SLAUGHTER BEACH – Top state and federal officials gathered on this southern Delaware beach Tuesday to launch the Delaware Bayshore Initiative, a wide-ranging program that seeks to strengthen the link between conservation and economic growth by preserving more land, promoting outdoor recreation, and generating tourism-related jobs.
The program aims to shield an additional 80,000 acres from residential or industrial development in a coastal strip stretching from Delaware City to Lewes, bordered to the west by Route 1.
The newly protected land will build on approximately 120,000 acres that are already subject to conservation through a variety of state, federal and private programs or agricultural easements, to create a total area of 200,000 acres over the next 10 to 15 years.
Working with a range of private organizations from the Delmarva Ornithological Society to the Delaware Trout Association and the Delaware Bicycle Council, state and federal agencies will seek to protect and connect existing wildlife areas; keep private farmlands in production, and expand habitat restoration areas.
The initiative wants to encourage “low-impact recreation” such as birding, hunting and kayaking by enhancing public access to wild areas and increasing wildlife-viewing opportunities.
It also aims to boost shore communities by encouraging ecotourism and retail business, and by investing in historic communities in the area.
“The small towns along the Delaware Bayshore enjoy a deep and rich heritage, which evolved from maritime industries,” said Ron Hunsicker, Mayor of Bowers Beach. “The residents who have long enjoyed the blessings that the bay shore provides must dedicate themselves to making these natural gifts available to everyone.”
Governor Jack Markell said the shore is a natural treasure that can be exploited through preservation.
“Economic development and caring for the environment very much go hand in hand,” said Markell, at a ceremony attended by more than 250 people in a shelter and an adjoining marquee overlooking Slaughter Beach.
Markell was joined by U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who outlined federal involvement in the project. The federal government in January provided almost $1 million toward the cost of acquiring 194 acres of marsh near Delaware City for birding and other wildlife viewing.
Another $3.2 million came from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for construction of a boat launch near Slaughter Beach, while federal funding has also been sought for the designation of Route 9 as a Federal Scenic Byway, which would fund improvements like scenic overlooks and interpretive signs.
The initiative received federal support as part of President Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors initiative, which seeks to promote conservation, create tourism-related jobs, and boost health and fitness by encouraging people to pursue outdoor activities.
Other projects completed or underway that will contribute to the Bayshore Initiative include habitat protection in the Cedar Swamp Wildlife Area in New Castle County; the restoration of 20 acres of forest on Pea Patch Island, and the control of invasive plant species in Kent County.
Salazar said the initiative aims to develop outdoor recreation in a way that brings tourism money to Delaware while preserving a natural environment whose quality he said is comparable to the Florida Everglades.
“Jobs are rooted in tourism and conservation to a very great degree,” Salazar said, noting that outdoor recreation employs 7.5 million people. “There’s a huge economic contribution that comes from people who use the outdoors.”
The initiative is launched as Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control prepares to publish its assessment of the state’s vulnerability to sea-level rise, which would reduce the state’s land mass by 10 percent or more by the end of the century, inundating some parts of the coastal zone, especially tidal marshes, according to a preliminary version of the report.
Asked whether rising seas would endanger the Bayshore Initiative, Salazar said only that the phenomenon is real. “It’s a reality that has to be taken into account,” he told DFM News.
U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D) noted that the area’s natural attractions include the red knot, an endangered shore bird that stops on the Delaware beaches each spring during its 10,000-mile migration from southern Argentina to breeding grounds in Arctic Canada, drawing birders from around the country and around the world to witness a natural spectacle they won’t see anywhere else.
“Every year, something almost mystical happens here,” he said, referring to the birds’ feeding on the eggs of the horseshoe crab, an event that earns the Delaware Bay beaches special status from international conservation groups.
By highlighting features such the red knot, and making it easier for the public to see them, the initiative hopes to persuade more people to discover more of the coastal zone than southern beaches such as Dewey and Rehoboth, said DNREC Secretary Collin O’Mara.
The state government has no plans to acquire land for initiative but will encourage the protection of private land, and will seek to leverage private investment with public funds, O’Mara told reporters. “This can be one of the drivers of our economy,” he said.
In his recent budget, Gov. Markell proposed $10 million in open space funding and $10 million in farmland preservation for the coming fiscal year, O’Mara said.