Coastal Concerns

 The Ocean's Race to New England's Shorelines
By Ryder Schumacher

Pebbles scattered across Chapin Beach in Dennis, MA are an indicator of the beaches sand lose and erosion.
(Monica Brady-Myerov/WBUR)

For many, a walk along Dennis' Chapin Beach in Cape Cod Bay is a picturesque summer outing. Blue sky complements the dark green and blue of the warm, Cape Cod Bay ocean, tall beach grass sways back and forth in the soft breeze, and sand, warm and pleasant to the touch, but sadly scattered with large, lumpy pebbles. These pebbles, not always present along the shore of Dennis' Chapin Beach, continue to grow in numbers due to coastal erosion, an environmental issue many beachfront property owners and public officials voice concern over. All along the coast of New England, beaches experience erosion of their shorelines due to sea level rise and an increase in powerful storms. Unfortunately, many New England towns will suffer developmental damages as well as economical setbacks if action is not taken to mitigate the matter.

JT Lockman of Catalysis Adaption Partners

In Old Lyme, Connecticut, storms like Hurricane Irene and Sandy have eroded five years of shoreline in a matter of months. In Portland, ME, sea levels have risen 7.5” over the last 100 years. “Most coastal planners agree that we can expect one foot [rise] between now and 2050 and three feet additional between now and 2100.” said Jon Lockman, current Vice President at Catalysis Adaptation Partners, a Southern Maine environmental planning firm. “The acceleration of the rise is expected to come from melting ice sheets now on land in Greenland.” added Lockman. Aside from Old Lyme and Portland, various other New England cities have begun to see an upsurge of their sea levels, and shrinking of their shorelines. Within the last three decades, areas of Rhode Island and Massachusetts have lost one to three feet of shoreline on average. The numbers vary depending on storm frequency and intensity.

Newbury Police scan over a home damaged during a nor'easter near Plum Island Center, MA.
Bryan Eaton/Newburyport Daily News

  While climate change and the melting of ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica strengthen sea level rises impact, storms pose a similar threat to beaches and developments of the northeast. Storm waves surge onto coastal infrastructures, often flooding parking lots and other developed areas, while beaches lose an abundance of sand and shoreline to the storms fierce waves. Astonishingly, a single storm has the ability to wash away 30 feet of beach. State officials must now decide how they will protect town developments as well as the states economic engine, its beaches. For those living on beachfront property, the solution to the latter couldn’t come soon enough.

Mike Couchie reminisces over how the Matunuck beach used to appear.
Gretchen Ertl/The New York Times

            In Matunuck, a small village in South Kingston, Rhode Island, residents feel threatened by a terrifying, yet calm predicament, a gradually ebbing shoreline. In an interview with The New York Times, Mike Couchie, a lifetime Matunuck resident, said he remembers when there was over 100 feet of beach in front of the Ocean Mist, a bar and grill in Matunuck. Now, coastal erosion greatly impacts the beach to the point where only 12 feet of beach remains during high tide. The encroaching ocean is a tranquil enemy to those with beachfront property, such as the owners of the Ocean Mist, but its damages amount to far greater extents when storms pass through the area, an occurrence that is quite common.

            As the tide continues creeping inward, residents worry whether they will be able to leave their homes during a ferocious storm. With about a dozen feet distancing the road (Matunuck's rain route of transportation) from the oceans tide, town officials must decide whether to begin the process of protecting beachfront property, the town's roads, or their beaches shoreline, which in essence, serves as the towns largest economic asset during the summer. “If we were to lose the road, we would lose all public safety access and egress,” said Stephen Alfred, town manager of South Kingston, Rhode Island. The decisions are by no means easy to make. Solutions to coastal erosion usually function at first, but often fail shortly thereafter. However, to the residents of Matunuck, anything beats the option of relocation, an idea that is becoming far too real.

Raised infrastructures along Matunuck beach are one solution to sea level rise in South Kingston, RI.
Gretchen Ertl/The New York Times

            Several solutions exist for handling coastal erosion. “In Maine, some communities have required homes being built in flood prone areas to be placed 3’ higher than the flood plain rather than the required 1’ change in elevation,” said Lee Jay Feldman, director of land use and planning at the Southern Maine Regional Planning and Development Commission. “Other communities have been evaluating all of the infrastructures, such as Sewers, water pump stations and streets to determine if they should retrofit, abandon or do nothing to areas that will be impacted in the next 100 years.” added Feldman. Back in Matunuck, town officials approved the construction of a sheet-pile wall, or seawall to break waves before they flood streets and crash into developments. Other solutions include coir logs (a biodegradable erosion prevention technique made from coconut fiber), artificial reefs, marine mattresses, drift fences and sand replenishment projects.

            Some towns prefer certain solutions, each of which has its varied levels of effectiveness, depending on location. In Rhode Island, talks of sand replenishment methods ended when officials discovered that 90,000 cubic yards of sand had been lost statewide after hurricane Sandy. The numbers were far to great to try and make up, so to protect development, seawalls were installed. Chapin Beach, on the Cape Cod Bay, has tried mitigating their problem by using sand replenishment, hoping to do

Town Neck Beach in Sandwich, MA is scheduled to undergo sand replenishment treatment.

away with the thousands of lumpy rocks that became visible after the lose of vast amounts of sand. Beaches, however, continue to wash away sand and erode even after sand replenishment strategies finish, this is because oceans are dynamic systems. Much of the sand that is lost due to coastal erosion or strong storms often makes its way back to the beaches; the question is when it will return.

            What’s even more unsettling is the idea that coastal erosion is a natural process. Peter Hanrahan, a professional in erosion and sediment control at E.J. Prescott Inc. said during an interview with ECORI.org, “Our beaches were created by erosion and are constantly being reshaped by erosion”. In other words, erosion is part of how the oceans operate and can only be slowed down. Proposed solutions will never be final, only temporary. Though as temporary as they may be, they prove vital in maintaining operative developments and welcoming New England beaches. As erosion continues to worsen and beaches continue to lose shoreline, solutions to the dilemma must improve and develop in order to contest the effects of sea level rise and ferocious storms. 

Bibliography

. Bidgood, Jess. "In Rhode Island, Protecting a Shoreline and a Lifeline." The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 May 2012. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/us/in-rhode-island-protecting-a-shoreline-and-a-lifeline.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0>.

. Campbell, Matt. "State Sees High Levels of Beach Erosion after Powerful Storms." WFSB.com. WFSB 3, 5 June 2013. Web. 2 Mar. 2014. <http://www.wfsb.com/story/22196613/state-sees-high-levels-of-beach-erosion-after-powerful-storms>.

. Carina, Frank. "Erosion Happens: Can We Deal With It?" EcoRI News. Environmental News for Southern New England, n.d. Web. 14 Feb. 2014. <http://www.ecori.org/climate-change/2014/1/14/erosion-happens-can-we-deal-with-it.html>.

. Connecticut Style. "Shoreline Towns Battling Beach Erosion." YouTube. YouTube, 09 Mar. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLQxkB5CNwQ>.

. Myerov, Monica B. "Cape Cod Beaches Eroding At Alarming Rate." Cape Cod Beaches Eroding At Alarming Rate RSS 20. 90.9 Wbur, 4 Aug. 2011. Web. 21 Feb. 2014. <http://www.wbur.org/2011/08/04/cape-erosion>.

  .WPRI. "Matunuck: Erosion, Tons of Sand Gone." YouTube. YouTube, 31 Oct. 2012. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOKv0pa09mw>.