2 - Beach Nourishment and Impacts

Summary

Chapter 2 identifies how lost natural values and human–nature relationships can be regained by nourishing beaches with compatible sediment and allowing natural processes to reestablish landforms and biota. The ways beach nourishment is placed and their positive and negative effects are reviewed. Effects include changes in morphology and habitat in offshore borrow areas and placement areas; changes in sediment size or mineralogy; alterations from equipment use; changes in aesthetics or value for recreation; incentive for coastal development; and long-term implications for biota. Suggestions are made to add value for wildlife as justification for projects, design fills to allow natural wave runup across the backshore, incorporate a dune in project designs to provide flood protection and habitat, alter the frequency and size of fill operations to aid species recovery, and institute post construction monitoring and adaptive management to ensure the fill evolves as a natural feature.