South Florida, Out of Beach, Wants to Buy Sand from the Bahamas
Miami-Dade County lost 170,000 cubic yards of sand during Hurricane Irma. It’s the latest blow to South Florida beaches in perennial decline. Nearly half the state’s coast—411 miles’ worth of beach—is considered “critically eroded.”
New Federal Study: Dredging is harming more endangered fish
A study from the National Marine Fisheries Service says a few more endangered sturgeon and sea turtles have been killed as a result of the dredging in the Savannah River.
Malibu, CA: Broad Beach Sand Project Costs Jump to $55-60 Million Per Decade
The Broad Beach Geologic Hazard Abatement District (GHAD) is now contending with another set of lawsuits over a project originally estimated to cost about $20 million, which is now estimated to cost $55 to $60 million every 10 years. The project will involve bringing in megatons of sand every few years to restore the disappearing beach and dunes.
Replacing Miami’s beach sands costs millions. Here’s how Congress intends to make it cheaper
Miami is out of sand. Last year, Miami-Dade County depleted its offshore sand reserves, meaning miles of beaches that shrink from erosion must be replenished with sand from outside South Florida.
How Hurricane Irma blew away the beach in Miami Beach
Hurricane Irma smacked Miami Beach’s shoreline with enough wind and rain to reshape some of the water’s edge, including washing away chunks of sand from a recently completed $11.5 million beach widening project.
A variety of maritime activities contribute to sea turtle deaths
Ask what water-based activity interacts the most with threatened and endangered sea turtles and many will reply without hesitation: commercial fishing. But state records show that to be incorrect.
Sand Project: More Turtles Than Expected
Federal agencies are re-evaluating sea turtle activities off part of the Outer Banks after large numbers of the marine animals have had to be moved out of the way of an ongoing beach re-nourishment project.
Big beaches are back in Oceanside, CA
Workers have finished their two-month dredging of the Oceanside harbor, leaving a fresh coat of sand on beaches as the summer tourist season gets under way.
Rewilding Santa Monica’s thoroughly artificial beach
In the early 1900s, L.A. County beaches were not yet the tourist destination they would one day become. To draw more tourists, local municipalities wanted the beaches of the Santa Monica Bay to mimic those on the nation’s opposite coast: bigger, flatter, wider. Beach managers decided then, to bend the area’s geology, making Southern California beaches take on a more Floridian aesthetic. It was built by moving sand from one place and dumping it into another, turning the tourist-friendly beach into an ecological wasteland.