East Hampton, Little Neck get grants using nature to protect coast from storms

New efforts to defend the U.S. coasts from violent storms with dunes, salt marshes, oyster “castles” and reinforced shorelines won $136 million of funding, with three projects earmarked for the region, officials said on Tuesday.

The Town of East Hampton and Udalls Cove in Queens will strengthen shorelines with natural measures such as plants and mollusks while New York was one of seven states chosen for new oyster reefs, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a statement.

“This funding allows communities to invest in keeping their coasts healthy for generations to come and helps build a Climate-Ready Nation,” NOAA administrator Rick Spinrad said.

Tuesday’s awards, divided among 29 states and U.S. territories, will help pay for 88 projects, according to NOAA and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The foundation, created by Congress in 1984, raises private funds to protect landscapes.

The total awarded rises to $241 million, officials said, when matching contributions and earlier grants are counted.

“As communities recover from devastating storm events, it is vital we support nature-based solutions that help communities not only protect against destructive flooding, but also enhance the coastal habitats that are so important to people and wildlife,” said Jeff Trandahl, the foundation’s executive director and CEO.

Said Sen. Chuck Schumer, "From East Hampton on the South Fork to Udall’s Cove on the North Shore and Brookhaven, Southampton, and Oyster Bay in between, this federal funding will go a long way in planning flood-mitigation measures, constructing environmentally-friendly coastal defenses, and boosting water quality in our bays and waterways."

East Hampton — strengthening low-lying areas with vegetation/mussels

In East Hampton, the $350,000 grant will help ensure powerful storms do not turn downtown Montauk into a temporary island, which happened in the Hurricane of ’38, explained Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc.

The approximately 18-month project, which should finish around mid-2024, will strengthen the low-lying sections of Lake Montauk and Fort Pond by planting vegetation and adding mussels, he said. 

“We’re very excited about the grant,” which sprang from the town’s study of flood risks, said Van Scoyoc. “The idea is to reduce the amount of inland flooding,” he said.

“The installation of vegetation and mussel reefs to absorb wave energy will also improve the surrounding water quality,” Van Scoyoc explained, as both the plants and the mollusks absorb nitrogen, which in excess, after heavy storms, for example, becomes an all-too-frequent pollutant.

Udalls Cove — Oyster Castles shield coast from erosion

The oyster “castles” destined for Udalls Cove, in northeast Queens’ Little Neck Bay, are made from environmentally friendly concrete and assembled much like Lego blocks, according to Katie Friedman, New York Ecological Restoration Program manager with Save the Sound in Larchmont.

The $2.38 million project will “will protect a critical roadway and the community from further coastal erosion, and restore three acres of salt marsh and 0.14 acres of oyster reef habitat,” officials said.

The oyster castles will line around 800 feet of the bay, at least 10 feet offshore, Friedman said. 

“The big reason for these structures is that they help dissipate wave energy … and also help to trap sediments,” she said. This “helps the marsh to grow vertically over time,” also improving its ability to block floods.

While Save the Sound is not planting juvenile or seed oysters, there are a number of such initiatives already underway around the country, with one of the most ambitious, the Billion Oyster Project in New York Harbor. Once a major supplier of oysters, which were shipped around the nation, New York's oyster population plunged decades ago due to over harvesting and water pollution.

Shinnecock, Oyster Bay — likely spots for enhanced oyster reefs

Under the third program, The Nature Conservancy, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit, will plant a total of 2.5 million adult oysters “to enhance 29.5 acres of oyster reefs,” the officials said.

These projects will “will improve water quality, rebuild marine habitat, advance shoreline protection, and provide economic benefits to coastal communities.”

The other participating states are California, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Washington — and Maine probably will be added, said Boze Hancock, a senior marine restoration scientist with The Nature Conservancy.

On Long Island, Shinnecock and Oyster Bay are two likely sites for the new oysters.

This initiative, Hancock explained, springs from a 2020 effort to save the shellfish industry — which suddenly lost many customers when COVID-19 shuttered restaurants — by planting oysters that otherwise would have died in their cages or gone to landfills.

After one year, 75% of the oysters in Shinnecock survived, he said, a “fantastic” result.

The dermo parasite, which does not harm people and which arrived in the tristate area in the 1990s, is one of their worst threats.

Research could help determine which oysters are more resistant, and thus are better candidates, Hancock said. “It’s a bit like COVID; it’s not going to go away.”

Underscoring the importance of improving water quality while also countering storm surges and floods, he noted: “The health of the marine environment is why Americans live on the coast in large part.”