Experts disagree on Corson’s Inlet boardwalk proposal

Last Updated on Monday, 30 January 2012 09:38 Written by Cindy Nevitt Saturday, 28 January 2012 00:00

Project has supporters and detractors, and a long way to go

An overview of Corson's Inlet State Park, which has received a federal grant for the building of a boardwalk to complete a loop trail through the wildlife preserve. OCEAN CITY — Corson’s Inlet State Park has been awarded a $5,850 federal grant, money that is earmarked to build a 300-foot-long boardwalk that will complete a loop trail within the 98-acre preserve.

This is good news, said Lorraine McCay, who submitted the grant application, which was recommended by the New Jersey Trails Council and approved by the Federal Highway Administration.

McCay is the superintendent of Belleplain State Forest, which has managed state-owned Corson’s Inlet State Park since the wildlife area, located to the immediate south of Ocean City, was established in 1969.

This is bad news, said Sam Lavner, who is an unpaid advisor to Friends of Wildlife. The local citizen’s environmental group objects to building in the area, citing the endangered and threatened species that live in the park.

This is just the first step in a long process, said John Trontis, assistant director of New Jersey state parks and forestry.

And on that, and hardly anything more, those in favor and those opposed to the proposed boardwalk agree.

But while receiving the grant money would appear to be just the beginning of a lengthy process that requires study and permit reviews, it is never too early for those camped on either side of the proposal to start defending their positions.

“I filled out the paperwork because I felt the project would be a good thing to do,” McCay said.

“This would be helping people get around a beautiful piece of land,” said Lawrence Hajna, a spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Protection. “People like to do loop trails.”

Agreed, Lavner said. But what Friends of Wildlife doesn’t understand is why getting around this particular park has to be done on a wooden walkway.

“We’ve heard she thinks it would be nice,” Lavner said, referring to McCay’s boardwalk-building initiative. “Well, it would be nice … but without the environmental impact.”

McCay maintains there would be no environmental impact. In fact, the 2011 Recreational Trails Program Grant Application, dated Dec. 1, 2010, concludes with the sentence: “There are no known endangered or threatened species in the area.”

Untrue, said Lavner, who met with Steve Mars, a senior biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, while Mars was on an official visit to the park Jan. 19. Prior to his visit, Mars said he examined the state’s Natural Heritage Database, which confirmed the park contained habitat for protected species.

One bird and one plant living in the park – the piping plover and the sea beach amaranth, respectively – are federally threatened species; the bird since 1986, the plant since 1993. Several other state-listed bird species are found throughout the park, “necessitating strict restrictions for development,” Mars said.

“The state would have to ensure the work doesn’t interfere with those state and federally protected species,” said Mars, who noted cooperation between state and federal agencies on previous projects and predicted the same on this one.

How can the discrepancy in the number of endangered and threatened species cited be explained? That has to do with the area of the park in which the proposed boardwalk will be built.

McCay, who said she “got no hits for that site” when she searched for endangered and threatened species using the same data as the state Fish and Wildlife Service would, confirms that she limited her search to the 300-by-30-foot area where the boardwalk would be built.

One of the primary problems with confining the study of threatened and endangered species to only that 9,000-square-foot area is that birds fly.

“There is very little traffic out there now,” Mars said. “Because the path dead ends, the only people out there are really serious environmentalists and bird watchers. A big concern that is raised by putting this path through the park is introducing more people to the area. Imagine someone walking out there where there are herons in the trees. They’re going to flush the birds out.”

This would be especially problematic if it happened during nesting season.

“If a bird on a nest flies away, the eggs or chicks would be vulnerable to predation or adverse weather,” Mars said. “In warm weather, the eggs could overheat. Or, conversely, because we still get cool nights in April, if the bird that was flushed from the nest can’t get back at night, the eggs would be subject to harsh, cold temperatures, which could kill the embryos.”

Piping plovers face the same threats, he said. If there is not a sufficient buffer between the birds and people, “the birds will abandon the nest, and the eggs could overheat,” Mars said.

Optimally, “what we want to do is minimize the impact on the birds by people,” he said.

So the question becomes: Is it possible to do that by building a boardwalk in the park? Friends of Wildlife contends no.

“They cannot accomplish their goal without serious environmental impact,” Lavner said of the state. “I can’t imagine how it could get permitted.”

“It’s a pretty simple project,” Hajna said. “It shouldn’t require many permits.”

“Lots of environmental study is necessary,” Mars said. “Lots of environmental review and assessment needs to be done. Some issues need to be addressed.”

One of those issues is not environmental, but financial. The application calls for the federal grant of $5,850 plus $3,700 in matching funds (fair market value of services at $2,800 and fair market value of supplies at $900) for a total of $9,550. The matching funds will come from the New Jersey State Park Service, Hajna said.

“Can you imagine building a boardwalk for less than $10,000?” Lavner asked.

“It’s an estimate,” said Hajna, who pegs the cost of the entire project between $9,000 and $10,000. “Just like when you get an estimate for work done in your home. It can be a bit higher or a bit lower.”

The first step in the process has been taken. Other steps will follow. But whether any steps will ever be taken along the proposed boardwalk in Corson’s Inlet State Park is to be seen.

 

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