DOCUMENTING THE IMPACTS OF COASTAL ENGINEERING ACTIVITIES IN NATIONAL PARKS: A PRELIMINARY LOOK

A GIS-based inventory of all coastal engineering activities in, and around, coastal parks has been initiated as a joint project between Western Carolina University (WCU) and the National Park Service (NPS). The Coastal Engineering Inventory (CEI) is intended to help the NPS define the extent of human-altered coastal areas in the National Park System, establish baselines conditions for future monitoring, balance the protection of historic resources and infrastructure with the preservation of natural systems, and improve post-storm response.

Generally, NPS policy requires that natural coastal processes in parks, such as erosion, shoreline migration, deposition, overwash, and inlet formation be allowed to continue without interference. The NPS may intervene in these processes only in limited circumstances, such as when there is no other feasible way to protect natural resources, park facilities, or historic properties.

In parks where pre-existing or new activities or structures have altered and/or are currently altering coastal dynamics, ecosystems, tidal regimes and sediment transport rates, the NPS policy is to investigate, in consultation with appropriate state and federal agencies, alternatives for mitigating the effects of such projects and for restoring natural conditions.

This project identified a total of 326 coastal engineering projects in, and adjacent to, an initial ten parks inventoried. Across all ten parks, approximately 92,540 linear feet of shoreline is identified as being stabilized by a bulkhead, 163,000 linear feet of shoreline is stabilized by either a seawall or revetment and 496,642 linear feet of shoreline has been impacted by beach nourishment/dune construction. In addition, the cumulative volume of sand emplaced on beaches within all ten coastal parks through beach nourishment and dune construction is approximately 25,155,654 cubic yards. Dredging and/or filling activities have impacted approximately 6,600 acres.