Inventory of Habitat Modifications to Tidal Inlets in the U.S. Atlantic Coast Breeding
Range of the Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) as of 2015: Maine to North Carolina1
Tracy Monegan Rice
Terwilliger Consulting, Inc.
October 2016
Inlets are a highly valuable habitat for piping plovers (Charadrius melodus), red knots, other
shorebirds, and waterbirds for foraging, loafing, and roosting (Harrington 2008, Lott et al. 2009,
Maddock et al. 2009). The North Atlantic Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC) has
designated the piping plover as a representative species in all three subregions, standing as a
surrogate for other species using dynamic beach systems including American oystercatchers,
least terns, black skimmers, seabeach amaranth and migrating shorebirds
(http://www.fws.gov/northeast/science/pdf/nalcc_terrestrial_rep_species_table.pdf). Recovery
Task 1.2 of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) Recovery Plan for the piping plover
prioritizes the maintenance of “natural coastal formation processes that perpetuate high quality
breeding habitat,” specifically discouraging the “construction of structures or other developments
that will destroy or degrade plover habitat” (Task 1.21), and the “interference with natural
processes of inlet formation, migration, and closure” (Task 1.22) (USFWS 1996, pp. 65-66). A
series of assessments recently filled the data need to identify such habitat modifications that have
altered natural coastal processes and the resulting abundance, distribution, and condition of
existing habitat in the United States (U.S.) Atlantic Coast breeding range prior to Hurricane
Sandy and immediately after Hurricane Sandy in October 2012. The U.S. Atlantic Coast
breeding range of the piping plover stretches from Maine (ME) to North Carolina (NC).
Six recent reports provided these data for the U.S. continental migration and overwintering range
of the piping plover (Rice 2012a, 2012b), the northern portion of the U.S. Atlantic Coast
breeding range (Rice 2015a, 2015b) and the southern portion of the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding
range (Rice 2014, 2015c) prior to Hurricane Sandy. A summary report synthesized the results of
these six reports to characterize tidal inlet and sandy beach habitats from ME to NC before
Hurricane Sandy (Rice 2015d). Another report assessed the storm-induced habitat modifications
to tidal inlets and sandy beaches from ME to NC resulting from Hurricane Sandy (Rice 2015e).
Altogether this information can provide an assessment of the cumulative impacts of habitat
modifications at tidal inlets for piping plovers and other birds, including the recently listed rufa
red knot (Calidris canutus rufa). These assessments do not, however, include habitat
disturbances at tidal inlets such as off-road vehicle (ORV) usage, pet and human disturbance, or
disturbance to dunes or vegetation on inlet shoulders.
All of these previous reports, inventory data and Google Earth data layers are available online at
the Beach and Tidal Inlet Habitat Inventories Project page of the North Atlantic LCC website at
1
Suggested citation:
Rice, T.M. 2016. Inventory of Habitat Modifications to Tidal Inlets in the U.S. Atlantic Coast Breeding Range of
the Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) as of 2015: Maine to North Carolina. Report submitted to the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Hadley, Massachusetts. 94 p.
1
www.northatlanticlcc.org. The Google Earth data layers are also available in shapefile format in
the Inventory of Habitat Modifications to Tidal Inlets and Sandy Beach Habitat Gallery at Data
Basin, at www.databasin.org. Phase 1 of the project contains reports, data and map layers for
tidal inlet and sandy beach habitats prior to Hurricane Sandy. Phase 2 of the project contains
reports, data and map layers for tidal inlet and sandy beach habitat immediately following
Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.
This report updates the habitat inventory for tidal inlets three years after Hurricane Sandy,
characterizing the habitat and its modifications for the entire U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range
of the piping plover, from ME to NC, as of 2015. A separate report will update the data for
sandy beach habitat in the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range as of 2015. This third set of
reports, data and map layers assessing the two habitat types three years after Hurricane Sandy
(Phase 3) will be posted on the North Atlantic LCC and Data Basin websites as they become
available.
METHODS
This assessment updates the tidal inlet inventories for the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range that
characterized the habitat abundance, distribution and condition prior to Hurricane Sandy in
October 2012, as described in Rice (2012a), Rice (2014) and Rice (2015a). Tidal inlets that were
opened or closed by Hurricane Sandy are described in Rice (2015e). For a description of the
inventory methods used to assess tidal inlets in ME, New Hampshire (NH), Massachusetts (MA),
Rhode Island (RI), Connecticut (CT), and along the Long Island Sound and Peconic Estuary
shorelines of New York (NY), see pages 2 to 9 of Rice (2015a). For a description of the
inventory methods used to assess tidal inlets along Atlantic Ocean shoreline of NY, New Jersey
(NJ), Delaware (DE), Maryland (MD) and Virginia (VA), see pages 2 to 5 of Rice (2014). For a
description of the inventory methods used to assess tidal inlets in North Carolina, see pages 1 to
6 of Rice (2012a). For a description of the inventory methods used to assess changes to tidal
inlets resulting from Hurricane Sandy, see pages 7 to 9 of Rice (2015e).
The location of tidal inlets that were open between 2012 and 2015 were identified using the same
methodology described in Rice (2014), Rice (2015a) and Rice (2015e). Inventory results for
tidal inlets include the number and location of tidal inlets open in each state three years after
Hurricane Sandy in 2015, and the numbers of tidal inlets that had been modified by armoring
with hard shoreline stabilization structures, dredging and sediment mining. The numbers and
locations of known historical inlets and those that had been artificially opened, closed or
relocated are also included.
A description of the different types of stabilization structures typically constructed at or adjacent
to inlets – jetties, terminal groins, groins, seawalls, breakwaters and revetments – can be found in
Rice (2009) as well in the Manual for Coastal Hazard Mitigation (Herrington 2003, online at
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/cmp/coastal_hazard_manual.pdf), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’
Coastal Engineering Manual (USACE 2002), and in Living by the Rules of the Sea (Bush et al.
1996).
2
A number of imagery sources were assessed for the presence of new inlets and to identify inlets
that had closed between 2012 and 2015:
 Google Earth aerial imagery from 2012, 2013, 2014, and/or 2015; in some limited areas
imagery from March or April 2016 was also available (www.earth.google.com)
 Google Maps satellite view imagery (www.google.com/maps)
 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP)
aerial imagery taken in spring 2014 and spring 2015 for the Eastern Shore of Virginia
(https://gdg.sc.egov.usda.gov/)
 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Hurricane Joaquin aerial photography taken in October
2015 and available on iCoast for NY to NC (http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/icoast/index.php)
While the 2012-2015 assessment period does not include any named hurricanes that made
landfall within the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range of the piping plover, two storms of note
did affect the study area. Hurricane Joaquin indirectly impacted the U.S. East Coast during the
first week of October 2015; the hurricane passed well offshore (after impacting the Bahamas),
generating coastal flooding, high winds and heavy rainfall along portions of the U.S. Atlantic
Coast breeding range of the piping plover, particularly the southern portion from NY to NC
(Berg 2016). A severe winter storm also affected the East Coast between January 22-24, 2016, a
blizzard unofficially named Winter Storm Jonas. Although this extreme snowstorm occurred
three months after the three-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, it generated significant coastal
flooding in Delaware and New Jersey, including record high tide levels at Cape May, NJ,
breaking the previous record set by Hurricane Sandy (Fritz 2016). High winds and beach erosion
were experienced throughout most of the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range of the piping
plover. Where October 2015 and March or April 2016 imagery were available and utilized in
this assessment, the coastal impacts from Hurricane Joaquin and the blizzard of January 2016
were included in this updated habitat assessment (see Appendix A for a full list of imagery dates
available for each state).
This assessment update was compiled by combining the Microsoft Excel tidal inlet database of
Rice (2012a), Rice (2014), Rice (2015a) and Rice (2015e) into one database, which was then
updated to incorporate new inlet and habitat modification data through 2015. The centralized
Microsoft Excel database contains the following data fields for each inlet: inlet name, state,
north / east land ownership, south / west land ownership, county where the inlet occurs, type of
hard structure, location of the structure, structure ownership, date built, dredging (yes or no),
dredging maintenance agency, location(s) of dredged material disposal, sand bypassing (yes or
no), shoal mining (yes or no), mining sponsor, date mined, fill location, other miscellaneous but
relevant details, and data sources. Data on each inlet were confirmed with information from
multiple sources wherever possible and the sources for each inlet’s data recorded.
A separate consolidated Microsoft Excel database was created to catalog the number and
location of inlets that have opened or closed either naturally or artificially since the 1800s for
each state from ME to NC. Relocated inlets are those in which the inlet has been physically
moved to a new location – typically hundreds to thousands of feet away – and the old inlet closed
with sediment or other materials and the new inlet excavated through land. An inlet generally is
relocated as an erosion control measure to protect property or infrastructure from loss due to inlet
migration. An inlet that was moved to a new location but where the old inlet was allowed to
3
remain open was categorized as artificially created and not as a relocated inlet. If the old inlet
subsequently closed naturally, that inlet was categorized as naturally closed. Inlets that have
opened or closed due to natural processes include those that were created during storm events or
filled in and closed by natural sediment transport processes. Artificially created inlets include
those cut through barrier islands or spits where previously no channel existed; these have been
created predominantly for navigational purposes but less frequently for water quality or fish
passage purposes.
Inlets that have been artificially closed tend to be those opened during a storm event (e.g., The
Great New England Hurricane of 1938, Hurricane Sandy) in a location where property owners,
governing agencies or politicians consider them undesirable; closure of these new inlets is
oftentimes considered a storm recovery endeavor, particularly where it is necessary to restore a
road that has been severed by the new inlet. Artificially closed inlets provide a different mosaic
of habitats than those that have closed naturally. Naturally closed inlets tend to be low in
elevation, to have no or sparse vegetation initially, and are wide, especially if the tidal deltas or
shoals have welded to the island. Artificially closed inlets, on the other hand, have higher
elevations, tend to have a substantial constructed berm and dune system tying in to the adjacent
beach and dune systems, and are often manually planted with dune grasses and/or other
vegetation to stabilize the area. The materials used to fill the inlet and construct the berm and
dune ridge typically are mined nearby, often disturbing the local sediment supply and transport
system. The overwash occurring periodically at a naturally closed inlet is prevented at an
artificially closed inlet by the constructed dune ridge, or in some cases by additional hard
structures or sandbags.
Shoal mining is defined as a project that intentionally mines sediment from a tidal shoal or
channel within an inlet complex, typically for nourishment of nearby beaches. These projects
tend to target ebb shoals, are located outside of any authorized and/or maintained navigational
channels, and generally require new permits or environmental review. Dredging activities that
have occurred within authorized and/or maintained navigational channels with the dredged
materials placed on nearby beaches to address erosion are not considered mining projects within
this assessment. Such types of projects may be considered by the USACE as “beneficial use of
dredged material” or as Section 933 projects under the Water Resources Development Act (as
amended) but do not create new areas of disturbance to the seafloor as a true mining project
does. In Rhode Island some flood tidal shoals have been intentionally dredged for habitat
restoration projects, with the dredged material beneficially placed on nearby beaches; these
projects were not considered mining projects since their primary purpose is habitat restoration of
shallow water habitats and not the mining of beach fill material. Both dredging of channels and
shoal mining create similar geological and ecological impacts, however, in that they disrupt the
sediment transport system within and around inlets, creating sediment sinks within the inlet
which can lead to increased erosion rates of adjacent shorelines and shoals.
The data in both databases (those open in 2015 and those that have historically opened and
closed both artificially and naturally) were then compiled, sorted and analyzed using common
assessment techniques (e.g., the proportion of inlets modified in a particular way within
individual states and the range) to identify trends and patterns. Numerous USFWS and state
4
agency staff members within the range reviewed a draft of this assessment in order to verify and
correct details, where necessary.
RESULTS
This assessment identifies and discusses the changes to tidal inlet habitat in the three years after
Hurricane Sandy, covering late 2012 through 2015. The results discussed below focus on tidal
inlet habitat changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015, the status of tidal inlet habitat as of
2015, and proposed and anticipated habitat changes beyond 2015. The entire U.S. Atlantic Coast
breeding range from Maine to North Carolina is included in this 2015 assessment. This habitat
inventory and assessment updates and supersedes the pre-Hurricane Sandy assessments for tidal
inlets (Rice 2012a, 2014, and 2015a) and the assessment of habitat changes caused by Hurricane
Sandy (Rice 2015e). Information on historical inlets is not reproduced here and can be
referenced in Rice (2012a, 2014 and 2015a). A series of tables listing each inlet open in 2015
for each state, along with the habitat modifications at each inlet, can be found in Appendix
B at the end of this document.
Tidal Inlet Habitat Changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015
Of the 33 inlets or breaches opened by Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, at least 5 were closed
artificially. Another 17 had closed naturally and an 18th was in the process of closing in 2015.
Only 9 of the 33 inlets or breaches opened by Hurricane Sandy were open in 2015, three years
later. Of the 4 inlets closed by Hurricane Sandy, 3 were still closed in 2015 but one had
reopened naturally in a new position.
At least 33 other inlets or breaches opened between Hurricane Sandy and 2015 in the U.S.
Atlantic Coast breeding range of the piping plover, 23 of the inlets opening naturally and 10
artificially opened2 (Table 1). Eleven (11) of these new inlets were in MA, 7 in VA, and 4 each
in NC and the Peconic Estuary of NY. Another 6 inlets were newly identified in MA with the
availability of new and/or higher resolution imagery. Of the 52 inlets or breaches that closed
between 2012 and 2015, 47 closed naturally and 5 were closed artificially.
Tidal Inlet Habitat Status as of 2015
The post-Sandy changes described above bring the total number of open tidal inlets in 2015 in
the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range of the piping plover to 412 (Table 2). This compares with
399 that were known to exist in 2012 (Rice 2015d) and 428 immediately after Sandy in
November 2012 (Rice 2015e). The proportion of inlets that have been modified remains roughly
the same, with 68% of the 412 inlets open in 2015 having been modified versus 69% in 2012.
The proportion of tidal inlets stabilized with hard structures continues to be the greatest form of
modification, with 242 of the 412 inlets (59%) modified by structures. Dredging remains the
second most significant form of habitat modification, with 182 of 412 inlets (44%) modified by
dredging; 146 of the 182 inlets (80%) modified by dredging are also stabilized with structures.
2
This total of 10 inlets that were opened artificially between 2012 and 2015 does not include the periodic pond
letting, or artificial breaching, of up to 13 coastal ponds in MA, RI and NY. Numerous coastal ponds are artificially
breached on an annual basis; see Rice (2015a) and Rice (2014) for a complete list.
5
Table 1. The status of tidal inlets in each state, the Long Island Sound (LIS) shoreline of
New York north and east of Plum Point, and the Peconic Estuary shoreline of Long Island,
New York, in 2012, immediately after Hurricane Sandy, between Hurricane Sandy and
2015, and in 2015. The number of inlets that opened and closed (columns 5 and 6) include
both natural and artificial openings and closures.
Number
of Inlets
Open in
2012
Inlets
Opened in
Hurricane
Sandy
Inlets Closed
in Hurricane
Sandy
Inlets
opened since
Hurricane
Sandy
Inlets closed
since
Hurricane
Sandy
Number of
Inlets
Open in
2015
ME
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY –
LIS
NY Peconic
NY Atlantic
NJ
DE
MD
VA
NC
21
3
128†
17
56
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
0
2
1
0
11
0
3
5
0
6
2
1‡
17
3
133
16
54
28
0
0
1
0
29
96
11
1
4
10
100
9
6
0
0
5
10
11
1
1
14
20
7
0
0
5
2
0
0
0
1
0
2
0
0
7
4
9
0
0
8
6
11
1
1
17
20
TOTAL
405
33
4
33
52
412
State
† This total includes 6 inlets that were newly identified with improved imagery sources; these inlets were
open prior to Hurricane Sandy but not identified in Rice (2015a).
‡ An additional 3 inlets were lost when the surrounding lands on which they were located eroded or
submerged.
At least 45 of the 412 (11%) inlets were artificially created or opened, 9 (2%) have been
relocated, and at least 29 (7%) mined for sediment.
Three states have had 100% of their tidal inlets modified, but those states are the three states with
the fewest number of inlets: New Hampshire, Delaware and Maryland (Table 2). Only one state
– Virginia – has had fewer than half of its inlets modified in at least one manner. The other
states range from 53% (ME) to 91% (NJ) of their inlets modified. In sum, over two-thirds (68%)
of all the sandy inlets within the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range of the piping plover have
been modified in one way or another.
Of the 242 inlets with at least one hard structure, 117 (49%) have one or two jetties, 77 (32%)
have terminal or other groin structures, 147 (61%) have revetments (sandbag or rock), seawalls
6
Table 2. The number of open tidal inlets, inlet modifications, and artificially closed inlets
in each state, the LIS shoreline of New York north and east of Plum Point, and the Peconic
Estuary shoreline of Long Island, New York, in 2015.
Inlets Open in 2015
State
ME
NH
MA
RI
CT
NY – LIS
NY -
Peconic
NY -
Atlantic
NJ
DE
MD
VA
NC
TOTAL
Number
of Inlets
Total
Number
of
Modified
Inlets
structures†
dredged
relocated
mined
Artificially
opened
17
3
133
16
54
29
9
3
86
9
45
22
8
3
79
6
44
20
6
2
52
8
12
14
0
0
2
0
0
1
1
0
2
0
0
2
1
0
17a
7b
1
1
0
0
8
2c
7
0
100
69
56d
49
1
0
8e
0
10
9
6
9
0
4
4f
6
11
1
1
17
20
10g
1
1
2
16
282
(68%)
9
1
1
1
10g
1
1
2
16
182
(44%)
1
0
0
0
5
9
(2%)
7g
1
1
1
10
29
(7%)
1
1
0h
0
4i
45k
(11%)
8
0
3
1
13
412
Habitat Modification Type
8i
242
(59%)
Artificially
closed
48
† Structures include jetties, terminal groins, groin fields, rock or sandbag revetments, seawalls, and offshore
breakwaters.
a – Seventeen of the 28 inlets that have been artificially created in Massachusetts were open in 2015.
b – Rhode Island’s coastal ponds have a long history of being artificially breached stretching back to Colonial times
(Lee 1980). Some ponds were and/or continue to be breached annually or multiple times annually. Records
are incomplete on how many of the ponds have been artificially breached or re-opened following closure during
storms, making this number a minimum number. An additional 3 inlets that are confirmed to have been opened
artificially in the past were closed in 2015.
c – A number of inlets that opened during hurricanes in Rhode Island have historically been artificially closed, but
documentation could only be found for two.
d – A jetty has been proposed for one currently unmodified inlet on the Peconic Estuary shoreline of NY.
e - A ninth inlet that was closed in 2015 was proposed to be artificially reopened and its existing hard shoreline
stabilization structures rehabilitated and/or replaced. If this project is constructed, the number of inlets on the
Peconic Estuary shoreline will increase to 101, with 70 of them modified, 50 dredged and 9 artificially opened.
f – A fifth inlet on the Atlantic coast of New York has historically been artificially opened but was not open in 2015.
g - The only unmodified inlet in NJ was Little Egg Inlet. Dredging of the inlet has been proposed both for beach
nourishment (as a sand source) and for navigation; these proposals are undergoing regulatory review in 2016.
h – An inlet near Ocean City, MD, was artificially opened prior to World War I but closed naturally and is no longer
open.
i - Terminal groins have been proposed for 3 inlets in NC, none of which has a hard shoreline stabilization structure
already present. If all 3 terminal groins are constructed as proposed in 2016-17, the number of inlets modified
by hard structures in NC will be 11.
j – A fifth inlet in NC has historically been artificially opened but the inlet was not open in 2015.
k – The total number of inlets that have been artificially opened that were open in 2015. At least 19 additional inlets
have been artificially opened historically.
7
and/or bulkheads, and 16 (7%) has offshore breakwaters (NOTE: the numbers total more than
242 because many inlets have more than one type of structure). Virginia (6%) has the lowest
proportion of inlets stabilized with hard structures while New Hampshire, Maryland and
Delaware all have the highest proportions of structural stabilization at their inlets with 100%
each (Table 2). Rhode Island (38%), North Carolina (40%), and Maine (47%) are the only states
besides Virginia where fewer than half of their inlets are modified with hard shoreline
stabilization structures.
At least a separate 48 inlets are known to have been artificially closed (Table 2). Eight (8) inlets
have been artificially closed in Massachusetts and New Jersey. In Connecticut, 7 inlets have
been artificially closed. Along the South Shore of Long Island, at least 6 inlets have been
artificially closed. Three (3) inlets in Maryland, 2 in Rhode Island and 1 inlet in Virginia have
been artificially closed. At least 13 inlets or breaches have been closed artificially in North
Carolina, more than any other state. No tidal inlets are known to have been artificially closed in
Maine, New Hampshire, Delaware, or along the Long Island Sound or Peconic Estuary
shorelines of New York. Inlets have been artificially closed in Rhode Island, but precise
numbers and locations are not available.
Proposed Habitat Modifications
One closed inlet to a private boat basin on the Peconic Estuary shoreline of New York has been
proposed to be artificially opened, and one additional inlet in New Jersey has been proposed to
be mined for beach fill and/or dredged for navigation. Four additional inlets have had hard
shoreline stabilization structures proposed, one along the Peconic Estuary shoreline of New York
and three in North Carolina. A box jetty has been proposed at a currently unstabilized inlet on
the Peconic Estuary of NY, and if constructed would increase the number of inlets with
structures to 57 in the Peconic Estuary. If the three proposed terminal groins are constructed in
NC, North Carolina’s proportion of inlets modified by hard structures would increase to 55%
since all 3 inlets are not stabilized currently.
State-specific Results
Maine
Tidal Inlet Habitat Changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015
Hurricane Sandy did not open or close any tidal inlets in Maine south of Georgetown (Rice
2015e). Between Hurricane Sandy and 2015, five inlets that were open in 2012 closed (Table 1).
An inlet that previously separated Fox Island from the mainland closed when a tombolo, or
bridge of sand, formed and reconnected the island with the mainland in 2013. The former inlet
opening at the mouth of the Morse River, Old Morse River Inlet, naturally closed in 2013-14. A
small unnamed inlet at Crescent Beach State Park (SP) closed in late 2014 or early 2015. The
fourth inlet that closed was a small, unnamed inlet at Cape Elizabeth that closed in 2013. A fifth
inlet, Goosefare Brook, also closed in 2013. All five inlets closed naturally.
One inlet in Maine has been artificially opened in the three years since Hurricane Sandy. In
early October 2013, a sandbar that had partially or completely closed the inlet at Goosefare
8
Brook in Old Orchard Beach was artificially breached (Gotthelf 2013; Kate O’Brien, USFWS,
pers. communication, January 15, 2016).
In the three years following Hurricane Sandy, at least 3 inlets were dredged: ~114,300 cubic
yards (cy) of sediment were dredged from the Scarborough River inlet in 2014-15 and placed on
Western Beach; ~22,000 cy of sediment were dredged from the inlet at Kennebunk River in
2013-14 and placed in a nearshore disposal site off Gooch’s Beach; and ~130,000 cy of sediment
were dredged from the navigation channel at Wells Harbor in late 2013 and placed on both Wells
Beach and Drakes Island Beach (USACE 2013b, USACE New England District website).
Tidal Inlet Habitat Status as of 2015
In 2015, three years after Hurricane Sandy, the number of tidal inlets open along the Atlantic
Ocean shoreline of Maine south of Georgetown was 17 (Table 2 and Table B-1 in Appendix B).
Nine (9) of the 17 tidal inlets (53%) open in 2015 in southern Maine had been modified by
anthropogenic activities. Prior to Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, there were 21 tidal inlets
open in Maine, 9 (43%) of which had been modified in at least one manner (Rice 2015a). Of the
9 sandy tidal inlets in Maine that have been modified as of 2015, 8 have been stabilized with
hard structures along at least one shoulder (Table B-Table B-1). Of the inlets with hard
structures, 4 have jetties (1 with a single jetty and 3 with dual jetties) and 5 have revetments,
seawalls and/or bulkheads [note that an individual inlet may have multiple types of structures;
e.g., in Maine 1 inlet has both jetties and revetments]. Six (35%) inlets have been or continue to
be periodically dredged for navigation or erosion control purposes to redirect channels away
from buildings or infrastructure. No inlets are documented to have been relocated along Maine’s
southern coast. The shoal complexes of at least 1 inlet has been mined to supply sediment for a
dune / beach nourishment project at Ogunquit Beach -- Ogunquit River Inlet in 1974 (FitzGerald
et al. 1989).
Only one inlet in Maine has been artificially opened, the aforementioned Goosefare Brook in
2013. No inlets or breaches have been closed artificially in Maine, although the natural closure
of Little River Inlet was partially caused by the damming of the inlet’s drainage basin with the
construction of a railroad embankment in 1875 (FitzGerald et al. 1989, Kelley et al. 1989, EPA
1995). Rice (2015a) described historical inlets that have been open along Maine’s southern
coast, as well as documented impacts resulting from modifications to certain inlets.
Proposed and Anticipated Habitat Modifications
In spring 2016 the USACE proposed maintenance dredging of the Saco River inlet channel, with
an estimated 150,000 cy of sediment to be placed either on nearby Camp Ellis Beach or in the
nearshore off Camp Ellis Beach (depending on the type of dredging equipment used in the
project); dredging was anticipated to be scheduled between November 2016 and March 2017
(USACE 2016d).
A recent study forecasting the impacts of a 3-foot static sea level rise at and near Rachel Carson
National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) identified several potential locations for breaches or new inlets
in southern Maine – 3 on Drakes Island and 2 at Wells Beach; the study also predicts a new area
of ponding near the southern jetty at Wells Inlet with both a 2- or 3-foot static rise in sea level,
which could provide moist soil substrate for foraging shorebirds (Slovinsky and Dickson 2006).
9
Another recent study predicting the impacts of sea level rise in Maine found that the southern
end of Pine Point would be breached (near the former Little River Inlet site) by a 1.0 meter (m)
rise in sea level (EPA 1995). So although historically Maine’s tidal inlets have been stable,
rising sea level and climate change could open several new inlets along the state’s southern
coast.
New Hampshire
Tidal Inlet Habitat Changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015
Hurricane Sandy did not open or close any tidal inlets in New Hampshire (Rice 2015e). No new
tidal inlets opened and no existing tidal inlets closed in NH since Hurricane Sandy.
In the three years following Hurricane Sandy, one inlet was dredged in New Hampshire:
167,947 cy of sediment were dredged from Hampton River Inlet and Harbor from November
2012 to February 2013 and placed on Seabrook Beach and Hampton Beach SP (Rineman 2013,
Pease Development Authority 2014).
Tidal Inlet Habitat Status as of 2015
In 2015, three years after Hurricane Sandy, the number of tidal inlets open along the Atlantic
Ocean shoreline of New Hampshire remained the same at 3 (Table 2 and Table B-2 in Appendix
B). Of the 3 tidal inlets open in 2015, all 3 (100%) remained modified by anthropogenic
activities.
All 3 (100%) of New Hampshire’s tidal inlets have been stabilized with hard structures along at
least one shoulder (Table 3). Of the inlets with hard structures, 1 has dual jetties, 1 has dual
breakwaters and all 3 have revetments, seawalls and/or bulkheads. [Note that the structures at
Rye Harbor are considered breakwaters by the USACE, although they could also be considered
jetties.] Two inlets (67%) have been or continue to be periodically dredged for navigation or
erosion control purposes to redirect channels away from buildings or infrastructure. No inlets
have been relocated, with artificial closures of existing inlets and openings of new inlets nearby.
No inlets have been cut artificially in new locations. No inlets have been mined to supply
sediment for beach nourishment projects. No inlets or breaches are known to have ever been
closed artificially in New Hampshire. Rice (2015a) described historical inlets that have been
open along New Hampshire’s coast, as well as documented impacts resulting from modifications
to certain inlets.
Proposed and Anticipated Habitat Modifications
The north jetty at Hampton River Inlet is scheduled for repairs of Hurricane Sandy damages in
2016.
Massachusetts
Tidal Inlet Habitat Changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015
Hurricane Sandy did not open or close any tidal inlets in Massachusetts (Rice 2015e). Eleven
(11) new inlets opened in Massachusetts between October 2012 and the end of 2015, 6 inlets
closed, and 6 inlets were newly identified (Table 1). The six inlets that were not identified in the
10
2012 inlets inventory (Rice 2015a) were two located on Thompson Island and one on Peddock
Island in Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area (NRA), one on Naushon Island near
Westend Pond, one near Agawam Point in Bourne, and Moses Smith Creek in Dartmouth, which
was erroneously omitted from Rice (2015a).
The 4 inlets that were open in 2012 but closed in 2015 were Richmond Pond inlet in Westport,
James Pond Inlet on Martha’s Vineyard, Katama Bay inlet on Martha’s Vineyard, and the
unnamed inlet at Eel Point on Nantucket. The inlet to Katama Bay on Martha’s Vineyard closed
naturally in April 2015, reopened for 3 weeks in October 2015 and again for 2 days in January
2016 (Brown 2015a, 2015b, 2016; Dunlop 2015). The inlet remains closed, with no plans to
reopen it artificially. The other two inlets to close between 2012 and 2015 were on Martha’s
Vineyard and Nashawena Island. The north inlet to Segekontacket Pond on Martha’s Vineyard
also closed naturally in late 2014 or early 2015, but was artificially reopened in June 2015
(USACE 2013d, Hull 2015). An inlet on a spit on the northwest side of Nashawena Island
opened briefly in 2014-15 but closed naturally.
Of the 11 new inlets that opened in the three years after Hurricane Sandy, 6 opened naturally and
5 were opened artificially. Three of the naturally opened inlets are located at Cape Cod National
Seashore (NS) or Monomoy NWR. Chatham Inlet reopened in 2013 near its historical location.
A second unnamed inlet opened on the north side of the new Chatham Inlet in 2014. And
Powder Hole Inlet reopened in 2013-14. The other three inlets that opened naturally include
Quicks Hole Pond inlet on Nashawena Island, an unnamed inlet on Nashawena Island that
opened briefly and then closed, and an unnamed inlet to an unnamed pond west of Salter’s Point
in Dartmouth.
Five (5) inlets out of the 133 inlets open in 2015 were opened artificially in the three years since
Hurricane Sandy. An inlet at Stewart’s Creek in Barnstable was artificially opened as part of the
federal and state Stewart’s Creek Estuary Restoration Project. A new inlet was artificially
opened to Westend Pond on Cuttyhunk Island in 2014, roughly 1,000 ft (305 m) west of the
location where an inlet had been cut artificially in 2011. A third inlet was opened artificially in
Nonquitt just south of Barekneed Rocks in 2013-14. The fourth inlet that was open in 2015
imagery that was artificially opened was to Tisbury Pond on Martha’s Vineyard, which is an
inlet that is regularly cut open (Rice 2015a). North Inlet at Sengekontacket Pond on Martha’s
Vineyard was artificially reopened in 2015 after shoaling closed the inlet naturally (USACE
2013d, Hull 2015). In addition, Allens Pond Inlet in Westport appears to have been artificially
cut, relocating the inlet to the west as it has been in the past; confirmation of the new inlet cut
was not available, however.
In the three years following Hurricane Sandy, several inlets were dredged by the USACE:
Cohasset Harbor/Inlet, Chatham (Stage) Harbor inlet, Lewis Bay / Hyannis Harbor, Falmouth
Inner Harbor inlet, Cuttyhunk Harbor, Nantucket Harbor, and Menemsha Creek on Martha’s
Vineyard3 (USACE 2013c, 2014m, 2014a, 2016a, 2016b). The ~60,000 cy of sediment dredged
3
Dredging of Menemsha Creek was proposed in 2014 but construction was delayed until December 2015. The
project was not completed before seasonal restrictions halted work in February 2016. The project (which has been
the subject of some controversy) is anticipated to be continued in October 2016, with continued placement of the
dredged material at Lobsterville Beach to the south (Elvin 2016a-d).
11
from Cohasset Harbor and inlet was placed on the intertidal zone of Sandy Beach, a pocket
beach to the north; previous dredging had deposited the material in an offshore disposal site
(USACE 2014a). In 2015-16 the USACE also performed maintenance dredging of the Cape
Cod Canal and placed the dredged material on Town Neck Beach in Sandwich, a new disposal
site for material dredged from this canal/inlet (USACE 2015b).
Barnstable County owns and operates its own dredge, which has been used to dredge at least 21
inlets in the county. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2013, Barnstable County dredged 13 inlet systems:
Doanes Creek/Allen Harbor, Mill Creek, Popponesset Bay, Cotuit Bay, Falmouth Inner Harbor,
Herring River (Harwich), Eel River, Pamet River, Bass River, Parkers River, and Sesuit Harbor
(Barnstable County 2013). In FY2014, Barnstable County dredged 10 inlet systems included in
this inventory (Barnstable County 2014).
Since Hurricane Sandy, the Town of Edgartown and/or the Great Pond Foundation artificially
opened an inlet to Edgartown Great Pond on Martha’s Vineyard in December 2012, March 2013,
July 2013, March 2014 and spring 2015 (Great Pond Foundation 2013, 2014, 2015). This inlet
typically only remains open for a short period of time before closing naturally (Rice 2015a).
In 2013 the Town of Chatham renewed its USACE regulatory permit for dredging of 6
waterways and 17 disposal sites and added one new waterway for dredging – Morris Island Cut –
under one Comprehensive Dredging and Disposal Project (USACE 2013j). Of the 7 dredging
locations, only 2 are located at inlets within this inventory with 1 a federal navigation channel
maintained by the USACE and the other maintained by the town. Of the 17 disposal locations,
14 are beach nourishment sites and the other 3 are nearshore disposal sites; 5 of the 14 beach fill
sites are exposed beaches included in Rice (2015b).
Hurricane Sandy damages to the dual jetties at the Merrimack River inlet to Newburyport Harbor
were repaired in between 2012 and 2015 by the USACE; no modifications to the size or location
of the jetties were made (USACE New England District website). Jetties were repaired at Green
Harbor inlet in 2014 and the east jetty is scheduled for further repairs in late 2016 for damages
resulting from a January 2015 storm (Kashinsky 2014, Sparks 2016). The jetties at Nantucket
Harbor were repaired in 2015 following Hurricane Sandy (USACE 2014d).
Tidal Inlet Habitat Status as of 2015
In 2015, three years after Hurricane Sandy, the number of tidal inlets open along the exposed
shoreline of Massachusetts was 133 (Table 2 and Table B-3 in Appendix B). Eighty-six (86) of
the 133 (65%) tidal inlets open in 2015 in Massachusetts had been modified by anthropogenic
activities. Prior to Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, there were 122 tidal inlets known to be
open in Massachusetts, 81 (66%) of which had been modified in at least one manner (Rice
2015a). Of the 79 inlets (59%) with hard structures in Massachusetts in 2015, 43 have jetties, 28
have groins, 6 have breakwaters, and 38 have revetments, seawalls and/or bulkheads.
Two inlets (2%) have been artificially relocated in Massachusetts – Chatham (Stage) Harbor
Inlet in 1965 and Ellisville Harbor (Salt Pond) Inlet at Ellisville Marsh in 2003 (Howes et al.
2003, Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs 2003). The shoal complexes of
at least 2 inlets have been mined to supply sediment for beach nourishment projects – the two
12
inlets to Sengekontacket Pond on Martha’s Vineyard; when North Inlet was artificially reopened
in 2015, the dredged material was again used as beach fill on nearby beaches (USACE 2013d;
Dukes County 2015; Hull 2015). At least 7 inlets have been closed artificially and available
information indicates that one other inlet has been closed artificially in Massachusetts.
Altogether, new inlets have been cut artificially in at least 29 locations in Massachusetts, 17 of
which were open in 2015. Fifty-two (52) inlets (39%) have been or continue to be periodically
dredged for navigation or erosion control purposes. Rice (2015a) described historical inlets that
have been open along Massachusetts’ exposed coast, the history of pond letting (i.e., artificial
breaching of coastal ponds) in the state, and documented impacts resulting from modifications to
certain inlets.
Proposed and Anticipated Habitat Modifications
In 2016 the Moses Smith Creek marsh was proposed for restoration, including removing up to 12
acres of fill to increase the tidal prism. The tidal inlet will be relocated northeast away from
private property to Round Hill Beach, which is owned by the Town of Dartmouth. The increased
tidal prism should help maintain the inlet opening. The inlet would be allowed to migrate south
for some distance but may be relocated northeast again if needed in the future (Susi von
Oettingen, USFWS, pers. communication, 9/30/16).
In the long-term future, FitzGerald et al. (2001, p. 447) states that Duxbury Beach “is highly
susceptible to future storm breaching,” although the maintenance of an artificial dune ridge has
prevented overwash breaching in the short-term (Rosen and FitzGerald 2014). Back barrier
marshes at high elevations (high marshes) make barrier islands wider and retard the formation of
overwash channels4 that can lead to the opening of new inlets during storms (FitzGerald et al.
2001). As a result, beaches and barrier spits that are narrow and lack high elevation back barrier
marshes may be the most vulnerable to new inlet formation in Massachusetts as sea level
continues to rise.
New inlets are likely to open and close at many of southern Massachusetts’ coastal ponds just as
they have historically. As sea level rises and storm frequency and intensity changes, these inlets
may remain open for longer periods of time or permanently, in the absence of human
modifications, as the rising sea allows the tides to more efficiently perpetuate the inlets.
Rhode Island
Tidal Inlet Habitat Changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015
Hurricane Sandy opened one new tidal inlet in Rhode Island at Trustom Pond (Rice 2015e). The
inlet at Trustom Pond opened by Hurricane Sandy remained open for nearly a year before
closing naturally. The inlet to Little Pond closed naturally in 2013-14. In the three years
following Hurricane Sandy, the inlets at Point Judith and Great Salt Pond on Block Island were
4
Many barrier islands have salt marsh along the back, or bay, side of the island (where development and armoring
have not precluded the salt marsh from forming and/or persisting). Salt marsh also may form along the edges of
overwash fans on the bayside of barrier islands or spits. High-tide salt marshes, as opposed to low marshes or tidal
flats, have higher elevation relative to sea level, “which essentially serve to widen the barrier making storm
breaching more difficult” (FitzGerald et al. 2001, p. 447).
13
dredged (USACE 2015o). The jetty on the east side of Point Judith inlet was repaired by the
USACE in 2014; Hurricane Sandy had removed and displaced a number of the jetty’s stones
(Dugan 2014).
Tidal Inlet Habitat Status as of 2015
In 2015, three years after Hurricane Sandy, the number of tidal inlets open along the Atlantic
Ocean shoreline of Rhode Island was 16 (Table 2 and Table B-4 in Appendix B). Of the 16 tidal
inlets open in 2015, 9 (56%) had been modified by anthropogenic activities. Of the 6 inlets
(38%) with hard structures, 5 have dual jetties, 1 has a breakwater, and 4 have revetments,
seawalls and/or bulkheads; 5 of the 6 inlets with hard stabilization structures are located west of
Narragansett Bay. Prior to Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, there were 17 tidal inlets open in
Rhode Island, 9 (53%) of which had been modified in at least one manner (Rice 2015a).
No inlets have been relocated, with artificial closures of existing inlets and openings of new
inlets nearby. No inlets have been mined to supply sediment for beach nourishment projects,
although dredged material is placed on nearby beaches at some inlets. Eight (8) inlets (47%)
have been or continue to be periodically dredged for navigation or habitat restoration projects.
Rice (2015a) described historical inlets that have been open along Rhode Island’s southern coast,
the history of pond letting in the state, and documented impacts resulting from modifications to
certain inlets. New historical information identified the locations of several historical inlets
opened by the Great Hurricane of 1938 at Sandy Point / Napatree Beach, Winnapaug Pond and
Quonochontaug Pond, and by Hurricane Carol in 1954 at Maschaug Pond, Winnapaug Pond,
Quonochontaug Pond and Ninigret Pond. Two of the 1938 inlets (at Napatree and Winnapaug
Pond) were closed artificially but the rest closed naturally (Cawley 1938, Nichols and Marston
1939, Janet Freedman, RI CRMC, pers. communication, 8/25/16). This new information
increases the number of inlets known to be closed artificially in RI from zero to two.
Proposed and Anticipated Habitat Modifications
New inlets are likely to open and close at many of Rhode Island’s coastal ponds just as they have
historically. As sea level rises and climate changes, these inlets may remain open for longer
periods of time or permanently, in the absence of human modifications, as the rising sea allows
the tides to more efficiently perpetuate the inlets.
The Rhode Island Salt Pond Region Special Area Management Plan states that new inlets
breached to Potter Pond through East Matunuck Beach must be evaluated before a decision is
made to artificially close them, while new inlets cut to Quonochontaug, Winnapaug or Maschaug
Ponds may be immediately closed by artificial fill (RI CRMC 1999). The plan also states that
beach nourishment is the preferred method of shore protection with the sediment mined from
inlet and harbor dredging wherever feasible (RI CRMC 1999).
In December 2015 the USACE finalized a Dredged Material Management Plan (DMMP) and
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for Long Island Sound (USACE 2015o).
The DMMP and PEIS proposes to dredge sediment from a number of channels and place the
material on beaches where the sediment is composed of suitable sand, as well as in a variety of
upland, nearshore, and offshore disposal sites depending on the location and composition of the
14
dredged material. Along the Rhode Island shoreline, the DMMP proposes to continue dredging
one inlet included in this assessment. Sandy sediment dredged from Great Salt Pond inlet on
Block Island would be placed in a nearshore disposal site offshore West Beach (USACE 2015o).
Connecticut
Tidal Inlet Habitat Changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015
Hurricane Sandy opened one inlet and closed two inlets in Connecticut (Rice 2015e). The inlet
created by Hurricane Sandy at Griswold Point remained open in 2015. The inlet at Goshen Cove
that was closed by Hurricane Sandy naturally reopened slightly to the east between the jetties
less than a month after the hurricane; an inlet periodically opens and closes naturally at Goshen
Cove, often on an annual basis. When the inlet is closed it is occasionally opened artificially by
the state, but has not been opened artificially since Hurricane Sandy (Laura Saucier, CT DEEP,
pers. communication, 9/6/16). Nettleton Creek inlet, also closed by Hurricane Sandy, was
mechanically opened in late 2013 but then closed naturally and remained closed in 2015; the
training walls at the inlet were also removed (Laura Saucier, CT DEEP, pers. communication,
4/1/15).
In the three years since Hurricane Sandy, one other new inlet opened naturally in Connecticut
(Table 1). A new breach or inlet opened on Menunketesuck Island sometime between November
6, 2012, and September 19, 2013. One additional inlet (Nettleton Creek) was opened artificially.
In addition to the second closing of the inlet at Nettleton Creek, 3 inlets near Sandy Point in
West Haven ceased to exist when the sand spits and/or islets adjacent to them submerged or
eroded away.
Between 2012 and 2015 several inlets were dredged by the USACE. The federal navigation
channel at Clinton Harbor inlet was dredged with 49,900 cy of dredged material placed on East
Beach at Hammonasset SP in 2012-13 (Raus 2013, USACE 2015o). The channels at Guilford
Harbor (East River) were dredged in 2014-15, with ~53,000 cy of sediment placed at the Central
Long Island Sound Disposal Site (USACE 2014f, 2015o). Dredging of the Housatonic River
inlet channel was proposed in August 2012 but was not conducted until after Hurricane Sandy in
2013 (USACE 2012b, 2015o).
In late 2014 the USACE dredged the federal navigation channel in Wequetaquock Cove /
Anguilla Brook in Little Narragansett Bay near Sandy Point (known as the Pawcatuck River,
Little Narragansett Bay and Watch Hill Cove Federal Navigation Project) and placed ~60,000 cy
of dredged material on Sandy Point Island (USACE 2014k). In late 2015 up to 2,600 cy of
additional hard packed sand and rock were dredged from the inlet channel and placed in two
nearshore disposal sites off Misquamicut Beach in RI (USACE 2015c).
The state of CT mechanically dredged Money Point Inlet and Tom’s Creek shortly after
Hurricane Sandy, neither of which were known to have been modified by dredging prior to the
storm (Laura Saucier, CT DEEP, pers. communication, 9/6/16).
The dual training walls at Nettleton Creek in Silver Sands SP were removed in 2013 (Laura
Saucier, CT DEEP, pers. communication, 4/1/15), but the inlet was closed in 2015 and not one of
15
the 54 tidal inlets open three years after Hurricane Sandy. The breakwaters on both sides of the
inlet at Bridgeport Harbor inlet were repaired in 2015, following damages from Hurricane Sandy
(USACE 2016h).
Tidal Inlet Habitat Status as of 2015
In 2015, three years after Hurricane Sandy, the number of tidal inlets open along the Long Island
Sound shoreline of Connecticut was 54 (Table 2 and Table B-5 in Appendix B). Of the 54 tidal
inlets open in 2015, 45 (83%) had been modified by anthropogenic activities. Of the 44 inlets
(81%) with hard structures, 16 have jetties (9 with a single jetty and 7 with dual jetties), 17 have
groins, 5 have breakwaters, and 30 have revetments, seawalls and/or bulkheads. Prior to
Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, there were 56 tidal inlets open in Connecticut, 48 (86%) of
which had been modified in at least one manner (Rice 2015a).
Fourteen (14) inlets (26%) have been or continue to be periodically dredged for navigation or
erosion control purposes. No inlets have been relocated in Connecticut. The shoal complexes of
no inlets have been mined to supply sediment for beach nourishment projects, although dredged
material is placed on nearby beaches at some inlets. Two inlets (Goshen Cove and Nettleton
Creek) have been artificially opened in Connecticut, but only Goshen Cove inlet remained open
in 2015.
Rice (2015a) described historical inlets that have been open along Connecticut’s Long Island
Sound shoreline, the history of opening and closing inlets artificially, the use of tide gates at
inlets, and documented impacts resulting from modifications to certain inlets.
Proposed and Anticipated Habitat Modifications
In the spring of 2016, the state of CT mechanically opened Nettleton Creek again, which had
closed naturally in 2015. The Bride Brook channel at Rocky Neck SP in East Lyme historically
had an inlet, but the brook has been channelized through an armored culvert at its outlet and is
not considered a functioning inlet in this assessment; nevertheless, the state of CT has proposed
to dredge the channel to clear shoals deposited by Hurricanes Irene and Sandy to restore fish
passage in 2016 or 2017 (ALS 2012; Laura Saucier, CT DEEP, pers. communication, 9/6/16).
The USACE is preparing a separate DMMP for Bridgeport Harbor in 2016, which has not been
dredged since 1962-63 (USACE 2015o). Also in 2016 the USACE was scheduled to dredge
approximately 14,000 cy of sediment from the Milford Harbor inlet channel and place the
material in a nearshore disposal area off Bayview and Pond Point Beaches to the east; previous
dredging episodes in 1988 (federal) and 2007 (state) placed the dredged material at the Central
Long Island Sound Disposal Site (USACE 2015d, 2016c).
In December 2015 the USACE finalized a Dredged Material Management Plan and
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Long Island Sound (USACE 2015o). The
DMMP and PEIS proposes to dredge sediment from a number of channels and place the material
on beaches where the sediment is composed of suitable sand, as well as in a variety of upland,
nearshore, and offshore disposal sites depending on the location and composition of the dredged
material. Along the Long Island Sound shoreline of Connecticut, the DMMP proposes to
continue dredging 9 tidal inlets included in this assessment. Sediment dredged from the federal
16
navigation channels in Wequetaquock Cove / Anguilla Brook in Little Narragansett Bay near
Sandy Point will continue to be placed on Sandy Point beach when the material is sand and in an
offshore disposal site when the material is not sand. Sandy and non-sandy material dredged from
the Niantic Bay and Harbor inlet channels is proposed to be placed at the New London (offshore)
Disposal Site. Dredged material from the Patchogue River inlet channels is proposed to be
placed on Grove and Westbrook Beaches when it is sand and at the Cornfield Shoals (offshore)
Disposal Site when it is not sand (USACE 2015o).
Sand dredged from Clinton Harbor inlet would be placed on Clinton or Hammonasset Beaches,
where previously it has been placed in the nearshore off Hammonasset Beach SP. A new beach
disposal location is proposed at Jacobs Beach for sand dredged from the Guilford Harbor inlet.
Sand dredged from the Milford Harbor inlet would be placed on Gulf or Silver Sands Beaches,
also new beach disposal locations. While Short Beach is proposed to remain a beach disposal
location for sand dredged from the lower channel of the Housatonic River inlet, other nearby
(unspecified) beaches are now proposed for sediment placement as well as several offshore
disposal sites. Sasco Hill and Southport Beaches are also proposed as new sediment placement
sites for sand dredged from the Southport Harbor inlet channels. Sand dredged from Halloween
Basin (Westcott Cove) would be placed on Cummings Park Beaches, a new disposal site for
dredged material. Altogether 5 tidal inlets modified by dredging in Connecticut are proposed to
place sandy sediment on new nearby beaches under the DMMP for Long Island Sound.
New York – Long Island Sound Shoreline
Tidal Inlet Habitat Changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015
Hurricane Sandy did not open or close any tidal inlets on the North Shore of Long Island (Rice
2015e). Since Hurricane Sandy, one new inlet has formed near Cove Point in Cove Neck;
growth of a sandy spit enclosed a small embayment, creating a well-defined inlet by May 2015.
In the three years after Hurricane Sandy, several inlets were dredged on the LIS shoreline of
New York. Stony Brook Harbor was dredged by Suffolk County in 2013, with the dredged
material placed on a nearby beach (USACE 2015o). Suffolk County requested a new federal
permit for 10 years of annual maintenance dredging of Wading River Creek in Riverhead in
2014, with placement of 8,000 to 10,000 cubic yards of dredged material on 3,100 feet (945 m)
of beach immediately to the east of the inlet; the inlet was not previously known to be modified
by dredging (USACE 2014h). The Nissequogue River inlet channel was dredged by Suffolk
County on behalf of the Town of Smithtown, with ~93,000 cy of sediment placed on Smithtown
Short Beach Town Park and the beach at Sunken Meadow SP (USACE 2016i).
The U.S. Coast Guard has dredged Eaton’s Neck Harbor inlet annually of 4,675 to 8,770 cy since
2011, including each of the three years since Hurricane Sandy, with the sediment placed on the
adjacent beach (USACE 2015o). The USACE dredging project at Mattituck Inlet in 2014 not
only dredged the inlet but also bypassed sand from the west side of the inlet to the east, placing
~124,000 cubic yards of sediment on the beach to the east of the inlet to offset erosion (USACE
2015o).
17
Tidal Inlet Habitat Status as of 2015
In 2015, three years after Hurricane Sandy, the number of tidal inlets open along the Long Island
Sound shoreline of New York was 29 (Table 2 and Table B-6 in Appendix B). Of the 29 tidal
inlets open in 2015 east of Plum Point, 22 (76%) had been modified by anthropogenic activities.
Of the 20 inlets (69%) with hard structures, 9 have jetties (5 with a single jetty and 4 with dual
jetties), 5 have groins, and 9 have revetments, seawalls and/or bulkheads. Prior to Hurricane
Sandy in October 2012, there were 28 tidal inlets open on the Long Island Sound shoreline of
New York, 22 (79%) of which had been modified in at least one manner (Rice 2015a).
No inlets have been relocated on the LIS shoreline of New York. At least one inlet was cut
artificially – Flax Pond Inlet in 1803 in Brookhaven; the inlet was dredged periodically from
then to at least 1947 when dual jetties were built to stabilize the inlet (Abrams et al. 2008). Two
inlets have been mined to supply sediment for commercial purposes – Mattituck Inlet and Flax
Pond Inlet (Abrams et al. 2008, Morgan et al. 2005, Batten and Kraus 2006).
No known inlets or breaches have been closed artificially along the Long Island Sound shoreline
of New York. Rice (2015a) described historical inlets that have been open along Long Island’s
northern coast, differences between tidal inlets on the North Shore and the South Shore, and
documented impacts resulting from modifications to certain inlets.
Twelve (12) inlets (41%) have been or continue to be periodically dredged for navigation or
erosion control purposes, most of them by Suffolk County which has owned and operated its
own dredge since 1949 (Town of East Hampton 1999). Prior to 2012, only 8 tidal inlets on the
Long Island Sound shoreline of NY were documented to have been modified by dredging (Rice
2015a). The increase in the number of inlets modified by dredging from 8 to 12 is due to new
information sources that documented previous dredging at 4 additional inlets. New information
contained in the Long Island Sound DMMP identified a federal navigation channel at Hempstead
Harbor inlet that was initially dredged in 1912 but last maintained in 1950 (USACE 2015o); a
dredging modification for this inlet was not previously identified in Rice (2015a). Similarly, a
federal navigation channel at Port Jefferson Harbor inlet was identified in the Long Island Sound
DMMP as having been initially constructed in 1883, but the channel has been repeatedly
deepened and maintained by local interests since 1906 (USACE 2015o); a dredging modification
for this inlet was not previously identified in Rice (2015a).
The Long Island Sound DMMP also provided new information regarding the dredging history of
Mt. Sinai Harbor which had not previously been identified by Rice (2015a). Mt. Sinai Harbor
inlet and harbor have been dredged since the mid-1800s when a new inlet opened at the west side
of the harbor; up until that time an inlet was open on the east side of the harbor (when it was
known as Old Mans Harbor) but required dredging to remain open. The new inlet position was
preferred by local interests, who began dredging the new inlet and stabilized it with jetties in
1927. The old eastern inlet then naturally closed sometime before 1933. The inner harbor was
mined for the commercial sale of sand and gravel from 1910 to the mid-1960s, with ~5 million
cy of sediment removed from nearly half of the harbor. The most recent inlet dredging episode
was in 2006 and placed the dredged material on adjacent East Beach; previous dredging in 1994
and 1995 placed sand on Cedar Beach (Town of Brookhaven 2006).
18
Finally, a new information source documented the modification of Wading River Creek by
dredging since 1961 (USACE 2014h). The Town of Riverhead received a new 10-year
maintenance dredging permit from the USACE for Wading River Creek in 2014.
Proposed and Anticipated Habitat Modifications
The Long Island Sound DMMP anticipates dredging Mattituck Inlet every 10 to 14 years, as has
been the maintenance schedule since 1920, with the next dredging episode expected in 2028
(USACE 2015o). Suffolk County requested a 10-year maintenance dredging permit for the
Nissequogue River inlet channel in April 2016, with 4 or 5 dredging events anticipated within
the 10-year period (USACE 2016i).
In December 2015 the USACE finalized a Dredged Material Management Plan and
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Long Island Sound (USACE 2015o). The
DMMP and PEIS proposes to dredge sediment from a number of channels and place the material
on beaches where the sediment is composed of suitable sand, as well as in a variety of upland,
nearshore, and offshore disposal sites depending on the location and composition of the dredged
material. Along the Long Island Sound shoreline of New York, the DMMP proposes to place
dredged sediment from Hempstead Harbor inlet, Glen Cove Creek inlet, and Port Jefferson
Harbor in offshore disposal sites. Sand dredged from the Eaton’s Neck Harbor is proposed to be
placed on Hobart Beach, a disposal location to the south of where sediment has previously been
placed. Mattituck Inlet would continue to be dredged, with sand continuing to be placed on
Bailie’s Beach (USACE 2015o).
New York – Peconic Estuary Shoreline
Tidal Inlet Habitat Changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015
Hurricane Sandy opened 11 new tidal inlets or breaches and closed one existing inlet along the
Peconic Estuary shoreline of New York (Rice 2015e). Seven (7) of the inlets or breaches opened
by Hurricane Sandy were on Gardiners Island, 5 of which closed naturally and 2 of which
remained open three years after the storm (Table 1). All 3 inlets that opened on Shelter Island in
Hurricane Sandy remained open three years later. The final inlet opened by Hurricane Sandy, at
Long Beach Tidal Wetland Area, was nearly closed in May 2015, and may have been
exchanging water with the bay only at high tide levels. Oyster Pond Inlet, which was closed
during Hurricane Sandy, reopened briefly but then closed again.
In the 3 years since Hurricane Sandy, an additional breach opened on the spit connecting
Gardiners and Cartwright Islands (Table 1). An unnamed inlet on Jessup’s Neck at Elizabeth
Morton NWR closed. An unnamed inlet near Beach Road in Jamesport also closed. One of the
unnamed inlets at Mashomack Preserve on Shelter Island closed. Altogether, in the three years
after Hurricane Sandy, 4 new inlets opened and 10 closed. In 2015, the number of inlets open on
the Peconic Estuary of NY increased by 4 to 100.
By May 2015 the mouth of Downs Creek inlet in Cutchogue had migrated nearly 1,000 ft (305
m) to the east with the accretion or growth of the spit from the west since 2012. In late 2015,
Downs Creek LLC initiated a project to relocate the inlet ~1,000 ft (305 m) back to the west by
artificially creating a new inlet, with sediment excavated from the new channel placed to the east
19
on the newly created islet between the new and old inlets (Lisinski 2015, NYS DEC Permit 14738-00219/00008, USACE 2015a). Because the old inlet was not artificially closed as part of
the project, the new Downs Creek Inlet is considered an artificially created inlet and not a
relocated inlet in this assessment.
Several inlets were dredged along the Peconic Estuary shoreline between 2012 and 2015. The
USACE dredged Lake Montauk inlet in 2014, removing ~20,000 cy of sediment and placing it
on the beach immediately to the west (USACE 2015o). Fresh Pond in Amagansett, the inlet at
the Devon Yacht Club marina in Amagansett, Napeague Harbor, and Hog Creek Inlet also were
dredged. New information sources documented that Fresh Pond in Amagansett had been
modified by dredging prior to 2012, and the Town of East Hampton renewed its dredging permit
for the inlet in 2013 (NYS DEC Permit 1-4724-00713/00008). Rice (2015a) only listed Fresh
Pond in Amagansett as being proposed for dredging due to a project proposed by the Town of
East Hampton to dredge the inlet and shorten the groins near the inlet (Town of East Hampton
1999).
Suffolk County dredged Accabonac Harbor in January 2013 with ~25,000 cy of dredged material
placed on Louse Point Beach (Abbas 2013). Suffolk County also dredged Brush’s Creek, Corey
Creek, Richmond Creek and Deep Hole Creek with the dredged material generally placed on
nearby beaches in 2013 (Miller 2014). In 2015 Suffolk County modified its 10-year
maintenance dredging permit for Deep Hole Creek in Southold to expand the dredging area to
Willis Creek, with continued placement of dredged material on the beaches adjacent to the inlet
(USACE 2015e). A new 10-year maintenance dredging permit was also issued by the USACE to
Suffolk County in 2015 for dredging Corey Creek every two years with an anticipated sediment
volume of ~8,000 cy placed on beaches to the east and west of the inlet (USACE 2015f).
Suffolk County received a 10-year permit to dredge Meetinghouse Creek with placement of
suitable dredged material on the beach at Indian Island County Park as well as an upland disposal
area elsewhere in the park (USACE 2013k). Suffolk County received a 10-year permit to
annually dredge East Creek with placement of suitable dredged material on the beaches both east
and west of the inlet (USACE 2013r). A new 10-year maintenance dredging permit was issued
by the USACE to Suffolk County in 2015 for dredging Goose Creek every 3 to 4 years with an
anticipated sediment volume of ~7,000 cy placed on the beach to the east of the inlet (USACE
2015g). A new 10-year maintenance dredging permit was also issued by the USACE to Suffolk
County in 2015 for dredging Mill Creek in Noyack every 2 to 3 years with an anticipated
sediment volume of ~6,000 cy placed on the beaches to the east and west of the inlet (USACE
2015h).
The jetty and bulkheads at the inlet at the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett were replaced in
2014-15 (NYS DEC Permit Application 1-4724-00030/00060).
Tidal Inlet Habitat Status as of 2015
In 2015, three years after Hurricane Sandy, the number of tidal inlets open along the Peconic
Estuary shoreline of New York was 100 (Table 2 and Table B-7 in Appendix B). Of the 100
tidal inlets open in 2015, 69 (69%) had been modified by anthropogenic activities. Of the 56
inlets (56%) with hard structures, 21 have dual jetties, 2 have single box jetties, 16 have groins,
20
42 have revetments, seawalls and/or bulkheads, and 1 has a breakwater. Prior to Hurricane
Sandy in October 2012, there were 96 tidal inlets open along the Peconic Estuary shoreline of
New York, 68 (71%) of which had been modified in at least one manner (Rice 2015a).
One new inlet has been artificially opened (Downs Creek) in addition to the seven inlets that
previously were known to have been artificially opened in the Peconic Estuary (Rice 2015a).
One inlet has historically been relocated on the Peconic Estuary shoreline (Rice 2015a). The
shoal complexes of no inlets are known to have been mined to supply sediment for beach
nourishment projects, although dredged material is placed on nearby beaches at several inlets.
No inlets or breaches have been closed artificially, but at least 24 inlets have opened and 21
closed naturally along the Peconic Estuary shoreline in the last century or so.
Forty-nine (49) inlets (49%) have been or continue to be periodically dredged for navigation or
erosion control purposes and another three were proposed for dredging. Prior to Hurricane
Sandy, 46 inlets on the Peconic Estuary were documented to have been modified by dredging.
Suffolk County owns its own dredge (Peconic Estuary Program 2004; USACE 2012c, 2012e,
2015) and maintains at least 41 inlets in the Peconic Estuary and along the Long Island Sound
shoreline within the county. In 2015, 49 inlets were documented to have been modified by
dredging, but only 1 of the 3 new inlets was actually dredged between 2012 and 2015 – Downs
Creek. The other two inlets – Fresh Pond in Amagansett and Dreamers Cove / Cases Creek –
were identified as having been modified by dredging prior to 2012 through new information
sources. Fresh Pond in Amagansett was historically dredged by the Town of East Hampton as
needed for water quality purposes (Town of East Hampton 1999). Dreamers Cove / Cases Creek
was dredged 7 times between 1985 and 2006 with a total of ~30,000 cy of sediment dredged
from the inlet; the inlet was dredged again in January 2016 (USACE 2015o, Gannon 2016).
Rice (2015a) described historical inlets that have been open along Long Island’s Peconic Estuary
shoreline, differences between tidal inlets on the Peconic Estuary, North Shore and South Shore,
and documented impacts resulting from modifications to certain inlets.
Proposed and Anticipated Habitat Modifications
The Peconic Estuary is included in the new federal Dredged Material Management Plan and
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for Long Island Sound (USACE 2015o). The
DMMP and PEIS proposes to dredge sediment from a number of channels and place the material
on beaches where the sediment is composed of suitable sand, as well as in a variety of upland,
nearshore, and offshore disposal sites depending on the location and composition of the dredged
material. Along the Peconic Estuary shoreline of New York, the DMMP proposes to place
dredged sediment from Lake Montauk inlet on Gin and Lake Montauk beaches adjacent to the
inlet and from Stirling Basin (Greenport Harbor) on Gull Pond Beach (USACE 2015o).
An inlet to a private boat basin along Shipyard Lane in East Marion that had closed by 2004 was
proposed to be artificially reopened in 2014, but as of May 23, 2015, the inlet had not been
reopened according to observations from Google Earth imagery (USACE 2014j). A 500 ft (152
21
m) brush-filled jetty5 was proposed to be constructed on Budds Pond inlet in 2015, but no
permits had been issued approving the work by the end of 2015 (NYS DEC Permit Application
1-4738-04140/00007).
New York – Atlantic Ocean Shoreline
Tidal Inlet Habitat Changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015
Hurricane Sandy opened 3 inlets or breaches along the South Shore of Long Island (Rice 2015e).
Of the 3 breaches or inlets opened by Hurricane Sandy on the South Shore of Long Island, 2
were closed artificially within two months and the third, at Fire Island NS, remains open and is
one of only two inlets between Montauk, NY, and Chincoteague, VA, that are not modified in
any manner (the other inlet being Little Egg Inlet, NJ, which has been proposed for dredging). In
the 3 years after Hurricane Sandy, the breach complex at Fire Island NS continued to evolve with
shoals and spits accreting, or growing, and retreating; the breach has remained relatively stable in
its position but the main channel widens and narrows seasonally (Flagg et al. 2015; Michael
Bilecki, NPS, pers. communication, 8/10/16).
In the three years following Hurricane Sandy, nearly all 9 inlets modified by dredging on the
South Shore were dredged. Periodic pond letting at Georgica, Sagaponack, and Mecox Ponds
continued. Suffolk County dredged Shinnecock Inlet area channels in 2015 and placed dredged
material on beaches to both the east and west of the inlet (USACE 2015n). Moriches Inlet was
mined for breach fill (~200,000 cy) to close the breach opened by Hurricane Sandy at Cupsogue
Beach County Park in November-December 2012 (USACE 2013i).
Fire Island Inlet was dredged in 2014 by the USACE with 1,200,000 cy of sediment placed at
Tobay Beach and Gilgo Beach. Fire Island Inlet was mined with 790,000 cy of sediment
removed in 2013-14 by the New York State Department of Transportation to construct an
artificial dune/levee along Ocean Parkway at Tobay and Gilgo Beaches plus an artificial
dune/levee to protect the traffic circle at Robert Moses SP (USFWS 2014c). The inlet had
previously been mined in 1977 (Rice 2014).
The USACE dredged Jones Inlet in 2014, placing ~680,000 cy of dredged material on the beach
at Point Lookout (USACE 2013l). Sediment dredged from East Rockaway Inlet in 2013-14 was
used as beach fill on the federal nourishment project on the Rockaways, supplementing sediment
mined from an offshore borrow area (USACE New York District website, accessed 3/31/16).
Sediment was mined from Rockaway Inlet for use as beach fill on Coney Island-Brighton Beach
in 2013 and will be mined for use as beach fill at Sea Gate in 2015-16. Rockaway Inlet had
previously been mined twice for beach fill, but several decades ago for placement at Floyd
Bennett Field in 1929 and Jacob Riis Park in 1936 (Dallas et al. 2013, USACE New York
District website, accessed 3/31/16).
The jetty at Jones Inlet was repaired by the USACE in 2014 (USACE 2013m). The east jetty at
East Rockaway Inlet was also repaired in 2014 by the USACE (USACE 2013s).
5
Some jetties in New England are box-shaped, constructed out of steel sheet pile in the shape of a box rather than a
narrower rock wall or dike extending perpendicular to shore. These box-jetties are typically filled with sediment,
but this project proposes to use brush.
22
Tidal Inlet Habitat Status as of 2015
In 2015, three years after Hurricane Sandy, the number of tidal inlets open along the Atlantic
Ocean shoreline of New York was 10 (Table 2 and Table B-8 in Appendix B). Of the 10 tidal
inlets open in 2015, 9 (90%) had been modified by anthropogenic activities, with the new
inlet/breach at Fire Island NS the solitary unmodified inlet. Of the 6 inlets (60%) with hard
structures, 6 have jetties (4 with a single jetty and 2 with dual jetties), 1 has a terminal groin, 2
have groin fields on their inlet shorelines or immediately adjacent to the inlet, 1 has a dike
structure, and 4 have revetments, bulkheads and/or seawalls. Prior to Hurricane Sandy in
October 2012, there were 9 tidal inlets open on the Atlantic Ocean shoreline of New York, all 9
(100%) of which had been modified in at least one manner (Rice 2014).
Rice (2014) described historical inlets that have been open along Long Island’s South Shore,
differences between tidal inlets on the North Shore and South Shore, the history of pond letting
on the South Shore, and documented impacts resulting from modifications to certain inlets. One
new historical inlet area was identified in Napeague, where the Great Hurricane of 1938
reportedly breached the eastern tip of the South Fork and isolated the Montauk area for a few
weeks (Rattiner 2008).
No inlets have been relocated on New York’s Atlantic Ocean shoreline. New inlets have been
cut artificially in 5 locations, 4 of which were open in 2015 (Rice 2014). The shoal complexes of
at least 4 inlets have been mined to supply sediment for beach nourishment projects: Shinnecock
Inlet, Moriches Inlet, Fire Island Inlet, and Rockaway Inlet (Buonaiuto et al. 2008, Cialone and
Stauble 1998, Dallas et al. 2013, McCormick et al. 1984, USACE 2013i).
Prior to Hurricane Sandy, at least 4 inlets or breaches were closed artificially after having been
opened by storm events (Rice 2014). Two breaches that were opened by Hurricane Sandy at
Cupsogue County Park and Smith Point County Park were artificially closed in less than two
months following the storm by the USACE under their pre-existing Breach Contingency Plan
with the NYS DEC (USACE 2013i). These two breach closures in 2012 increase the total
number of inlets closed artificially on the South Shore to 6.
Nine (9) out of 10 (90%) of New York’s oceanfront inlets have been or continue to be
periodically dredged for navigation or erosion control purposes.
Proposed Habitat Modifications
Jones Inlet has been identified by the USACE as a potential source for beach fill in future
renourishment episodes for the adjacent Jones Inlet to East Rockaway Inlet (Long Beach Island)
Coastal Storm Risk Management Project, which initiated construction in 2015 (USACE 2014n).
The NPS is developing a Breach Management Plan for the future management of the breach
opened by Hurricane Sandy on Fire Island NS.
23
New Jersey
Tidal Inlet Habitat Changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015
Hurricane Sandy opened 7 inlets or breaches in New Jersey (Rice 2015e). All 7 of the breaches
opened by Hurricane Sandy were closed three years later, with the 3 in Mantoloking artificially
closed within days of the storm and the 3 breaches on the Holgate spit closing naturally within a
few weeks. The reopened Sea Girt Inlet closed naturally by April 2013, was reopened artificially
at least twice by the Borough of Spring Lake for emergency flood control measures, closed
naturally both times, and was then replaced by a box culvert as part of a fish passage restoration
project to Wreck Pond in 2014 (USFWS 2015a; Todd Pover, Conserve Wildlife Foundation of
NJ, pers. communication, 8/16/16).
Dredging of several inlets in New Jersey was conducted in the three years since Hurricane
Sandy. Maintenance dredging of Shark River Inlet was conducted by the USACE in 2014, with
~150,000 cy of dredged sediment placed as a nearshore berm off the beach north of the north
jetty in Avon by the Sea (USACE 2013t, 2014p). Manasquan Inlet, Barnegat Inlet and Cape
May (Cold Spring) Inlet were also dredged by the USACE between 2012 and 2015 (USACE
Philadelphia District website, accessed 6/9/16).
In the three years since Hurricane Sandy, sediment was mined from Brigantine Inlet (in early
2013), Absecon Inlet (in 2013), Great Egg Harbor Inlet (in 2013 and 2015), Townsends Inlet (in
2013) and Hereford Inlet (in 2013) for use as beach fill in federal projects constructed by the
USACE (USACE Philadelphia District website, accessed 11/10/2015 and 5/31/2016).
The landward end of the north jetty at Manasquan Inlet was repaired by the state and county after
Hurricane Sandy. Repairs to the north jetty at Barnegat Inlet were delayed by the discovery of a
historic shipwreck but were completed by the USACE in November 2014 (USACE Philadelphia
District website, accessed 6/9/16).
Tidal Inlet Habitat Status as of 2015
In 2015, three years after Hurricane Sandy, the number of tidal inlets open along the Atlantic
Ocean shoreline of New Jersey remained 11 (Table 2 and Table B-9 in Appendix B). Of the 11
tidal inlets open in 2015, 10 (91%) remain modified by anthropogenic activities, but the solitary
unmodified inlet (Little Egg Inlet) has been proposed to be mined for beach fill and/or dredged
for navigation in 2016. Of New Jersey’s 9 tidal inlets (82%) that have been stabilized with hard
structures along at least one shoulder, 5 have dual jetties, 2 have terminal groins, 5 have groins,
and 7 have revetments, bulkheads and/or seawalls. Prior to Hurricane Sandy in October 2012,
there were 11 tidal inlets open in New Jersey, 10 (91%) of which had been modified in at least
one manner (Rice 2014).
Only one inlet (Townsends Inlet) in NJ has had its main channel relocated, in 1978 (Farrell et al.
1989, Nordstrom 1988, Nordstrom et al. 1986, USFWS 2005). Manasquan Inlet is the only inlet
open in 2015 that has been cut artificially in New Jersey (in 1931 after it closed naturally in
1926), after which new rock jetties were built to stabilize the inlet (Farrell et al. 1989). The
shoal complexes of at least 7 inlets have been mined to supply sediment for beach nourishment
projects (Rice 2014). Little Egg Inlet, the only unmodified inlet in New Jersey and one of only
24
two unmodified inlets between Montauk, NY, and Chincoteague, VA, has been proposed to be
mined for beach fill and/or dredged for navigation in 2016 (USACE 2016g).
Prior to Hurricane Sandy, at least 5 inlets in New Jersey had been closed artificially (Rice 2014).
Three additional inlets or breaches were closed artificially immediately after Hurricane Sandy
opened them, increasing the total number of inlets known to have been artificially closed in New
Jersey to 8. The 3 breaches or inlets that were opened in Mantoloking by Hurricane Sandy that
were artificially closed within days of the storm were located at Lyman Street, Herbert Street,
and ~600 ft (183 m) north of Herbert Street.
Ten (91%) inlets have been or continue to be periodically dredged for navigation or erosion
control purposes to redirect channels away from buildings or infrastructure.
Rice (2014) described historical inlets that have been open along New Jersey’s coast, inlets that
have historically been artificially opened or closed, and documented impacts resulting from
modifications to certain inlets.
Proposed and Anticipated Habitat Modifications
In early 2016, Corson’s Inlet was mined twice to supply 1.939 million cubic yards of beach fill
sediment for placement at Strathmere, Sea Isle City and south Ocean City; the inlet was
previously mined in 1984 and 2009. In late 2016 the USACE is scheduled to mine three or four
inlets for beach fill, all of which have previously been mined: Absecon Inlet to place beach fill
on Atlantic City and Ventnor City beaches; Great Egg Harbor Inlet to place beach fill on north
Ocean City beaches; and Townsends and/or Hereford Inlets to place beach fill on Avalon and
Stone Harbor beaches (USACE Philadelphia District website, FedBizOpps.gov website).
The USACE has proposed mining Little Egg Inlet for navigational purposes and/or to use as
beach fill for portions of Long Beach Island; a draft Environmental Assessment was released in
early 2016 (USACE 2016g). State and local entities have also expressed interest in dredging
Little Egg Inlet for navigation. If approved, the dredging and/or mining of Little Egg Inlet would
increase the proportion of inlets modified by dredging in New Jersey to 100%.
The USACE proposed constructing two new bulkhead/revetments on the Absecon Inlet shoreline
of Atlantic City in 1996, neither of which were constructed prior to Hurricane Sandy. One
bulkhead/revetment would extend 1,050 ft (320 m) from Atlantic to Oriental Avenues, and the
other would extend 550 ft (168 m) from Madison to Melrose Avenues. The bulkhead/revetments
were proposed again after Hurricane Sandy but construction has been delayed pending review by
the U.S. Government Accountability Office (USACE 1996b, USACE Philadelphia District
website).
The NJDEP Bureau of Coastal Engineering has three armor projects on inlets in the Planning,
Engineering and Design Phase as of 2016. The first would be to repair the bulkhead on the south
side of Manasquan Inlet. The second is for repairs to the jetty on Absecon Inlet in Atlantic City.
The third is to reconstruct the jetty, revetment and groin on Great Egg Inlet in Longport (NJDEP
Bureau of Coastal Engineering website).
25
In 2015 the USACE began to develop a regional sediment management plan for Barnegat Inlet.
Barnegat Inlet is dredged three times a year, with approximately 100,000 cy dredged each time
(USACE 2016g).
After Hurricane Sandy, the Philadelphia District of the USACE received funds to proceed with a
New Jersey Alternative Long-Term Nourishment Regional Sediment Management Study to
develop a comprehensive approach to shore protection on the entire NJ coast, including the
development of a breach contingency plan to respond to new inlets or breaches and the possible
relocation of inlet channels to improve sediment management (USACE Philadelphia District
website, most recently accessed 8/29/2016).
Delaware
Tidal Inlet Habitat Changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015
Hurricane Sandy did not open or close any tidal inlets in Delaware (Rice 2015e). In the three
years since Hurricane Sandy, the flood tidal shoal of Indian River Inlet was mined again by the
USACE with ~520,000 cy of sediment placed on 5,500 ft (1,676 m) of beach north of the inlet
(USACE 2013n).
Tidal Inlet Habitat Status as of 2015
Prior to Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, there was one tidal inlet open in Delaware – Indian
River Inlet – and it had been modified in several ways (Rice 2014). Three years after Hurricane
Sandy, the number of tidal inlets open along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline of Delaware remained
one (Table 2 and Table B-10 in Appendix B). In 2015, Indian River Inlet remained heavily
modified by anthropogenic activities.
Rice (2014) described historical inlets that have been open along Delaware’s coast, inlets that
have historically been artificially opened or closed, and documented impacts resulting from
modifications to certain inlets. No inlets in Delaware have been relocated.
Indian River Inlet has dual jetties and bulkheads, which has eliminated any sandy beach habitat
along the inlet shoulders. The inlet has been dredged periodically since 1876. There is a sand
bypassing plant at the inlet which bypasses sediment annually to beaches to the north. The flood
shoal of the inlet was mined in 1990, 1992 and 2013 to nourish the beach to the north of the inlet
(NMFS 2014, USACE 2013n).
Proposed and Anticipated Habitat Modifications
Indian River Inlet is anticipated to continue to be modified by annual sediment bypassing and
periodic sand mining in the future.
Maryland
Tidal Inlet Habitat Changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015
Hurricane Sandy did not open or close any tidal inlets in Maryland (Rice 2015e). The seawall on
the north side of Ocean City Inlet was repaired in late 2014 following damages from Hurricane
Sandy (USACE Baltimore District website, accessed 6/9/16).
26
Tidal Inlet Habitat Status as of 2015
Prior to Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, there was one tidal inlet open in Maryland, and it had
been modified in several ways (Rice 2014). In 2015, three years after Hurricane Sandy, the
number of tidal inlets open along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline of Maryland remained one –
Ocean City Inlet (Table 2 and Table B-11 in Appendix B).
Rice (2014) described historical inlets that have been open along Maryland’s coast, inlets that
have historically been artificially opened or closed, and documented impacts resulting from
modifications to certain inlets. No inlets in Maryland have been relocated.
Of the single tidal inlet open in Maryland in 2015, it remained heavily modified by
anthropogenic activities. Ocean City Inlet has dual jetties, a seawall, and three breakwaters on
its southern shoreline.
Proposed and Anticipated Habitat Modifications
Ocean City Inlet has been dredged since 1933 (Rice 2014). The shoal complex of Ocean City
Inlet remains scheduled to be mined twice annually to supply sediment for a mechanical sand
bypassing project on Assateague Island to compensate for long-term erosional losses from the
jetties and dredging at the inlet (Schupp et al. 2013, Schupp and Coburn 2015).
Virginia
Tidal Inlet Habitat Changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015
Hurricane Sandy opened 5 new tidal inlets and closed one in Virginia (Rice 2015e). An
unnamed inlet on Myrtle Island that was closed by Hurricane Sandy remained closed in 2015.
The inlet opened at Chincoteague NWR at Swan Cove Pool during Hurricane Sandy closed
naturally within a few months, as did the small inlet opened near Toms Cove Hook. Hurricane
Sandy also breached a coastal pond on Hog Island, but the inlet closed naturally in late 2013 or
early 2014. One of two unnamed inlets on Fisherman Island opened by Hurricane Sandy
remained open6 while the other had closed naturally.
Several ephemeral inlets or breaches opened and closed along Virginia’s Eastern Shore within
the three years after Hurricane Sandy: two at ponds at Toms Cove Hook in Chincoteague NWR,
and one breach on the spit extending south off of Wreck Island. One new unnamed inlet formed
on the north side of Fisherman Island when an islet on the south side of Fishermans Inlet grew
and enclosed a small body of water between it and Fisherman Island in 2015. And Hurricane
Joaquin in October 2015 appears to have opened three breaches in Virginia, two on Cedar Island
and one on Smith Island; the southern breach on Cedar Island closed very quickly but the
northern one remained open for the rest of 2015 (but closed in early 2016) (USGW iCoast 2016;
Ruth Boettcher, VA DGIF, pers. communication, 8/8/16). The breach on Smith Island was still
open but barely exchanging water at low tide after the storm and into 2016 (Alex Wilke, TNC,
pers. communication, 8/18/16). Altogether 4 new inlets were open in Virginia, 1 inlet that was
6
This inlet closed naturally in 2016 but periodically opens during storm events (Pam Denmon, USFWS, pers.
communication, August 9, 2016).
27
open in 2012 was closed in 2015, and 7 other inlets opened and then closed during or within the
three years following Hurricane Sandy (Table 1).
In the three years since Hurricane Sandy, both of the Virginia inlets previously modified by
dredging were dredged by the USACE. Chincoteague Inlet was dredged in the winter of 201314, with ~34,350 cy dredged and placed in one of two open water disposal areas (USACE
Norfolk District website, accessed 6/9/16). The USACE dredged Rudee Inlet in November 2012
(~9,000 cy), December 2012 (~20,000 cy) and June 2013 (~20,000 cy) with the dredged material
either sidecast or placed in a nearshore area north of the inlet jetties (USACE Norfolk District
website, accessed 6/9/16). These dredging episodes were in addition to the nearly continuous
(daily) sand bypassing that occurs at Rudee Inlet.
Tidal Inlet Habitat Status as of 2015
Prior to Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, there were 14 tidal inlets open in Virginia, 2 (14%) of
which had been modified in at least one manner (Rice 2014). In 2015, three years after
Hurricane Sandy, the number of tidal inlets open along the Atlantic Ocean shoreline of Virginia
increased to 17 (Table 2 and Table B-12 in Appendix B).
Rice (2014) described historical inlets that have been open along Virginia’s Eastern Shore, inlets
that have historically been artificially opened or closed, and documented impacts resulting from
modifications to certain inlets.
Of the 17 tidal inlets open in 2015, 2 (12%) had been modified by anthropogenic activities, only
one of which 1 (7%) has been stabilized with hard structures. Rudee Inlet, the inlet with hard
structures, has dual jetties. No inlets have been relocated, with artificial closures of existing
inlets and openings of new inlets nearby. No new inlets have been cut artificially in Virginia.
Two (14%) inlets have been or continue to be periodically dredged for navigation or erosion
control purposes.
Proposed and Anticipated Habitat Modifications
In 2015 the City of Virginia Beach requested a USACE permit to mine the deposition basin on
the ebb shoal of Rudee Inlet of ~150,000 cy of sand to be used as beach fill on Virginia Beach
north of the inlet; the City of Virginia Beach had previously obtained a permit for this
modification of Rudee Inlet in 2004 (USACE 2015p). This periodic mining of the ebb shoals of
Rudee Inlet was not previously identified in Rice (2014).
In addition, one inlet opened and two closed naturally in early 2016 in Virginia. A second
breach opened on the north end of Smith Island in early 2016 (Alex Wilke, TNC, pers.
communication, 8/18/16). The inlet that opened on Fisherman Island during Hurricane Sandy
that remained open in 2015 closed naturally in early 2016. The south end of the new islet that
formed offshore the north side of Fisherman Island attached to Fisherman Island in 2016,
eliminating the unnamed inlet that separated the islet from Fisherman Island for a short time
(Pam Denmon, USFWS, pers. communication, 8/8/16).
28
North Carolina
Tidal Inlet Habitat Changes between Hurricane Sandy and 2015
Hurricane Sandy opened 2 tidal inlets in North Carolina (Rice 2015e). New Old Drum Inlet at
Cape Lookout NS remained open in 2015 after being opened by Hurricane Sandy. An ephemeral
inlet that periodically opens and closes at a coastal pond at Cape Hatteras Point in Cape Hatteras
NS was opened by Hurricane Sandy but closed naturally by April 2013; the inlet opened briefly
again for a short time in late 2013 and/or early 2014. In addition to the closure of one of the
inlets opened by Hurricane Sandy, Pea Island Breach opened at Pea Island NWR in 2011 by
Hurricane Irene (and bridged by the NC Department of Transportation) closed naturally in late
2014 or early 2015.
Several breaches have opened at least temporarily in North Carolina from 2012 to 2015 (Table
1). Hurricane Joaquin appears to have opened two temporary breaches at the north end of
Portsmouth Island in October 2015; these sites appear to have previously had smaller breaches
that were enlarged by Hurricane Joaquin. Neither storm breach appeared to be evolving into
stable inlets with full tidal exchange after the October 2015 storm but may do so following future
storm events. A breach has formed on Onslow Beach at the Camp Lejeune Marine Base as well.
The Onslow Beach breach appears to have first been overwashed sometime between December
2011 and April 2013, with overwash reaching the bayside shoreline. By October 2015 the
overwash channel appeared to have enlarged and become a storm breach during Hurricane
Joaquin. The breach was not exchanging tidal flow at all tide levels in October 2015, but
appears to be capable of tidal exchange at high tide; the breach may soon become an inlet.
Altogether, 4 inlets or breaches opened in NC since Hurricane Sandy and 6 closed, all of them
naturally (Table 1).
Since Hurricane Sandy, several North Carolina tidal inlets have been dredged. Oregon Inlet
continues to be dredged on a fairly frequent basis. In late 2015 the NC Department of
Transportation (NCDOT) dredged a channel on the west side of Hatteras Inlet to maintain
navigational access in and around Hatteras Inlet, including ferry access to Ocracoke Island; an
estimated 88,000 cy of material was sidecast next to the dredged channel (USACE 2015i, Kozak
2016). Ocracoke Inlet was dredged by the USACE with a sidecast dredge in 2013 (Hinnant
2013). Beaufort Inlet was dredged in 2013 and 2014, with ~775,000 cy of dredged sediment
placed on Bogue Banks to the west in the 2014 dredging episode (Hibbs 2013, 2014). Carolina
Beach Inlet was dredged with a USACE sidecast dredge in 2013 and then again in 2015 by the
USACE, state and New Hanover County, with the material placed in a nearshore disposal site off
Carolina Beach to the south (Hinnant 2013, Lane 2015). Lockwoods Folly Inlet was dredged by
the USACE in 2013 (Hinnant 2013). The Town of Oak Island dredged Eastern Channel, part of
the Lockwoods Folly Inlet complex, in 2015 and removed over 3 acres of emergent shoal habitat;
the beach-compatible portion of the dredged material was placed on the beach of west Oak
Island (USFWS 2015e).
Seven (7) North Carolina inlets have been mined for beach fill since Hurricane Sandy, three of
them new sites that had not previously been mined. The NCDOT mined ~33,000 cy of sediment
from within Oregon Inlet to fill a scour hole adjacent to the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge across the
inlet in December 2013, which had destabilized the bridge and led to its emergency closure
29
(USACE 2013p). New Topsail Inlet was mined in 2012 and 2015, both by the Town of Topsail
Beach using funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for beach fill along 4.7
miles (7.6 km) of beach north of the inlet (USACE 2013q, Town of North Topsail Beach 2015b).
In the winter of 2012-2013, the inlet channel of New River Inlet was relocated, with the dredged
material (566,244 cy) used as beach fill on adjacent North Topsail Beach (Town of North
Topsail Beach 2015a, USACE 2015l). In addition, four inlets that had been previously mined
were mined again. Mason Inlet was mined in 2013 to provide beach fill for Figure Eight Island
and to maintain Mason Inlet within a specific location, a cycle that is anticipated to occur every 3
years; the inlet had previously been mined in 2011 (USFWS 2015b and 2016c; Lindsay Addison,
Audubon North Carolina, pers. communication, June 14, 2016). In 2014, the USACE mined
Shallotte Inlet to renourish adjacent Ocean Isle Beach as part of a federal storm damage
reduction project on the island (Ocean Isle Beach 2015). Carolina Beach Inlet was mined in
2013 for beach fill on Carolina Beach and Masonboro Inlet was mined in 2014 for beach fill on
Wrightsville Beach (USFWS 2016b and 2016c).
A sandbag revetment was constructed on the south side of New River Inlet at North Topsail
Beach in February 2015 (Town of North Topsail Beach 2015a, b). The south jetty at Masonboro
Inlet was repaired by the USACE in 2013-14 (USACE 2013u, 2014q). Construction of a
terminal groin was completed on Bald Head Island on the east side of the Cape Fear River inlet
in January 2016, with a possible future extension of the groin in the future if conditions warrant
(Talton 2016b, USACE 2014o, USFWS 2014d).
Tidal Inlet Habitat Status as of 2015
In 2015, three years after Hurricane Sandy, the number of tidal inlets open along the Atlantic
Ocean shoreline of North Carolina was 20 (Table 2 and Table B-13 in Appendix B). Of the 20
tidal inlets open in North Carolina 2015, 16 (80%) had been modified by anthropogenic
activities. Of the 8 inlets (40%) with hard structures, 2 have jetties (one with a single jetty and
one with dual jetties), two have terminal groins, one has a landlocked groin, one has a nonfunctional / submerged breakwater, and 3 have sandbag revetments. Prior to Hurricane Sandy in
October 2012, there were 20 tidal inlets open in North Carolina, 17 (85%) of which had been
modified in at least one manner (Rice 2012a). The number of modified tidal inlets decreased by
one with the natural closure of the breach at Pea Island NWR, which was stabilized with hard
structures.
Rice (2012a) described historical inlets that have been open in North Carolina, inlets that have
historically been artificially opened or closed, and documented impacts resulting from
modifications to certain inlets. At least 13 inlets or breaches have been closed artificially after
having been opened by storm events, 4 of which were along NC Highway 12 on the Outer Banks
in 2011 (Rice 2012a, 2015d). New inlets have been cut artificially in 5 locations (Masonboro
Inlet in 1947, Carolina Beach Inlet in 1952, Tubbs Inlet in 1970, New Drum Inlet in 1971 and
Mason Inlet in 2002), with the Masonboro, Tubbs and Mason Inlet openings part of inlet
relocation projects (Rice 2012a). The main channel of Bogue Inlet was relocated within the inlet
complex in 2006 (Rice 2012a). In the winter of 2012-2013, the inlet channel of New River Inlet
was relocated as described above (Town of North Topsail Beach 2015a, USACE 2015l).
Altogether, as of 2015, 5 inlets or their channels have been relocated in North Carolina.
30
As of 2015, the shoal complexes of at least 10 inlets had been mined to supply sediment for
beach nourishment projects in North Carolina. Shallotte Inlet was mined in 2001 and 2014,
Bogue Inlet in 2005, Barden Inlet in 2006, and Rich Inlet (Nixon Channel) 7 times between 1983
and 2011. More recently, Mason Inlet was mined in 2005, 2009, 2011, 2012-2013 and early
2016. Oregon Inlet was mined in 2013. New River Inlet was mined in 2012-13 as part of an
inlet channel relocation project. New Topsail Inlet was mined in 2012 and 2015. The most
recent project plans for the federal and local Carolina and Kure Beach Coastal Storm Damage
Reduction Projects identify Carolina Beach Inlet as a primary sediment source; sediment dredged
from the inlet has been placed periodically on Carolina Beach for storm damage reduction since
the 1960s, but the latest plans identify the primary purpose of the dredging as mining of beach
fill rather than navigation (USFWS 2016b). Similarly, the most recent project plans for the
federal and local Wrightsville Beach Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Project identify the
primary purpose of dredging Masonboro Inlet as mining of beach fill rather than navigation;
sediment removed from the inlet has been used as beach fill on Wrightsville Beach since 1962
(USFWS 2016c).
Sixteen (80%) inlets have been or continue to be periodically dredged for navigation or erosion
control purposes to redirect channels away from buildings or infrastructure in North Carolina,
including the 10 listed above as having been mined for fill material.
Proposed and Anticipated Habitat Modifications
In the first half of 2016, Beaufort Inlet and Lockwood Folly Inlet have been or were scheduled to
be dredged. Carolina Beach Inlet was mined for beach fill on Carolina Beach (USFWS 2016c).
Mason Inlet was mined and relocated a third time in January 2016 (Errante 2015). New River
Inlet has been proposed to be relocated a second time in 2016 or 2017; Onslow County would
also receive authority to maintenance dredge the federally-maintained inlet and nearby channels,
deepening the navigation channel through the inlet by two feet (Town of North Topsail Beach
2015a, USACE 2015l, USFWS 2015d). The Town of Topsail Beach is working with the
USACE to expand allowable dredging areas in and around New Topsail Inlet that are located
within the federal Coastal Barrier Resources System (Talton 2016a).
In late 2013 the USACE and NPS issued a draft DMMP for dredging of the federal channel that
passes through Beaufort Inlet to Morehead City Harbor. The proposed DMMP includes a new
disposal area for sediment dredged from the inlet on Shackleford Banks to the east, which is part
of Cape Lookout NS, and a second new nearshore disposal site offshore Shackleford Banks on or
near the ebb tidal delta of the inlet (USACE 2013o).
In 2011 the North Carolina state legislature revised the decades-long ban on hard shoreline
stabilization structures to allow up to four terminal groins to be constructed at inlets in the state.
One such terminal groin was recently completed on Bald Head Island on the east side of the
Cape Fear River inlet, and three others are in the permitting process to construct terminal groins
at Rich Inlet on Figure Eight Island, at Lockwoods Folly Inlet on Holden Beach, and at Shallotte
Inlet on Ocean Isle Beach (Talton 2016b; USACE 2014o, 2015j, 2015k, 2015m, 2016e and
2016k; USFWS 2015c, 2016a). In 2015 the state legislature further revised the existing hard
shoreline stabilization legislation to allow two additional terminal groins at Bogue Inlet and New
31
River Inlet, but neither of the two communities (Emerald Isle and North Topsail Beach
respectively) had proposed the construction of terminal groins as of early 2016.
A sandbag revetment initially constructed in 2007 near the east side of Tubbs Inlet, on a private
property in Ocean Isle Beach, was expanded in 2009 but remained set back from the inlet
shoreline. By 2012 the inlet had shifted position to the east and the revetment was directly on
the inlet shoreline. The state permit for the sandbag revetment expired in 2014 but the revetment
was not removed and remains directly on the inlet shoreline. The private property owner
requested and received a permit variance and an expansion of the revetment, doubling it in
height, in July 2016 (Gona 2016, USFWS 2016d).
Private sandbag revetments have been constructed on Figure Eight Island and Ocean Isle near
but not directly on the south side of Rich Inlet and the west side of Shallotte Inlet respectively. If
either of the two inlets shift significantly in position, those revetments could modify the inlet
shorelines in the future.
Recent studies forecast that the North Carolina Outer Banks will continue to see a series of new
inlets open as sea level rises and climate changes (Riggs and Ames 2003, Mallinson et al. 2008),
which has been exhibited by the opening of a number of inlets and breaches at Pea Island NWR
(1 large and 2 small breaches in 2011), Rodanthe (1 in 2011), Hatteras (1 in 2003 plus a periodic
breach to a pond at Cape Point) and Cape Lookout NS (1 in 2005, 1 in 2012, 2 in 2015) in the
last 13 years.
Summary by U.S. Atlantic Coast Piping Plover Breeding Range Recovery Unit
The U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range of the piping plover is divided into three recovery units:
New England, New York – New Jersey, and Southern. The number of tidal inlets in the New
England Recovery Unit is significantly higher than the other two recovery units because inlets
are far more numerous, although generally smaller, north of Montauk, NY (Table 3). Barrier
islands are rare north of Montauk, NY, with a few exceptions in Massachusetts. Tidal inlets are
often found at coastal ponds or creek / river mouths. South of Montauk, NY, along the Atlantic
Ocean shorelines of NY, NJ, DE, MD, VA and NC, the shoreline is dominated by barrier islands
and spits. Tidal inlets are fewer and farther between along this barrier island-dominated
shoreline, and they tend to be larger than the tidal inlets found in New England or along Long
Island Sound or the Peconic Estuary of NY.
In the New England Recovery Unit of the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range of the piping
plover (from ME to CT), 17 inlets opened between 2012 and 2015, including 2 opened during
Hurricane Sandy (Table 1). Six (6) additional inlets were identified with improved imagery
sources that were not identified in Rice (2015a). Sixteen (16) inlets closed between 2012 and
2015, including 2 closed by Hurricane Sandy. Three (3) inlets in CT were lost when the spits or
islets on which they were located eroded or submerged. The number of tidal inlets open in 2015
thus increased by 4 over the number open in 2012 (Table 3; Rice 2015d). In 2015, 68% (152 of
223) of the tidal inlets had been modified, the same proportion as had been modified prior to
Hurricane Sandy (Rice 2015d). The number of inlets modified by hard structures increased by 1
32
between 2012 and 2015 due to the artificial reopening of Stewart’s Creek in MA, which has both
a jetty and a groin. The artificial opening of Stewart’s Creek (MA) also increased the number of
inlets modified by dredging between 2012 and 2015 by one. The number of inlets that have been
relocated increased by 1 as well, with new information regarding the periodic artificial opening
of Goshen Cove in CT between the jetties to the east of its natural location in the past. In 2012,
21 inlets were known to have been artificially opened in the New England Recovery Unit; in
2015 this number increased to 26, with 3 of the artificially opened inlets located in MA and 1
each in ME and CT. No new inlets were artificially closed within the New England Recovery
Unit between 2012 and 2015.
In the New York-New Jersey Recovery Unit, 30 new inlets opened between 2012 and 2015,
including 24 opened during Hurricane Sandy (Table 1). Twenty-four (24) inlets closed during
the same time period, for a net increase of 6 inlets in NY and NJ from 144 to 150. Of the three
recovery units within the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range of the piping plover, the inlets
located in the NY-NJ Recovery Unit were most modified in 2015 at 73% (109 of 150; Table 3).
This is a slight decrease to the proportion of inlets that were modified prior to Hurricane Sandy,
when 76% of the inlets (109 of 144) had been modified in at least one way (Rice 2015d). The
proportional decrease is due to the opening of several new inlets since 2012 that have not been
modified along both the Peconic Estuary and Atlantic Ocean shorelines of New York. The
apparent increase in the number of inlets in NY and NJ (from 73 to 80) that have been dredged is
due to new information sources documenting historical dredging of 6 inlets, with only 1 inlet
(Downs Creek on the Peconic Estuary of NY) newly modified by dredging between 2012 and
Table 3. The number of open tidal inlets, inlet modifications, and artificially closed inlets
in each Recovery Unit of the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range of the piping plover prior
in 2015.
Inlets Open in 2015
Recovery
Number
Unit
of Inlets
Total
Number
of
Modified
Inlets
Habitat Modification Type
structures†
dredged
relocated
mined
Artificially
opened‡
Artificially
closed
New
England
223
152
140
80
3
3
26
15
NY - NJ
150
109
91
80
3
13
14
14
Southern
39
20
11
20
5
13
5
15
TOTAL
412
281
(68%)
242
(59%)
180
(44%)
11
(3%)
29
(7%)
45
(11%)
44
(n/a)
† Structures include jetties, terminal groins, groin fields, rock or sandbag revetments, seawalls, and offshore
breakwaters.
‡ Thirteen additional inlets in MA, three additional inlets in RI, one on the NY Atlantic coast, one in MD, and one in
NC have been artificially created but were not open in 2015.
33
2015. The artificial opening of a new outlet for Downs Creek on the Peconic Estuary of NY
increased the number of inlets modified by artificial opening in the recovery unit by 1 to 14. The
number of inlets artificially closed in NY and NJ increased by 5, from 9 to 14, with the artificial
closure of 5 inlets or breaches opened by Hurricane Sandy on the South Shore of Long Island
and in Mantaloking, NJ.
In the Southern Recovery Unit (from DE to NC), 17 new inlets opened between 2012 and 2015,
including 7 opened by Hurricane Sandy (Table 1). Fourteen (14) inlets closed during the same
time period, including 1 closed during Hurricane Sandy. In 2015, the number of inlets open in
the Southern Recovery Unit of the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range of the piping plover
increased by 3 to 39 from the 36 that were open in 2012 prior to Hurricane Sandy. While the
tidal inlets in the Southern Recovery Unit are the least modified of the three recovery units, more
than half of the tidal inlet habitat within the unit were modified in 2015 (51%, or 20 of 39 inlets).
This is a slight decrease from the number of inlets in the recovery unit that had been modified
prior to Hurricane Sandy, when 21 of 36 tidal inlets, or 58%, had been modified (Rice 2015d).
The number of inlets modified by hard structures increased by 1 with the shifting of Tubbs Inlet
in NC, exposing a sandbag revetment on the inlet shoulder that had previously been setback from
the inlet shoreline. One new inlet channel in NC (New River Inlet) was relocated between 2012
and 2015, increasing the number of inlets in the recovery unit modified by relocation from 4 to 5,
all of them in NC. The number of inlets modified by sediment mining increased by 7 between
2012 and 2015, with new documentation of past mining at 4 inlets and new mining of 3 inlets in
NC. No new inlets were artificially opened or closed in the Southern Recovery Unit between
2012 and 2015.
DISCUSSION
Over two-thirds (68%) of the 412 sandy tidal inlet habitats from Georgetown, Maine, to North
Carolina that were open in 2015 have been modified within the last century or so by human
actions, such as the construction of hard stabilization structures, dredging activities, sediment
mining, and the artificial opening and closing of inlets (Table 2). The southern Massachusetts
coast is the most contiguously modified, with all 23 inlets from Chatham (Stage) Harbor to the
Trunk River modified by hard structures and/or dredging (Table B-3). Connecticut also has a
section of coast with numerous contiguous inlets modified, with 22 modified inlets from Mile
Creek in New London to Milford Harbor at the Indian River (Table B-5). There are only 2
unmodified inlets out of 23 from Montauk, NY, to Chincoteague, VA – one within Fire Island
NS (NY) that was opened by Hurricane Sandy and one with the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR (NJ).
In contrast, the highest number of contiguous inlets that are not modified is 15, all on the Eastern
Shore of Virginia (Table B-12). The next highest number of contiguous inlets that are not
modified is 10, all on Shelter Island within The Nature Conservancy’s Mashomack Preserve, in
the Peconic Estuary of New York (Table B-7). There are 4 contiguous inlets in Maine that are
not modified, along with 7 on the Cape Cod Bay shoreline of Cape Cod NS in Massachusetts
(Table B-3). The only other significant section of shoreline with no modified inlets is the 4 inlets
east of Narragansett Bay from Tunipus Pond Inlet, to Gardiner Pond Inlet, Rhode Island (Table
34
B-4). Throughout the rest of the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range, 2 to 3 contiguous inlets that
are not modified is more typical.
The adverse direct and indirect impacts of hard stabilization structures, dredging, inlet
relocations and mining can be significant and were described in Rice (2014) and Rice (2015a).
The impacts that jetties have on inlet and adjacent shoreline habitat have been described by
Leatherman (1989), Dean (1993), Bush et al. (1996, 2001, 2004), Cleary and Marden (1999),
Seabergh et al. (2003), Wamsley and Kraus (2005), Kraus (2006), Thomas et al. (2011) and
many others. The maintenance of navigation channels by dredging can significantly alter the
natural coastal processes on adjacent inlet shorelines, as described by Leatherman (1989), Dean
(1993), Kraus (2006), Otvos (2006), Morton (2008), Otvos and Carter (2008), Beck and Wang
(2009), and Stockdon et al. (2010). Cialone and Stauble (1998) describe the impacts of mining
ebb shoals within inlets as a source of beach fill material and provide a recommended monitoring
protocol for future mining events; Dabees and Kraus (2008) also describe the impacts of ebb
shoal mining. The physical impacts of inlet stabilization, dredging and mining all impact the
quality and quantity of tidal inlet habitat available to shorebirds and all wildlife that rely upon
inlet habitats, including the piping plover.
The relocation of inlets or the artificial creation of new inlets often leads to immediate widening
of the new inlet cut and loss of adjacent habitat, among other impacts; these responses have been
described by Mason and Sorenson (1971), Masterson et al. (1973), USACE (1992), Cleary and
Marden (1999), Cleary and Fitzgerald (2003), Erickson et al. (2003), Kraus et al. (2003), Kraus
(2006), Wamsley and Kraus (2005) and Kraus (2007). In the northeastern U.S., the majority of
artificially created inlets are the result of mechanical breaching of coastal ponds. At least 11
coastal ponds in MA and at least 9 in RI have been or continue to be artificially breached by
mechanical means (Rice 2015a). Most of these ponds are breached several times a year,
depending on whether and when they breach naturally.
The cumulative effects of the habitat modifications to sandy tidal inlets within the U.S. Atlantic
Coast breeding range of the piping plover are significant. Between Georgetown, ME, and NC,
68% of the inlets and their associated habitats have been modified. The cumulative
environmental consequences are adverse, major and long-term. Fenster and Dolan (1996) found
that the barrier island inlets of Virginia and northern North Carolina dominate coastal processes
and adjacent island shorelines up to 2.5 – 3.1 miles (4 – 5 km) away and influence adjacent
shorelines for up to 3.7 – 8.1 miles (6 – 13 km). Kraus (2006) states that the impacts of jetties on
adjacent shorelines may extend for several kilometers. Batten and Kraus (2006) identified the
downdrift impacts of the dual jetty system and dredging of the Federal navigation channel at
Mattituck Inlet on the North Shore of Long Island extends for 1.81 miles (2.91 km) east of the
inlet, with higher rates of erosion closer to the inlet. The environmental consequences from
human modifications of inlets therefore can extend on the order of several miles (or kilometers)
from each inlet depending on the size of the inlet and its adjacent geologic setting (i.e., barrier
island or lengthy spit as is more common south of Montauk, NY, versus nearby rocky headlands
or bluffs as is more common north of Montauk, NY).
Using an estimated extent of influence of 2.5 to 8.1 miles (4 to 13 km) of shoreline on either side
of an inlet located on a shoreline dominated by barrier islands, the 60 inlets from Montauk, NY,
35
south could influence 300 to 972 miles (482 to 1,564 km) of adjacent beach habitat. Because a
number of those 60 inlets are less than 8.1 miles (13 km) apart and because there are only about
740 miles (1,191 km) of beach habitat south of Montauk, however, the average extent of inlet
influence on beach habitat is probably closer to 2.5 miles (4 km) than 8.1 miles (13 km). Out of
the 60 inlets south of Montauk, 39 of them have been modified by human activities as of 2015.
Using a conservative average estimate of 2.5 miles (4 km) for the range of influence an inlet has
on adjacent coastal processes and beaches, those 39 modified inlets could be impacting at least
195 of the 740 miles (314 of 1,191 km), or 26%, of the beach habitat available to nesting
shorebirds from the South Shore of Long Island through NC.
If the range of impact that jetties or dredging an inlet has on adjacent shorelines extends an
estimated 1.81 miles (2.91 km) downdrift of inlets7 located north of Montauk, of which there are
about 150 modified by jetties and/or dredging, then the magnitude of the impact of those inlet
modifications could reach 271.5 miles (436.9 km) of adjacent downdrift beach habitat; this
estimated impact does not include any updrift impacts resulting from jetty or dredging
modifications. This represents an impact to at least 30% of the ~906 miles (1,458 km) of beach
habitat north of Montauk, NY. These conservative estimates illustrate that the impacts of human
modifications to tidal inlets has had a major, adverse and long-term impact on fish and wildlife
habitat (both inlet and sandy beach) in the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range of the piping
plover.
The cumulative impacts of dredging nearly half of all the tidal inlets within the U.S. Atlantic
Coast breeding range of the piping plover as of 2015 are significant. Dredging volumes for
inlets on the Mid-Atlantic or South Atlantic coastlines (south of Montauk, NY) tend to be in the
tens to hundreds of thousands of cubic yards, and may reach well over 1 million cubic yards
when the inlet is being mined for beach fill (Rice 2014). The volumes of sediment dredged and
removed from inlets in the Northeast tend to be lower, on the order of thousands or tens of
thousands of cubic yards, (Rice 2012a, 2014). Although the volumes of sediment dredged from
northeastern inlets may be an order of magnitude smaller than the volumes dredged from inlets
farther south on the Atlantic coast, the number of inlets that have been dredged is much higher in
the northeast. One-hundred and forty-three (143) of the 352 inlets north of Montauk, NY, or
41%, have been modified by dredging as of 2015, as compared to 39 of the 60 inlets (65%)
located south of Montauk.
The artificial opening and closing of inlets modifies inlet habitat in the most extreme manner,
resulting in the artificial conversion of habitat types and alteration of their abundance and
distribution. A significant number of inlets (64, 45 of which were open in 2015) have been
artificially created between Georgetown, ME, and NC (Table 2). These artificially created inlets
tend to need hard structures to remain open or stable, with 32 of the 45 (71%) of them having
hard structures in 2015. At least 48 inlets have been artificially closed, at least 17 of them since
the piping plover was listed as a threatened species in 1986; artificial closure of inlets results in
complete loss of inlet habitat for not only shorebirds but aquatic species as well.
The most significant inlet to have been opened by Hurricane Sandy that was still open in 2015 is
the one located within the Fire Island NS. Two nearby inlets or breaches opened during
7
As identified for Mattituck Inlet along the Long Island Sound shoreline of NY by Beck and Kraus (2006).
36
Hurricane Sandy were quickly closed under a state and federal Breach Contingency Plan. Initial
proposals were made to artificially close the Fire Island NS inlet/breach as well; historically
concerns have been expressed about new inlets potentially increasing flooding on the main Long
Island shoreline behind Fire Island. Aretxabaleta et al. (2014) monitored Barnegat Bay in NJ
and Great South Bay in NY following Hurricane Sandy, which breached the barrier islands
seaward of both bays. The monitoring found that “high water levels that occurred in the months
following Sandy [in both bay systems] were a result of offshore high sea level associated with a
series of winter storms” and not due to the new breaches and inlets created by the hurricane (all
but one of which was artificially closed within two months of the storm) (Aretxabaleta et al.
2014, p. 3164). Concerns regarding adverse impacts to mainland flooding resulting from new
inlets or breaches on barrier islands thus have not proven true. The National Park Service is
currently developing a Breach Management Plan for the Fire Island NS inlet/breach.
The long-term sustainability of tidal inlet habitats along the U.S. Atlantic coast relies upon the
natural opening and closing of inlets and breaches as sea level rises, and the artificial closure of
or prevention of new inlets or breaches should be carefully and fully evaluated on a case-by-case
basis. When a barrier spit, baymouth bar, or barrier island is breached by a new inlet or storm
channel, sediment is deposited on the bayside of the spit or island and flood tidal shoals are
deposited if the inlet or breach remains open after the storm. These deposits create an elevated
platform onto which the barrier island or spit can migrate with rising sea level, similar to the
bayside deposits that overwash may create on the backside of barrier spits or islands that
facilitate an island’s ability to adapt to rising sea level (Magliocca et al. 2011). Tanski (2012)
states that along the South Shore of Long Island, inlets are the primary means for moving
sediment landward and facilitating barrier island migration. If the inlet migrates or closes, the
flood tidal shoals may be welded to the bayside of the barrier spit or island, they may evolve into
bayside flats that provide foraging habitat for shorebirds and waterbirds, or they may become
colonized by salt marsh or submerged aquatic vegetation, both of which are valuable habitat
types to a variety of fish and wildlife resources. When a new inlet or breach is artificially closed,
which tends to be within days or weeks of formation, these bayside sediment deposits are not
allowed to develop and fish and wildlife resources are impacted by a lost opportunity for new
habitat in a highly dynamic coastal environment with rising sea levels. Cohen et al. (2009, p. 1)
found “Restoring nesting habitat adjacent to bayside intertidal flats may increase the carrying
capacity (nesting pairs) at piping plover breeding sites.” The bayside intertidal flats located in
the Cohen et al. (2009) study area were on Long Island where two storm breaches were
artificially closed, but not immediately; the breaches were open for several months before they
were closed artificially, allowing flood tidal shoals to develop and evolve into bayside intertidal
flats after the breaches were closed.
The dredging of navigation channels or to relocate inlet channels for erosion control purposes
also contributes to the cumulative effects by removing or redistributing the local and regional
sediment supply; the maintenance dredging of deep ship channels can convert a natural inlet that
normally bypasses sediment from one shoreline to the other into a sediment sink in which
sediment no longer bypasses the inlet. Cialone and Stauble (1998, p. 539) state that “Any
removal of sand from an inlet system lowers the elevation of that portion of the system, resulting
in a flow of sand to restore local equilibrium.” Dean (1993) also found that the dredging of
deepened navigational channels causes erosion on adjacent shorelines and faster deposition
37
within the dredged channel; the alteration of one element that contributes to an inlet’s
equilibrium will affect all the other elements and disrupt the dynamic equilibrium. At Mattituck
Inlet on Long Island’s North Shore, Batten and Kraus (2006, p. xiii) found that “the Federal
navigation project at Mattituck Inlet caused a 94 percent reduction in average annual longshore
sediment transport between 1906 and 1950, and a 58 percent reduction between 1950 and 2004.
Total volume loss attributable to the [Mattituck Inlet] Federal navigation project was estimated at
1,063,000 cu yd [cubic yards] (± 238,000 cu yd).” The net loss of sediment to downdrift beaches
after volumes removed by commercial mining of the updrift jetty fillet, loss to offshore via
natural processes, and placement of dredged material on adjacent beaches are accounted for was
estimated to be 493,000 cy (± 216,000 cy; Batten and Kraus 2006). Batten and Kraus (2006)
recommend these downdrift impacts could be mitigated by continuing the current practice of
bypassing dredged material to downdrift beaches with additional bypassing of material from the
updrift jetty fillet annually or once every 8 to 10 years in conjunction with supplemental
dredging of the flood tidal shoals at the inlet.
Kraus (2006) describes how inlet equilibrium can be so unbalanced due to the construction of
jetties or inlet relocation that the ebb shoal can collapse. “Maintenance of coastal inlet
navigation channels and the adjacent beaches brings conflicting requirements. For example,
jetties are built in part to confine and strengthen the current, but the resultant seaward translation
of the ebb shoal interrupts natural sediment bypassing. In turn, interruption of the natural
bypassing rates and pathways compromise the integrity of the adjacent beaches, with potential
feedback to destabilize the jetties and inlet navigation channel” (Kraus 2006, p. 10).
Of the dredged inlets within the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range of the piping plover,
dredging efforts began as early as 1803 and continue to the present, generating long-term and
even permanent effects on inlet habitat; at least 19 inlets have been dredged since the 1800s and
mechanical pond breaching of numerous inlets in Rhode Island and Massachusetts has occurred
since the early 1600s (Lee 1980). Dredging is typically conducted annually or every 2 to 5
years, which results in continual perturbations and modifications to inlet and adjacent shoreline
habitat. Kraus (2006, p. 11) notes that “inlet morphology evolves over decades to centuries, and
shoal development and change can be complex. Thus, the consequences of modifications to an
existing inlet may not be noted for many years.”
The mining of inlet shoals in the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range of the piping plover is more
common in the southern part of the range than the northern part, particularly along the Atlantic
Ocean coasts of NY, NJ and NC (Rice 2012a, 2014). Twenty-four (24) of the 29 inlets (83%)
that have been mined for sediment are located south of Montauk, NY. Since Hurricane Sandy, at
least 18 inlets were mined specifically for fill material and 3 others had large amounts of dredged
material beneficially placed on nearby beaches. In addition, Mattituck and Flax Pond Inlets on
the North Shore of Long Island were commercially mined for sand and gravel for several
decades, as was the inner channels of Mt. Sinai Harbor (Morgan et al. 2005, Batten and Kraus
2006, Town of Brookhaven 2006, Abrams et al. 2008). Mining of inlets for commercial sale
results in an instantaneous and permanent sediment loss to the system. Batten and Kraus (2006,
p. 91) found that the mining of the Mattituck Inlet channel and impoundment fillet at the west
jetty removed between 443,000 and 903,000 cy of sediment from the system, a volume loss
“equal to, and potentially greater than, the volume of material eroded from the downdrift beach”
38
due to the dual jetty system and dredging of the Federal navigation channel at the inlet. As sea
level continues to rise and climate changes, more inlets from ME to NC may be proposed for
mining for beach fill to protect development and infrastructure. Since 2012, three new inlets in
NC were mined for beach fill that had not previously been modified in this way. Two additional
inlets have been proposed for mining, including the last unmodified inlet in NJ.
The hard stabilization of inlets is another contributor to the appreciable cumulative adverse
effects to inlet habitat along the coast from Georgetown, ME, to NC. The construction of jetties,
groins, seawalls and revetments leads to habitat loss and both direct and indirect impacts to
adjacent shorelines. Several inlets in this assessment have hard stabilization structures along
their entire inlet shorelines, eliminating all sandy beach habitat from their inlet shoulders.
Habitat modifications resulting from the construction of hard structures are long-term and
essentially permanent where the structures are maintained in perpetuity; at least 26 inlets have
hard structures that are a century old or more.
Even without jetties at an inlet, adjacent development may affect inlets. Nordstrom (1988) found
that inlets were less mobile when the adjacent shorelines are developed than those that were
undeveloped. At the four unjettied inlets Nordstrom (1988) analyzed in New Jersey, he found
that the inlets are naturally cyclical in their erosion and accretion patterns. Maintenance
dredging can stabilize the channel position and suppress the natural inlet cycle where the ebb
channel is allowed to fluctuate widely. Bulkheads, groins (including terminal groins) and beach
fill projects on adjacent developed areas can prevent breaches updrift of the inlets, alter erosion
and accretion patterns and diminish the magnitude of the inlet cycle as well.
In New England, the construction and development of the Cape Cod Canal led to the closure of
the nearby Scusset Mill Creek Inlet in Sagamore in the early 1900s (FitzGerald 1993). Dredging
of the Saco River in Maine with dredged material placement on the shoreline to the north
increased the sediment supply to the adjacent beaches and was partially responsible for the
closure of Little River Inlet, accretion and subsequent development of Pine Point, the filling and
narrowing of the Scarborough River Inlet, and the subsequent need to stabilize the Scarborough
River Inlet with a jetty and dredging (FitzGerald et al. 1989, Kelley et al. 1989, EPA 1995).
Most inlets that have been modified are modified in multiple ways. Dean (1993) noted that the
erosional losses and channel shoaling issues resulting from dredged channels can be ameliorated
by terminal structures on the inlet shorelines such as breakwaters or by terminal groins and jetty
modifications. “The installation of a terminal structure on the updrift side of the entrance is
always beneficial to dredging interests and the stability of the updrift shorelines, but is always
detrimental to the stability of the downdrift shorelines” (Dean 1993, pp. 208-9). One inlet
modification (dredging) thus can lead to additional modifications (hard stabilization). Buonaiuto
et al. (2008) found that the direct impacts of stabilization and dredging of Shinnecock Inlet on
Long Island’s South Shore in New York will persist for nearly 150 years and possibly longer;
after 68 years (as of 2008) of hard stabilization and dredging at the inlet, the ebb shoal has only
reached ~60% of its estimated equilibrium volume and will take another 75 years to reach full
equilibrium, longer if the ebb shoal is mined or dredged.
39
The effects of inlet modifications are on-going, cumulative, and increasing in intensity, as hard
structures continue to be or were proposed to be built or repaired in the three years after
Hurricane Sandy, although the construction of new tidal inlets with jetties is rare (Kraus 2006,
Watts et al. 2011). Kraus (2006, p. 1) notes that the jetties built at many of the larger inlets in the
U.S. were built around the turn of the 20th century when the coast was “far from infrastructure
and development … so consideration of the beaches adjacent to the inlets was minimal.” “As
coastlines have become more developed, … environmental and engineering consequences for
new or modified inlets have never been greater” (Kraus 2006, p. 1). With sea level rising and
global climate change altering storm dynamics, the pressure to further modify the sandy tidal
inlets in this area will only increase. Thus, the adaptation management strategies recommended
by the USFWS climate change strategy (USFWS 2010), CCSP (2009), Williams and Gutierrez
(2009), Pilkey and Young (2009), and many others will increasingly be difficult to implement.
The USFWS Strategic Plan for Responding to Accelerating Climate Change calls for the
National Wildlife Refuge System to play “a role in ensuring habitat connectivity and conserving
key landscapes and populations of fish and wildlife” (USFWS 2010, p. 13). The conservation of
coastal and marine resources is a specific objective of the USFWS’s strategy. The Edwin B.
Forsythe NWR has conserved the least modified suite of tidal inlet and sandy beach habitats in
the state of New Jersey, much of it federally-designated wilderness. Yet a proposal is currently
under review to mine and/or dredge the only unmodified inlet in the state, which is surrounded
by the refuge, for large volumes of sediment to use as beach fill on nearby Long Beach Island. If
the inlet is mined, the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR will be less able to contribute to conserving
habitat connectivity and key habitats in the already heavily modified NJ coastal landscape.
“Adaptation forms the core of the Service’s response to climate change and is the centerpiece of
our Strategic Plan” (USFWS 2010, p. 14). One such type of adaptation is “to manage toward
future, and often less certain, landscape conditions by predicting and working with the effects of
climate change. Response adaptation options facilitate the transition of ecosystems from current,
natural states to new conditions brought about by a changing climate” (USFWS 2010, p. 16). At
Chincoteague NWR in Virginia, a large inlet was opened by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Several
small inlets at Toms Cove Hook in the refuge periodically open and close to drain lagoons or
ponds. These inlets were not artificially closed, but allowed to close naturally. The
Chincoteague NWR adapted to the formation and closure of inlets and breaches, facilitating the
natural cycle of storm-induced habitat modifications during a period of rising sea level when
storms may become more frequent and/or intense. If there had been pressure to artificially close
the inlet opened by Hurricane Sandy, the refuge would have been less able to implement the
climate change adaptation strategies of the USFWS.
Williams and Gutierrez (2009) advise that maintaining the position of the shoreline with hard
structures, such as the jetties and seawalls / revetments / bulkheads that stabilize 242 of the 412
tidal inlets open in 2015, will become more difficult with accelerated sea level rise, and may not
be environmentally or economically sustainable in the long-term. Following Hurricane Sandy, a
number of hard structures were repaired and rehabilitated at tidal inlets; none were removed as a
means of adapting to climate change and rising seas. Both Williams and Gutierrez (2009) and
Pilkey and Young (2009) advise relocation of infrastructure to higher elevations and conversion
of low-lying developed areas to open-space conservation and recreation areas as an adaptation
40
strategy to sea level rise that could exceed 1 m (3.3 ft) by 2100. The continued maintenance of
modified tidal inlets in place and the quick closure of new inlets that open during storms prevent
the adaptation of tidal inlet and beach systems to rising sea levels, resulting in areas (including
shorebird nesting areas) that are more vulnerable to flooding in future storms instead of more
resilient to inundation.
The cumulative effects of the existing habitat modifications to 282 of the 412 inlets, as described
in this assessment, should be addressed in current and future proposals that would affect sandy
tidal inlets within the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding range of the piping plover between
Georgetown, ME, and NC. Rising sea level and climate change are likely to continue to increase
the number of inlets in the near future. Since the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding population of
piping plover was listed as a threatened species in 1986, at least 121 tidal inlets have opened in
its breeding range. Ninety-three (93) of these inlets opened naturally and 28 were opened
artificially. Of the 93 tidal inlets that opened naturally, more than half (54 of 93, or 58%) were
opened during Hurricane Sandy or the three years since the storm. Whether new inlets will
provide additional favorable habitat to the piping plover and other wildlife, however, will depend
on the human responses to their formation and whether decisions will be made to close or modify
an inlet or allow natural processes to operate. Between 1986 and 2015, at least 107 tidal inlets
and breaches have closed – 90 naturally and 17+ artificially – in the U.S. Atlantic Coast breeding
range of the piping plover. Of the 90 inlets and breaches that have closed naturally since 1986,
51 of them (57%) closed during or within 3 years of Hurricane Sandy. The 5 breaches or inlets
that were artificially closed after Hurricane Sandy opened them represent a lost opportunity for
new inlet habitat for shorebirds and other wildlife resources. Opportunities exist, however, to
restore and/or mitigate adverse impacts to existing inlets through the removal of hard structures,
elimination of dredging and mining activities, reducing the frequency of dredging cycles, the
beneficial use of dredged material and the restoration of artificially closed inlets.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thank you to the following individuals who reviewed this paper and provided helpful comments:
Megan Tyrrell, Anne Hecht, Pam Denmon, Kevin Holcomb, Kathryn Matthews, Kate Iaquinto,
Kate O’Brien, Susi von Oettingen and Wendy Walsh with the USFWS; Michael Bilecki and
Lindsay Ries with the NPS; Janet Freedman with Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management
Council; Laura Saucier with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental
Protection; Christina Davis with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection; Todd
Pover with the Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey; Ruth Boettcher with Virginia
Department of Game and Inland Fisheries; Alex Wilke with The Nature Conservancy; and
Lindsay Addison with North Carolina Audubon.
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60
USACE. 2012a. Maintenance Dredging of the Federal Navigation Project in Cuttyhunk Harbor,
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USACE. 2012b. Maintenance Dredging of the Federal Navigation Project in the Housatonic River,
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USACE. 2012d. Application for maintenance dredging of Spring Pond Channel. Town of Southold,
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USACE. 2013a. Maintenance Dredging of the Federal Navigation Project in the Scarborough River,
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Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 6 p.
USACE. 2013b. Maintenance Dredging of the 8-foot Channel of the Federal Navigation Project in the
Kennebunk River, Kennebunk & Kennebunkport, Maine. 30 Day Public Notice, September 30,
2013. New England District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 7 p.
USACE. 2013c. Maintenance Dredging of the Federal Navigation Project in Hyannis Harbor, Hyannis,
Massachusetts. 30 Day Public Notice, April 2, 2013. New England District, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Concord, MA. 7 p.
USACE. 2013d. Application by the Town of Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts, to Modify Permit NAE-200901128 to Dredge Sengekontacket Pond at Little Bridge. 15 Day Public Notice, Public Notice No.
NAE-2009-01128, December 17, 2013. New England District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Concord, MA. 11 p.
USACE. 2013e. Breakwater Rehabilitation, Sag Harbor, New York, Federal Navigation Project. 30 Day
Public Notice, Public Notice No. SAG HARBOR, May 8, 2013. New York District, U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, New York, NY. 5 p.
USACE. 2013f. Application by the Town of Gosnold, Cuttyhunk Island, Massachusetts, to Excavate an
Opening between Westend Pond and Buzzards Bay. 30 Day Public Notice, Public Notice NAE2010-938, December 10, 2013. New England District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Concord,
MA. 9 p.
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Island), New Jersey, Storm Damage Reduction Project. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
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61
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Channel, Falmouth, Massachusetts. 30 Day Public Notice, Public Notice No. NAE-2010-145,
November 12, 2013. New England District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 11 p.
USACE. 2013i. “Army Corps Responds to Hurricane Sandy: Corps Carries Out Emergency Response
Missions Throughout New York/New Jersey Region.” New York District Times. Newsletter of
the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District. Special Hurricane Sandy Edition. New
York, NY. 16 p.
USACE. 2013j. Town of Chatham Comprehensive Dredging & Disposal Project, Chatham,
Massachusetts. 30 Day Public Notice, Public Notice No. NAE-2011-488, April 30, 2013. New
England District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 48 p.
USACE. 2013k. Application by the Suffolk County Department of Public Works for Dredging of
Meetinghouse Creek with 10 Years Maintenance, Beach Nourishment and Upland Disposal,
Village of Aquebogue, Town of Riverhead, Suffolk County, NY. 30 Day Public Notice, Public
Notice No. NAN-2011-01142-EST, August 13, 2013. New York District, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, New York, NY. 12 p.
USACE. 2013l. Maintenance Dredging with Shoreline Placement, Jones Inlet, New York, Federal
Navigation Project. 30 Day Public Notice, Public Notice No. JONES INLET 2013, May 3, 2013.
New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, NY. 5 p.
USACE. 2013m. Jetty Rehabilitation, Jones Inlet, New York, Federal Navigation Project. 30 Day
Public Notice, Public Notice No. JONES INLET, NEW YORK, JETTY REHABILITATION
2013, May 9, 2013. New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, NY. 4 p.
USACE. 2013n. Delaware Coast Protection Project, Flood Control and Coastal Emergency Repair,
Indian River Inlet North Shore, Sussex County, Delaware. Public Notice No. CENAP-PL-E-1301, March 25, 2013. Philadelphia District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia, PA. 10
p.
USACE. 2013o. Morehead City Harbor, Morehead City, NC, Draft Integrated Dredged Material
Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement. Wilmington District, U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, Wilmington, NC. 339 p. + appendices.
USACE. 2013p. Public Notice of an Emergency Permit for North Carolina Department of
Transportation Oregon Inlet Dredging, Dare County, NC. 17 Day Public Notice, Public Notice
No. SAW-2013-02272, December 6, 2013. Wilmington District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Wilmington, NC. 2 p.
USACE. 2013q. Town of Topsail Beach Beach Nourishment Project, Pender County, NC. 30 Day
Public Notice, Public Notice No. SAW-2013-00404, May 1, 2013. Wilmington District, U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington, NC. 10 p.
USACE. 2013r. Application by the Suffolk County Department of Public Works for Dredging of East
Creek with 10 Years Maintenance and Beach Nourishment, Hamlet of Jamesport, Town of
62
Riverhead, Suffolk County, NY. 30 Day Public Notice, Public Notice No. NAN-2013-00021EBO, July 10, 2013. New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, NY. 10 p.
USACE. 2013s. Jetty Rehabilitation, East Rockaway Inlet, New York, Federal Navigation Project. 30
Day Public Notice, Public Notice No. EAST ROCKAWAY INLET, NEW YORK, JETTY
REHABILITATION 2013, May 9, 2013. New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
New York, NY. 4 p.
USACE. 2013t. Shark River, New Jersey, Federal Navigation Project Maintenance Dredging. 30 Day
Public Notice, Public Notice No. SHARK RIVER FY013/14, October 11, 2013. New York
District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, NY. 5 p.
USACE. 2013u. Masonboro Inlet, NC (Shallow Draft Navigation) (O&M) Fact Sheet. Dated April 8,
2013. Wilmington District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington, NC. 2 p.
USACE. 2014a. Maintenance Dredging of the Federal Navigation Project in Cohasset Harbor, Cohasset
and Scituate, Massachusetts. 30 Day Public Notice, March 5, 2014. New England District, U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 7 p.
USACE. 2014b. Maintenance Dredging of the Federal Navigation Project in Menemsha Creek,
Chilmark & Aquinnah, Massachusetts. 30 Day Public Notice, June 6, 2014. New England
District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 6 p.
USACE. 2014c. Application for Maintenance Dredging and Beach Nourishment of Several Sites in the
Town of Edgartown, Massachusetts. Revised Public Notice NAE-2011-1511, May 27, 2014.
New England District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 11 p.
USACE. 2014d. Federal Maintenance of East and West Jetty, Nantucket Harbor, Nantucket,
Massachusetts. 30 Day Public Notice, November 17, 2014. New England District, U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 6 p.
USACE. 2014e. Camp Cronin Revetment, Point Judith Harbor of Refuge, Narragansett, Rhode Island.
30 Day Public Notice, February 21, 2014. New England District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
Concord, MA. 6 p.
USACE. 2014f. Amendment – Maintenance Dredging of the Guilford Harbor Federal Navigation
Project, Guilford, Rhode Island. 15 Day Public Notice, July 1, 2014. New England District, U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 8 p.
USACE. 2014g. Lake Montauk Harbor, New York, Federal Navigation Project Maintenance Dredging.
30 Day Public Notice, March 12, 2014. New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New
York, NY. 5 p.
USACE. 2014h. Application for maintenance dredging of Wading River Creek with beach placement.
Wading River Creek, Town of Riverhead, Suffolk County, New York. 30 Day Public Notice,
Public Notice No. NAN-2014-00259-EBO. June 23, 2014. New York District, U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, New York, NY. 8 p.
USACE. 2014i. Fire Island Inlet to Moriches Inlet, Fire Island Stabilization Project, Hurricane Sandy
Limited Reevaluation Report. Draft. Evaluation of a Stabilization Plan for Coastal Storm Risk
Management in Response to Hurricane Sandy & Public Law 113-2. Main Report, U.S. Army
63
Corps of Engineers, New York District, New York, NY. 111 p. Available at
http://www.nan.usace.army.mil/Portals/37/docs/civilworks/projects/ny/coast/fimp/FIMI_Docs/M
ar_17_2014_FIMI_HSLRR.pdf. Accessed July 1, 2014.
USACE. 2014j. Application for 10 year maintenance dredging, bulkhead replacement, rock revetment
construction and new dock construction. Shipyard Lane, East Marion, Town of Southold, Suffolk
County, New York. 30 Day Public Notice, Public Notice No. NAN-2013-01475-EYA. August
12 23, 2014. New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, NY. 9 p.
USACE. 2014k. Maintenance Dredging of the Pawcatuck River, Little Narragansett Bay, and Watch
Hill Cove Federal Navigation Project, Stonington, CT, and Westerly, RI. 30 Day Public Notice.
March 19, 2014. New England District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 8 p.
USACE. 2014l. Chincoteague Inlet Federal Navigation Project.
http://www.nao.usace.army.mil/About/Projects/ChincoteagueNav.aspx. Accessed June 3, 2014.
USACE. 2014m. Maintenance Dredging of the Federal Navigation Project in Nantucket Harbor,
Massachusetts. 30 Day Public Notice, November 14, 2014. New England District, U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 6 p.
USACE. 2014n. Atlantic Coast of Long Island Jones Inlet to East Rockaway Inlet, Long Beach Island,
New York, Coastal Storm Risk Management Project. Hurricane Sandy Limited Reevaluation
Report. Volume 1. Main Report and Environmental Assessment. New York District, U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, New York, NY. 76 p.
USACE. 2014o. Village of Bald Head Island Shoreline Protection Project, Bald Head Island, NC. 30
Day Public Notice, Public Notice No. SAW-2012-00040, August 1, 2014. Wilmington District,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington, NC. 21 p.
USACE. 2014p. Supplemental Public Notice for Shark River, New Jersey, Federal Navigation Project
Maintenance Dredging. 15 Day Public Notice, Public Notice No. SHARK RIVER
SUPPLEMENT FY14, April 14, 2014. New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New
York, NY. 9 p.
USACE. 2014q. Masonboro Inlet, NC (Shallow Draft Navigation) (O&M) Fact Sheet. Dated March 6,
2014. Wilmington District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Wilmington, NC. 2 p.
USACE. 2014r. Atlantic Coast of New Jersey, Sandy Hook to Barnegat Inlet Beach Erosion Control
Project, Section 1 – Sea Bright to Ocean Township: Elberon to Loch Arbour Reach. Draft
Integrated Hurricane Sandy Limited Reevaluation Report and Environmental Assessment. U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, New York District, New York, NY. Various paginations +
appendices.
USACE. 2015a. Application for Downs Creek channel excavation and fill placement, Village of
Cutchogue, Town of Southold, Suffolk County, NY. 30 Day Public Notice, Public Notice No.
NAN-2014-01272-EYA. June 5, 2015. New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New
York, NY. 9 p.
USACE. 2015b. Maintenance Dredging and Advance Maintenance Dredging of the Federal Navigation
Project in the Cape Cod Canal, Bourne and Sandwich, Massachusetts, with Beneficial Use of the
Dredged Sand ad Beach-fill on Town Neck Beach, Sandwich, Massachusetts. 30 Day Public
64
Notice. February 2, 2015. New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, NY. 8
p.
USACE. 2015c. Amendment - Maintenance Dredging of Rock and Hard Packed Sand from the
Pawcatuck River, Little Narragansett Bay, and Watch Hill Cove Federal Navigation Project in
Stonington, CT, and Westerly, RI. 15 Day Public Notice, September 24, 2015. New England
District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 6 p.
USACE. 2015d. Maintenance Dredging of a Portion of the 10-Foot Federal Navigation Channel in
Milford Harbor, Milford, CT. 30 Day Public Notice, September 24, 2015. New England District,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 6 p.
USACE. 2015e. Modification of Maintenance Dredging of Deep Hole Creek to include Willis Creek
Spur, Town of Southold, Suffolk County, NY. 30 Day Public Notice, Public Notice No. NAN2006-03356-M1, October 8, 2015. New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New
York, NY. 7 p.
USACE. 2015f. Maintenance Dredging of Corey Creek, Town of Southold, Suffolk County, NY. 30
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65
USACE. 2015n. Maintenance Dredging of Shinnecock Bay, Suffolk County, NY. 30 Day Public
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and Scituate, MA. 15 Day Public Notice, April 1, 2016. New England District, U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers, Concord, MA. 7 p.
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Milford Harbor, Milford, CT. 15 Day Public Notice, February 1, 2016. New England District,
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 6 p.
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Day Public Notice, Public Notice No. NAN-2016-00115-EYR, February 24, 2016. New York
District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, NY. 9 p.
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Reduction Project, Ocean County, New Jersey. Philadelphia District, U.S. Army Corps of
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Corps of Engineers, Concord, MA. 8 p.
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2016. New York District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York, NY. 10 p.
66
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67
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69
APPENDIX A: Imagery Sources Available for Each State in the U.S. Atlantic
Coast Breeding Range of the Piping Plover.
Table A-1. The imagery dates and sources available closest to the three-year anniversary
of Hurricane Sandy (October 29, 2015) for each geographic area in the study area, from
north to south. Additional interim imagery dates between October 29, 2012, and the dates
listed here are also available but not listed.
Geographic Area
Imagery Date
Imagery Source
Maine: Georgetown to Wells
Maine: Wells to NH line
September 5, 2015
May 7, 2015 &
April 27, 2016
Google Earth
Google Earth
New Hampshire
May 7, 2015 &
April 27, 2016
Google Earth
Massachusetts: NH line to Plum Island
May 7, 2015 &
April 27, 2016
June 6, 2015
May 23, 2015
Google Earth
May 6, 2015
Google Earth
Rhode Island
May 6, 2015
Google Earth
Connecticut: RI line to Fenwick
Connecticut: Fenwick to Milford
Connecticut: Milford to NY line, including
Norwalk Islands
May 6, 2015
October 24, 2014
September 22, 2015
& April 19, 2016
Google Earth
Google Earth
Google Earth
New York – Long Island Sound: Plum Point to
Glen Cove
New York – Long Island Sound: Glen Cove to
Orient, plus Plum Island
New York – Long Island Sound: Fishers Island
October 11, 2014
Google Earth
May 23, 2015
Google Earth
May 6, 2015
Google Earth
New York – Peconic Estuary
May 23, 2015
Google Earth
New York – Atlantic Ocean: Montauk to Lido
Beach
May 23, 2015
Google Earth
Massachusetts: Plum Island to Plymouth Bay
Massachusetts: Plymouth Bay to Fairhaven,
including Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and
inner Elizabeth Islands
Massachusetts: Fairhaven to RI line, plus outer
Elizabeth Islands
70
Google Earth
Google Earth
Geographic Area
Imagery Date
New York – Atlantic Ocean: Lido Beach to Sea
Gate
Imagery Source
October 11, 2014
Google Earth
Spring 2016
October 8, 2015
Google Maps
USGS iCoast
April 16, 2016
May 25, 2015 &
June 21, 2015
October 7 or 8, 2015
Google Earth
Google Earth
Google Earth
Delaware (entire state)†
May 25, 2015 &
July 9, 2015
October 7, 2015
Maryland: DE line to northern 2.25 miles of
Assateague Island
Maryland: Ocean City Inlet to VA line
Maryland (entire state)†
May 25, 2015 &
July 9, 2015
March 8, 2016
October 7, 2015
Google Earth
Virginia: MD line to northern 4.2 miles of
Chincoteague NWR
Virginia: Chincoteague to north end of
Metompkin Island
Virginia: north end of Metompkin Island to
Quinby Inlet
Virginia: Accomack County (MD line to
Quinby Inlet)
March 8, 2016
Google Earth
March 8, 2013
Google Earth
June 7, 2014
Google Earth
Spring 2015
Virginia: Hog Island to Fishermans Island
Virginia: Northampton County (Hog Island to
Fishermans Island)
March 8, 2013
Spring 2014
Virginia: Fort Story to NC line
Virginia (entire state)†
November 10, 2015
October 7 or 9, 2015
USDA National
Agricultural
Imagery Program
Google Earth
USDA National
Agricultural
Imagery Program
Google Earth
USGS iCoast
North Carolina: VA line to Rodanthe
November 10, 2015 & Google Earth
April 9, 2016
July 13, 2014
Google Earth
New York (Atlantic
Ocean)†
New Jersey: Sandy Hook to Little Egg Inlet
New Jersey: Little Egg Inlet to Cape May
New Jersey (entire state)†
Delaware
North Carolina: Rodanthe to eastern
Shackleford Banks
North Carolina: eastern Shackleford Banks to
Topsail Beach
North Carolina: Topsail Beach to northern
Figure Eight Island
71
USGS iCoast
USGS iCoast
Google Earth
USGS iCoast
October 23, 2015
Google Earth
October 18, 2014
Google Earth
Geographic Area
Imagery Date
North Carolina: southern Figure Eight Island to
Cape Fear River
North Carolina: Cape Fear River to South
Carolina line
North Carolina (entire state)†
†
Imagery Source
March 17, 2015
Google Earth
October 5 or 9, 2014
Google Earth
October 9, 2015
USGS iCoast
- USGS iCoast imagery from Hurricane Joaquin are oblique aerial photos, not vertical orthophotos or satellite
imagery.
72
APPENDIX B: Tidal inlets open in each state from Maine to Virginia in 2015.
Table B-1. Open tidal inlets from north to south along the coast of Maine in 2015 with (X)
habitat modification(s) at each. Note that an X in the Jetties column indicates one jetty is
present and a D indicates two (dual) jetties.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Little River (Reid State
Park)
Kennebec River
Morse River Inlet
Sprague River Inlet
Richards Pond Inlet
Spurwink River Inlet
Scarborough River (Pine
Point) Inlet
Goosefare Brook1
Saco River
Biddeford Pool Inlet
(Wood Island Harbor)
Little River Inlet
(Kennebunkport)
Batson River Inlet
Kennebunk River
Mousam River
Merriland / Little River
(Wells)
Wells (Webhannet River)
Inlet
Ogunquit River Inlet
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
X
X
X
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
X
D
X
X
X
1 – A sandbar partially or fully blocking the entrance to the inlet at Goosefare Brook was artificially breached in
October 2013 to fully reopen the inlet (Gotthelf 2013, Kate O’Brien, USFWS, pers. communication 1/15/16).
73
X
Table B-2. Open tidal inlets from north to south along the coast of New Hampshire in 2015
with (X) habitat modification(s) at each. Note that an X in the Jetties column indicates one
jetty is present and a D indicates two (dual) jetties.
1
2
3
Parsons (Stinky) Creek
Inlet
Rye Harbor1
Hampton River Inlet
X
D
X
X
X
X
X
1 – The structures on the outer entrance to Rye Harbor are considered breakwaters by the USACE but they are
sometimes referred to as jetties by others.
74
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
Table B-3. Open tidal inlets from north to south along the coast of Massachusetts in 2015
with (X) habitat modification(s) at each. Note that an X in the Jetties column indicates one
jetty is present and a D indicates two (dual) jetties.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Merrimack River Inlet
unnamed inlet at Sandy
Point Reservation
Parker River Inlet
Essex River Inlet
Annisquam River Inlet
unnamed inlet at Cape
Hedge
Little Good Harbor
Saugus River
Unnamed inlet 1 on
Thompson Island
Unnamed inlet 2 on
Thompson Island
Unnamed inlet on Peddocks
Island
Cohasset Inlet
Scituate Harbor
New Inlet (North River
Inlet)
Green Harbor Inlet
Plymouth Bay Inlet
Beaver Dam Brook (Bartlett
Pond)
Ellisville Harbor (Salt Pond)
Inlet
Cape Cod Canal
Old Sandwich Harbor
Scorton Creek
Barnstable Harbor
Bass Hole Inlet
Sesuit Harbor Inlet
Quivett Creek
Paine's Creek Inlet
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
D
D
X
X
X
D
X
X
75
X
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
Dredging
X
D
D
Breakwaters
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
76
X
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
X
Dredging
X
Breakwaters
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
unnamed small inlet at
Ocean Edge Resort in
Brewster
Namskaket Creek Inlet
complex
Little Namskaket Creek
Inlet complex
Rock Harbor Inlet
Boat Meadow River Inlet
Herring River Inlet complex
(Eastham)
Herring Brook Inlet
Hatches Creek Inlet
unnamed inlet 1 at
Lieutenant Island
unnamed inlet 2 at
Lieutenant Island
unnamed inlet 3 at
Lieutenant Island
Blackfish Creek Inlet
complex
unnamed inlet near Omaha
Road in South Wellfleet
Wellfleet Harbor (Duck
Creek) Inlet
Herring River Inlet
(Wellfleet)
unnamed inlet 1 at Great
Island
unnamed inlet 2 at Great
Island
Pamet Harbor Inlet
Hatches Harbor Inlet1
Nauset Inlet
North Inlet2
New (South) Inlet
Unnamed inlet near
Chatham Inlet
Chatham Inlet
Terminal groins /
groin field
27
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
X
X
X
D
D
D
D
X
D
D
D
D
77
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Mined for beach fill
X
X
D
X
X
X
X
D
X
Breakwaters
X
D
X
D
X
X
X
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
X
Terminal groins /
groin field
X
Relocation of channel
or inlet
53
Powder Hole Inlet
Hospital Pond Inlet
unnamed inlet between
North and South Monomoy
Islands
Chatham (Stage) Harbor
Inlet
Bucks Creek Inlet
Mill Creek Inlet
Red River
Saquatucket Harbor
(Andrews River)
Wychmere Harbor
Doanes Creek (Allen
Harbor)
Herring River (Harwich /
Dennis)
Swan Pond River
Bass River Inlet
Parker's River (Yarmouth)
Lewis Bay / Hyannis Harbor
Stewart’s Creek
Halls Creek
East Bay (Centerville River)
West Bay
Cotuit Bay Inlet
Popponesset Bay Inlet
Waquoit Bay Inlet
Eel Pond (Childs River)
Inlet
Bournes Pond Inlet
Green Pond Inlet
Great Pond Inlet
Little Pond Inlet
Falmouth Inner Harbor
Inlet
Siders Pond Outlet
Salt Pond Outlet
Trunk River (Oyster Pond)
Dredging
51
52
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
Wood Neck Inlet
Great Sippewisset Creek
West Falmouth Harbor
Herring Brook (Old Silver
Beach)
Wild Harbor River Inlet
Wild Harbor Boat Basin
Fiddlers Cove
Rands Harbor
Megansett Harbor
Pocasset River
Ox Pond
Back River
Unnamed inlet near
Agawam Point
Little Harbor
Bourne Cove
unnamed inlet in
Mattapoisett (culvert to Eel
Pond)
Eel Pond (Mattapoisett)
Mattapoisett River
unnamed inlet west of
Brandt Island Road in
Mattapoisett
unnamed inlet in Shaws
Cove in Fairhaven
unnamed inlet on West
Island
unnamed inlet at
Winseganett Marsh,
Fairhaven
Winseganett Pond
Unnamed inlet in Nonquitt
south of Barekneed Rocks
Moses Smith Creek
Unnamed inlet west of
Salter’s Point in Dartmouth
Little River (Dartmouth)
X
X
X
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
78
P
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
Slocum River Inlet
Allens Pond Inlet
Westport River Inlet
Unnamed inlet on Naushon
Island (Naushon Island)
unnamed inlet on Pasque
Island in Gosnold (Pasque
Island)
Quicks Hole Pond
(Nashawena Island)
Cuttyhunk Harbor
(Cuttyhunk Island)
Westend Pond (Cuttyhunk
Island)
Tisbury Great Pond
(Martha’s Vineyard)
Menemsha Creek (Martha's
Vineyard)
Paint Mill Brook (Martha's
Vineyard)
Lake Tashmoo Inlet
(Martha's Vineyard)
unnamed inlet at Mink
Meadows east of Lake
Tashmoo (Martha's
Vineyard)
Lagoon Pond (Martha's
Vineyard)
Oak Bluffs Harbor Inlet
(Martha's Vineyard)
Harthaven Harbor Inlet
(Martha's Vineyard)
North Inlet (Sengekontacket
Pond - Martha's Vineyard)
South Inlet (Sengekontacket
Pond - Martha's Vineyard)
Edgartown Harbor
(Martha's Vineyard)
X
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
X
X
X
X
D
X
X
X
X
X
D
X
D
X
D
X
X
X
X
D
X
X
D
X
D
X
X
D
X
X
X
79
128
129
130
131
132
133
Cape Poge Gut (Martha's
Vineyard /
Chappaquiddick)
unnamed inlet between
Tuckernuck and Esther
Islands (Nantucket)
unnamed inlet between
Muskeget and Tuckernuck
Islands (Nantucket)
North Pond (Tuckernuck
Island)
East Pond (Tuckernuck
Island)
Nantucket Harbor
(Nantucket Island)
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
X
D
X
1 – Hatches Harbor Inlet, near the Race Point Lighthouse at the north end of Cape Cod NS, has an armored earth fill
dike approximately 500 meters inland that constricts the inlet’s main tidal creek with a bridge and culvert.
2 – North Inlet opened in 2007 and is north of North Chatham (Giese et al. 2009).
3 – New Inlet is also referred to as South Inlet; the inlet opened in 1987 (FitzGerald 1993, 1996; Buynevich and
Donnelly 2006, Giese et al. 2009).
80
Table B-4. Open tidal inlets from east to west along the coast of Rhode Island in 2015 with
(X) habitat modification(s) at each. Note that an X in the Jetties column indicates one jetty
is present and a D indicates two (dual) jetties.
15
16
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
D
D
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
X
X
81
X
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Quicksand Pond Inlet
Tunipus Pond Inlet
Briggs Marsh Inlet
Long Pond Inlet
Gardiner Pond Inlet
Easton Pond Inlet
Almy Pond Inlet
Wesquage Pond Inlet
The Narrows Inlet
Point Judith Harbor
Cards Pond Breachway
Charlestown Breachway
Quonochontaug Breachway
Weekapaug Breachway
Little Narragansett Bay (at
Napatree Point)
Great Salt Pond (Block
Island)
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
Table B-5. Open tidal inlets from east to west along the coast of Connecticut in 2015 with
(X) habitat modification(s) at each. Note that an X in the Jetties column indicates one jetty
is present and a D indicates two (dual) jetties.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Wequetequock Cove /
Anguilla Brook (Little
Narragansett Bay at Sandy
Point)
Quiambog Cove
Wilcox Cove
Palmer Cove
Venetian Harbor
Mumford Cove
Bushy Point Inlet
Alewife Cove
Goshen Cove†
Jordan Cove
Niantic River
Three Mile River
Armstrong Brook
Mile Creek
Unnamed inlet at Griswold
Point bar
Plum Bank Creek
Oyster River Inlet
Mud Creek
Cold Spring Brook
Money Point Inlet
Unnamed inlet at
Menunketesuck Island
Menunketesuck / Patchogue
Rivers
Clinton Harbor
Toms Creek
Fence Creek
East River (Guilford
Harbor)
X
X
X
X
D
X
D
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
X
X
X
X
82
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
Great Harbor Marsh inlet
(in Joshua Cove)
Mansfield Point Inlet
Caroline Creek
Morris Creek
Cove River
Oyster River
Bayview Beach Inlet
Milford Harbor / Indian
River
Fletcher’s Creek
Housatonic River
Bridgeport Harbor
Ash Creek
Pine Creek
Southport Harbor
Sasco Creek
Green Farms Brook
Sherwood Mill Pond
Grays Creek
Saugatuck Harbor
Cedar Point Harbor
Canfield Inlet
Shorehaven Inlet
Charles Creek
Goodwives River
Holly Pond (Cove Harbor)
Cove River (west of Cove
Island)
Halloween Basin
Dolphin Cove
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
X
X
X
X
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
†An inlet at Goshen Cove periodically opens and closes naturally, often on an annual basis; when the inlet is closed
it is occasionally opened artificially in a new location between the jetties by the state, but the inlet that was open
in 2015 opened naturally after Hurricane Sandy.
83
Table B-6. Open tidal inlets along the Long Island Sound shoreline of New York from east
to west (Fishers Island to Plum Point) in 2015 with (X) habitat modification(s) at each.
Note that an X in the Jetties column indicates one jetty is present and a D indicates two
(dual) jetties.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
Silver Eel Pond (Fishers
Island)
Hay Harbor (Fishers Island)
unnamed inlet into pond
near North Hill (Fishers
Island)
unnamed inlet in East
Harbor into pond on Fishers
Island Golf Course (Fishers
Island)
Goldsmith Inlet
Mattituck Inlet
Baiting Hollow Inlet
Wading River Creek2
Mt. Sinai Harbor
Port Jefferson Harbor
Flax Pond Inlet
Stony Brook Harbor
Nissequogue River
Crab Meadow Inlet4
Eatons Neck Harbor
Sand Hole Inlet
Lloyd Harbor
unnamed inlet into a lagoon
near Cold Spring Harbor
Cold Spring Harbor
Eel Creek
Unnamed inlet near Cove
Point in Cove Neck
unnamed inlet on Center
Island near Mountain
Avenue
Frost Creek
X
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
X
X
X
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
D
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
84
X
X1
X3
29
X
X
X
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Dosoris Pond
West Pond
Glen Cove Creek
Hempstead Harbor
East Creek
unnamed inlet at West
Creek Farms Road in Sands
Point
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
24
25
26
27
28
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
X
X
X
X
X
X
1 – Mattituck Inlet was mined occasionally for commercial purposes from about 1920 to 1970, with Morgan et al.
(2005) estimating that from 250,000 to 500,000 cy of material was mined in addition to the dredging of the
federal navigation channel since 1907. Sediment impounded by the west jetty at Breakwater Beach was also
commercially mined from at least 1960 to 1977, with an estimated 260,000 to 380,000 cy of sediment removed
from the system (Morgan et al. 2005).
2 – The lagoon to the Shoreham Power Plant immediately west of Wading River Creek inlet was not counted as an
inlet for the purposes of this assessment. No tidal creek or lagoon is shown on a 1914 map of Long Island
(Fuller 1914), indicating the lagoon outlet is not a natural inlet but more likely a cooling pond or water intake.
The lagoon outlet has dual jetties which will be included in the sandy beaches inventory for this area.
3 – Flax Pond Inlet was mined for commercial sale of sand and gravel in the 1940s, and its adjacent beaches were
mined since at least 1874 for sale to New York City industries (Abrams et al. 2008).
4 – The two lagoons at the Northport Power Station in Fort Salonga west of Crab Meadow Inlet were not counted as
inlets for the purposes of this assessment. Neither lagoon is shown on a 1914 map of Long Island (Fuller 1914),
indicating the lagoon outlets are not natural inlets but more likely a cooling pond and/or water intake. The
eastern lagoon outlet has bulkheads perpendicular to the beach and the western lagoon (Northport Basin) has
dual jetties. All of these structures will be included in the sandy beaches inventory for this area.
85
Table B-7. Open tidal inlets along the Peconic Estuary shoreline of Long Island, New
York, clockwise from Montauk to Orient Point in 2015 with actual (X) and proposed (P)
habitat modification(s) at each. Note that an X in the Jetties column indicates one jetty is
present and a D indicates two (dual) jetties.
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
X
X
X
X
D
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
86
X
X
Mined for beach fill
X
X
Relocation of channel
or inlet
D
Dredging
X
Breakwaters
Lake Montauk
Napeague Harbor
unnamed inlet to the Devon
Yacht Club marina
Fresh Pond (Amagansett)
Accabonac Harbor
Hog Creek
Three Mile Harbor Inlet
Alewife Brook
unnamed inlet immediately
north of unnamed inlet east
of Northwest Creek
unnamed inlet east of
Northwest Creek
Northwest Creek
Little Northwest Creek
Sag Harbor Inlet
Great Pond Creek
Fresh Pond (North Haven)
unnamed inlet north of
Goodwood Road in North
Haven
unnamed inlet in North
Haven near Tyndal Point
Ganet Creek
Mill Creek
Noyack Creek
Fresh Pond (Noyack)
Wooley Pond
Davis Creek / North Sea
Harbor
Little Sebonac Creek
Sebonac (Creek) Inlet
Terminal groins /
groin field
1
2
Jetties
Inlet
Artificially created
Order
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
Type of Habitat Modification
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
X
X
D
D
X
X
X
X
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
D
X
X
X
X
X
D
X
D
X
87
X
X
X
X
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Cold Spring Pond
Shinnecock Canal /
Huntington Harbor
Squire Pond
Red Creek Pond
Hubbard Creek
Goose Creek
Meetinghouse Creek
Reeves Creek
Dreamers Cove / Cases
Creek
Miamogue Lagoon
Hawks Creek
East Creek (South
Jamesport/Riverhead)
Brushs Creek
James Creek
Deep Hole Creek
Halls Creek
Downs Creek (new position)
Downs Creek (old position)
West Creek
unnamed breach to lagoon
on northwest end of Robins
Island (Robins Island)
Schoolhouse Creek
Wickham Creek
Mud Creek
Wunneweta Pond
The Lagoon at Nassau Point
Little Creek
Richmond Creek
Corey Creek
West Lake (Southold)
Cedar Beach Creek
unnamed inlet near
Paradise Point in Southold
Reydon Shores Inlet
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
26
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
unnamed inlet at Harbor
Lights in Southold
Goose Creek (Southold)
Town Creek
unnamed inlet southwest of
Rogers Road in Southold
Pettys Pond / Beixedon
Creek
Budds Pond
Brick (Sage) Cove
unnamed inlet near
Conkling Point
Moores Drain
unnamed inlet northwest of
Fanning Point in Greenport
unnamed inlet northeast of
Fanning Point in Greenport
Stirling Basin (Greenport
Harbor)
Gull Pond
Spring Pond
Dam Pond
Oysterponds Creek
Unnamed inlet at Long
Beach Bay TWA
Long Beach Bay
Coecles Harbor (Shelter
Island)
unnamed inlet 1 on Shelter
Island near Mashomack
Point
unnamed inlet 2 on Shelter
Island near Mashomack
Point
unnamed inlet 3 in Majors
Harbor on Shelter Island
unnamed inlet 4 in Majors
Harbor on Shelter Island
unnamed inlet 5 on Shelter
Island near Majors Point
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
X
P
X
X
D
X
X
X
D
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
88
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
X
X
X
X
X
X
D
X
X
D
89
X
X
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of channel
or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Bass Creek (Shelter Island)
Log Cabin Creek (Shelter
Island)
Unnamed inlet 6 near Log
Cabin Creek (Shelter
Island)
Unnamed inlet 7 near Log
Cabin Creek (Shelter
Island)
Miss Annie's Creek (Shelter
Island)
Smith Cove
unnamed inlet on Shelter
Island near South Ferry
landing
Dickerson Creek (Shelter
Island)
unnamed inlet to small
marina southeast of Crab
Creek on Shelter Island
Crab Creek (Shelter Island)
Gardiners Creek (Shelter
Island)
unnamed inlet on Shelter
Island near Hay Beach
Point
Great Pond (Gardiners
Island)
Little Pond (Gardiners
Island)
Gaylor Hole (Gardiners
Island)
Home Pond (Gardiners
Island)
unnamed breach 1 on
Gardiners Island spit
unnamed inlet 2 on
Gardiners Island spit
unnamed breach 3 on
Gardiners Island spit
Seawalls / revetments
/ bulkheads
82
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
Table B-8. Open tidal inlets from east to west along the New York coast in 2015 with
actual (X) and proposed (P) habitat modification(s) at each. Note that an X in the Jetties
column indicates one jetty is present and a D indicates two (dual) jetties.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Georgica Inlet1
Sagaponack Inlet2
Mecox Inlet3
Shinnecock Inlet
Moriches Inlet
Unnamed inlet/breach on
Fire Island
Fire Island Inlet4
Jones Inlet
East Rockaway Inlet
Rockaway Inlet (Jamaica
Bay Inlet)
X
X
X
X
D
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of
channel or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Seawalls /
revetments
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1 – Georgica Inlet is artificially opened annually, unless the inlet has opened naturally.
2 – Sagaponack Inlet is artificially opened annually, unless the inlet has opened naturally.
3 – Mecox Inlet is artificially opened annually, unless the inlet has opened naturally.
4 – Fire Island Inlet has an earthen and riprap dike on its northern/western shoreline extending perpendicular to the
shoreline into the inlet.
90
Table B-9. Open tidal inlets from north to south along the New Jersey coast in 2015 with
actual (X) and proposed (P) habitat modification(s) at each. Note that an X in the Jetties
column indicates one jetty is present and a D indicates two (dual) jetties.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Shark River Inlet
Manasquan Inlet
Barnegat Inlet
Little Egg Inlet1
Brigantine Inlet
Absecon Inlet
Great Egg Harbor Inlet
Corson’s Inlet
Townsends Inlet
Hereford Inlet
Cape May Inlet (Cold
Spring Inlet)
X
D
D
D
D
D
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
P
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
1 – The USACE has proposed mining the ebb shoal complex of Little Egg Inlet in 2016 to use as beach fill for
portions of Long Beach Island (USACE 2016g).
91
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of
channel or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Seawalls /
revetments
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
X
P
X
X
X
X
X
X
Table B-10. Open tidal inlets from north to south along the Delaware coast in 2015 with
actual (X) and proposed (P) habitat modification(s) at each. Note that an X in the Jetties
column indicates one jetty is present and a D indicates two (dual) jetties.
Indian River Inlet, DE
X
X
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of
channel or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
D
Seawalls /
revetments
X
Terminal groins /
groin field
Jetties
Inlet
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
X
Table B-11. Open tidal inlets from north to south along the Maryland coast in 2015 with
actual (X) and proposed (P) habitat modification(s) at each. Note that an X in the Jetties
column indicates one jetty is present and a D indicates two (dual) jetties.
92
X
X
Mined for beach fill
X
Relocation of
channel or inlet
Dredging
Terminal groins /
groin field
Breakwaters
D
Seawalls /
revetments
Ocean City Inlet, MD
Jetties
Inlet
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
X
Table B-12. Open tidal inlets from north to south along the Virginia coast in 2015 with
actual (X) and proposed (P) habitat modification(s) at each. Note that an X in the Jetties
column indicates one jetty is present and a D indicates two (dual) jetties.
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of
channel or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Chincoteague Inlet
Gargathy Inlet
Metompkin Inlet
Unnamed breach on Cedar
Island
Wachapreague Inlet
Quinby Inlet
Great Machipongo Inlet
Sand Shoal Inlet
New Inlet
Ship Shoal Inlet
Unnamed inlet between
Myrtle and Mink Islands
Little Inlet
Unnamed breach on Smith
Island
Fishermans Inlet
Unnamed inlet near
Fishermans Inlet
Unnamed inlet 1 on
Fisherman Island
Rudee Inlet
Seawalls /
revetments
1
2
3
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
X
D
93
X
X
Table B-13. Open tidal inlets from north to south along the North Carolina coast in 2015
with actual (X) and proposed (P) habitat modification(s) at each. Note that an X in the
Jetties column indicates one jetty is present and a D indicates two (dual) jetties.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Oregon Inlet1
Hatteras Inlet
Ocracoke Inlet
New Old Drum Inlet
Ophelia Inlet
Barden Inlet
Beaufort Inlet
Bogue Inlet
Bear Inlet
Brown’s Inlet
New River Inlet
New Topsail Inlet
Rich Inlet
Mason Inlet
Masonboro Inlet
Carolina Beach Inlet
Cape Fear River
Lockwoods Folly Inlet
Shallotte Inlet
Tubbs Inlet
X
X
X
X
X
X
P
X
X
X
D
X
P
P
X
X
Mined for beach fill
Relocation of
channel or inlet
Dredging
Breakwaters
Seawalls /
revetments
Terminal groins /
groin field
Inlet
Jetties
Order
Artificially created
Type of Habitat Modification
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
P
X
X
X
X
1 – The NCDOT mined ~33,000 cy of sediment from within Oregon Inlet to fill a scour hole adjacent to the Herbert
C. Bonner Bridge across the inlet in December 2013, which had destabilized the bridge and led to its emergency
closure.
94