The borough is in the planning stages of a project that will help save the peninsula that buffers wave action for homes in front of the West Wildwood Canal.
The project, which is strongly supported by South Jersey Congressman Frank LoBiondo, aims to create a “living shoreline” that uses natural structures to protect the peninsula and the borough from wave action instead of building bulkheads.
There are about 300,000 acres of salt marshes, including the West Wildwood peninsula, across New Jersey, according to Moses Katkowski, who is the Coastal Restoration Manager for the Nature Conservancy. These marshes help prevent waves from hitting communities like West Wildwood, but are disappearing because of sea-level rise.
Living shorelines can be created by an array of natural materials. The one in West Wildwood will be made of rock structures.
It will help re-grow the natural habitats on the peninsula that have eroded, and will cost about $915,000 to build, Katkowski said. West Wildwood and the Nature Conservancy are looking at federal, state, and private funding to pay for the project.