Suffolk looks to expand on wetlands restoration projects

Suffolk County is eyeing $4.5 million in federal grant funding for wetlands restoration projects along 390 acres of county-owned land on the South Shore, County Executive Steve Bellone announced Friday, the eve of the 10th anniversary of Superstorm Sandy.

The money would be used for marshland projects at the Scully Marsh in Islip, Cupsogue Beach in Westhampton and along the southern portion of Smith Point County Park in Shirley. The work aims to reduce the height of storm waves and mitigate flooding through natural vegetative growth, while also controlling the spread of pests.

“These coastal wetland projects complement our other valiant efforts to harden our shoreline, protect water quality and preserve vital infrastructure,” Bellone said at a news conference at Smith Point Marina.

Bellone said it was in the aftermath of Sandy, which made landfall on Long Island on Oct. 29, 2012, that county officials recognized the need to restore natural barriers along the shorelines. The effort began with a pilot project at the federal Wertheim National Wildlife Refuge in Shirley. Federal and state approval of restoration methods developed in that project led to increased funding for future initiatives.

Bellone pointed to the success of a $564,000 coastal resiliency project taken up on the northern portion of Smith Point last year, which restored nearly 80 acres of marshland to protect the Shirley-Mastic peninsula against future storm damage, as an example of why the county should continue investing in similar initiatives.

An additional 260 acres have been restored since 2019 along the South Shore Estuary Reserve watershed at county parks in West Sayville, Oakdale and Bay Shore using $1.3 million through the federal Hurricane Sandy Coastal Resiliency Competitive Grant Program, Bellone said.

Adrienne Esposito, executive director for the Farmingdale-based Citizens Campaign for the Environment, explained how natural wetlands “act like a sponge” to absorb sea-level rise, storm surges and flooding, before “slowly releasing [the water] back into the bay over time, protecting the mainland.”

“We call them nature’s solution to mainland pollution,” Esposito said.

 Esposito called the county projects “thoughtful, forward-thinking ways” to combat climate challenges. 

Tom Iwanejko, superintendent of vector control at the county’s department of public works, said the digging of a grid of narrow trenches through marshes across Suffolk County in the 1930s and earlier had a negative impact on the natural habitat, which has been exposed during storms. 

“We’re trying to restore the natural hydrology …  to make it a more functional, natural type of system,” Iwanejko said.

The locations for the next phase of restoration projects announced Friday, which would be paid for through a FEMA grant program, were selected due to their environmental similarities to the areas where the county has already found success.

“They’re very similar projects,” Bellone said. “Superstorm Sandy has demonstrated to us the need to restore these natural systems and that’s what all these projects are doing.”

Bellone said the county has already applied for the $4.5 million in grant funding announced Friday and the application is pending. He also pledged to commit $1 million in county funding to planning and implementing the coastal resiliency efforts.