quickly swept away the dunes and, in many cases, 

 overwashed segments of the barrier islands from Bogue 

 Banks to Kure Beach. In places, 20 to 30 feet of beachfront 

 were washed away. 



Most of the sand sucked from the beaches was 

 deposited offshore. But waves did push some sand land- 

 ward, depositing it in low-lying areas behind the dunes. 

 Now, the multibillion dollar question in terms of tourism 

 and coastal development becomes, "How much of the sand 

 will be restored naturally?" 



It depends on the type of beach, say Riggs, Cleary and 

 Snyder. 



In some areas, the beach will recover entirely, but 

 gradually, during the next 10 to 15 years. 



The impact may be very different for rock and mud/ 

 peat-based beaches — a description that fits much of the 

 shoreline from south Onslow to Kure beaches. Along these 

 shores, some of the sand will return during the next decade. 

 But Riggs, Cleary and Snyder ultimately anticipate a net 

 loss of the gritty stuff and a beach face that lies 10 or more 

 feet landward of its former location. 



Once the sand is drawn offshore, Riggs explains, it 

 becomes trapped behind natural reefs called hardbottoms 

 that often lie just feet beyond the surf zone. Some of these 

 reefs, which resemble underwater mesas, rise 6 to 15 feet 

 off the ocean floor. Sand falls in the valleys or canyons 

 between the reefs, where waves can't move it shoreward. 



With less sand available, the shoreline recedes. 



Of those areas in Hurricane Fran's strike zone, 

 Wrightsville and Carolina beaches fared best, say Cleary 

 and Rogers. Both had been nourished with thousands of 

 tons of sand, making the point that more is better when it 

 comes to sand and storm protection. Wrightsville and 

 Carolina beaches experienced far fewer breeches of the 

 dunes, much less overwash and little structural building 

 damage due to the storm surge, Rogers says. 



But beach nourishment doesn't come without heavy 

 costs — $1 million to $10 million per mile of sand replen- 

 ishment. These are dollars not all beach communities 

 can afford, especially considering that their investment 

 may wash away with the next big storm. Questions about 

 who benefits and who pays for these costly expenditures 

 also arise. 



And while shortcuts may seem cheaper, they don't 

 pay off. Bulldozing sand already on the beach into a tall 

 dune just beyond the high tidemark doesn't constitute a 

 beach nourishment project, Rogers says. 



"Beach bulldozing doesn't do anything but help the 

 property owners' sense of well-being," Rogers says. "They 

 see more sand, but there's not more there, and beach 

 communities are often wasting substantial dollars that 

 could be spent on more effective efforts." 



Beach nourishment adds new sand to the system with 

 dunes built as far landward as possible. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 5 



