1961-62 Report: deja vu all over again i.e. seawalls

[pmd8]

1961-62 report on beach erosion. If you can read the fine print, it indicates the futility of seawalls and jetties.

[pmd8]

Click on individual thumbnails.

[ecopal]

Thank you!-how interesting.
Love the Seagrove Beach pic!
I tried to clean up the image and will post to see if it helps.

double click to enlarge

[pmd8]

I'll quote the pertinent parts:

"It is not a matter of coincidence that most erosion in Florida occurs where the most concentrated development along the shores has taken place.....Man's interference with natural shore processes is the major cause of the increased erosion....

In numerous cases seawalls have protected valuable property or dune faces, but when built as vertical bulkheads, they have, in fully as many cases, caused a lowering and increased erosion of the beach itself."

[ecopal]

Seagrove Beach looking west.
double click to enlarge

[ecopal]

The more I read the more fascinating it gets!

double click to enlarge:

[jimmyp5]

thanks for posting this historical article!

wow .... the "Seagrove Beach looking west" picture is gorgeous ... i wonder just where it was taken, and i wonder how long it's been since that gentle a dune face has been the norm in Seagrove.

there are some gentle slopes like that along the Grayton Beach Preserve, but i think only where the dune's been eroded down to only several feet of remaining elevation.

the paper (fascinating) talks about the merits of shallow-water dredging. wouldn't it make sense for, say, walton and okaloosa counties (maybe bay & santa rosa, too) to pitch in and buy a dredging rig for ourselves, and just keep it cycling along our beaches, so that they get renourished every 3-5 years?