New York State’s beaches were given a grade of “C” in the Surfrider Foundation’s 2021 State of the Beach report. The annual report aims to inform the public and decision makers on the current status of their coastlines and how they are being managed.
States are graded in four categories: sediment management, coastal armoring, development, and sea level rise. New York scored highly on its planning for sea level rise and earned an “okay” on its development standards, but lost points for poor sediment management and coastal armoring. Over all, the state’s policies were rated “mediocre.”
New York’s C-level grade has not changed for three years. It was at C-plus in 2018 because policies for coastal armoring were rated “okay” compared to the 2021 “bad” rating.
Courtney Garneau, chairwoman of the foundation’s Eastern Long Island Chapter, said that New York’s grade is accurate for the East End’s beaches, and shared local perspective in a statement last week. “We do not have a comprehensive sediment management plan,” she said. “Last year, sand was brought in to Ditch Plain beach in Montauk for the July 4 weekend. Over the course of the weekend, the sand washed out, leaving the beach barren, a nice sandbar for the surfers, and a large waste of money that will continue on indefinitely.”
“Mitigating sea level rise is an area that the Town of East Hampton has committed to being more progressively minded with its Coastal Assessment Resiliency Plan acknowledging climate change and planning for the future,” she added. “Over all, there are plenty of ways that we can address these issues and improve our poor grade.”
The report offers recommendations for each state. New York, it says, needs regional sediment management plans and stronger policies on beach replenishment, including strict monitoring requirements and a limit on the number of times replenishment can occur in a certain time period. The state should develop policy restrictions regarding rebuilding coastal armoring, according to the report, and remove the general permit for coastal armoring in Long Island and New York City, as general permits do not thoroughly analyze environmental impacts.
