U.S. Interior Secretary visits $38 million Delaware marsh restoration

Mark Eichmann

October 31, 2016

Marchers dance at Clark Park at the end of the 17th annual Peoplehood parade, Oct. 29, 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Children use a paper maché hammer to smash the boulder of injustice at the conclusion of the 17th annual Peoplehood parade Oct. 29, 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
The 17th annual Peoplehood parade ends in Clark Park, Oct. 29, 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
The 17th annual Peoplehood parade ends in Clark Park, Oct. 29, 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Members of the Neighborhood Bike Works delegation march as birds for the 17th annual Peoplehood parade in West Philadelphia, Oct. 29, 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Representatives of Girard Medical Center carry the giant puppets they created for the 17th annual Peoplehood parade Oct. 29, 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Representatives of Girard Medical Center carry the giant puppets they created for the 17th annual Peoplehood parade Oct. 29, 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Kids from Children's Community School join the parade halfway through the route with noise makers. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Social justice advocates march in the 17th annual Peoplehood parade Oct. 29, 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Teachers from Teacher Action Group march in the 17th annual Peoplehood parade October 29th 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Community members watch as the 17th annual Peoplehood parade passes through their neighborhood in West Philadelphia, Oct. 29, 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Young people from Neighborhood Bike Works chat as the 17th annual Peoplehood parade makes its way through West Philadelphia October 29th 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Social justice advocates march in the 17th annual Peoplehood parade Oct. 29, 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Social justice advocates march in the 17th annual Peoplehood parade Oct. 29, 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Young people from Extreme Creations in Southwest Philadelphia step into their drum line before the start of the 17th annual Peoplehood parade, October 29th 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Kids from Neighborhood Bike Works covered a banner with issues that mattered to them. The banner will lead their delegation at the 17th annual Peoplehood parade in West Philadelphia, October 29th 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Asa Morrison, 10, discusses which issues matter to him at the Neighborhood Bike Works set-up spot before the 17th annual Peoplehood parade in West Philadelphia, October 29th 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
A member of the Girard Medical Center coalition steps out from under a massive puppet he and his fellow recoverers made for the 17th annual Peoplehood parade in West Philadelphia, October 29th 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Dennis Cook sits in a chair decorated with angel wings to show of his support and gratitude to the organization Angels in Motion, which works with substance abusers and helps them get treatment. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Teenagers from the Youth Volunteer Corps cover a cardboard boulder with different types of injustice before the start of the 17th annual Peoplehood parade in West Philadelphia, October 29th 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Rachel Adler, from Spiral Q, teaches with teenagers from the Youth Volunteer Corps how to make the giant puppet appear to be walking. The theme for this years annual Peoplehood parade was ''We might all be giant.''(Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Social justice advocates march in the 17th annual Peoplehood parade Oct. 29, 2016, behind a giant puppet symbolizing the power of communities working together. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)
Beta Weissman, 4, marches with other members of her Philadelphia community at the 17th annual Peoplehood parade on Oct. 29, 2016. (Emily Cohen for NewsWorks)

Four years ago, Hurricane Sandy worsened the ongoing dune breaches at Prime Hook, sending salt water into the nearby marsh and killing lots of habitat. U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell recently visited the area to see how it’s been restored.

More than a mile of dunes have been rebuilt at Prime Hook. Breaches have been closed and 4,00 acres of tidal marshes have been restored as part of a restoration effort that started in 2015. The project was completed using $38 million in federal funding from the Hurricane Sandy relief package.

During her visit, Sec. Jewell said Prime Hook is one of the larges and most complex marsh restoration projects on the East Coast. She called it an example for other states trying to improve coastal resiliency for major storms like Sandy. “Sandy taught us that if we listen to Mother Nature and learn what she does so well, we might be able to make our natural systems more resilient,” Jewell said. “There’s no better example than right here at Prime Hook.”

The improvements have already paid off in protecting Prime Hook. A strong winter storm this January caused higher tides than Sandy and caused lots of erosion further south at the Delaware beaches, but staff at Prime Hook noticed the restored areas held up better than non-restored areas. They’ve also seen record numbers of horseshoe crabs and migratory birds.

“The costs associated with responding to and recovering from a hurricane such as Sandy- both the human and financial costs- are so severe that we simply cannot afford to face this devastation over and over again,” said. U.S. Sen. Tom Carper, D- Delaware. “I am proud this recovery effort used sound science and mitigation to protect this refuge for years to come.”

Up and down the East Coast., the Department of the Interior will spend $787 million in Sandy recovery funds for similar projects.