This project serves as my capstone for my undergraduate studies. It takes place on Sandy Hook beach which is a part of Gateway National Recreational Area and formally known as Fort Hancock. I grew up about 10 minutes from this site and attended the summer concert series that set up on the beach here. I heard that in the summer of 2019, the concert series was to be cancelled due to impacts on piping plovers, a threatened bird species that nests in Sandy Hook during its breeding season (March through August). Since the beaches were still open for public use during this time, I questioned how much simply cancelling the concerts would benefit the species. I decided to redesign the site to help protect the bird species, manage human use, and reconnect people to the unique history of the site.

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After compiling data on the piping plovers, I was able to determine what characteristics that the nesting habitat must be comprised of as well as which areas of Sandy Hook best fit these requirements. After ranking these locations from highest priority to lowest, I then analyzed the beach entrances that people use as access points during the breeding season. By comparing the proximity of the entrances to the piping plover nesting sites that I had data on, I was able to determine which entrances were allowing people to disturb the piping plover nests. Finally, I analyzed the historic sites and labelled them as either being in poor condition or good condition based on how well preserved they were as well as their cultural value.

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These three maps allowed me to come up with a comprehensive site plan that included protected piping plover habitat, new beach entrances, and a trail system that connected all of the historic sites and beach entrances. It was important for the beach entrances to have a lot of amenities so that people would mainly stay in these designated areas to limit disturbances. I also wanted to design a visitors center on an old nike missile launch pad to tie people to the history better even without further exploring the peninsula. For the habitat areas, I found that for the most part, any type of design or construction could impact the species negatively, so I kept the concept for these spaces very simple while implementing a visual border that would inform people about the habitat they were next to. This border still allows people to access the shore while also discouraging them from invading the dune areas where the piping plovers nest.