The American Shore and
Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) announced today that the
Western Destin Beach Restoration Project is
a winner of its 2015 Best Restored Beach Award.
“ASBPA created the Best
Restored Beach award as a way of highlighting the value of America’s
restored beaches,” said Harry Simmons, mayor of Caswell Beach,
N.C., and ASBPA president. “As Americans flock to our coastline
during the upcoming beach season, most don’t even realize they may
be enjoying a restored beach.”
The
Western Destin Beach Restoration Project
This project – an
initial effort targeting 1.6 miles of critically eroded beach hit by
a number of tropical storm events – endured significant
controversy, misinformation, litigation and other challenges, which
nevertheless led to the construction of a well-performing hallmark of
beach restoration. Through sound project planning and design,
construction administration and significant public outreach, the
project’s success helped to alter the local perspective toward
beach nourishment by easing concerns of maintaining the natural sand
quality, beach aesthetics and economic productivity.
The restoration project
provided substantial economic and ecological benefits to the
community, it has achieved short- and long-term success, and the
sponsors and project team overcame significant political and
environmental challenges during the course of the project. The
Western Destin Beach Restoration Project also accomplished multiple
objectives typically associated with a beach restoration project —
increased storm protection, erosion mitigation, habitat restoration,
recreational benefits to the community and economic resiliency for
the region.
“The Western Destin Beach
Restoration project is an environmentally sensitive project that
provides storm damage protection for upland property and
infrastructure while at the same time increasing nesting habitat for
endangered marine turtles and enhancing recreational benefits for
residents and tourists alike. This project was funded entirely by the
Tourist Development Tax and a Municipal Services Benefit Unit with
no cost to local residents”, says
Okaloosa County Coastal Management Coordinator, Jim Trifilio.
For more than 50 years,
beach restoration has been the preferred method of natural shore
protection in coastal communities on the east, west, Gulf and Great
Lakes coasts. Beach restoration is the process of placing
beach-quality sand on dwindling beaches to reverse or offset the
effects of erosion.
The three main reasons
for restoration are:
Storm
protection – A wide sandy beach and offshore bar systems helps
separate storm waves from upland structures and infrastructure.
Habitat
restoration – Numerous species rely on wide, healthy beaches
as a place to live, feed and nest.
Recreation
– America’s beaches have twice as many visitors annually as all
of America’s federal and state parks combined. Every year, there
are more than 2 billion visitors to America’s beaches.
Coastal
communities have restored more than 370 beaches in the United States,
including such iconic beaches as Jones Beach in New York, Ocean City
in Maryland, Virginia Beach, Miami Beach, South Padre Island in
Texas, Venice Beach in California and Waikiki Beach in Hawaii.
During times of economic
hardship, the beach can be an even more desirable vacation
destination than other domestic and foreign alternatives, offering
families and visitors an accessible and affordable getaway. It is
also an employment and tax generator:
Beaches
contribute an estimated $225 billion annually to the America’s
economy.
Each year,
governments take in $570 in taxes from beach tourists for every
dollar it spends on beach restoration.
Well over half of
the nation’s gross domestic product ($7.9 trillion) is generated
in 673 counties along the oceans and Great Lakes, according to
NOAA’s National Ocean Economics Program.
To
enter the Best Restored Beach competition, coastal communities
nominated their projects for consideration, and an independent panel
of coastal managers and scientists selected the winners. Judging was
based on three criteria: the economic and ecological benefits the
beach brings to its community; the short- and long-term success of
the restoration project; and the challenges each community overcame
during the course of the project.
Ed Schroeder, Director of
the Okaloosa County Tourist Development Department stated, “Okaloosa
County and the Tourist Development Department are delighted to learn
that the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association has
selected the Western Destin Beach Restoration Project as one of only
5 national winners of their Best Restored Beaches of 2015
competition. The Western Destin project provides a beautiful beach
where before there was literally no beach. The economic and
environmental benefits of this project far outweigh the cost of
construction and all of this was accomplished at no cost to our
taxpayers.”
A
complete list of award-winning beaches, and more information about
beach restoration and ASBPA, is available online at www.asbpa.org.
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