By KIMBERLY ACEVEDO
Some experts believe there is a lesson to be learned from Folly Beach.
The USACE had built groins, also known as jetties, in Charleston Harbor, eight miles north of Folly Beach, to stabilize the entrance. When currents moved sand south, the groins blocked the sand flow to Folly Beach. During the 1940s and after years of building sea walls and close-nit groins-which allegedly failed to stop the erosion-Folly Beach, a barrier island six miles in length and half a mile wide, became completely submerged at high tide during normal tidal cycles.
In his book "The Corps and the Shore," Orrin Pilkey of Duke University describes how the Corps initially denied that the groins at Charleston Harbor were responsible for erosion at Folly Beach. However, by the mid 1980s, the Corps admitted they were responsible for a little over 50 percent of the erosion problem. That meant the United States owed Folly Beach a new beach under Section 111, which is reserved for damage mitigation.
According to Pilkey, miscommunication between the officials and the Corps largely influenced their beach restoration. Folly Beach officials requested that sand be added to the beach in front of a Holiday Inn, located next to the beach, according to Pilkey. He said in the Corps' 1992 plan, a support berm solely for the dredging pipeline was included. But the plan did not include maintaining a beach in front of the Holiday Inn. The city's understanding was different, according to Pilkey.
"That's normal modus operandi for the Corps," Pilkey said. "They're very, very slippery and they'll do anything to get their projects. They're very difficult to work with, especially if there is some cross purpose." Pilkey believes most areas that suffer beach erosion have no choice but to work with the Corps since "they are the only game in town because they're the only ones that have money."
In Long Beach, miscommunication between the Corps and city officials has been a long-running complaint by some council members.
"They will look to manipulate the situation," City Council member Denis Kelly charged. "That's evident by the fact that they keep changing their story every time we see them."
Several council members have conducted independent studies of the USACE project. At Folly Beach, officials didn't conduct an independent study and went by the Corps' word, according to Pilkey.
Connor says that the latest Folly Beach renourishment has worked. Although she was not present for the renourishment in 1993, Connor believes the project has gone well. But Pilkey disputes that.
"There is severe erosion to the south of the hotel. There is no beach in front of the hotel except at the lowest low tide."
Folly Beach is preparing for their next beach nourishment in 2004. Connor notes that the city currently conducts their own independent study, separate from the Corps.
Closer to home: West Hampton Dunes
Erosion on Long Island isn't anything new, especially on the Eastern End. Severe erosion has affected the Eastern End since the 1940s. For Westhampton Beach, many factors have contributed to the demise of its beach, including artificially maintained inlets (Shinnecock and Moriches), incomplete construction of a groin field and failures to fill the groin compartments with dredged sand.
History plays an important role when the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) calls the project at Westhampton Beach a success.
For Westhampton Beach, problems began with Shinnecock Inlet, which was formed during a storm in September 1938. The inlet was stabilized in 1952 after two stone groins were built. The groins disrupted the flow of sand from East to West that provided nourishment for Westhampton Beach, according to a recent study at Duke University. The study says that in 1955, erosion increased on the Western side of the inlet after dredging the inlet beach.
Moriches Inlet has had a smaller effect on erosion at Westhampton Beach. A small channel in the North of Moriches Inlet, known as the Northwest Passage, was created to provide sand for beach nourishment. The USACE filled the inlet and the state armored the barrier island facing the passage.
The USACE proposed a beach erosion control and hurricane protection project, which spanned from Fire Island to Montauk Point. The project, designed to restore recreational and protective beaches, would create stability and provide protection against hurricane tidal flooding.
But the USACE ran into several problems while constructing the 23 groins at Westhampton Beach. Suffolk County halted funding for the project and the USACE didn't complete the 23 groins. Only 15 groins were completed, according to the study. The order of construction was reversed-meaning it was started in the east, where the most valuable homes were located. The study reports that change created substantial erosion to the west of the groins.
The study also said that the final eight groins were not built, since officials believed they only benefited a handful of residents. This left four miles of unprotected beach, including the Village of West Hampton Dunes and two miles of Cupsogue County Park.
A failed 1973 lawsuit by the residents sought damages worth $7 million. The residents said the government should have known that the groin field would cause accelerated beach erosion.
In 1984, residents who live west of the groins filed a suit claiming that the failure to build additional groins for protection were causing severe damage.
In November 1994, an agreement was reached which stipulated residents give up all damage claims. A new dune and beach will be constructed and maintained for 30 years, regardless of cost. The groin compartments are to be filled and the two western-most groins are to be tapered off to facilitate littoral drift. The county will pay the Village $4 million in damages and legal fees and build seven public access points. Property owners can rebuild, but all land south of the constructed dune would be known as a Suffolk County conservation easement. It also stipulated that endangered species may be protected by signs, symbolic fencing or enclosures.
The USACE finished the first renourishment project in February 2001. "It's doing excellent," West Hampton Dunes village clerk Colleen Olsen said. "Better than we had anticipated and the beach is doing really well. It comes and goes with the change of the weather a little bit. Basically they've done a great job. We're very happy with what's going on with the Army Corps."
Although the project is deemed successful, no major storms have hit Long Island since the early 1990s. One single large storm could bring in high rates of erosion, demanding nourishment and project costs to rise, according to a study.
During the summer of 2001, U.S. Fish and Wildlife personnel established symbolic fencing around hundreds of yards of beach for the Piping Plovers. The Plovers, listed under the Featherland Endangered Species List, creates nests in the dunes. In West Hampton Dunes, residents filed a law suit claiming that 90 percent of the beach was symbolically fenced before any nests were found and that resident's enjoyment and property value has been seriously damaged. The suit is currently pending.
Cedar Beach: Getting a closer look
At a glance, it doesn't look big from the Ocean Parkway. At Cedar Beach, east of Jones Beach in the Town of Babylon, industrial equipment including a dredge, booster and pipeline decorate the beach. The dredge is estimated to be a mile off shore. However, the booster, which allows dredging from farther distances, sits on a barge that was brought in from Florida. Anchored to the shore, the booster is elevated at least 20 feet above the shore. A barnacle-covered pipeline leads from the dredge to the booster and back out onto the beach. The pipe mouth is approximately two feet in diameter, but USACE officials said the pipes vary. The pipeline runs along the shore, half-buried, half-exposed, for "several miles." It is large enough to "suck up a 300 pound boulder," said an employee of the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, which is contracted from the USACE. He described the dredge as a "giant vacuum" that sucks up sand. The employee wore head gear to muffle the sounds of the booster, which could be heard in the parking lot 500 feet away.
The sight and sound of the equipment doesn't bother many residents at Cedar Beach since, well, there really aren't any..
Unlike the Cedar Beach dredging, which figures to last only two to four months, the dredging in Long Beach is estimated to be "two to four years" spanning annually from May to October, during the warmer months, USACE project manager Anthony Ciorra said. He said the work would have to be done during those months because the equipment is weather dependent and could shut down in bad weather. Ciorra notes that the entire beach would not be shut down during those months, only several beaches at a time.
For Gene and Carol Traynor, who live in Manhattan but spend their weekends in Long Beach, that "noise out there would defeat the purpose of Long Beach. Our peace and serenity, that's what we look for. A real serene place." Gene Traynor said that he listens to cars honking their horns in the city and comes to Long Beach to "get away" from that.
In Long Beach the equipment could differ slightly than Cedar Beach. Ciorra said workers may use either a cutter-head dredge, which pumps directly to the beach from the borrow site, or a hopper dredge, which mixes dredged sand and water and transports it by sailing or tugging to a pump-out buoy. The buoy connects to a submerged pipeline, which is connected to shore pipe.
The type of equipment that would be used is not final but Ciorra said "sometimes they add a booster pump to a pipe line dredge when they want to get some extra [power]."
There were mixed reactions to the work from recent visitors to Cedar Beach. "I think they are doing a good job but it's not pretty," said Kathy Beverly of Farmingdale, who brought her family for a walk on the beach. "It looks like a big monster that crawled out the water and it's really loud."
For an out of town visitor, seeing Cedar Beach and the industrial equipment for the first time was surprising. "It's not what I was expecting to see but I'm glad that it's sand and water and not something else," said Eric, who didn't want to give his last name.
But for Beverly's 14-year old daughter Kendra, she that "as long as it's not here in the summer, I don't really mind it. If it were I wouldn't want to come."
