A view of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore showing the oceanfront and soundside. Photo: NPS
MANTEO From beach nourishment to channel dredging to erosion control to material disposal to shoreline preservation, sand management in coastal North Carolina communities is no longer a sporadic chore.
It is an engineering challenge, a ballooning expense, a bureaucratic headache, an evolving menace.
With rapidly changing coastal dynamics, it is also a necessity and, increasingly, a blessing.
Long-term planning for projects whether permitting or designing that would replace, preserve, move and/or remove sand is currently underway or about to be implemented at local, state and federal levels in North Carolina.