$5 Million Grant Awarded For Stafford Living Shoreline Project

STAFFORD, NJ — A nearly $5 million grant was awarded to Stafford Township for a living shoreline restoration project, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette announced Wednesday.

In total, $24.3 million in Natural Climate Solutions Grants was awarded to local governments and nonprofits to create, restore and enhance New Jersey's green spaces and tree canopies in urban areas, salt marshes and forests, according to a news release.

The township received $4,998,109 for the Stafford Township Popular Point Restoration Project.

"Stafford Township, in collaboration with the New Jersey Department of Transportation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, will enhance more than 33 acres of tidal salt marsh wetland as part of a living shoreline project," the news release said.

About 150,000 cubic yards of dredge material will be used to elevate, re-stabilize and revegetate the shoreline to protect against erosion and increase carbon sequestration in a portion of the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge, according to officials.

Sequestering carbon will help the state's 2050 goal of an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gases below 2006 levels requires an acceleration of the restoration of our shorelines, forests and urban spaces, the DEP said.

"Through DEP's nation-leading Natural Climate Solutions Grant Program, we will better support communities in their work to mitigate climate impacts – from our urban core, to the Atlantic coast, to our bay shores," LaTourette said during a ceremony in Trenton. "And, with over $24 million of investments in urban and community forestry, marsh restoration, and living shorelines, we will beautify neighborhoods and build greater climate resilience in the process."

The Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge protects more than 40,000 acres of land in Atlantic and Ocean counties. About 90 percent of it is tidal salt marsh, a coastal wetland important for local fauna and for protecting shorelines from erosion.