Posted on October 31, 2025
More than half of America’s sandy beaches could vanish by the end of the century. In California alone, that figure may reach 70%.
Surfrider Foundation’s State of the Beach Report 2025 warns readers that rising seas, intensifying storms and unchecked coastal development are accelerating shoreline loss across the United States.
The Foundation gathered data from over 200 Surfrider chapters and student clubs nationwide. All delivered the same message: traditional defenses are failing. The only path forward lies in nature-based, community-led adaptation and in the resilience built from the ground up.
Why Is The Crisis Accelerating?
Erosion is a natural coastal process, but climate change has amplified its force. Sea levels are rising faster, storms are stronger, and flooding is more frequent.
In 2025 alone, record-breaking rainfall flooded communities from the mid-Atlantic to Texas, where a flash flood in Kerr County killed 119 people.
Hurricane Erin battered North Carolina’s Outer Banks, while wildfires in California closed beaches for months due to toxic runoff.
Surfrider’s report also notes that political momentum to address these threats is also faltering. The new budget proposals threaten to cut funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s coastal programs and weaken the Coastal Zone Management Act, laws that have long safeguarded U.S. shorelines.
Working With Nature
The Surfrider Foundation has already spent four decades defending coastlines since its inception. Its current approach is threefold: restore natural buffers, empower communities and influence policy to support nature-based coastal resilience.
From Hawaii to Puerto Rico, the lesson is consistent: when communities restore dunes, wetlands, and mangroves, they protect both people and wildlife. These projects also foster civic engagement, climate literacy, and economic opportunity.
But the report also underscores a stark reality that resilience without policy reform can only ever be temporary. It also quotes former California Coastal Commission executive director Peter Douglas, who said, “The coast is never saved, it is always being saved,” hinting that the work is never done.
North Carolina’s Outer Banks Face a Breaking Point
Rodanthe, North Carolina, experiences one of the highest erosion rates on the U.S. East Coast, at times exceeding 20 feet per year.
The consequences extend beyond the environment. Since 2020, 12 oceanfront houses have collapsed into the Atlantic, the last one in September 2025.
Furthermore, Dare County’s economy depends heavily on coastal tourism. According to the Surfrider Foundation’s State of the Beach Report 2025, visitors spent $2.15 billion in 2023, supporting more than 12,000 jobs, which is nearly half of the county’s total employment.
While the newly revitalized Surfrider Foundation Outer Banks Chapter is looking for sustainable, community-driven ways to protect the shoreline, it is also advocating for federal funding and legislation to demolish or relocate the endangered homes.
Success Stories Against the Tide
The Surfers’ Point Managed Retreat Project in Ventura, California, is a success story for nature-based coastal adaptation. The initiative relocated a bike path and parking lot inland, restored dunes with native vegetation, and used natural cobble to stabilize the shore. Phase II, set for completion in 2026, adds decades of protection against erosion and flooding.
Surfrider’s Miami chapter partnered with the city to restore more than 10 acres of dune habitat and plant 3,000 native species along Miami Beach. The dunes now serve as natural storm barriers and biodiversity refuges for Florida’s sandy beaches.
The Mabodamaca Community Nature Reserve in Isabela, Puerto Rico, demonstrates the resilience of the residents and Surfrider volunteers. They have planted over 18,000 mangroves since 2024, restoring 40 acres devastated by Hurricane Maria. The mangroves now buffer storm surges, protect roads, and provide habitat for turtles, birds and other wildlife.
More than a decade after Hurricane Sandy, Surfrider’s New York City chapter and local nonprofit RISE are rebuilding dunes at Rockaway Beach, New York. Over 200 volunteers have planted 5,700 native plants across an acre of shoreline. Furthermore, there is success at the policy level. Surfrider helped pass New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act, which makes fossil fuel companies pay for climate adaptation projects.
Surfrider’s Oregon Beaches Forever campaign, launched in 2024, helped pass Senate Bill 504 that directs the state to prioritize non-structural shoreline stabilization and fund demonstration projects using living shorelines along Cannon Beach in Oregon.
On Lake Michigan, Surfrider’s Milwaukee Chapter has transformed small volunteer cleanups into long-term restoration projects. Local volunteers have planted 3,000 dune grasses and expanded restoration work from 0.2 acres to a 6.5-acre shoreline preserve at Atwater Beach, Wisconsin.
The Bigger Picture
As extreme weather grows more destructive, America’s beaches serve as both a warning and an opportunity. Policymakers should rethink the outdated coastal defense systems. Communities should take ownership of their shorelines before the ocean does. And the rest of us should recognize that the choices we make today also reshape the beach one way or another.
