The New Jersey Coastal Resilience Collaborative (NJCRC) joined the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) at its National Coastal Conference Centennial Celebration in Atlantic City on Oct. 6-9 to celebrate 100 years of shore and beach preservation. Building on the NJCRC’s recent field site visit, the Collaborative organized a session titled “Research to Resilience: Twenty Years of Restoration Evolution in the Maurice River, NJ.”
The session highlighted two decades of collaborative, science-driven restoration efforts throughout the Maurice River watershed, a nationally designated Wild and Scenic River and major tributary to the Delaware Bay. Presenters shared the evolution of living shoreline techniques, beneficial use of dredged sediment for marsh restoration, offshore breakwater construction, and tidal wetland restoration to manage invasive species and protect biodiversity.
Speakers included Tyler Kinney (NJ Fish and Wildlife), Monica Chasten (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers), Leah Morgan (Partnership for the Delaware Estuary), Shane Godshall (American Littoral Society), and Karla Rossini (CU Maurice River).
Together, these projects demonstrate the value of long-term research, adaptive management, and cross-sector partnerships in advancing coastal resilience while protecting the region’s ecological, economic, and cultural resources. Special thanks to NJCRC Field Site Visit Workgroup co-lead Toni Rose Tablante (Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve at Rutgers University) for coordinating the session.