This blog is all about living on an island. And living on the Outer Banks of North Carolina like I do in Emerald Isle, NC is all about living with the ocean. And living with the ocean is all about mitigation techniques that have been employed on the barrier islands along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts to keep the ocean and sounds at bay.
The barrier islands of the United States form an almost continuous chain from the eastern tip of Long Island to the border America shares with Mexico. These islands, as a whole, share a number of natural environmental features such as beaches, frontal dunes, maritime forests, salt marshes, tidal flats and lagoons. These features are built naturally from sand, shell and mud. Each of these features responds differently not only in the face of storms but also in the face of development. And these different responses are a reason why these islands, individually, are unique.
As a real estate agent specializing in coastal real estate, it is my job to understand these barrier islands, in general, and individual islands, specifically, in order to better advise my clients on their real estate investment options. My job is made easier by the emergence of certain generalizations or “universal truths” about island development that are equally evident not only to scientists (the Pilkeys and Rigges) who study the shoreline but also to “old timers” (the McLeans, Spells and Messers) who have lived on these barrier islands all their lives.
Truth #1. Erosion is not an issue until someone builds a structure. All of the sandy beaches along our Atlantic and Gulf coasts exist in a delicate balance termed dynamic equilibrium, in response to sand supply, beach shape, wave energy, and sea-level rise. These sandy beaches have existed for millions of years. But, they have not remained stationary over the Millenia. Indeed, these islands have been rolling over, losing beaches and moving landward, growing beaches, again, and so on. Its no big deal so long as the islands had no man-made structures. However, once we began building permanent structures on these barrier islands, beach dynamics changed. Most, if not all construction on or near the shoreline disrupted this balance and reduced the natural equilibrium of the beach. This disruption is called erosion! Now, we want to hold back the seas and stabilize the beaches.....and fight back against erosion.
Truth #2. Once shoreline mitigation or engineering has been initiated, it cannot be stopped. This truth, in one form or another, has been repeated as mantra by town managers up and down the Atlantic and Gulf coasts and confirmed by numerous (usually) failed efforts to stabilize the beaches and hold back the seas. Methods of stabilizing shorelines range from the simple planting of dune grass to the complex construction of large seawalls. And, while some mitigation strategies can prevent or reduce damage, most strategies accelerate destruction and usually are detrimental to an island’s long term health. Fortunately, how an island’s natural elements respond to storm processes over time enables scientists to recommend and town managers to implement (hopefully) beneficial mitigation strategies. All of this information, from natural environmental features to mitigation strategies and their implementation, focus light not only on which islands are less vulnerable to storm processes, but also where, on a specific island, are the lowest risk sites for development.
In the next number of blogs, I will examine how mitigation techniques have been employed on the barrier islands along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. That being said, to learn more about life in Emerald Isle, NC, go to my website, www.EIHomesforSale.com and request my free Guide to Living Were You Vacation or text your email address to: 919-308-2292.
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