Guardian Of The Shore
The New Jersey Shoreline can’t speak for itself. Luckily, the Jersey Shore partnership has been doing it for the past 35 years.
Pose the question “What is the Jersey Shore?” and the answer is, of course, “the 127 miles of beach fronting the Atlantic Ocean in our state, from Sandy Hook to Cape May.” It’s also the heart of tourism in New Jersey, an ecological wonder (the primary habitat for several species of birds and seals) and the home of the state’s busy fishing industry. The Shore is the year-round home of more than 1.5 million people, a thriving community of mom-and-pop business supporting those people and the source of countless, shining summertime memories for generations of people from around the Garden State and beyond.
“Once you get its sand between your toes, the Jersey Shore is part of you,” says Grace Hanlon, a lifelong Shore resident who is now executive director of the Jersey Shore Partnership. For 35 years now, the Partnership has labored to protect the Shore, and to make sure it remains as much of a joy for future beachgoers as it has been for those of the past.
“We are the leading advocacy organization for the Jersey Shore’s coastal protection, coastal resilience and tourism economy,” Hanlon says. She should know—before she took on this position, she served as the executive director of the state’s Division of Travel and Tourism during the Chris Christie administration.
Founded in 1991 after that year’s devastating Halloween storm, the Jersey Shore Partnership has one goal: to guarantee that state and federal resources will always be available to protect and restore New Jersey’s coast from storm damage. “Our leaders had the foresight to realize that, if we have a big storm and lose a lot of beach from it, we need to have funding in place at the state level to repair it,” Hanlon explains, “and we need to be able to get federal dollars for beach replenishment projects.”
Beach replenishment is vital both for keeping Shore communities safe from coastal flooding and damage and for keeping the Shore open and thriving for visitors and locals alike. It involves dredging sand from offshore and pumping it back toward the coast to widen beaches. These projects are completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), whose services are in high demand. “You have all the shore towns in the United States jockeying for their place in line with the USACE, which is constantly surveying based on need and putting out bids,” says Hanlon. “There are only so many dredging machines to go around.” To say that the process can be lengthy and expensive would be an understatement. While the federal government funds a large portion of these projects (typically about 65 percent), the rest of that cost generally falls on the municipality affected.
That’s where the partnership’s greatest and more enduring success comes in. In 1992, its advocacy pushed state legislation that established the Shore Protection Fund, which ensured that a portion of New Jersey’s yearly budget is always set aside to help fund beach replenishment and repair. The fund started out with $15 million; in 1998 it increased to $25 million, where it stands today. “We always have matching dollars for the federal funds,” says Hanlon. “Fast-forward to now, and it’s a model that shore communities in other states wish they had put in place a long time ago.” This state funding supplements the federal funding, reducing the financial strain on local municipalities.
Keeping the Shore Protection Fund fully funded and in the state’s budget is a constant work in progress. “We are always introducing ourselves to new legislators,” says Hanlon. “There are so many problems across the state that need attention; we need to make sure we stay at the front of people’s minds. We explain and educate about the importance of continuing to protect the Shore and have this fund, so that we keep our spot in line for USACE projects.”
That work pays off. Says Hanlon: “I graduated from Holmdel High School. There used to be times when we would all watch the waves break over the sea wall and over Ocean Avenue in Monmouth Beach. Now that area is protected, because the beaches have been widened. That was possible because of this funding.”
Hanlon attributes that success to the diversity of voices on the Jersey Shore Partnership’s board—“It consists of academics, elected officials, environmentalists, community leaders and leaders from the tourism industry,” she says—but also to how open and attentive legislators from both major parties have been to its outreach.
“We’ve had wonderful bipartisan support,” she says. “Year in and year out, Democrats and Republicans work across party lines for this cause. It really feels like an issue where everyone is in it together.” The partnership has also tried to foster that sense of togetherness, creating a Young Professionals Committee co-chaired by a young Democrat (Kinn Badger) and a young Republican (Jason Sena). It offers mentorship and leadership opportunities to budding advocates and politicians—while also teaching the importance of bipartisan support for coastal resilience efforts. “I’m proud of the civility we’ve modeled through the program,” says Hanlon. “It’s created genuine friendships between these young civic leaders.”
It isn’t all work. The partnership’s annual Summer Celebration fundraiser, held at the start of the summer season, gathers leaders, businesses and coastal advocates together on Sandy Hook for a night of seafood, live music and dedication to the future of New Jersey’s shoreline. “People absolutely love it,” says Hanlon. “It sells out almost immediately most years. We have people coming up all the way from Cape May.”
All the funds generated help ensure that New Jersey’s beaches stay resilient for years to come. “Politicians don’t run when they see us coming because they feel it too,” says Hanlon. “Atlantic County, Cape May County, Ocean County and Monmouth County are all represented and covered in our board with one mission: to be the voice of the Shore.”
