replenishment purposes than had originally been thought. Sands found in these areas tended 

 to be of too fine a grain size, as well as being mixed with even finer silts and clays. Although 

 this back-bay material was used in the 1962 emergency operations, it was recognized tliat a 

 better sand source would have to be located for future beach nourishment projects. These 

 poststorm recovery activities, tlien, stimulated the exploration for sand deposits offshore, 

 on the eastern Continental Shelf. ^ ^ 



There were other factors, too, involved in the development of the need for new sand 

 sources. One was the increasing use by industry of available sand, while a second was 

 expansion of coastal communities into areas of sand deposits along the shore. Both of these 

 factors, by decreasing the supply, resulted in the increased cost of sand for beach 

 nourishment projects. A third consideration was the impact of the growing environmental 

 movement. The removal of material from lagoons and other similar locations for purposes of 

 beach nourishment was being subject to increasing ecological objections. 



A few months after the March 1962 storm, the BEB initiated the important Sand 

 Inventory Program, the objective of which was to locate sand reserves in the offshore zone. 

 This program was expanded by the BEB's successor, the Coastal Engineering Research 

 Center, and later became known as tlie Inner Continental Shelf Sediment and Structure 

 (ICONS) program. 



c. Public Law 874 (1962). In October 1962, Public Law 727, passed in August 1946, 

 was amended for the second time. Whereas the 1946 law had permitted Federal funding for 

 up to one-third of the total construction costs of shore protection projects at public 

 beaches, Public Law 874, 87th Congress, now changed this allotment to one-half of the total 

 first costs. 



A second provision of this new law allowed the Federal participation in the first 

 construction costs of certain projects to go as high as 70 percent. These projects had to 

 involve the "restoration and protection of State, county, and other publicly owned shore 

 parks and conservation areas," when such areas: 



"Include a zone which excludes permanent human habitation; include but are not 

 Umited to recreational beaches; satisfy adequate criteria for conservation and 

 development of the natural resources of the environment; extend landward a 

 sufficient distance to include, where appropriate, protective dunes, bluffs, or 

 other natural features which serve to protect the uplands from damage; and 

 provide essentially full park facilities for appropriate public use, all of which shall 

 meet with the approval of the Chief of Engineers; . . ."223 



One of the intents of this provision was to discourage housing and other backshore 

 developments from encroaching too near the beach. 



Thirdly, Public Law 874 essentially abohshed the cooperative study as a means of 

 investigation of a beach erosion problem. Since tlie BEB was established, the cooperative 

 study, which could be undertaken with the approval of the Chief of Engineers and for which 



