Fenwick residents talk environmental impact
Posted by Leslie Kopp & Christi Arndt on Wednesday, August 7th, 2024 at 9:57am
Report after report cite the inevitability of climate change impacts to the coastal area, but in Fenwick Island last week, residents gathered with experts to hear that they can, in fact, make a difference.
Representatives of local environmental groups, state agencies and other organizations gathered at Fenwick Island Town Hall on Thursday, July 25, for “Fenwick Nurtures Nature: Dark Sky & Green Infrastructure Education Symposium.”
Organized by Fenwick Island’s Residential Concerns Committee, the event featured informational displays and discussions with representatives of groups including the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays, the Delaware Urban & Community Forestry Program, Delaware Botanic Gardens, Lewes-based Preserve Our Park and the Sussex Preservation Coalition.
Janice Bortner, who chairs the Fenwick Island’s Residential Concerns Committee, said, “We lose our souls” when any piece of the natural world is lost. “I think that’s why we’re all here today.”
In addition to climate change, manmade environmental disruptions, such as excessive nighttime lighting, can affect the health of humans and animals, according to a Fenwick homeowner who has embraced an international movement to curb such lighting.
Rose Mary Hoy — a member of the Residential Concerns Committee, as well as the Green Infrastructure Subcommittee — said she learned about the Dark Sky Initiative three or four years ago. She said she and her husband, Michael, had purchased a home in Fenwick Island, and an apartment building across the bay had installed lights.
“Those bright lights shined right across the water. The glare came up, and after the sun would set, you really did need sunglasses to sit out front. It was that distracting,” Hoy said of the apartment lighting, “and at night, into our bedrooms.
“So, I thought, ‘What am I going to do?’” she told the nearly packed meeting room this week.
She said her husband met with people at the apartment building, and “They were horrified,” she said. “They did not understand the impact of their lighting. They really wanted to just light their parking lot for security purposes,” Hoy said.
The apartment owners “thankfully” modified their lighting, she said, by reducing the number of lights, having them shine downward “and the problem was significantly resolved.”
Hoy said she learned that excessive lighting doesn’t just affect humans, “but also the wildlife and the ecosystem. “The bird migration is affected by lighting. The turtles, when they’re trying to hatch and go out to sea, they go the wrong way if there are lights on a building. The pollinators, we’re seeing a reduction in them. The nocturnal animals… they forage at night. Some of them reproduce at night. Plants — they can bud earlier and produce less,” due to artificial lighting, she said.
Hoy said that Dark Sky principles do not involve “getting rid of all nighttime lighting. But there are responsible things that we can do, especially with modern technology, to modify the lighting in our homes, in our communities. And, hopefully, through our utility companies, it will get better.”
Having lighting that shines down instead of across a wide area, using dimmers, and using red or yellow-hued lighting, which is much more friendly to wildlife, as well as human eyes, are ways people can reduce excessive lighting, Hoy said.
Sue Ellen Blackwood, representing Preserve Our Park, said the organization was formed in late 2022 to fight against the construction of a restaurant and bar within Cape Henlopen State Park.
“We were successful,” Blackwood said.
A thousand people came to an event at Cape Henlopen High School designed to inform the public about the project, and 68 of the 70 people who spoke at the event expressed opposition, she said, adding that the restaurant project is “off the table for now.”
The slate of speakers last week included Deb Cowell, also a member of Fenwick Island’s Green Infrastructure Subcommittee, who said she was inspired by her horticulturist father, Hans Johannsen, to appreciate the importance of trees to the health of the planet.
The Delaware Center for the Inland Bays was represented by Director of Outreach & Education Lisa Swanger.
“We are all incredibly connected, for better or worse, through water,” in the Inland Bays Watershed, Swanger said.
Catherine Winkler, co-owner of Roots Landscaping, said that careful stewardship of plants is particularly important in the face of rampant development in eastern Sussex County.
“There’s a lot that’s being taken away,” Winkler said. “It’s our responsibility to give it back.”
Jill Hicks, interim president of the Sussex Preservation Coalition, emphasized the importance of education and advocacy in preserving the area’s natural areas.
While there are currently no county ordinances regarding tree preservation, Hicks said that with 4,000 members, the coalition is beginning to make inroads.
“When we go to County Council and speak, they hear us,” she said.
Whether you are looking to list or purchase property in Fenwick Island, call our office today to discuss how we can assist you (302) 541-5207
Leave A Comment