Delaware has about 40,000 acres of coastal land protected from federal development, and these areas are designated by a set of maps from 1982 maintained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife - which are in the process of being updated.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife’s Coastal Barrier Resource System identifies lands that protect people and property, by reducing federal incentive to develop ecologically sensitive areas. About 7,500 acres in Delaware were recently remapped to add about 900 acres and remove 80 acres, according to Fish and Wildlife's Coastal Barrier Coordinator Katie Niemi. The areas recommended for addition include state park lands.
Some of Delaware’s protected lands include portions of Broadkill Beach, Cape Henlopen and Fenwick Island. Niemi said the First State has 10 units in the system, and likely won’t see any significant changes as the system is reexamined and updated. But as a coastal state, she says Delaware is an important part of the system.
"With increases in sea level rise...and increases in erosion, I think the system will continue to serve the American public and be important," Niemi said.
Coastal states like Delaware can benefit from the CBRS because the system ensures there is no federal effort to develop along the coast, saving taxpayer money. In an email, Niemi said coastal barriers are generally unstable.
"The intensity of development within the Coastal Barrier Resources System is generally lower than other areas along the coast," Niemi said. "Having less intensively developed areas along the coast helps to maintain natural storm buffers that in turn protect people and property on the mainland from the full impact of hurricane winds and storm surge."
Former Delaware Congressman Tom Evans co-authored the original CBR act in 1982.
"The coast is where everybody wants to live," Evans said. "Look at all the tourism that exists in Delaware and Florida and other states. Without the coastline and without the protection the barrier lands give it, you wouldn’t have nearly as much tourism and that means less economic development."
Should the First State see another Hurricane Sandy-level storm in the future, the CBRS helps protect vital, storm prone areas, Evans said.
"If you don’t have that protection, you’re not [going to] have an economy that’s as strong as it should be," Evans said. "The most important thing is it also protects lives and saves a huge amount of money - I mean billions of dollars."
Updates to the CBRS are still waiting approval from Congress.