The Wildwoods is a collection of five municipalities that includes North Wildwood, West Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, and Diamond Beach, all which run along the southern Jersey shore. During the warmer months, the Wildwoods is known as one of the most popular tourist destinations in New Jersey, meaning that tourism is critical for revenue, but aside from that time of the year, the area is still home to thousands of full-time residents who are closely tied to the ocean. 

However, North Wildwood’s beach has been slowly eroding, becoming narrower by the year, posing threats to locals and the future of the township. At the forefront is Mayor Patrick Rosenello, who has been battling the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) since the beginning of his tenure in 2014. Rosenello alleges that the state has been very difficult with providing aid and approving coastal restoration initiatives that has led him to no option other than defying orders and proceeding with projects such as dune repairs. After so many years of spending the town’s personal funds, North Wildwood sued the state for $21 million just two months ago, claiming this is how much was “…spent over the past decade on trucking sand in as part of an ultimately futile effort to hold back the waves” (Parry). In retaliation, the NJDEP sued North Wildwood for $12 million one month ago for unapproved projects. 

But why is this the case? Why is the NJDEP being as difficult as Mayor Rosenello claims they are if coastal restoration is so vital for the town’s safety and economy? One of the largest contributors to the current situation is that, following superstorm Sandy, the state and Army Corps of Engineers spent approximately $800 million on shore protection, but the Wildwoods, which encompass one of the only three free beaches in the state, received three-tenths of one percent of those funds. As a result, Rosenello asserts “…North Wildwood took the actions [it] took because of the failure of the state of New Jersey to…handle their responsibility, which is shore protection. We are trying to fix the problem that they caused, and because that brought attention to their failure, they…took these ridiculous enforcement actions.” Unfortunately, Caryn Shinske, NJDEP’s press officer, and Michele Kropilak, manager of the NJDEP’s Bureau of Coastal and Land Use Compliance and Enforcement, have declined to provide any commentary, stating they are unable to do so because this is an ongoing litigation. 

To understand why North Wildwood received three-tenths of one percent of the funds, Rosenello explains that one has to go back to 1962, where there was a powerful storm that destroyed many areas along the shore and triggered a long series of federal and state replenishment projects up through the 90s’. However, during this period, “…the Wildwoods had the largest beaches in the state of New Jersey, actually had the widest beaches on the East Coast. And so getting the Wildwoods into one of those federal projects was never a priority…[but] that began to change in the mid 1990s [when the] North Wall in particular began to lose beach” (Rosenello). The problem is that by this point, Rosenello asserts, the procedures and regulations to kickstart a project had become too troublesome to make any progress, which leads back to today’s battles. The state has “…known for 25 years that [the] North Wall would [need] to…be in one of these projects, and they’ve dug their feet until it became an absolute crisis, which is where it is right now” (Rosenello). 

One of the projects Rosenello executed without state NJDEP approval is half a mile of steel sheet bulkheads as replacements to where the eroded dunes were. If such bulkheads weren’t installed, “city blocks would be gone and tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars worth of public and private infrastructure wouldn’t be washed out the sea” (Rosenello). This development is actually what makes up the majority of the fines the NJDEP placed on North Wildwood. Nonetheless, Rosenello confidently believes that his resilience was the right path, for otherwise lives would’ve been endangered, public and private property destroyed, and recreation/tourism severely impacted. 

On the notion of tourism, it’s another important perspective to consider because of how significant it is to the Wildwoods. Ben Rose, Director of Marketing and Public Relations of the Greater Wildwoods Tourism Authority, was able to provide his insights on the whole situation from this perspective. While these struggles have been occurring for years, the Wildwoods as a whole experienced record-breaking tourism in 2021 and 2022, with 2022 being the best year yet. Most of this success is attributed to COVID-19, for the Wildwoods saw a significant increase in tourism volume because all those who would’ve flown for vacation during the pandemic ended up traveling locally to the Wildwoods. 

However, tourism for specifically North Wildwood is a matter of sustainability, for the rest of the Wildwoods has not experienced beach erosion. Rose explains that for years the township has been pumping sand from the inlet canal onto the beach at a massive cost, or trucking sand from Wildwood, where beaches are actually growing by about 30 feet yearly. However, this is an incredibly costly and unsustainable solution that has reached a critical point where this can no longer continue and is a burden on taxpayers, which ties back to the NJDEP not acting urgently enough on this situation. A permanent solution is needed “…as far as affecting tourism. All of the rental properties and all of the hotels that are directly opposite the beach [will be] affected…because people will no longer be able to just walk straight down to the beach and enjoy…the beach [and] ocean there” (Rose). 

Overall, North Wildwood has yet to experience negative effects in tourism, but rather the opposite. However, the key word is ‘yet’. Every single year, North Wildwood’s beach is replenished after storms, ready just in time for the tourist season. The tourists come, everything looks picturesque and perfect, but an immense amount of costly work had to be done beforehand. The time has arrived where in an imminent summer, visitors will not come to the beaches that they once knew, and North Wildwood’s reputation will cease to exist, unless, of course, the NJDEP takes rapid action to address this urgent matter.