DNREC gives Fenwick beach access
Administrator lobbies for total replenishment after devastation from Ida, nor'easter
BY SARAH LAKE • THE (SALISBURY, MD.) DAILY TIMES • JANUARY 19, 2010

FENWICK ISLAND -- Town Manager Win Abbott feared his beach would be inaccessible for the annual Jan. 1 Fenwick Freeze, but on Dec. 31 he enthusiastically announced, "The beach is back!"


To provide temporary access to Fenwick beaches, Tony Pratt, shoreline administrator for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, and his crew re-established dune crossings from Atlantic through King streets. DNREC has also done similar work at the Indian River Inlet, Bethany Beach and South Bethany.
In late December, roughly a month after Tropical Storm Ida and a nor'easter devastated the Delaware shoreline, DNREC bulldozers "pushed sand up from the outer part of the beach [to create safe crossings]," Pratt said. "There was no sand brought in."
The 10- to 17-foot drop-offs created by the storms no longer keep residents and visitors from enjoying beach activities.
"Some people were frustrated because they couldn't get to the beach from mid-November to late December," Abbott said. "For their safety, we had erected tape across the dune tops."
Although the new crossings are considered safe, DNREC will continue maintenance because the dunes will become unstable due to wind and erosion.
"When we get later into the winter and there's less of a storm threat, we will be doing a lot more pushing of sand back up the beach," Pratt said. "[The crossings] could last quite a bit of time, but we're not going to leave them like that. We're going to make them more robust as the warm season approaches and more people are using them."
Pratt is lobbying the federal government for total beach replenishment funding.
However, there is no guarantee of assistance. Without replenishment, DNREC will have to launch dune nourishment projects, including planting native beach grasses and erecting sand fences, to stabilize the dune line.
For now, year-round residents are grateful to have access to their beach again.
Ben and Ellen Sirman own two houses on Bunting Avenue, one of which they rent to tourists. Ben Sirman, a lifelong Fenwick resident, said he's "sure that DNREC is very concerned about our beaches and will do everything possible within budget to make it safe and repair the dunes."
So far, he has received no complaints from his winter rental tenants.
"It's nice that it's fixed," he said. "Now our people can walk on the beach and collect shells."