Posted on September 3, 2025
Los Angeles County has announced it would spend $5.1 million to restore and protect a number of beaches that have been disappearing at an alarming rate in part due to rising sea levels, according to a Department of Beaches and Harbors (DBH) press release.
The county department said it would be planning and designing various measures for Dockweiler, Zuma and Redondo beaches to make them more resilient to the climate.
These beaches are losing up to 4.5 feet a year.
A Los Angeles County DBH spokesperson told Newsweek that they were “absolutely” concerned about the impact climate change was having on the county’s beaches.
“That is why our coastal resilience initiative exists,” they said.
Why It Matters
California’s beaches have narrowed and retreated in recent decades, a process driven by sea level rise, stronger storms and reduced sediment supply.
A U.S. Geological Survey model previously projected that the state could lose a substantial portion, up to 75 percent, of its shoreline by 2100 without intervention.
The steady narrowing of the state’s beaches impacts a huge number of people, as California State Coastal Conservancy data shows the beach is important to more than 89 percent of Californians, and more than 20 million adults in the state go to the beach at least once a year.
Los Angeles County DBH said in its press release that it had approved $3.1 million to widen Zuma Beach and create dune habitat, $230,000 to install a low sand barrier and restore dunes at Dockweiler State Beach, and $1.7 million to widen a section of Redondo Beach and create new dune habitat.
However, another department report said construction costs would be much higher. Changes to Zuma Beach were predicted to cost around $49 million in the report, while plans for Redondo Beach were thought to cost around $27 million.
“The $5.1 million in grant funds we received from Measure A are only for the planning and design phases of the projects, not the nourishment or other work on the beach itself,” a spokesperson for Los Angeles County DBH said.
“Right now, we have a broad idea of what we want; the planning and design phases will determine the details,” they said.
“We will need additional funding for the nourishment, as well as for seeding the dune areas with native plants, enhancing the existing dunes, constructing the sand barrier at Dockweiler State Beach, etc.,” they added.
Years of Problems
California’s beaches have been shrinking for some time. This is partly due to the fact that “most of the rivers that deliver sediment to the coast were dammed a long time ago,” Robert Young, a professor of geology and director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University, told Newsweek.
“When you place a dam on a river, all of the sediment that would be flowing in that river settles out in the reservoir instead of making it all the way to the coast,” he said.
This means “the beaches are missing some of that sand that they would naturally get from the rivers,” Young said.
Reduced sediment, combined with “accelerating” sea level rise, results in shorelines being forced inland, he added.
The department said last year that Zuma Beach loses around 3.6 feet of shoreline annually, while Dockweiler Beach erodes at a rate of 4.5 feet per year. It also said that Redondo Beach faces “narrowing challenges exacerbated by infrastructure disruptions.”
“These findings underscore the urgent need for proactive coastal resilience measures,” the department said in the 2024 press release.
Ultimately, what the department is doing with these new measures is trying to hold the beaches in place by adding sand, Young said.
“It’s temporarily effective, but the fact that we add some sand is not a permanent solution,” he added, explaining that more sand would have be added to the beaches repeatedly in order to keep them in place.
The funding for these new plans comes from Measure A, a 2016 ballot measure that brought in a parcel tax for parks, open space, beaches, rivers and water conservation.
What People Are Saying
DBH Director Gary Jones said in a statement: “We’re working with nature to protect what matters most: the beaches that connect us, support our ecosystems, and serve our communities. These projects reflect our commitment to resilience, preservation, and equity.”
A Los Angeles County DBH spokesperson told Newsweek: “The living shorelines and beach nourishment projects are part of a broader coastal resilience initiative from the Department of Beaches and Harbors [and these] nourishment projects will widen the beaches to protect beach access and public infrastructure as the department works to implement additional strategies.
“The living shoreline projects will create and enhance natural dune systems, where native plants help anchor sand in place.”
They added: “Erosion is a natural process that climate change has made worse. Due to climate change, higher sea levels and stronger storms wash sand away faster than ever, while human-made structures such as dams and sea walls reduce the amount of sediment available to replenish the beaches. Dams hold back sediment that would normally flow to the coast.
“Sea walls, which are often built to protect homes near the beach, prevent waves from eroding bluffs and creating new sediment. Sea walls can also exacerbate coastal erosion because they change the way that waves hit the shore. As sand disappears faster than new sediment arrives, beaches shrink.”
Norma E. García-González, Director of the County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation and Director of the Regional Park and Open Space District said in a statement: “Measure A was created by L.A. County voters to ensure every community has access to safe, healthy, and resilient public spaces. These living shoreline projects are a powerful example of how we can work with nature to protect our coast, strengthen climate resilience, and preserve public beach access for generations to come. By investing in science-based, community-driven solutions, we’re making sure our coastline remains a place of connection, recreation, and refuge for all.”
Young told Newsweek: “We have places where the shoreline is moving so rapidly that homes are falling in, largely on the East Coast, but there are places in California where the beach is gone. Not far from Zuma Beach in Malibu, there’s hardly any beach left in front of those unbelievably expensive homes owned by celebrities.”
He added: “It’s no exaggeration to say that we are trying to hold every beach in place by pumping sand from the coast of Maine all the way down to Florida, all the way around the Gulf Coast to Texas and most of Southern California. Every coastal resort community is doing what LA County is talking about doing here. It is a major industry and if we stopped doing this, the beaches would disappear.”
He said: “At the end of the day, I really believe that this is unsustainable over the long run. I mean, we cannot hold every beach in the U.S. in place forever by doing these projects. We’re going to run out of sand, it’s going to get too expensive, so it really is a crisis, I think, that we haven’t completely come to terms with.”
What Happens Next
Each of the plans will be moving into the design development phase, alongside environmental review, with an aim to start construction in the coming years.
