aninterview with Billand

The Living Shoreline Project, is engaged in building several coastal habitats, repairing dunes, planting native coastal shrubs and grasses, as well as setting coir logs and wirebound rock embankments. These efforts will be among many utilizedtoprotect,reinforce,restore, and beautify the vulnerable New Jerseycoastalwetlandssodamagedby development, erosion, and mismanagement.

In the process of looking into the matteroftheseefforts,Iinterviewed twocrucialdriversofthismovement andsubsequentproject,theveritable power-couple behind the project: Doctor and professor Bill Scirappa andhiswifeArleneScirappa.Atfirst I asked them both; “How was the livingshorelinefirstdevisedandhow diditchange?”

Bothofthetwowantedtohelpwork off of an old coastal bulkhead that was originally meant to be expanded using local was convinced to fall in behindthisprogressivethisneweffort was to be inspired by south coastal techniques with a town selected figure,AndrewRella,who’sconcrete mattress proposal was rejected by someexpertsandbythetownspeople. So, Captain Al Modjeski, from the American Littoral Society, and the Scirappas worked to find an alternative.SaidProfessorScirappa; “We needed something mild to maintain that small, natural estuary habitat. We don’t need to urbanize, wearen’ttheHudson.''

The effort aimed to strengthen the coast, mitigate flooding, and help to resurrect the coastal ecosystem. Arlene prevented the FEMA grant fromgoingtoabulkheadbypacking acouncilmeetingwiththemanylocal dissenters, engaging in community organizing. This is a goal Professor Scirappa is aiming at teaching his students and constituents that local involvementiscrucial.TheMaster gardeners at Rutgers and other university groups have helped to expedite this development process.

Local NGOs cooperate extensively tomakethispossible.Followingthat, Iaskedthetwotoexplainhowtheir involvement in the SRCC (Shark RiverCleanupCoalition)dovetailed intotheLivingShorelineproject. The SRCC, for reference, is a Monmouth county based watershed protectionNGO.

AsArleneScirappasaid;“TheSRCC has been totally integrated since the beginning” the homeowners associationandlocalcommunitywas informed through the SRCC and triggered the community organizing thathelpedtabletheoldproposals.

Subsequently,Iaskedthemboththe following; “What was the proposal process like?” In a single word; “Arduous”waswhatIwastold.After apause,ProfessorScirappaexplained that the initial proposal did not always resonate with the town, so publicpressureandprotest,inwhich the Scirappas were deeply involved. They played a pivotal role in redirectingagreatsumofthatFEMA grant money. Due in large part to theirworkings,FEMAtransferredthe grant money after a protracted quibble,andsoon wasconvincedto fall in behind this progressive new approach to reconstructive development. The secret for this achievement,Iwastold,wasto“keep rattling the cages ” according to Bill Sciraappa.

FEMA transferred the grant money after a protracted quibble, and soon was convinced to fall in behind this progressive new approach to reconstructive development. The secret for this achievement, I was told,wasto“keeprattlingthecages” accordingtoBillScirappa.