UF Landscape Installs Living Shoreline in Lewes, Delaware

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Researchers from the UF Department of Landscape Architecture were recently highlighted in the news for their living shoreline project in Lewes, Delaware.

The team, led by department Chair Dr. Jules Bruck, received grant funding to test new designs and materials for shoreline protection. Student researchers on the project included Ph.D. candidate Mo Tahmasebi, Ph.D. student Chris Bonura and MLA student Spencer Asofsky. The project aims to protect the Delaware coast from erosion, flooding and increasingly stronger storms.

The project was led by the University of Delaware in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. By combining natural materials including reef balls, shellfish mattresses, biodegradable mats, and native grass marshes, the team is engineering a stable shoreline that supports marine habitats.

“We’re stacking some of the shells under areas that have been really eroded,” said Dr. Bruck. “The hope is that as the tides come and go, it’s depositing sediment in there, and little creatures are making homes out of it.”

The team hopes this living shoreline will serve as a model for other Delaware Bay communities seeking sustainable alternatives to traditional hard infrastructure as sea levels rise.