By HARRIET L. HUBBARD
Courier-Post Staff
Everybody along Burlington County's riverfront knows that Hawk Island isn't really an island. It's a peninsula that juts out from Delanco, then reaches southwest, past Riverside to Delran as it divides the Rancocas Creek from the Delaware River.
But not everybody knows that it was once an island. Maps from the 1800s show it separated from the mainland.
All that changed about 65 years ago. That's when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started using the milelong "island" to dump dredge spoils, the sand and muck dug out of the ship channel in the center of the river.
Now, although the Corps hasn't dredged and dumped there since late 1988, riverfront residents are taking action because the topography of Hawk Island has changed, possibly by deposits also harmful to native wildlife and nearby people.
"Beachfront property is no longer on the beach," said Debbie Rietzen, who lives in Delanco near Hawk Island. "We can't see the river. Fill at least 25 feet high and vegetation block the view. And our children play there. My kids bring in sand every day.
"(The state) says nothing's wrong, but they have yet to prove it."
The changes have also affected property values, she said.
For those reasons, a few dozen residents formed Citizens United to Protect Hawk Island or CUPHI, pronounced kewpie, as in kewpie doll. Rietzen serves as chairwoman. Its purpose is to spur the state and federal governments into testing the dredge spoils for pollution, restoring the land and finding a safe way to dispose of dredge spoils.
That was nearly two years ago. So far, CUPHI has seen little action. Promised tests and title searches have not been delivered.
In September, CUPHI arranged a meeting with the state Department of Environmental Protection and the Corps of Engineers, said member George Lopez of Cinnaminson. Promises of testing were made but nothing happened.
"We tried four times to get a response. Then we wrote to Sen. (Bill) Bradley for assistance," said Rietzen. "In March, we got an abrupt letter ... and no funds."
The March letter from DEP administrator Bernard Moore said he had received no letters or calls from CUPHI since he wrote to the group in December. He added that no funds were available for the testing in fiscal '95 or '96 state budgets.
CUPHI wrote back to the DEP May 11 but has heard nothing since March.
Meanwhile, the nonprofit citizens group has come up with a list of requests:
Test for hazardous materials.
"Our most important concern is proper testing,' said Rietzen.
Tests for toxic materials on Hawk Island were canceled in fiscal '95 and '96 because of tight state budgets, the DEP's Gene Keller said Thursday.
As a substitute, the DEP offered results from tests at West Avenue, another dredge spoils dumping site in Delanco, said Lopez.
"They have no evidence Hawk Island is safe and doesn't need testing," said Lopez, technical director of the environmental consulting firm, American Science & Technology of Riverside.
Back in the 1930s, many companies and townships were dumping in the river, said CUPHI member Joan Hinkle of Delanco.
"It all ends up in the bottom sand and is dredged out and put on the island," said Lopez. "In different years, different contents were deposited, so you have to test many areas. With limited funds, you need to do a historical analysis of the dumping and focus testing on those areas that look most likely to be harmful.
"They have two reports of limited testing at West Avenue. They did three borings, not deep, and tested composite samples, which average out any good and bad years," Lopez said. "They're saying that West Avenue is OK, so Hawk Island is OK. But they're not saying it on paper."
Since the federal Clean Water Act went into effect in 1977, the Corps has tested the material it plans to remove before dredging it out, said Charles Myers of the Corps' Philadelphia District. Testing of material dumped earlier is the responsibility of the state, he said.
Determine how much dredging is needed.
"Most of the (river) traffic used to go to the Fairless Hills (Pa.) steelworks," said Hinkle. "Now, it's two to three ships a year."
Traffic has increased again with the opening of a new terminal at the old steelworks, said Keller, a DEP supervising environmental specialist.
Two proposals, a container port in Delanco and a food distribution center in Florence, could increase river traffic even more. And a gypsum plant on the Pennsylvania side across from Burlington might use ships that need the 40-foot channel in the future, said Rietzen.
CUPHI wants to know if dredging has to be done as often and as deep as in the past. "Ships still go to Trenton and Burlington. But the type of ships using it now may not need 40 feet," said Rietzen.
Myers said the 33- to 38.6-foot-draft ships now on the river need the 40-foot channel. Increased traffic may increase dredging frequency, said Keller, who said the current schedule is about once every three years.
Safely recycle or dispose of dredge spoils.
"They have to dredge," said Rietzen, whatever the depth. "Therefore, they have to find a constructive use for the spoils."
Delanco Mayor Linda Lewis suggested using the fine brown sand for beach replenishment at the Shore. She was told the consistency is not the same as beach sand, though Keller said the types and grades vary.
Rietzen has more suggestions: Use it to cover landfills, in composting, in constructing roads, she said. "I know they used a lot of sand in building the Aquarium."
Dredge material from a Palmyra disposal site was used in the new Entertainment Centre in Camden, Keller said. "They used around 250,000 to 300,000 cubic yards."
Myers said some of the medium-grade silty sand has been used in creating wetlands habitats for fish and birds.
‚Give residents more information and allow them more participation in decisions on dredging and dumping.
"Would you allow a private citizen to dump without testing and management plans?" asked Lopez. "We want to be at least involved in the decision-making process."
‚Release property title searches.
Determining ownership of Hawk Island property has been difficult for CUPHI and the township. Delanco records show the state owns three lots, the township owns one and 10 are in private hands.
However, because ownership goes back to Colonial days and riparian laws give the state possession of any lands now or formerly flowed by high water, the state might be able to claim more land. That would mean the state could designate its land as a dumping site for the Corps of Engineers without approval of other owners or the township.
"Maybe the state owns most of it by riparian rights because they made it (through filling)," Rietzen said. Indeed, CUPHI research shows the original 30-acre island has grown, through dumping, to a 118-acre peninsula. "But people still pay taxes on it," Rietzen added.
Title searches were promised last fall and completed this spring but not released.
Restore the filled pond and preserve and maintain the rest of Hawk Island.
Hawk Island's two lakes were created by removing sand for public or private projects, said the DEP's Keller. "In 1988, dredge spoils were dumped into one of the ponds," CUPHI literature says, destroying a habitat and killing all the wildlife in the pond.
The remaining lake is surrounded by mature trees and a thick undergrowth of grasses, shrubs and occasional wildflowers. Swarms of black swallows defend their nesting ground on the cliffs at Hawk Island's tip when humans draw near.
"The water looks pretty clear here," said Mayor Lewis at the tip. "That is one respect in which it has improved."
Through erosion, the river is trying to reclaim its place, said Lopez. "Now water is leaching through, carrying leachate and fill."
"We want the state to evaluate the banks to see if they need to be rediked," said Rietzen.
"This is affecting water quality in the entire area as it goes down the river," said member Cindy Crouse of Cherry Hill.
Prepare an environmental impact study.
No studies have been conducted to determine the effects of the spoils on local residents or the environmental values of plants and animal habitat on Hawk Island or the need to retain open space, according to CUPHI literature.
"The state doesn't take responsibility for maintaining the deposits," Rietzen said.
The group wants the Corps to prepare such a statement, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act.
CUPHI will be able to begin address two of its goals with a $6,500 grant it received this spring from the Environmental Endowment for New Jersey Inc. It hopes to work with the state on the others.
The grant includes $5,500 for a natural resource inventory to identify existing vegetation, wildlife habitats, soils, wetlands, floodplains and other natural resources. It will also include an evaluation of the bank and slope stabilization along Hawk Island's shores.
Another $1,000 is for public education programs. CUPHI will use it to sponsor a Hawk Island Clean Up Day. It will also hire a naturalist to organize field trips to educate children about the wildlife habitat and natural environment on Hawk Island.
To go beyond those projects, CUPHI will have to continue working with the DEP to break through the ownership and jurisdiction red tape.
"We'd like another meeting with the DEP, the Corps of Engineers, the township and CUPHI," said Rietzen.
Despite the slowness of solutions, CUPHI members continue to think big about the little "island." "We could have nature walks, a fish hatchery," Hinkle said wistfully.
