U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell announced Thursday that Massachusetts is set to receive $10 million as part of an expansive project for restoration and protection projects of shoreline areas damaged by Hurricane Sandy last year.
Forty-five projects from North Carolina to Maine are a part of the $162 million project, which will focus on restoring marshes, wetlands and beaches; rebuilding shorelines; and researching the impacts and modeling mitigation of storm surge impacts, according to the announcement.
This includes $113 million for 25 on-the-ground projects to restore the shoreline, improve flood resilience and undertake other efforts to protect nearby areas from future storms.
The Muddy Creek Wetland in Chatham, the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge in Newburyport and the Round Hill Salt Marsh in Dartmouth will all receive federal funding, as reported by the Associated Press.
Over $3.75 million will go to a separate project for the Muddy Creek Wetland. The funds will be used to restore the mixture of wetlands in the 55-acre site, in addition to improving water quality and restoring a passage for fish.
A tidally restrictive bridge will be replaced with a larger span structure in the Parker Tidal Restoration project. The $3.72 million dollar project will also improve the coastal system resiliency.
Two aging mill dams on the Mill River in Taunton will be removed in a $650,000 project, while $340,000 will be used to restore resiliency to the 27,000-acre marsh system of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge.
Finally, more than $2.27 million will go directly to restoring the 11.6 acres of marsh in the Round Hill Salt Marsh, as well as protecting the connected Meadow Shores Marsh.
In addition, a handful of projects totaling more than $56 million will address other restoration and storm protection projects in various states, including Massachusetts.
"By stabilizing marshes and beaches, restoring wetlands and improving the resiliency of coastal areas, we not only create opportunities for people to connect with nature and support jobs through increased outdoor recreation, but we can also provide an effective buffer that protects local communities from powerful storm surges and devastating floods when a storm like Sandy hits," Jewell said in the press release.
The announcement came a week before the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy.
More than $20 million in property damage from the storm was reported in Massachusetts, according to the National Climatic Data Center. The Department of the Interior has invested $480 million in response and recovery efforts across New England in the last year, including $1.45 million specifically to Massachusetts.
