Posted on August 1, 2022
Dave Bernstein of Geodynamics, the county’s beach surveying firm, said Monday the ocean search for and identify offshore sand to use for future beach nourishment projects is about 25 percent complete.
Speaking during a meeting of the Carteret County Beach Commission in Emerald Isle, Mr. Bernstein said he is optimistic the multi-year project will find good sources of beach-quality sand, but the real key will be to determine whether they are “feasible” to mine, in terms of difficulty to bring up and distance to site, both of which will affect cost.
Among the best possible sites, he said, are “paleo channels,” old channels that ran to the ocean before being buried as sea level rose.
“We are in a geologically unique area” where there are a lot of those channels, he said.
The beach commission endorsed the project last year after completing three years of nourishment work along Bogue Banks beaches, from Fort Macon State Park at the east end of the island to the tip of Emerald Ise at the western end. While there are no nourishment projects currently planned, and experts don’t believe the search for additional sand is an emergency, county commissioners last year approved $1 million for this first phase of the work.