Beaches are unique coastal environments with ecological, recreational and economic value. However their health is challenged by both natural dynamic coastal processes and human activities, and the two taken together can feed off of each other, often leading to new or compounded issues. What can be done to manage the intertwined challenges of economic development and erosion?
In this third piece of our mini-series about coastal resiliency, GHD maritime and coastal practitioners share recaps of the presentations they’ll be giving at the upcoming Florida Shore and Beach Preservation Association’s 32nd National Technical Conference, and address some of the ways that communities are working to preserve and protect their beaches, while also building, maintaining, and improving needed infrastructure.
Creating a living shoreline project
In southern California, the shoreline is vulnerable to coastal flooding during large storms and will also be affected by projected rates of sea level rise. GHD’s Coastal and Maritime team is part of a team that will build a living shoreline at South Cardiff State Beach in Encinitas, next to Highway 101, to help prevent future flooding and further erosion. Using soft engineering techniques, the team will design and build a nature-based shoreline protection system in combination with a buried revetment, creating a coastal dune habitat that acts as a natural alternative to “hard” shoreline stabilization methods like revetments or seawalls. Living shorelines use native vegetation alone or in combination with structures (for example, offshore sills) to stabilize the shoreline. Their benefits include nutrient pollution remediation, essential fish habitat provision, and shoreline buffering from waves and storms. They also have the potential to store carbon and help mitigate the effects of climate change.
Victor Tirado, Brian Leslie, and Mitch Duran from GHD, along with their co-author from the City of Encinitas, say that “The project will serve as a regional pilot program to assess the feasibility of utilizing dune systems for shoreline protection. A robust five-year monitoring program has been established, so that learnings can be shared with other coastal communities.” Download the full abstract.
Strategic intervention for a reef in grief
The designated World Heritage Area of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia is in demise. In addition to storms and sea temperature increases, it is being stressed by development pressures due to demand from a growing population, including industrial uses such as expanded port facilities. This has reduced the resiliency of the reef to additional development impacts such as nutrient run off or sediment overloading, and the result has been a significant loss of coral cover and impacts to biodiversity
A recent comprehensive Strategic Assessment demonstrated gaps in the legislative protections, and a key focus area was the restriction on dredging and development of five priority ports that support significant international trade.
GHD’s Dr. Kerry Neil will walk through the actions that highlighted the risks to the Reef and the strategic interventions that have occurred to try and halt its decline, and will present data to consider if the interventions are adequate to avoid the demise of the greatest barrier reef on earth. Download the full abstract.
Conditions for establishing a successful living shoreline project
Jesse Davis, a Senior Coastal Engineer in GHD’s Miami, FL office, will share the insights he learned while conducting a study for the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Cherry Point in Havelock, North Carolina about the potential for implementing living shorelines to help stabilize shoreline erosion around existing infrastructure. He examines both the natural and man-made conditions to establish a design that would be cost-effective, feasible, functional, resilient, and sustainable -- and ultimately works now to protect the shore from extreme storm events, while increasing the shoreline’s resiliency to future sea level rise. Read an expanded discussion about this case study of restoring coastal environments in our second piece of this series, or download the full abstract.
Meet our Maritime and Coastal team speakers
Jesse Davie
Specialties: Design, permitting, environmental field assessments, and construction phase services for projects located within Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, New York, New Jersey, Washington, Alaska, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, and Brazil |
Brian Leslie
Specialties: Shoreline protection, Coastal science and engineering, Coastal communities planning |
Kerry Neil
Specialties: Coastal marine assessments and development impact management, dredged material management solutions, port environments, ecological marine research, marine pest monitoring programs, marine biosecurity, invasive species |
