It’s a project that first came to fruition in 2018 and was completed in 2022. After escarpment and wind erosion from Category 1 Hurricane Nicole hitting Hutchinson Island head-on in November of that year, another renourishment project was slated for 2026.

St. Lucie County officials say this nearly $15-million renourishment project will not only help protect the beach against future storms, but also create a healthier habitat for sea turtle nesting.

“We have seen a lot of storm damage in the last few years. Fortunately, we haven’t had any real direct major hits from hurricanes. But even strong winds during the winter can cause erosion on our beaches,” said Erick Gill, the Communications Director for St. Lucie County.

“It’ll be roughly almost 400,000 cubic yards of sand that will be brought in, pumped through piping offshore to help renourish our beaches, to protect the shoreline, but also provide habitat for sea turtles,” said Gill.

Even though we’re outside of sea turtle nesting season, safeguards are in place to protect the environment.

“We’ve had turtles lay as early as mid-February, even though typically the season doesn’t start till March. But they do have biologists on site and people monitoring that. In case, you know, we get an early sea turtle nesting season, and then they’ll, they’ll work around that,” said Gill…