Each year, millions of tourists flock to Hilton Head Island for the pristine beaches and beautiful weather. But to keep the white sand beaches healthy and slow erosion, the town replenishes the sand once a decade. Due to delays partially caused by bad weather last fall and winter the project will now coincide with the peak summer tourism season.
Hilton Head Project Director Scott Liggett spends years planning these beach renourishment projects.
“We spend a fair amount of time through our investigations identifying locations where we have sand that is of suitable quality and exists in suitable quantity that lets us place beach compatible sand up on our shoreline.”
And even with all that planning, he says the start of the construction comes down to weather and equipment availability. And this year the former impacted the latter. Mechanical problems and bad weather from the October floods through the winter delayed the contractor. It also increased some of the sand erosion.
“[On] our most critically eroded parts of the shoreline, it’s very dramatic,” he says, “In the last year, some parts of the island although very small have lost 30 to 50 feet where that high tide line has receded.”
The four month long 20 million dollar project was originally slated to start in late winter. But now it’s scheduled to start in mid-June and reach the resorts and hotel areas of the island in late August during the high tourism season.
"In the last year, some parts of the island although very small have lost 30 to 50 feet where that high tide line has receded.” - Scott Liggett, Project Director
According to the Hilton Head-Bluffton Chamber of Commerce, 2.5 million people visit the island each year. Warren Woodard is with the Omni Resort right on the beach. He says he’s concerned about losing guests and special occasions.
“Weddings [are] a big concern for us, because we are a destination wedding resort as are all the other resorts up and down the island,” Woodard says, “People come here for this view that you and I are looking at right now. They don’t come here to see heavy equipment.”
The project won’t close all 12 miles of beach at once; it will only affect about 1,000 feet at one time. Woodard says he has started to work out beach sharing arrangements with other hotels.
“I think the opportunity exists to work around it, but needless to say if I have guests in my hotel when it’s happening right here,” he says, “They probably aren’t going to be very happy about it.”
But he acknowledges beach re-nourishment is absolutely critical to the island.
It’s not just for people, as biologist Sally Krebs points out it’s also for animals. While she agrees the sand replacement projects are necessary she is worried about a different kind of snowbird.
“The red knot and the other is the piping plover,” she says.
Krebs explains it is so important for these birds to rest and feed along the southern Atlantic shores because they will migrate thousands of miles come springtime. But that’s when another animal needs the sand.
“We actually get three species of sea turtles that nest here,” she says. “And the one that nests here the most is the loggerhead sea turtle. And that one is considered a threatened species.”
Krebs says the females lay hundreds of nests in the sand starting in May, which coincides with the time frame the beach replenishment is supposed to take place. But, Krebs says there is a fix – nest relocation.
“There is a certain period of time in which you can move the eggs before embryos start to form,” she says.
Krebs says the turtles and birds all have some type of federal protection because of their low numbers. Yet another scheduling restriction project manager Scott Liggett says he’s aware of.
“I was having one conversation with folks about trying to delay the project, but yet I have all this equipment rolling in,” he says.
Some of the bulldozers and large metal pipes are already roped off on one part of the beach. And Liggett says more heavy equipment will be arriving soon.
An Update on this Story
Even as the informal end of tourist season has come and gone, delays continue to slow the beach re-nourishment project on Hilton Head Island.