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Of Men and Beaches

Of Men and Beaches. How do we manage our shoreline?. Outline. How much money is at stake? Who is deciding? How? And the environment in all that?. How much money is at stake?. California Beach Restoration Study, chap 9. Who is going to the beach?.

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Of Men and Beaches

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  1. Of Men and Beaches How do we manage our shoreline?

  2. Outline • How much money is at stake? • Who is deciding? How? • And the environment in all that?

  3. How much money is at stake? California Beach Restoration Study, chap 9.

  4. Who is going to the beach? California Beach Restoration Study, chap 9.

  5. Who is going to the beach?

  6. What are people thinking of when they think of the beach?

  7. Beach attendance evolution California Beach Restoration Study, chap 9.

  8. The Solution: Beach nourishment Before june 1995 After, june 1995 April 1997 Upham beach west central florida http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/wfla/video/vidphotos.html

  9. Estimated tax revenue with and without beach maintenance : could loose 42% California Beach Restoration Study, chap 9.

  10. Other benefits associated with beach nourishmentaccording to * • Keep the local species (snowy plower, grunion) • Numerous studies indicate that people who engage in outdoor activity are more likely to be sensitive to environmental issues, compared to people who do not recreate outdoors. (American Recreation coalition 1999) • Public safety benefits: • limit bluff collapse, protects the coast in case of a storm. • Provide safer access to water for surfers and swimmers * California Beach Restoration Study, chap 3.5

  11. Conclusion • People like large sandy beaches and spend a lot of money there. • The public agencies have interest in maintaining sandy beaches. • Who are the other voices in this issue?

  12. Who has a word to say? • Property owners • Experts • Government regulators • Policy makers, and law makers Mitigating shore erosion along sheltered coasts. OSB. Chap 5

  13. Property owners • Want to: maximize their property value, and the use of their property. • Are informed by: handbooks, consultants, gvt regulators, neighbors, flood zone map Mitigating shore erosion along sheltered coasts. OSB. Chap 5

  14. Experts and consultants • Want to: • satisfy their clients • Make a profit • Maintain their credibility • Are informed by: • Litterature, experience, field work • Government agencies Mitigating shore erosion along sheltered coasts. OSB. Chap 5

  15. Government regulators • Want to: implement and enforce regulations • Are informed by: reports of the NRC, consultants, legal counsels, professional networks, experience. Example: US Army Corps of Engineers. Mitigating shore erosion along sheltered coasts. OSB. Chap 5

  16. Policy and law makers • Want: • Re-election • Maintain the tax base • Quality of life, public health, safety and welfare • Are informed by: • Press • Constituants • Staff(trusted experts in the field) • Gvt agencies and NGO’s Mitigating shore erosion along sheltered coasts. OSB. Chap 5

  17. Regulation: The public Trust Doctrine • The waters of the state are a public resource owned by and available to all citizens equally for the purposes of navigation, conducting commerce, fishing, recreation and similar uses and that this trust is not invalidated by private ownership of the underlying land. • The doctrine limits public and private use of tidelands and other shorelands to protect the public's right to use the waters of the state.

  18. How is the shore managed today: • Regulatory incentive to build seawalls bulkheads and revetments. • Bias towards building landwards of the PTD. • Under-evaluation of environmental cost • Non - structural erosion control techniques are under used. • Lack of knowledge of options • Regulatory response is generally reactive rather than proactive. Most states have not developed plans for responding to and managing erosion in sheltered shorelines. Mitigating shore erosion along sheltered coasts. OSB. Chap 5

  19. California Coastal management program • What has the Coastal Act accomplished? The most important achievements are the things one cannot see: public access and recreation opportunities not lost, wetlands not filled, coastal views not lost, agricultural lands not paved, sprawling subdivisions not built. Highway One has been retained as a scenic two-lane road, attracting visitors from around the world. California Coastal Commission brochure 2006

  20. Impact of coastal management on the ecosystem

  21. Beach ecosystem • Nutrient uptake: • Beaches are usually nutrient limited, which allows a large variety of plant to compete. • Food production • Beaches support an extensive trophic structure many on the form of infaunia (animals who live inside the sediment) from bacteria to shore birds • Importing foreign sand will change the ecosystem

  22. Beach ecosystem • Nourishment Replaces the near shore benthic community with a supra-tidal beach and dune. • Breakwater They can host barnacles and oysters, be the refugee for fish, and for sheltered coastline beach population.

  23. Conclusion • Beach tourism industry has a lot of money and interests involved in it • Mitigation of the changes in our natural environment can have profound effects • Decision making needs to be better advised by scientists.

  24. Of Scientists and Policy makers Science Policy and the Coast. NRC chap 3

  25. Excerpt from “Science, Policy and the Coast”: Human ego is a powerful thing and few things offend us and make us react in a negative way as much as the knowledge that another person does not value, respect, or understands what we are as individuals or was we do professionally. Whether it is an interaction between a fisherman and a biologist, an oil worker and an environmentalist , an scientist and a politician, if we interact with others with an attitude of superiority and contempt, conflict is likely. Understanding does not have to mean admiration or agreement, but simply an acceptance of the fact that the other party has legitimate status and ole in the human ecology of the policy making process and views that must be understood in the context of that status and role. Science Policy and the Coast, Improving decision making. NRC chap 3

  26. Bibliography California Beach Restoration Study,NRC chap 9. http://www.nap.edu/catalog/4984.html Mitigating shore erosion along sheltered coasts. OSB. Chap 5 http://fermat.nap.edu/books/0309103460/html Science Policy and the Coast, Improving decision making. NRC chap 3 http://fermat.nap.edu/books/0309053390/html http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/sma/laws_rules/public_trust.html http://www.csc.noaa.gov/beachnourishment/html/geo/shorelin.htm http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/wfla/video/vidphotos.html

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