This season has produced some serious winter storms including a swell in early December that produced 50ft. + waves. While this season’s storms have unearthed some buried treasure and ancient forest they’ve also added to the growing problem of coastal erosion. Erosion along the coast is a common problem but one that is only perpetuated with the use of ripraps.
Rock ripraps are a conventional approach to bank erosion yet one that does not provide a long term solution. Ripraps may solve an immediate problem but may only accelerate erosion over time. As the beach is eroded in front of a riprap, the supply of sand available to nearby beaches is substantially reduced, thereby accelerating erosion at adjacent beaches.
Maine, South Carolina and North Carolina have all outlawed the use of ripraps. South Carolina had this to say “…..without adequate controls, development unwisely has been sited too close to the system (ocean beach / dune). This type of development has jeopardized the stability of the beach/dune system, accelerated erosion, and endangered adjacent property….hard erosion control devices such as seawalls, bulkheads, and rip-rap to protect erosion-threatened structures adjacent to the beach has not proven effective.”
Coastal erosion is a natural process which becomes a significant problem only when structures are erected in close proximity to the coastline. The town of Neskowin, Oregon has been experiencing massive beach erosion for many years and the use of ripraps has only turned natural erosion into a disaster, threatening a publicly-treasured resource.
Here’s a great breakdown of the events leading up to the erosion of more the 600 yards of destroyed beaches in Neskowin, Orgeon.
