About the Cover A Mother’s Joy By Sonya Buckhannon 5 IslandVibesIOP.com NEWS Shoal management projects underway for at-risk homes By L. C. Leach III Jimmy Bernstein's garage slab is now 15 feet shorter due to tide erosion. This month's cover of Island Vibes captures a tender and timeless moment featuring Katie Buckhannon with her two daughters: 2-year-old Winnie and newborn Bonnie, just 4 weeks old. Set against a backdrop of vibrant spring blooms on the Isle of Palms, the photo radiates warmth, motherhood and serenity. What the image doesn’t show is the behind-the-scenes scrambling to find flowers still in bloom. Just days before the photo shoot, the azaleas, which were in full bloom at our planned location, had all dropped their blossoms. But in a wonderful twist of fate, the shoot came together, echoing the spirit of Mother’s Day: expect the unexpected and embrace the beauty of life as it comes. With Katie cradling baby Bonnie and Winnie nestled beside her, this scene reminds us that the most meaningful blooms are the lives we nurture. While Isle of Palms faces constant risk from high tides and beach erosion, two major projects are underway to combat these threats. On the western end, between Breach Inlet and 10th Avenue, IOP City is working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild dunes with 550,000 cubic yards of sand – enough to fill approximately 170 Olympic-sized swimming pools. “That sand is being placed in the low-tide area,” said IOP coastal engineering consultant Steven Traynum, president of Coastal Science & Engineering in Columbia. “And the city is moving about 35,000 cubic yards of that sand to replace dunes eroded over the past two years.” The estimated project cost is $300,000 and will come from the city's Beach Preservation Fee Fund. All work is scheduled to be completed in April and is part of an ongoing island-wide renourishment effort. On the eastern end, however, the situation is far more urgent. Traynum pointed out that of all the island’s at-risk areas, the only one meeting the state's definition of an emergency condition is along “Beachwood East, Seascape and Ocean Club areas of Wild Dunes.” To this end, sand from a new shoal that is attaching to the beach directly in front of Beachwood East is expected to bring at least some form of temporary relief. “Currently, there are about 10 homes threatened around Beachwood, and two large condo complexes threatened at the east end,” Traynum said. “The shoal is adding 600,000 cubic yards of sand to the island but creating localized areas of severe erosion while it attaches.” The project at Wild Dunes will require 120,000 cubic yards of sand to be moved from the seaward end of the attaching shoal and placed in the focused erosion areas. It will cost approximately $800,000, of which the Wild Dunes Community Association will contribute $600,000, with the balance coming from the city’s Beach Preservation Fee Fund. Work is expected to be completed in mid-May. “However, the city is pursuing several additional measures to manage the long-term health of the beach, including temporary sandbags, and planning the next large-scale nourishment,” Traynum said. Since 2007, six island beach areas have been monitored, with south IOP, south Wild Dunes and north Wild Dunes identified as the most eroded areas. “In recent years, erosion has outpaced natural sand flow,” said Traynum for an earlier Island Vibes story published in 2024. “We lost about 100,000 cubic yards of sand in these three sections every year from 2008 to 2018. But if the new shoal provides sufficient interim nourishment, we might be able to push a large-scale dredging project further into the future.” If so, it won’t come a moment too soon for Wild Dunes residents. At their annual Community Association meeting March 22, beach nourishment was a main topic of concern. “We had approximately 200+ residents in person and many others via Zoom,” said Terri Haack, managing director for Wild Dunes Resort. Andrew Schumacher, chief operating officer for the Community Association, added that for its 2,135 residential properties, “we believe a majority of the community is supportive of a Continued on Page 6
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