Our View: Dealing with coastal storms no easy task

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September 1, 2010

The Salem News Wed Sep 01, 2010, 06:00 AM EDT

A rare August nor'easter may be followed this weekend by a visit from Hurricane Earl.

These ocean storms provide vivid testimony regarding the need for human action to protect our coastal infrastructure from the ravages of nature.

Heavy waves generated by last month's storm battered the rocky shores and beaches of the North Shore. Up the coast, high winds and pounding surf smashed against the sandbag barrier that has held the Plum Island Center beachfront together for the past several months. Signs of continued erosion were clear all along the fragile beach, as chunks of dune fell into the waves. Houses, roads, and water and sewer pipes edge ever closer to the surf as it chips away at the protective dune.

Thus it comes as welcome news that a beach restoration project planned for Plum Island and Salisbury will begin sooner than expected.

Just after Labor Day, the contractor hired to conduct the Merrimack River channel dredging and beach restoration, Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Co., will begin its work. The start will come about a month earlier than planned.

The company plans to dredge 160,000 cubic yards of sand out of the Merrimack River channel and deposit it on the beaches. Salisbury is to receive the first 40,000 cubic yards of dredged sand, with another 120,000 yards going to Plum Island.

There are some pitfalls that will come with this. Moving the date ahead by a few weeks will hurt normal late-summer activities on that part of the coastline. September is a busy time of the year for boaters, and the dredging operation will crowd the already narrow and shallow Merrimack River channel. And replenishing the dunes will require closing sections of the beach during a time tourists and locals are still spreading out their towels and trying to catch the last warm rays of summer. It also seems likely that fishing in the area where the dredging is occurring will be disrupted.

But the same advantages that late summer beachgoers and boaters enjoy apply to this large-scale dredging operation. Weather conditions will likely be better now for doing the job than they would be later in the year.

And a little disruption to the end of the summer season is a small price to pay to help preserve the stunningly beautiful and economically valuable beaches along our coast.

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Our View: Dealing with coastal storms no easy task

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