Erosion & shoreline
Living shoreline and marsh-edge stabilization in LBI & Southern Ocean County, NJ
Tier C · 18 towns covered
Marsh grasses, coir logs, and shell sills instead of a vertical wall — a softer, increasingly permit-favored option for low-energy shorelines.
If this is what your wall is doing, you're not the first owner on this stretch of bay to run into it.
What usually prompts the call
- An interest in a softer, nature-based shoreline
- A marsh edge you would rather restore than wall off
- A permit path that favours green infrastructure
- A low-energy shoreline where a hard wall is overkill
How it's normally handled
A living shoreline uses marsh grasses, coir logs, oyster or shell sills, and graded stone toe protection instead of a vertical wall, working with the tide rather than against it. It suits lower-energy shorelines and is increasingly favoured in state permitting. Not right for every exposed bay lot, but worth understanding as an option.
$8,000 – $50,000 — typical range, not a quote. What your home needs can only be settled by a registered contractor who comes out and looks at it.
Start early — the state review is the long pole. Tidal-water construction pulls in an NJDEP waterfront development or CAFRA approval and tidelands documentation before a single sheet is driven. A local marine contractor knows how to move it along.
We publish this for reference but don't currently pass these jobs on. If it's part of a wider moisture problem, tell us about that and we'll route the whole thing.
Unsure how urgent this really is?
Note down what you've spotted. We'll pass it to registered local crews and get out of your way.
Tell us what's happening →Coverage
Towns we cover for this
Only the areas where this work actually applies.
Open bayfront
Mainland and bay-edge shorelines with real fetch, where wave energy is high and riprap comes up as often as a vertical wall.
Barrier island & inlet
Long Beach Island end to end, from Barnegat Inlet down to Holgate — high exposure, salt air, working waterfront, and the biggest replacement jobs.
Northern barrier island & bay
The northern barrier island strip — Lavallette and Ortley Beach — where the work sits on the bay side and takes fetch straight across open Barnegat Bay from the west.