Erosion scraps opening day for Gilgo State Park beach

A state park will remain closed on its scheduled opening day due to beach erosion. Gilgo State Park, popular among fishermen and surfers, sustained serious erosion during last month's blizzard and

News 12 Staff

Feb 28, 2016, 11:16 PM

Updated 3,121 days ago

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A state park will remain closed on its scheduled opening day due to beach erosion.
Gilgo State Park, popular among fishermen and surfers, sustained serious erosion during last month's blizzard and other winter storms. The park is accessed by four-wheel drive vehicles, but the slimmed-down state of the beach is currently not wide enough to accommodate such vehicles, according to parks officials.
The beach will not open on April 1 as scheduled, and the opening date remains uncertain.
Deputy Regional State Parks Director George Gorman says the current state of the beach is "very close to Sandy," when the superstorm lashed the coast and caused serious erosion. "We've lost several hundred-thousand cubic yards of sand," Gorman says, adding that parks officials have been receiving concerned calls from fishermen.
Gorman says the sand naturally replenishes itself in the spring and summer, so parks officials will continue to monitor the state of the beach and determine when it's safe to reopen.