bulkhead alternatives

As we enter the 2020 hurricane season, landscapers who work in areas with large coastlines know potential storm damage is about more than just fallen trees and debris. Flooding and erosion can cause some of the costliest and irreparable destruction to a property. Even without a storm event, the progressive erosion of a coastline by wave action over years can be just as damaging. To complicate matters further, coastal sea levels in the U.S. are rising—and at an accelerating rate, according to a “report card” released this past February by researchers at William & Mary’s Virginia Institute of Marine Science. The U.S.’s most visited national park, the National Mall Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, is just one example of how rising tidewaters are submerging walkways, eroding soil, and damaging the roots of DC’s famed cherry trees. Traditionally, bulkheads have been installed to protect a property from water encroachment. Given the cost and materials, many property owners expect bulkheads to protect their shoreline indefinitely. However, even in the best of cases, bulkheads often completely fail after twenty or thirty years. They can begin to lose sediment from behind the bulkhead even sooner and cause erosion on neighboring properties. And ultimately, even a weak hurricane can demolish a brand new bulkhead. Another thing many may not realize is that once a bulkhead is installed, the intertidal zone (the land between high and low tide) is often eliminated. By losing this zone, an important habitat for fish and other wildlife disappears, water quality ...