Folly Beach restoration project aims to protect coastline and wildlife

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. — Folly Beach is making a significant comeback this beach season, thanks to a multi-million dollar renourishment project in collaboration with the Army Corps of Engineers.

The project, which costs around $18 million, aims to widen the beaches for both storm protection and recreation.

“The beach looks great today. The renourishment project really helped,” said Nicole Elko, the City of Folly Beach’s Coastal Management Consultant. Elko reflected on the progress made so far, noting that last year’s efforts brought more than 100 feet of sand to the beach, addressing the dangerously low sand levels caused by various weather events.

This year’s focus is on reinforcing the six miles of beachfront dunes. “The contractor should be here with new sea grasses, and other plants that will go in along the dune system here,” Elko said. Planting vegetation is expected to restore the health of the dunes, which have been damaged or destroyed by recent storms.

“During the last several hurricanes, many of Folly’s dunes were eroded. So, there are some parts of the community that have seawalls exposed, or they did prior to the renourishments. So they’re dunes are completely gone. So, building the dunes back with the sand that’s available on the beach is a high priority of the project,” Elko explained. The restoration work will help the upper part of the beach manage major flooding issues.

Elko emphasized the importance of these protections for Folly Beach’s way of life. “The economic benefit of the beach is critical for a community like Folly. They essentially can’t operate without the beach,” she said. Additionally, the project supports wildlife, including critical species that rely on the beach and dunes as their habitat.

This includes turtles, which nest in the dunes to protect their eggs. Turtle nesting season officially begins next month.

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