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Beach nourishment is where loose material is placed on a beach, to augment sediment supplied by other sources such as streams and eroding bluffs. Nourishment may be used to restore a target beach profile, change beach texture, or replace lost sediment supply, and may occur at very small or very large scales. Beach nourishment may aim to restore a particular beach ecology, reduce erosion of adjacent shorelines, or create recreational amenities for shoreline landowners. Beach nourishment may be accompanied by drift log placement or various erosion or grade-control features. Nourishment may affect Beach Shellfish Production, Beach Forage Fish Spawning, and Beach Food Webs and Biodiversity. Because of the diversity of settings, purposes, and effects, beach nourishment is not inherently a restoration action and should be evaluated in context.
Notes[edit]
- As part of a science sprint, Lambert & Chamberlin 2023 provides a synthesis of our current knowledge of the effectiveness of beach nourishment in modifying beach structure, and changing ecological function, particularly in the context of beach nourishment as a mitigation measure to offset the effects of shoreline armoring. These authors provide the following qualified assessments:
- "Beach nourishment is an effective restoration strategy when included in a suite of tools."
- "Effectiveness of beach nourishment actions is sensitive to the volume of sediment placed."
- "Ecological benefits of beach nourishment are largely inconsistent and remain generally unknown; further directed research activities are warranted."
- "Project design requirements for beach nourishment should include better accounting of sediment loss due to natural processes."
- "Cost/benefit of beach nourishment may warrant alternative strategies"
Related Resources On The Platform[edit]
The following links use both the Beaches and Sediment Dynamics pages:
Documents
- Cereghino et al 2022 beach nourishment science sprint.pdf
- Detheir et al 2020 snohomish railroad grade nourishment.pdf
- Dethier et al 2016 impacts of armoring
- Drummond et al 2018 Poster edgewater bulkhead removal and boat lidar.pdf
- Finlayson 2006 geomorphology of puget sound beaches.pdf
- Friends of the San Juans 2014 armoring impacts and sea level rise.pdf
- Galster & Schwartz 1990 ediz hook case study erosion and mitigation
- Gerstel et al 2012 kitsap sediment supply poster.pdf
- Gerstel et al 2012 kitsap shoreline sediment source analysis.pdf
- Henderson et al 2018 Poster boat lidar shoreline inventory.pdf
- Lambert & Chamberlin 2023 beach nourishment science synthesis.pdf
- MacLennan et al 2017 beach strategies phase one summary.pdf
- Ruggiero et al 2013 coastal shoreline change
- Weiner et al 2018 mapping bluffs and beaches
- Weiner et al 2018 Poster high resolution mapping puget sound shoreline.pdf
Other Pages
- Alternative Shoreline Armoring
- Beach Forage Fish Spawning
- Beach Sediment Dynamics
- Beach Strategies for Nearshore Restoration and Protection in Puget Sound
- Bluff lidar.jpg
- Bulkhead Removal Feasibility for Localized Restoration
- Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad Grade
- Evaluating Puget Sound Beach Services for Protection and Restoration
- Feeder Bluff Mapping
- Feeder Bluff Outreach and Armor Removal (Island and Jefferson counties)
- Impacts of Shoreline Armoring
- Kitsap sediment assessment.jpg
- Managed Retreat
- Mapping Bluffs and Beaches to Quantify Sediment Supply
- Mapping Bluffs and Beaches to Quantify Sediment Supply 2021
- Maximizing Benefits of Shoreline Armor Removal
- Measuring Coastal Bluff Recession Rates Throughout the Puget Sound Region
- Puget Sound Coastal Storm Modeling System (PS-CoSMoS)
- Puget Sound Ecosystem Portfolio Model
- Shoreline Monitoring Database
- Snohomish Railroad Grade Beach Nourishment
- Social Marketing to Reduce Shoreline Armoring
