America’s beaches are in danger of disappearing.

There is a severe erosion problem in the United States. It is not that beaches have been totally ignored—there is actually a federal beach nourishment program dating back to the 1920s and 1930s—but there has been a general neglect of beaches.

Erosion is a natural process, and we should forswear fighting Mother Nature.

A good part of erosion is caused by human intervention. When people first settled here, they created ports. The more we have needed to expand ports, the more we have created navigation channels and intracoastal waterway systems. And every time you create one of those channels, you build hardened structures like docks, seawalls and jetties. These are supposed to prevent sand from silting up ports, but they also stop sand from flowing along the coast in a natural manner. As a result, nearby beach areas can become starved for sand. The beach in St. Augustine, Fla., suffered from a navigation channel put in there for a naval installation. A beautiful community was seeing its beach totally wiped out as a result of that channel.

Nothing says that a homeowners association cannot become a sponsor of a small federal beach restoration program.

The construction of homes and high-rise buildings along beachfronts exacerbates the problem.

The construction of beachfront homes by themselves causes no erosion. But beachfront homes are generally the most expensive ones in a given area. Once they are built, they create a need for people to try to lower property damage in case of erosion. But they do not contribute to erosion at all.

People who choose beachfront property should assume the risk that their property—and its future value—might ultimately be damaged by erosion.

They do. People always pay a premium for living near the beach. Housing prices along the coast are significantly higher, property taxes are higher and so are insurance rates. People are going to be attracted to the coast because of the overall environment. The house with the view is the house with the highest price. If the beach erodes, what do homeowners then start seeing? Water coming up dangerously close to their structures. Their natural reaction is to do whatever they can to get a hard structure up, like a seawall, to keep water away from their property. That structure will probably exacerbate the erosion.

Sand-dredging programs are inherently artificial and potentially dangerous to the environment.

Beach nourishment involves the engineered placement of sand on the beach and below the water level in a manner that best mimics the natural profile of a beach. The idea is to keep the sand within what is called the littoral, or coastal, system as long as possible. Sand naturally flows along coasts, and circulates in and out of littoral areas, its path dictated by the flow of water and by storms. Severe storms can push sand out of a system, and structures built along shores can prevent water and sand from flowing back to its natural destination. When we nourish a beach, we do not do anything to eliminate the navigation channels. Essentially, we gather sand from outside the littoral system and use a dredge pump to spread it along the shore and below the water line. Over the years, beaches require periodic renourishment. 

Federal funds spent on beaches are primarily benefiting the wealthy, who own homes—sometimes second or third homes—along the shore.

This is a dollar and cents issue for everybody in the affected area, and for the municipality—not just for property owners. The program is designed to do two things: prevent erosion and promote public recreation. Yes, it will help the folks along the beach, but they are also paying higher property taxes. When they are doing beach nourishment, many localities tax those who are living near the beach at a higher rate. But the issue is primarily that cities and states want to ensure that when we go to the beach, we can park our cars, get out, walk to the beach and go for a swim. We may be walking by a lovely house, but the fact is we are right in front of it seeing the same view—our beaches are public parks.

If a town’s beaches are not healthy, it will lose residents and tourists to someone’s beach that is healthy. And that loss translates into dollars. Beaches help produce a huge amount of local revenue, which in turn helps generate the taxes that power the schools and other local services. Much of the business activity associated with beaches and beachfronts funnels revenues to the federal government in the form of taxes on income and corporate profits. We worked on one project in Fort Pierce, Fla. By doing the project, the town was able to solve a severe erosion problem that was affecting its modest tourism industry.