The Search For Sand

USACE

Presque Isle State Park, our region's most important ecological and economical resource, is wrestling with federal government funding cuts – the budget for sand replenishment (a necessary action to counteract the effects of erosion and maintain our beaches) has been effectively cut in half.

For the second straight year, the budget for our beaches at Presque Isle appears to be facing an alarming deficit. Until 2025, sand replenishment on the peninsula was funded through a $3 million annual allotment, with about half coming from the Commonwealth and half from the federal government.

However, federal funding has long been distributed according to continuing resolutions rather than an annual budget – and nothing has been set aside to nourish our beaches. Put simply, the sand budget has been cut in half. Dr. Joe Pfadt, chair of the Presque Isle Advisory Committee, believes that these short-term resolutions are jeopardizing the proper maintenance of the park: "We continue to have to restructure so that the federal dollars keep showing up."

The strange thing about this deficit is that there is astonishing bipartisan support – at least rhetorically – for renewing the funding. On Feb. 10 of this year, a letter was sent to Adam R. Telle, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works, urging him to allot $1.3 million for shore protection at Presque Isle in his 2026 Fiscal Year workplan. The document was signed by virtually every state-level politician with a stake in our well-being – Senators McCormick and Fetterman, Congressman Mike Kelly, and others.

And if that isn't bipartisan enough, the most divisive politician of all, Donald Trump, promised to "replenish the sand to Presque Isle" while campaigning for Congressman Kelly at the Erie Insurance Arena in 2018. But in the wake of the massive budget cuts that followed his re-election, that money has evaporated.

The good news is that people are mobilizing locally to bring it back. In mid-March, the Presque Isle Partnership created a petition "to restore and uphold the federal government's annual contribution for sand nourishment." As I type this, it has more than 2,700 signatures. In February, a bill was introduced to Congress (H.R. 7459) to create a Coastal Storm Risk Management Trust Fund. Pfadt believes that this bill would "create a pool of money that would replenish and nourish the park." On March 4, Congressman Kelly became one of its co-sponsors. Presently, there is no clear timeline as to when it will come up for a vote, but according to Kelly's communications director, Matt Knoedler, "the legislation remains in the Transportation & Infrastructure and Natural Resources committees for consideration."

With Memorial Day weekend less than two months away, it is fair to wonder if this will be enough.

"We're playing a dangerous game of roulette here," according to Don Benczkowski of the Presque Isle Advisory Committee. "When you have a depth of 6 feet or greater, our sand cannot return to the littoral system [i.e., the shallow-water ecosystem near the shoreline]. It's needed at Presque Isle because it's being diverted away from the park. Some of it stays out in the lake and forms sand bars, and some returns to the shoreline." Beach 5, for example, is especially vulnerable to erosion because it "has a spine that becomes exposed every year and gets covered over," according to Benczkowski.

Benczkowski, who served as committee chair for many years, is especially worried about the  cumulative impact of reduced sand replenishment. "If we don't have money coming in for two, three, or four years, we might have to eventually go back to our legislators and tell them we need 6 million instead of a million and a half."

Less sand makes us economically vulnerable as well. Pfadt is worried that bad news at the park could have an impact akin to an E. coli outbreak at the beach. "People pay attention," says Pfadt. "If you operate a business related to the peninsula, you might feel this." He notes that Presque Isle is a "major flyway of migratory birds from the south to the north." If those habitats erode and bird lovers go elsewhere, our tourism might erode as well.

In the short term, there is a morsel of good news regarding the summer. Members of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Buffalo, who are tasked with applying federal funding (rather than allocating it), conducted their annual spring beach walk on April 1 to assess erosion and identify needs. According to the Corps' Coastal Geologist, Weston Cross, "we are at about the long-term average right now – slightly decreasing, which decreases the erosion. We had a nice, cold winter – and those usually aren't words you put together – but for coastal protection, you do. As soon as that ice sets in, it protects everything." Better still, his team has located "some tombolos [i.e., naturally-occurring isthmuses] in the park where we can harvest sand, which is a cheaper source than bringing it in from the outside."

But our good luck could easily run out. Pfadt notes that Presque Isle is composed of a "very fragile habitat from the shore to a mature forest" and if water at the shoreline "goes up a foot, you will have flooding."

Benczkowski worries that the current crisis could deepen. "This might just be the first step," he claims. "What other federal funding could get cut? Will we no longer have protection for the piping plovers? This might be a bellwether."

"I grew up in the '60s, when Lake Erie was really dying," says Benczkowski. "We've come a long way since then, when there were unpermitted sewage discharges and a lack of septic system enforcement. And I don't want to see us go backwards." These protections created tangible benefits. A much cleaner lake led to much better fishing, for example. "Years ago, you would take a walleye charter – you'd leave at 6 a.m. and be back by 3 p.m., and everyone would have their fish. Now, you're pretty much done by 10 a.m., because there's so many walleyes out there!"

Though he is understandably reluctant to delve into the politics, Presque Isle Park Operations Manager Matt Greene is reassured by the discourse he's hearing around town. "Knowing that people are out there having these conversations about what happens when federal funding goes away is a really encouraging thing." We all want a Presque Isle brimming with walleyes, piping plovers, and sunbathing tourists. And, at least in theory, our political leadership wants it as well. But a little more pressure might need to be applied to make it a reality.

To add your signature to the Presque Isle Partnership's petition for sand replenishment funding, visit: change.org

Dan Schank can be contacted at danschank@gmail.com