North Topsail is getting millions for beach nourishment. How long will the sand last? – Star News Online

Unspoiled Beach of North Topsail Island, 2018 (by Michael Au CC BY 2.0 via Flickr).

Last month North Carolina doled out nearly $20 million in grants to help coastal communities better fortify and rebuild beach infrastructure battered by recent hurricanes, tropical storms, and nor’easters.

But in a world where climate change is bringing higher seas and more frequent and ferocious storms to our shores, is investing taxpayer dollars in the sand that’s all but guaranteed to have a limited lifespan on the beach a smart investment?

When beaches are trashed, who pays the price?

A recent NOAA-funded study found that when the amount of marine debris normally on beaches is doubled, coastal economies could experience a substantial negative impact due to a decrease in beach visits and loss of economic activity in those communities.

Médano Blanco Coastal Dunes, Argentina

white-dunes-argentina

Narrow cordons of coastal dunes stretch for hundreds of kilometers along this part of Argentina’s coast. The Médano Blanco is not far from the arid and windy borderlands with Patagonia, one of the windiest places on Earth.

A Feast Interrupted

Every few days, in some places as often as twice a day, tractors roll along a hundred miles or so of sandy beaches in southern California, changing rich coastal habitats into barren plains of unstable sand.