The numerous, often-overlooked small islands within the state’s bays provide crucial storm impact mitigation for developed coastal areas, such as Long Beach Island, as well as habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife. About three years ago, the N.J. Bay Islands Initiative – established to protect these important swaths of land – began to assess all the islands in the Barnegat Bay/Little Egg Harbor Estuary, and created a database to catalog them.

HANDS ON: Monmouth’s Tom Herrington and students Tyler Barkey and Nicole Cappolina survey a bay island. (Supplied Photos)

As noted on njbayislands.org, “The long-term goal of the NJBII is to manage bay islands as a whole and go after…