilt by March before the dredging window closes again, he said.

The Army Corps of Engineers awarded The Dutra Group of San Rafael, California the $47.9 million contract to undertake dune replenishment at the park on Wednesday.

Army Corps spokesman Chris Gardner could not confirm when the dredge would be moving to Smith Point. He said agency officials still plan to meet with representatives from The Dutra Group to discuss a timeline.

In 2012, Superstorm Sandy and a nor’easter destroyed Smith Point’s dune system. Both storms caused massive flooding across the bay in Mastic Beach. The dune replenishment project was fast-tracked earlier this year after residents expressed concern about how the barrier island would hold up in the event of another big storm.

Mayor Bill Biondi, who has pushed for the project to be completed, said hearing the dredge could be on its way soon is good news.

“I am very happy,” he said.

The project came to a grinding halt last month when the National Audubon Society filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Central Islip challenging the project over concerns piping plovers, an endangered shorebird that nests along Smith Point, would be compromised. A temporary restraining order preventing the project from moving forward was lifted last Friday.

In a statement released by an Audubon Society spokeswoman, Erin Crotty, executive director of Audubon New York, said she is “very disappointed” with the court’s decision denying the motion for a preliminary injunction and that the group does not plan on appealing to the Second Circuit although they remain “steadfast” in their science-based concerns.

“Audubon calls on elected officials and government agencies to ensure the mitigation proposed to offset critical habitat and piping plover loss is funded, carried out, and successful,” Crotty stated. “Audubon will continue to actively monitor the implementation of this precedent setting coastal recovery project and future projects on Long Island. Storms like Hurricane Sandy are our new reality, and we must develop smarter, sustainable solutions to protect our communities and natural resources.”

Under the Army Corps’ plan, 2.5 million cubic yards of sand will be placed along Smith Point’s roughly five-mile coastline. The sand placement will include graduated sloping, a design consistent with the habitat of the piping plover. Burma Road, which is the roadway leading to Moriches Inlet that is used by recreational beach drivers and county workers to maintain the jetty, will remain in place.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a ‘no jeopardy’ biological opinion on the dune replenishment project back in June. The opinion recommended the Corps fund up to $10.5 million over the projected 10-year life of the project for predator and vegetation management, effectiveness monitoring, the maintenance of buffers around construction sites, breeding plovers and the areas designated for off-road vehicles. The opinion additionally recommended the maintenance of nesting and foraging habitat through vegetation management on three overwash areas and two restored areas along the beach. The creation of ephemeral pools where plovers can forage on Great Gunn Beach, another foraging and nesting area on a nearby dredge disposal site, and the creation of an interagency team to develop a coordinated effectiveness-monitoring program to document performance were also suggested in the plan.