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Protect Wooli From Coastal Erosion

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Beach Survey results for Oct. 2013

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Thanks once more to Brian Saye and his team  for completing another great survey job.

 

This survey, October 2013,  was bigger than usual as it not only included the awkward Jones Beach but also gives us a first accurate picture of the sand traps.

 

As overall observations of this new data it looks  like the beach

–                   Is growing nearer the dune along almost all sections to be at or near its highest since surveys started

–                   Nearer the water the large majority of sections have gained a little sand since the last survey but this area is about average across all the surveys.

 

If you want to see the details here’s a view across the whole village    in which you can use the PDF-magnifier to zoom in on particular sections. Here are the views north of  the village to Wilson’s Headland  and south from the village to Jones Beach.

IT ‘S BUYING TIME AGAIN!

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Since the release by Clarence Valley Council of their draft Coastal Zone Management Plan in 2010, Wooli ‘s property scene has been subdued, to say the least. Although global factors played their part, community reaction to the Plan and the subsequent formation of CCPA have been influential in opening up communication channels with CVC and state government on the issue of coastal protection. The more open discussions flowing from this have been a welcome and encouraging outcome. Even more welcome is the redrafting of the Plan now in progress, eliminating planned retreat, except in emergency situations, and placing emphasis on gathering data to support potential short, medium and long-term solutions for protecting Wooli ‘s coastal environment.

One of our targets in recent months has been to persuade Council to ensure that up-to-date information on the status of the CZMP is prominent on their website. As you can see from this recent update great progress has been made in placing current information on the Plan in pole position, and relegating the 2010 draft to history, where it belongs.

CCPA has focussed on this issue because, since 2010, several potential Wooli buyers have been referred to a CVC website showing a draft CZMP that is no longer relevant. Understandably, they withdrew from the market. Wooli ‘s property scene has been held back  because buyers were not fully informed of the fresh thinking now being applied to coastal protection planning.

With the true picture of the current outlook on coastal planning available on the CVC site and significantly, its referral to CCPA ‘s comprehensive website coverage – the value of this development cannot be underestimated. Potential buyers will have access to up-to-date planning positions, rather than relying on a three-year-old draft plan in which “planned retreat” was the preferred option.

CCPA welcomes this step and hopefully the Wooli property scene can begin a steady recovery.

Sand Sourcing

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Clarence Valley Council and the NSW State government  confirmed in August 2013 that they would jointly fund a $100,000 project to investigate potential sources of sand which could be used to nourish Wooli dunes and beach.

Beach nourishment seems to be an essential component of any Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) that aims to preserve beach amenity and the village assets into the future, whether used in combination with other management (such as terminal rock revetments, beach scraping) or on its own. Potential sand sources in the vicinity are not well documented. Further, they are likely to be located within national and/or marine park estates. In order to determine if local sources of sand are available, an investigative study/report is required. This will better inform draft actions in a revised draft CZMP.

The Minister for the Environment has approved Council ‘s request for special circumstances at Wooli and offered 75%, or $75 000, of the total $100 000 project costs. This is unprecedented for funding under the CMP for Clarence Valley Council.

CCPA-Wooli is in discussions with CVC as to the project’s timetable and how the community can assist in this important initiative. More on this later.

Beach Survey trends for 2012-13

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A big thank you to Brian Saye and the beach survey team for their ongoing efforts in accurately mapping changes in the beach.

A quick read of our earlier survey-stories, Beach Surveys and Steady as  she goes, should help if you need a refresher on the whys and wherefores of our survey program.

We are now well into the second year of this project and have the results of six surveys taken each quarter from January 2012 through to June 2013. A recent addition to the survey has been the capture of the locations of each of the 80 sand-traps now in place so that their effects can be directly measured.

Two headlines  are apparent from the survey data.

Firstly, the foot of the main dune in front of the village has built up substantially  from June 2012 to June 2013 across all 26 survey cross sections (S12 to S38)covering that area. Here’s a view across the whole village  in which you can use the magnifier to zoom in on particular sections. You can see the difference  if you compare the pink line of June 2013 to the blue line of June 2012. Here’s the section in front of the bowling club  to illustrate the build up.  There may be multiple factors causing this build up but the correlation with DuneCare’s sand-traps is striking. Interesting to see that while the foot of the dune is building, closer to the water the beach has become steeper and lower over the year.

Secondly, the surveys confirm that there is substantial variation in the pattern  of change across the 7km length of the beach as highlighted in the recent Automated Cameras Report. In contrast to the change described in front of the village, the sections towards the river walls show little change (eg S6) while the sections north to Wilsons show both erosion (eg S50 near Wilsons) and accretion (eg S42 a little north of the village).

Finally, an exciting new prospect we’re looking into is the possibility of using the survey data to start measuring changes in the total weight of sand on the beach. This will help determine whether the beach is systemically shrinking, growing or just oscillating a constant amount of sand along its length and breadth.

 

First birthday for eye in the sky

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Seems like just yesterday that Dr. Shaw Mead (eCoast) helped by CCPA members and Council staff set up the computerised camera system atop the Wooli water tower.

 

In fact, the system has been operational for over a year now capturing thousands of views during daylight hours of the dynamics of the beach in all different weathers.

 

The eCoast team has analysed all that information and presented CCPA and CVC with the first annual report of their findings. This and subsequent reports will be important components in building an evidenced-based beach protection strategy.

 

The Executive Summary  will give you the headlines in a few pages but if you’d like to know more its all in the full report.