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Sandie

Beach Comber
Jul 12, 2005
37
1
Are they putting that dirt on the beaches of Watercolor, Seaside, & Seagrove? Is this just taking place at Blue Mountain? I hope the citizens can get this STOPPED! It's a shame.
 
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Kurt

Admin
Staff member
Oct 15, 2004
2,233
4,925
SoWal
mooncreek.com
Sandie said:
Are they putting that dirt on the beaches of Watercolor, Seaside, & Seagrove? Is this just taking place at Blue Mountain? I hope the citizens can get this STOPPED! It's a shame.


The only place I've seen soil that dark is at the BMB access and the home directly adjacent to the east in the photos.
 

Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,648
1,773
kurt said:
Some photos from today - 7/30/05
http://www.sowal.com/photos-073005.html

050730-bmb-003.jpg
Did that bulldozer turn over?
 

BeachDreamer

Beach Fanatic
Mar 19, 2005
444
0
46
The Peaceful Piney Woods.
Sandie said:
Are they putting that dirt on the beaches of Watercolor, Seaside, & Seagrove? Is this just taking place at Blue Mountain? I hope the citizens can get this STOPPED! It's a shame.


Unfortunately, once it's washed out to sea with the first big storm, it will be spread all over 30-A.
 

SoWalSally

Beach Fanatic
Feb 19, 2005
649
49
Hurricanes' Lesson: Don't Build on the Beach
by Orrin Pilkey and Andrew Coburn

A record four hurricanes this season have crossed Florida, but the results are not new. Beaches on the few remaining natural barrier islands have not only survived, they are as healthy as beaches always are after storms. The natural barrier islands of Florida, like those everywhere, require hurricanes to provide sand in order to survive while sea levels continue to rise. But it is a different matter on developed islands, where we see promises of cash and a huge outpouring of sympathy for storm victims, including those who owned buildings immediately adjacent to beaches.

In the chaos of the storms' aftermath, we sympathise with beachfront property owners as much as we do with those whose homes were destroyed inland. But what could be more irresponsible than building next to an eroding beach that is subject to frequent major storms - particularly since the sea level is rising at a rate of about a foot per century along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts? The storms not only caused major damage to buildings along the beach, but also quantitatively wiped away artificial beaches all over Florida and Alabama. Replacing the beaches will likely be paid for by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and will cost in excess of $100 million during the next few years. Hasn't the time come to look at beachfront development more closely?

The long record of storm damage should have provided a clue to beachfront-property owners. For example, the Florida Panhandle and Alabama coast were hit hard by Hurricanes Frederick (1979), Opal (1995) and now Ivan. What we discovered from Frederick and Opal (and Hugo in 1989 and Fran in 1996) is that hurricanes are urban-renewal projects. New buildings that replace damaged buildings are bigger and more costly. The attitude is, why not rebuild and in a big way, because the federal, state and local governments will be there waiting to help if there's another storm.

Take Gulf Shores, Alabama, where the beach was replenished with federal funding in 2001 and again after Tropical Storm Isidore in 2002. This year, the federal government will be there again with more money and more sand. We are spending a huge amount of money to save the property of a very few people.

The price society is paying for beachfront development will only go up, and each storm will make this point again. But there are some things we can do:

End the sympathy for beachfront-property owners and recognise foolish acts for what they are.
Encourage the removal of destroyed and threatened buildings and replace them with natural dunes.
Stop charging federal and state taxpayers for replenishing beaches.​

If we do replenish, then require communities to prevent the construction of big buildings next to the beach, so we can maintain some degree of flexibility in responding to a rising sea level in the near future.

Pumping sand on a beach is environmentally damaging. Every critter in the sand is killed. One of the most telling events during Ivan was the reduction in property damage along a stretch of Alabama shoreline where two rows of dunes had been retained, all because of an endangered beach mouse. The mice saved buildings by forcing the preservation of the dunes. Elsewhere in Alabama and Florida, dunes were removed to increase the sea view and building sites.

Americans must learn to look at their shorelines with a long-term view. To do this, we must step away from the politics of greed and honestly debate the future of our beaches for our great-grandchildren.

Orrin Pilkey is the James B Duke professor emeritus of earth sciences and author of A Celebration of the World's Barrier Islands and How to Read a North Carolina Beach. Andrew Coburn is associate director of Duke University's Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines.

Source: USA Today Wednesday 29 September 2004
 

BeachDreamer

Beach Fanatic
Mar 19, 2005
444
0
46
The Peaceful Piney Woods.
"We are spending a huge amount of money to save the property of a very few people."

Those are cold hard facts, but they are facts nevertheless. Same with trucking in "dirt". The beach belongs to everyone, and it is being risked in an attempt to save the homes of a select few. Any efforts to "fix" things will only be temporary, in any case. What a sad situation...
 

rwt

Beach Crab
Jul 12, 2005
1
0
58
Great work to all for the quick response and efforts to save the beaches. I've sent e-mails to all of the public officials listed in this thread. Although I will not be there tomorrow, I will be down on Thursday and Friday to work on our house. If I can do anything at that time, I am happy to take some time out to do so while I'm down.

Is there a group to which I can contribute dollars that might aid in the fight?
 
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