Page 4
Spring 2013
NATURAL RESOURCES PROTECTIVE ASSOCIATION
a terrible stench, especially in sum-
mer, up until about 1949. I found a
huge 11’ sturgeon that washed up
here in late 2011.
Crookes Island was right about
where the marina is on the east side
of Great Kills Harbor.
Crossing the sand filled harbor
channel, you arrive at Crescent
Beach North of Wiman Ave. This is
a great spot to watch the power-
boats and sailing vessels coming in
and out of the Great Kills Harbor.
Crescent Beach South is at Tenny-
son and Groton Ave. FCA, SI Tuna
Club, and NRPA had a big clean up
here in 2008
After that there is a small park at the
bottom of Richmond Avenue, I spot-
ted a possum there in autumn 2011.
Pre -Spring Beach Report, 2-18-13
By Jim Scarcella
On President's Day, I had the oppor-
tunity to visit Oakwood Beach-
Kissam Ave. The street of Kissam
Ave. has about six houses near Mill
Rd. that are being rebuilt, a few
houses east of there, then a dozen
cleared lots where houses once
were.
The foundation of NYC Parks Dept.
flagpole at the bottom of the block is
tilted north, and the Sea turtle learn-
ing exhibit encased in Plexiglas and
its steel frame is knocked over, but
salvageable
The sand from the bay is pushed up
and over the sea wall, for that mat-
ter, the riprap sea wall is very com-
promised, it’s been washed around.
The path behind the wall is covered
in sand.
Walking north, I viewed the sea wall
of Cedar Grove, which was made of
super strong recycled plastic. The
fire two years ago severely compro-
mised the wall and Hurricane Sandy
bashed its way thru a huge section
of the wall that remains.
Sandy also exposed concrete foun-
dations of structures on the beach
that were wiped out in 1992.
On the beach was tugboat rope,
wood pallets, a DEP traffic cone, a
Sleepy's store printing machine car-
tridge, a tennis ball, and a mouse cat
toy, complete with whiskers, ears,
eyeballs and rattling head.
The path behind Cedar Grove was
covered in sand.
Back along to Oakwood Beach I
found an Atom popper fishing lure
and saw a couple of Sanderlings
running in and out of the (at the time)
receding waves.
Traveling to Fox Beach, the homes
were being rebuilt on Fox Beach
Ave, at Tarlton St., I went east and
over the bridge above the semi -
frozen creek, then south east to the
sea wall jetty of the Oakwood Beach
sewage treatment plant. The wall is
severely compromised, the bay will
come pouring in during a serious
North East storms.
There were some herring gulls, the
water of the creek was receding and
I was able to step across to the north
portion of Great Kills Park.
There was a lot of driftwood and
Styrofoam and other plastic debris
and the flats of the 'bogs ' were ex-
posed.
Climbing back, I saw the creek bed
had a large Ribbed Mussel colony.
It’s obvious to me that a buyout of
the properties here are needed, un-
fortunately this area will flood again,
endangering its residents and our
emergency responders.
Please, let’s have the City and State
offer the buyouts to the residents of
Oakwood Beach. (And New Dorp,
Midland, and South Beach, too.)
Where do we go after Hurricane
Sandy?
By Ida Sanoff
From the Rockaways to Brooklyn, to
Staten Island, some of us are in vari-
ous stages of recovery while others
are mired in despair. Everyone is
demanding that “something be done”
to prevent future floods. But we first
need to take a hard look at the choic-
es.
A shoreline is not rigid. By their very
nature, shorelines are always in flux.
They are constantly being remod-
eled. But our love for the beach is
also destroying it. Developed shore-
lines interfere with the natural re-
modeling process and our communi-
ties flood.
At first glance, seawalls seem like a
great idea: Build a wall and that will
stop the sea. In reality, NOTHING
will stop the sea. If a twenty-foot
high wall is built, there is no guaran-
tee that the next storm surge will be
higher and will go right over the wall.
Storm surges can also go around a
wall. To make matters worse, sea-
walls quickly erode at their bases
and the end result is the loss of the
beach. Sea Bright and Monmouth
Beach in New Jersey are “protected”
by rock and concrete seawalls, but
the upshot is, their beaches need
near constant replenishment.
There have been calls for massive
storm gates at the entrance to New
York Harbor. Some have suggested
that these will be massive plates that
will lie flat on the sea bottom, ready
to be raised at the touch of a control
into an enormous interlocking wall.
But a project of this magnitude will
take decades to design, fund and
construct and may result in unthinka-
ble environmental damage. And it
will offer no protection if a storm
surge approaches via Long Island
Sound.
In such a scenario, the
storm surge hitting the wrong side of
the gates may cause even more
damage than if nothing had been
constructed.
So what can be done? Is there an
environmentally sound, cost effec-
Sanderling