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City engineer urges pilot projects to slow salt‑marsh loss, seeks grant funding
Summary
City Engineer Steve Swaner told the Environmental Stewardship Committee on Feb. 25 that Atlantic Beach has lost substantial salt marsh to sea‑level rise and boat wakes and recommended two accessible pilot sites with monitoring, partnering with UNF and the St. Johns River Water Management District and seeking grant funds for implementation.
Steve Swaner, the city engineer, told the Environmental Stewardship Committee on Feb. 25 that Atlantic Beach has lost a substantial amount of its salt marsh and urged the city to fund pilot restoration projects that could be replicated across the region.
Swaner presented historical aerial photos showing marsh retreat from 1942 to 2023 and said the city now has roughly “400 or so acres” of salt marsh left. "We've lost a hell of a lot of salt marsh," Swaner said, adding that sea‑level rise is a chronic driver and boat wakes from an expanding Intracoastal Waterway are an acute cause of shoreline widening and marsh erosion.
The engineer identified two candidate locations for pilot work: a mangrove‑colonized island north of Atlantic Boulevard and the south end of Dutton Island, sites Swaner said are accessible for public viewing and monitoring. He recommended designs adapted to each site—deeper structural fixes for high‑energy channels and intertidal solutions such as oyster structures or mangrove plantings where appropriate.
Hunter Matthews, introduced to the committee as a subject matter expert, told members the shoreline near the fishing pier and the north part of the island would be suitable for oyster restoration because of favorable slope, tidal gradient and existing oyster patches. "There's already oysters out there, which is just good to know," Matthews said.
Committee members asked for next steps, and Swaner said he would prepare an outline the committee could review with the goal of including a broadly worded assessment line in the 2026–27 budget and pursuing grant and partner funding to pay most implementation costs. He recommended budgeting for monitoring (for example, hiring graduate students) and keeping the initial budget description flexible to allow partners and consultants to identify appropriate techniques.
The committee set a target to review an initial outline on March 11 and discussed coordinating with UNF, the St. Johns River Water Management District and broader initiatives such as the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative.
What happens next: staff and consultants will draft an outline identifying two pilot sites, monitoring needs and estimated funding approaches for the committee’s March 11 meeting, with the intention of seeking grant funding and a generic budget allocation in 2026–27 for pilot site assessment and monitoring.
