Posted on May 25, 2021
EMERALD ISLE — Florida-based contractor EarthBalance made great progress in the first week of hand-planting vegetation on new dunes created in the recent Emerald Isle beach nourishment project.
Greg Rudolph, manager of the Carteret County Shore Protection Office, said in an email Friday the company’s crews had completed the labor-intensive work in far western Emerald Isle and had transitioned to the central part of town, continuing to work west to east.
The planting had passed the Bogue Inlet Pier and was “heading towards [sic] the finish line” near the vehicular beach access ramp at Ocean Drive.
Last week, Mr. Rudolph said the planting – in the wake of completion of the 9.4-mile, $36.1 million beach nourishment project – was expected to take about a month, but it now appears it may finish more quickly.
There is no planting scheduled for the far eastern part of town because the dunes there along numbered streets were planted as part of the first phase of the post-Hurricane Florence nourishment project in 2019.
Workers for EarthBalance walk the strand in western Emerald Isle last week planting vegetation on new dunes. (Town of Emerald Isle photo)
EarthBalance also added a new high-tech step to the planting process, which began May 6, Mr. Rudolph added. Instead of watering the plants, crews are using a hydrogel, “a substance that holds and slowly releases water, and is mixed with the required fertilizer,” Mr. Rudolph said.
“Our contract stipulates an 80% success rate, and we feel very confident this requisite will be met,” he continued.
The vegetation comes from cuttings and seedlings of native plants harvested in Emerald Isle in October and germinated and grown to planting size in a greenhouse. There are about 500,000 plants, mostly sea oats, but also bitter panicum and seashore elder, going into holes punched in the sand.
The shore protection office again reminds beachgoers to stay off the dunes.
“The plants will undergo ‘transportation shock’ and may look grayish” for a few days, but they are already shooting up green growth, Mr. Rudolph said. “We don’t want to stomp on and possibly kill the plants before they have a chance to grow in place.”
He also asked those who wish to put up sand fences or use posts and rope to demarcate beach walkways should wait until all the planting is done.
