The monumental task of hand-planting 400,000 to 500,000 pieces of vegetation on newly created dunes on Emerald Isle beaches wrapped up Friday, just in time for Memorial Day weekend.
Greg Rudolph, manager of the Carteret County Shore Protection Office, said in an email Thursday the effort is expected to take about a month, working west to east along a 9.4-mile stretch of the strand on Bogue Banks.
He said beachgoers are urged to stay off the dunes, and oceanfront property owners should not put up sand fences on the beach until the planting is finished.
EarthBalance performed some reconnaissance Wednesday – scoping out places to park overnight and finding the water hook-ups put in place by the beach nourishment contractor, Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. of Illinois – then got to work early Thursday morning.
EMERALD ISLE After almost exactly three months, the 9.4-mile-long Emerald Isle beach nourishment projected ended early Monday morning, with the exception of planting vegetation on new dunes, which is set to commence next week.
The Liberty Island, one of two Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. vessels working on the project, delivered its last load of sand via pipeline to the strand in the eastern end of town at about 6 a.m. Monday. The other vessel on the project, the Ellis Island, finished its work Sunday night, transporting a load of sand from the borrow site in the ocean off Atlantic Beach.
Cocoa Beach the Space Coast’s premier tourism spot soon will see new sands, dredged up and pumped in from shoals several miles offshore of Cape Canaveral.