Beach Town in a Forest

Beach Town in a Forest
Beach Town in a Forest, Pine Knoll Shores located in Carteret County on North Carolina's Crysal Coast. Photo compliments of Bill Flexman and Dave Prutzman

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Beach Protection

The barrier islands that make up the Outer Banks of North Carolina are composed of sand. This sand is in near constant movement, resulting in an ever-changing shoreline—a process witnessed by anyone who observes the beach on a regular basis. The normal action of winds, waves, tides, and storms reduces the depth of the beach and erodes the dunes. Long-term records have documented the loss of shoreline along parts of Bogue Banks between 1936 and 1994 to be 120 ft., averaging 1 to 3 feet per year. As these islands change from uninhabited to populated, the erosion part of shoreline dynamics becomes an issue.