1. American Littoral Society
Promote the study and conservation of marine resources and their habitats, defend
the coast from harm, and empower others to do the same
50 Years of Caring for the Coast

2. Assessing the Impacts of Hurricane Sandy on
Coastal Habitats
arrl.org

3. Rapid Assessment
• Requested by National Fish and
Wildlife Foundation to coordinate a
regional assessment to rapidly
evaluate the impacts of Sandy
• Focused on the physical effects on
coastal habitats and species which
depend on them
• Identify realistic opportunities to
address and remediate challenges

4. Approach
• Information gathered by telephone
from interviews: natural resource
managers and NGOs (LISS Habitat
Work Group)
• Geospatial change analysis
• Summaries of impacts, impact trends
and priority areas

5. Geospatial Analysis
Barrier Island Marsh

6. Littoral Society “Rapid Assessment”
• 65% of Beach and dune areas:
moderate to high impact
• 14-17% of tidal marsh areas:
moderate impact
• 9% upland forest areas: moderate
impacts

7. Belmar, New Jersey

8. Mantoloking Breach

9. Tuckerton, NJ on Barnegat Bay

10. Sandy Hook (Gateway) National Recreation
Area (NJ)

11. Sandy Hook

12. Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, West Pond

13. Prime Hook NWR (DE) Before Sandy

14. Prime Hook NWR (DE) After Sandy

15. Kimbles Beach, NJ

16. Long Island Sound

17. Long Island Sound

18. Region Wide Trends
• Inlet modification
• Dune and beach erosion
• Lowered elevations
• Innundation of Tidal Marsh and
Impacts to Prey communities
• Maritime forests
• New and “Moved” habitat
• Debris and Wrack

19. Region Wide Trends
• Sewage, oil and industrial
contamination
• Disturbance of forest canopy
• Vulnerability leading to ‘knee-jerk”
rebuilding actions

20. The “good news”
• Strong evidence of success and value
of natural coastal features responding
well to storm, providing mitigation and
protection to built community
• Lesson learned? Provides arguments
for expanded use of habitat protection
and restoration as part of regional
response and mitigation strategies

21. The “bad news”
• Little recognition of the creation of new
habitat through natural storm response
processes
• Rush to rebuild may negatively impact
these areas and miss opportunities to
restore habitat

22. Inventory of Priority Projects
• Assessment created a fairly detailed
inventory of both impacted sites, a
base data set in the geospatial
analysis, and a set of priority
recommendations from professionals
• Opportunities to integrate into
response framework (FEMA,
Congressional Supplemental Funding)

23. LISS Habitat Workgroup Summary
Recommendations
• Coordinated Tri-state restoration
response
• Develop stewardship protocols
• Integrate coastal habitat planning,
restoration and enhancements into
floodprotection investment
decisions
• Floodproof pollution sources
• Blend grey and green infrastructure

24. THANK YOU