AT&T Poles Almost Gone At Good Luck Point

Back to nature.

For the first time nearly 90 years, visitors have almost a pristine view of Barnegat Bay and the Thomas A. Mathis Bridge from Good Luck Point in Bayville.

Most of the wooden poles that once dotted the bayside of the tidal marshlands are gone, thanks to a contractor hired by the state Division of Fish and Wildlife to take them down. It's approaching the final phase of the plan to transform the marshlands into a wildlife refuge.

Work on the pole demolition began in early January. Contractors will leave some poles up for osprey nests.

They will still be home to ospreys, who will soon return to the tidal marshlands, said Ben Wurst of the The Conserve Wildlife Foundation. Foundation members have mapped the location of osprey nexts on the property, which is now part of the Edwin B. Forsythe Wildlife Refuge.

"We did this to ensure that no nests would be removed and that those that were left were in a good viewing location for the public, which is always an important component of engaging residents and visitors in their long term conservation," he told Newsworks. "In addition, we pledged to enhance the poles that were left for ospreys so that they would be left at a manageable height for future maintenance and monitoring."

Decades ago, the poles, lofty metal antennas and wires and the brick transmitter building were a major, state-of-the-art communications center on the Jersey Shore. The facilities were a high-frequency, shortwave radio transmitting station providing telephone high-seas service to ships at seas and to overseas locations under the call sign WOO, according to www.long-lines.net.

Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to remove roughly 340 poles and towers of the huge rhombic antennas that lie rusting in the marsh grass. The acres of marshlands are now home to egrets, ospreys, herons and even bald eagles.

The project will be funded by the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013 and will enhance the salt marshes, according to the federal Fish and Wildlife website.

Good Luck Point is a bird migration and wintering spot along the Atlantic Flyway, according to The Trust for Public Land.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife is also proposing to remove 113 poles and several antennas from the WOO companion site in Stafford Township. The entire Stafford property is a conservation easement to the wildlife service, which does not own the building, the website states.

Both properties are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

Images: Patricia A. Miller (editor's note - the last three photos were taken several years ago.)