Gone To The Beach: 02.20.2016

Saturday, February 20, 2016

Let's Go Look

Hi! I braved the cold and wind the other day and hiked down to the beach to investigate the erosion and the Big Trucks Project.

As you know it's not the temps, it's the wind. No footprints on the dune path today.

I had the beach all to myself, not even a seagull. Well, me and the scary monster trucks.

These are the new outer dunes on my beach, rebuilt naturally since 2012, H Sandy. The water swept through these new dunes, as you can see.

The beach is wide but much lower. We must have lost maybe 3 feet or more depth of sand.

As I walked out to the waterline, it seemed so much closer and I was so upset because I thought it was just past low tide.

Later I rechecked my tide chart and instead it was just a half hour before high tide.

So I suppose things are pretty good. The beach can change massively form one season to the next anyway. And it always comes back, sooner or later.

Over to the east, the huge old dune construction was very quickly restored, rebuilt by an army of immense earth movers [snow plows?].

The new area is similar to the original, yet being man made it will lack the strength and integrity of a natural dune that is built over many years, composed of sand, debris, beach grasses and plant roots. Even the tiny grains of sand settle and mesh naturally to form the strong protective dune.

Part of this action is a many millions of dollars FEMA rebuild again from H. Sandy. Money and action move slow, as this is the third spring since the hurricane. Below is a map [Google satellite] of the large dune, the structure to the left. It seems much of this except the lower/ front left quarter was either swept away by last week's storms or plowed away by the trucks. Or both?

I hope to get better pictures at some point. The huge trucks are fast and focused, I am afraid to get too near them. In the town beach a person was killed by a sand truck a few years ago. The drivers don't expect people, I suppose.

Not a cloud in the sky, not a bird to be seen. No shells or sea glass, no treasures. The oyster catchers will return soon, on March 17; the plovers come about April 1st. I was glad to see the trucks including the sand rakes working earlier this year. Nest numbers are way down and I think the aggressive springtime sand upkeep is partly to blame.