Beach Nourishment: 
So many questions - Only one real answer 

Contributed by Gerry Ottavino

(i) People are the primary source of erosion problems, causing them whenever they foolishly build on or close to barrier beaches. Effectively, where there is no permanent construction, there are no erosion problems; 

ii) barrier beaches and, particularly, their coastlines are fragile, amorphous, mutable and unstable; and 

(iii) projects, designed to stabilize or otherwise control coastline dynamics, usually end up as abject failures, sometimes eradicating barrier beaches. In summary, the term "beach community" is an oxymoron with an accompanying knell for both beach and community. Barrier beaches are not permanent and nothing permanent belongs upon them. They are for transients only. Man may visit but must not build.

But we have built. So, what do we do to preserve our wonderful "oxymoron?"

I suspect the experts referenced in Dean’s book would basically agree: Do nothing, leave the beach alone … you will only do more harm than good … nature runs in cycles, so let it take its course … a beach will replenish itself over time. And I endorse their advice and admonitions, advocating everyone who migrates to an undeveloped barrier beach, absent of permanent buildings and infrastructure, heed them as gospel. But I strongly question whether such gospel can be adopted blindly, applied universally or translated effectively when counseling residents rooted to an urbanized one such as our own. The defeatist response: There is no viable solution and any attempt to effectuate one is doomed to fail is far too fatalistic; and, I dare say, one our community can neither afford nor accept. Who knows for sure if, where or when the inexorable ocean will reverse itself at Point Lookout? Will it be at the dunes in March, Ocean Blvd. next November or Beech Street ten years from now? How will Point Lookout families react when they won’t have a square yard of beach to sit on this summer and are told: "Wade home and wait for Mother Nature?" Or, much worse, what credible official will tell homeowners on Ocean Blvd., when the Atlantic is lapping up against their homes some winter, to: "Relax, the beach will replenish itself next spring?" Given the erosion and inundation problems currently manifesting themselves at Civic and Middle Beaches, particularly during storms and high tides, these questions are legitimate and cannot be dismissed as Chicken Little exaggerations.

Many people, even some in our community, are under the misconception our barrier beach stops where the sand ends and the asphalt begins. Not true - Its limits span the entire length and width of Long Beach Island, from channel to channel and shoreline to bayside. Others believe the Island’s erosion problems began with groin construction along its and neighboring shorelines. Also not true - Its problems began long before the groins appeared. They began when the Island’s nascent communities first constructed permanent buildings and anchored their infrastructure to it. If we accept the experts’ conclusions, choose to reject artificial coast management programs, and remove all the groins, do we then remove and relocate all its buildings and infrastructure as well? After all, experts agree it is this permanent construction that initiated our erosion problems in the first place (although groins now serve to perpetuate them as well). Or, having taken up residence here, and I suspect intending to stay, do our communities, already anchored to an urbanized barrier beach from shoreline to bayside, find a way to: insulate themselves from a "hungry" ocean; protect themselves from "angry" storms; or, at least, plan to mitigate their ill effects in the meantime? Just what do we do and how do we do it?

After eliminating the "Do nothing" solution because it courts disaster and the "remove and relocate" solution because it proposes the absurd, is there a solution that will thwart, postpone or, at least, ease misfortune? By applying a prudent mix of good sense and good science, the answer is: Yes! The proposed U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Barrier Beach Storm Damage Reduction Project is a commitment toward finding the optimal mix and effectively applying it to Long Beach Island. It is an $85.2 million federally and state funded project, designed to create a 6.8 mile long dune and berm system from Point Lookout through the west end of Long Beach. As proposed, the Project offers extensive beach nourishment and mass mitigation (i.e., preventive maintenance), the best safeguards against erosion and storm disaster. Emergency management authorities are quick to point out for every dollar spent on hurricane mitigation, two are saved on recovery efforts. Not having a mitigation plan in place is analogous to our entire town riding in a bus without seat belts. This Project will install seat belts in our bus. Granted, the belts will not prevent serious injuries if a collision occurs at 95 mph but they will certainly prevent many injuries and mitigate others at 35 mph. Further, the Project serves, to a degree, as an insurance policy since, without proper engineering, government agencies, such as FEMA, will offer no assistance even in the event of disaster. This Project provides the required engineering. Finally, the Project guarantees 50 years of monitoring and maintenance. Given these criteria alone, the Civic Association’s position is: This opportunity is vital to the welfare of our community; and, even if it is not a perfect solution, it is our only solution and must be effectuated - NOW! 

Two notes: 

(i) The Point Lookout Civic Association continues to ask the question: If not this Project, then what do you suggest? Other than the "Do nothing" response, to date the Civic has encountered no alternative to the proposed Project, viable or otherwise. If anyone can produce one, we are eager to listen; 

ii) The proposed Project is currently in its Design & Engineering stage and work could start as early as the spring of 2004.

Gerry Ottavino
Co-chair, Point Lookout Civic Association
Beach & Environmental Committees

Copyright @ 2001 by Julie McTernan and Barb Fiorillo