Date: Oct. 27, 2016
Contacts: Interior_Press@ios.doi.gov
David Eisenhauer (U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service), david_eisenhauer@fws.gov
MILTON, Del. – On Friday, Oct. 28, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell will join U.S. Senator Tom Carper at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge to celebrate the completion of one of the largest Interior-funded coastal marsh restoration projects on the Atlantic Coast. This $38 million project restored 4,000 acres of coastal marsh and rebuilt one mile of existing dunes and barrier beach to improve the coastline’s natural defenses against future storms and sea-level rise.
This event comes a day before the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, which left a wake of destruction across the Mid-Atlantic States and New England. The storm magnified breaches in the dunes at Prime Hook, reducing the elevation and resulting in the rapid inundation of saltwater, killing freshwater vegetation and increasing habitat loss by converting back barrier areas that were once marsh into open water.
In response to the storm, Interior invested more than $787 million to clean up and repair damaged public lands, restore and strengthen coastal marshes, wetlands and shoreline; and bolster local efforts to protect communities from future natural disasters. Restoration efforts have provided hundreds of jobs while supporting the goal of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan to make coastal communities more resilient to future storms predicted with a changing climate.
WHO:
Sally Jewell, U.S. Secretary of the Interior
Thomas Carper, U.S. Senator, Delaware
Collin O’Mara, President and CEO, National Wildlife Federation
Jeffrey A. Gordon, President, American Birding Association
Wendi Weber, Northeast Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
WHAT:
Celebration of coastal restoration efforts at Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge
WHEN:
Friday, Oct. 28, 2016
12:45 pm EDT – Media check-in
1:00 pm EDT – Press conference and tour of beach restoration
WHERE:
Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge
End of Fowler Beach Road
Milton, Delaware
MEDIA:
Credentialed members of the media are encouraged to RSVP here.
Source: Department of Interior
