The amount of debris left in the 47,000 acres of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge by the floodwaters of Superstorm Sandy is something Refuge Manager Virginia Rettig and her staff never imagined they would have to deal with.
“The impacts to the refuge are greater than I ever could have dreamed,” said Rettig, who has held her position for two years. She also has the experience of living through several significant hurricanes in Louisiana, including Hurricane Andrew.
“To have any kind of a debris cleanup to this degree is record breaking,” she said. “We’ve never seen anything like this here. We don’t have the capacity to just start cleaning it up.”
The refuge stretches from Brick Township in northern Ocean County, 50 miles south to Galloway Township in Atlantic County, and also includes wetlands and forest of eastern Burlington County – all of which have debris, though the assessment shows the majority of debris lies in Ocean County.
A survey counted 130 boats; more than 100 contaminants, such as home heating oil tanks and other 55-gallon drums, some with contents unknown; and countless other items, including two hot tubs that floated across the Barnegat Bay from the barrier islands. The debris crossed the bay and continued floating across refuge marshes until waters eventually receded. In some areas, a debris field was found two miles from the Barnegat Bay shoreline; most of the debris fell out near the tree line west of the bay.
http://thesandpaper.villagesoup.com/p/forsythe-refuge-taking-on-sandy-debris-challenge/937795
“The impacts to the refuge are greater than I ever could have dreamed,” said Rettig, who has held her position for two years. She also has the experience of living through several significant hurricanes in Louisiana, including Hurricane Andrew.
“To have any kind of a debris cleanup to this degree is record breaking,” she said. “We’ve never seen anything like this here. We don’t have the capacity to just start cleaning it up.”
The refuge stretches from Brick Township in northern Ocean County, 50 miles south to Galloway Township in Atlantic County, and also includes wetlands and forest of eastern Burlington County – all of which have debris, though the assessment shows the majority of debris lies in Ocean County.
A survey counted 130 boats; more than 100 contaminants, such as home heating oil tanks and other 55-gallon drums, some with contents unknown; and countless other items, including two hot tubs that floated across the Barnegat Bay from the barrier islands. The debris crossed the bay and continued floating across refuge marshes until waters eventually receded. In some areas, a debris field was found two miles from the Barnegat Bay shoreline; most of the debris fell out near the tree line west of the bay.
http://thesandpaper.villagesoup.com/p/forsythe-refuge-taking-on-sandy-debris-challenge/937795
