ust off the Isle of Palms, directly in front of Beachwood East at Wild Dunes, a new sandbar shoal is attaching to the beach. The shoal is roughly 350 feet out in the ocean, stretches for approximately 2,500 feet parallel to the beach and is carrying a major load of sand. In an ongoing effort to keep erosion from wearing away many areas of the island’s coast, IOP city leaders and engineering consultants are hoping to use the sand from this shoal in a future project as a key source of beach nourishment to protect homes, development and of course, the island’s beaches. “The priority would be to use sand from the offshore shoal that is attaching,” said city administrator Desirée Fragoso. “The project aims to address the challenges and opportunities associated with maintaining and preserving a healthy beach, which is our greatest asset.” In a public presentation in May at the IOP Recreation Center, Fragoso and coastal engineering consultant Steven Traynum explained project parameters, possible timelines, island coastline history and evolution, monitored areas and previous nourishment efforts to an attendance of more than 60 people. “There’s a lot of sand offshore at Isle of Palms,” said Traynum, president of Coastal Science & Engineering in Columbia. “We’re looking at how the shoal is attaching right now, and what it’s going to do over the next 12-18 months. That’s going to have a big impact on how many more years we’re going to get out of 3 IslandVibesIOP.com NEWS OF VACATION RENTALS THE GOLD STANDARD ISLE OF PALMS, SC IOPESCAPES.COM 843.456.46O6 Continued on Page 8 J IOP beach nourishment projects expected every eight to 10 years ‘Erosion has outpaced natural sand flow’ By L. C. Leach III this particular project.” Dating back to 1983, the City of IOP has attempted several other largescale beach nourishments, most notably in 2008 and 2018. Other erosion control efforts have included sandbags to protect structures and sand scraping, which involves moving sand from one part of a beach to another. In his presentation, Traynum showed six beach areas across the island which have been monitored since 2007. South IOP, south Wild Dunes and north Wild Dunes are currently the most eroded areas. “In recent years, erosion has outpaced natural sand flow. We’ve lost about 100,000 cubic yards of sand in these three sections every year from 20082018.” Traynum added that the east end of the island has lost about “254,000 cubic yards of sand per year since 2018.” That’s an equivalent volume of approximately 78 Olympic-size pools. However, Traynum pointed out that once the new shoal attaches to the beach, it could add half a million cubic yards to IOP beach nourishment – big enough to keep the east end of the island supplied with sand for the next four to six years. “The new sand would then be used to replenish the eroded beach areas in front of Wild Dunes Resort, Beachwood East and Dunecrest Lane, and near Wild Dunes Ocean Club at the far east end,” Traynum said. “The background erosion rate is more than the shoal provides in
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