Editor’s note: Across the National Park System there are a number of threats that strike at a park’s integrity. At Fire Island National Seashore in New York, the dual threats of climate change and growing popularity put the seashore’s future at risk and landed it on National Parks Traveler’s 3rd Annual Threatened and Endangered Parks… Read More
TOPSAIL ISLAND — “Some people don’t believe it when you say climate change, but it’s here,” Surf City Mayor Doug Medlin said. He was speaking at a Dec. 15 open house for the Resilient Coastal Communities Program (RCCP), a statewide effort Topsail Island was accepted into. To mitigate the predicted effects of sea level rising… Read More
The storm-swept beaches of the Outer Banks will soon be replenished with millions of tons of sand from the Continental Shelf. The Dare County Board of Commissioners, at the year’s first meeting Jan. 3, hired a Louisiana company to pump sand from offshore onto the beaches of Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil… Read More
A recently published study examining the effects of Hurricane Florence on the lower Neuse River reveals how one river system adapted to the type of coastal storm forecasted to be the norm of future hurricane seasons. Jonathan Phillips, an adjunct professor in East Carolina University’s Department of Geography, Planning and Environment, began examining the lower… Read More
The Baker-Polito Administration announced the release of the final 2021 Massachusetts Ocean Management Plan. Authorized by the Oceans Act of 2008, the ocean plan protects critical marine habitat and important water-dependent uses, and sets standards for ocean-based development. Under the Oceans Act, the ocean plan is required to be reviewed at least every five years,… Read More
The Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) marine casualty investigators are investigating a December 23 barge allision with the Bayou Ramos Bridge near Morgan City and Amelia, La., on Highway 182. There were no reports of injuries and the incident has been declared a major marine casualty due to property damage initially estimated… Read More
INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Public beach access at Turtle Trail closed this week as work continues to restore the hurricane-damaged beach dunes. Turtle Trail Beach Access, which closed Wednesday, is the latest of the beaches to close after restoration work resumed in November. The work, which began last year, was suspended between April and November because… Read More
Adding just the right amount of sediment to the surface of a Connecticut salt marsh protects coastlines by promoting rapid plant growth, scientists from the University of Connecticut report in a new study published recently in Environmental Engineering. Adding sediment on top of salt marshes helps them stay above sea level as it continues to… Read More
SANDUSKY — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wasn’t able to carry out dredging for Sandusky’s harbor in 2021 but is on track to resume dredging this year, the agency says. The local Army Corps of Engineers office in Buffalo, New York, issued an annual report on its dredging efforts, which helps keep commerce flowing… Read More
BATON ROUGE, LA – Gov. John Bel Edwards today announced the start of construction on the Lake Borgne Marsh Creation Project in St. Bernard Parish. The project is a part of the large-scale restoration strategy for the Pontchartrain Basin to reestablish the bay rim and intertidal marsh habitat in the area. “I want to thank… Read More
Happy New Year from the AIWA! We would like to highlight some of our Association high points in 2021, as we hit the ground running in 2022! Board of Directors’ Officer Transitions The AIWA had a successful 2021 due to the active participation and support of many individuals. Executive Director Brad Pickel reached his 10 year anniversary serving… Read More
Seattle Parks and Recreation and McClung Construction have reached a milestone with the Lowman Beach Park seawall and beach restoration project. Two main components of this project are complete: demolition of the existing failed concrete seawall, as well as drilling and installation of the steel piles that provide structural support for the new seawall. The… Read More
10 billion-dollar disasters of 2021 2021 was a year of tumult across the globe, but particularly when one examines weather patterns in the United States: Wildfires raged across the West Coast in the summer and fall, Hurricane Nicholas and Tropical Storms Fred and Elsa sent wind gusts in the Southeast, and cold and heat waves… Read More
A dredging operation provides material to restore Crab Bank, an important seabird sanctuary in Charleston Harbor. Crab Bank, an island in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, has been a critical nesting spot and refuge for birds for decades. But years of erosion, and then a brutal storm and high tide in 2018, washed much of island away, and the area… Read More
SAFE WATERWAYS: State program helped clear Oak Orchard Harbor WATERPORT — A dredging project which helped maintain two Orleans County waterways has completed its second phase. The work was part of New York state’s $15 million Regional Dredging Project — an effort which is itself part of the state’s $300 million Resiliency and Economic Development… Read More