Motorboat owners can party hearty at F Cove … for now
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wants to make some changes
BY PATRICIA A. MILER Staff Writer
FCove may still be the "party place" in northern Barnegat Bay this summer, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn't want it to stay that way.

PHOTO COURTESY U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

"It would be one thing if people were coming in with a little 14-foot or 17-foot boat, but that's not what they are doing," said David Aztert, refuge manager for the federal Edwin B. Forsythe Refuge, which includes F Cove. "They've got cabin cruisers back in there. What they are doing doesn't require the presence of wildlife. It's more a 'tailgate party before the game' atmosphere, and that's not what refuges were established for."

Aztert, Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis and other township officials are struggling to come to some sort of compromise about the future of F Cove.

"Right now, F Cove will be the same as it was last year," Mayor Stephen C. Acropolis said.

Acropolis, Aztert and township officials met on April 22 to hash over the Fish and Wildlife Services' plans to limit public access to the popular summer spot for a restoration project.

A photo taken on a chilly February day shows a deserted F Cove. But things change drastically in the summer, as photos taken by the federal Fish and Wildlife Service show. FILE PHOTO

Acropolis, Township Council members and William deCamp Jr., who heads the environmental group Save Barnegat Bay, all agree that allowing motorboats to pull up close to the narrow beaches, barbecue and socialize doesn't meet the service's definition of suitable uses for the area.

"It is the party place on the northern part of the bay," the mayor said. "It's the only place people have like that on the bay to go to."

But they all say that limiting public access by forbidding motorboats in F Cove for a restoration project is not the way to go.

"I wasn't real happy with that," Acropolis said. "They absolutely know they have to work with the municipality."

There are two issues with public use in a wildlife refuge, Aztert said.

"What are people doing and how many people are doing it," he said. "We have problems with both what's being done and how many people are doing it."

PHOTO COURTESY U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE

Fishing, hunting, wildlife observation, wildlife photography and interpretational programs are what should be taking place in a wildlife refuge, Aztert said.

F Cove was one of the sites identified in a 1995 Army Corps of Engineers study for restoration projects in Barnegat Bay, Aztert said.

The study proposed to partially fill the lagoons to a depth of 6 feet with dredge materials, connect F Cove lagoon with nearby L lagoon, and lower F Cove's steep banks, Aztert said.

The water in F Cove is too deep at roughly 15 feet, which creates a "dead zone" and affects water quality, Aztert said.

"Those lagoons are so deep the top layers have some oxygen and the bottom layers don't," he said. "Water can't flow through there. It's a dead zone. If you have a deep lagoon with no oxygen, you don't have any fish. The fish are going to die. If you don't have any little fish, you're not going to have any big fish. You're not going to have wading birds that feed on the big fish."

F Cove's banks are very steep. Part of the restoration project calls for shaving the banks to a lower height, so diamondback terrapins could come out and lay their eggs.

"They [turtles] don't climb bulkheads," he said. "And with all the traffic along the shoreline, there probably wouldn't be much egg laying back there."

The mission of a national wildlife refuge system — to conserve, manage and restore fish, wildlife and plant resources and their habitats — was established by the 1997 National Wildlife Refuge System Improvement Act.

The act passed by 417 to 1 in the U.S. House of Representatives and unanimously in the U.S. Senate, Aztert said.

"This baby really had bipartisan support," he said. The estimated cost of the restoration project is $1.4 million. But the money isn't available right now, Aztert said.

"We don't have the money yet," he said. "We will probably end up starting to change the public uses out there before we start the restoration project."

Aztert has one law enforcement officer to check up on 47,000 acres in the Edwin B. Forsythe Refuge. Brick police invited refuge officials to F Cove in the summer of 2007 to "show us what was going on out there," he said.

"This is where we will have to talk," Aztert said. "We are going to work out something we can all live with. When I say live with, it's going to meet the requirements of the law. It's not a park. We're going to have to do some education to sort of change people's understanding of what a refuge is. We want to work with the township. We're part of the neighborhood.

"I've got nothing against people having a good time," he added. "Sandy Hook is a national recreation area. It's not a national wildlife refuge. Different laws apply, different regulations apply."

Township Council members unanimously passed a resolution at the Feb. 3 meeting opposing any closure of F Cove. The resolution also asks the Fish and Wildlife Service to abandon any plans that would result in the closure of all or certain portions of F Cove.

"It's supposed to be for wildlife, nature, fishing," Acropolis said.

"You can't just say only kayaks or canoes. I really believe they should really have public access, maybe smaller boats, maybe a certain number of boats. They understood that we would not be in agreement with their position. That's basically like closing it, and we don't think that should be the case."

F Cove was born in the 1950s, when a developer began carving out lagoons for a waterfront development. The dredged lagoons formed the shape of the letter F, but the Ocean County chapter of the Isaak Walton League, the precursor to Save Barnegat Bay, challenged the project and the developer ran out of money.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service purchased the 120-acre property in the 1990s. It was the first purchase for the Reedy Creek unit of the refuge and is located in the northernmost portion of the refuge.