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Protect Wooli From Coastal Erosion

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Wooli dodges a bullet

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chappo 05While Wooli residents and homeowners crossed their fingers very hard, Wooli dodged an East Coast Low bullet  last weekend as you can see from these photos (from John Chapman) chappo 04

 

 

These quotes from some of our resident members at Wooli paint us a clear picture of what happened:

From Sharon Nelson (DuneCare Coordinator): “We have been lucky. We will have a look at the dune this weekend to see if immediate repairs can be made and what work can be completed in the coming months.”

From Lyn Phillips: “Although the front of the dune looks dramatic, the storm only cut into part of the secondary dune which has been built up since the last big event in 2009… well done to all the hard workers for giving the beach added sand mass.”

 

sharon 01

From Bob Stack : “I don’t recall any event as big as this since 2009. There was damage to the Northern breakwater.. (with) a 1 Tonne rock deposited on the pathway…the little dune has done a great job.  The beach profile looks very good.” 

This is all great news for Wooli, but our hearts go out to other NSW “coasters” who’ve seen their beaches and homes wrecked by this storm, particularly at Collaroy-Narrabeen.

We’ll be looking though the stories, expert reports and photos arising from this destruction to see what lessons Wooli can learn from their experiences. Please feel free to leave a comment below if you have any suggestions.

Money Talks

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money uncle-scroogeAfter five years wasn’t it great to see Planned Retreat replaced by Beach Nourishment in Wooli’s Coastal Plan? But just a plan won’t protect the beach when the big storms hit – it needs money behind it.

It was almost unbelievable – and very welcome – to read in the Sydney Morning Herald on May 7th that “The state government will make its biggest commitment to improving the health of the state’s coastline in decades with more than $70 million to repair eroded beaches and prepare for future hazards”.

The main points I see in the government’s media release on increased coastal funding (which includes my highlights) are:

  1. This is really important news because for the first time of which I’m aware, the government will publicly commit to protecting needy beaches against erosion on a state-wide basis when it includes this in its Budget announcement on June 21st.
  2. The gross amount funded is $85 million, of which $20 million is to be set aside, leaving $65 million to be spread over five years on protecting NSW beaches from erosion.

I think  beach nourishment will be a major part of this protection based on the feedback we had from the Council, the Dept. of the Environment and Angus Gordon (then Chair of the Coastal Panel) during the preparation of Wooli’s draft plan. This plan estimates that Wooli will need $2 million every five years for beach nourishment.

Erosion? What erosion?

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surveyor at work

We are well into the fourth year of our beach-survey project and now have the results of fifteen surveys taken quarterly from January 2012 through to April 2016.

As you can see from the Headlines below the results are really encouraging. However, we do need to bear in mind that (i) the survey data can only be indicative as its measurements are taken every 100-200 metres and (ii) four years of data is a relatively short period over which to measure.

Headlines  from the latest survey data are:

1.  Overall, Wooli beach is growing not eroding. The survey data over the past four years indicates the total volume of sand on the beach, above the Mean Sea Level, has increased from approximately 1.06 million cubic metres (cbm)  to 1.27 million cbm . That is, a growth in volume of 210,000 cbm (about 20%).

2. From the Wall to the southern end of the village, the volume increased by 14, 900 cbm (12%).

3. From the southern end to the dive boat jetty, the volume decreased 6,750 cbm (5%).

4. From the jetty to the Main St – River Rd fork, the volume increased by 49,775 cbm (30%).

5. From the fork to the northern end of the village, the volume increased by 32,465 cbm (16%).

6. From the northern end to Wilsons Headland, the volume increased by 120, 240 cbm (28%).

Thanks once again to Brian Saye and the beach survey team, not only for their ongoing efforts in accurately mapping changes in the beach but also for increasing the number of measurement segments in the survey by 25% in 2015-16. Brian noted that the percentages above relate to 0m AHD as adopted in the sand sourcing study. This effectively means the changes are relative to the Mean Sea Level.

 

Art with Heart

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Congratulations to the Wooli Artist Gathering (WAG) on a bumper sixth Wooli Art Show at Easter. congrats-well-doneIt broke previous records for number of artworks sold – an amazing feat, especially considering the small number of dedicated workers who worked against the clock to get the show on the road.

Serene Delight

 

 

Bruce Bird,CCPA-Wooli President, MC’d the show. He expressed CCPA’s ongoing gratitude to WAG for its donation of $1302.55 from the Art Show proceeds. Bruce explained that these funds are being used for beach process research, surveys, dune regeneration, as well as a contribution to a beach nourishment program and said, “the great thing about WAG’s contribution is that it came from a community-based effort that has become an important date in Wooli’s calendar.”

Congratulations also to the artists awarded prizes for their work and particularly to Curt Edwards whose work “Serene Delight” was judged Best-in-Show.

Thanks to Kathleen Hull and the volunteers who made this show happen. Here’s Kathleen’s Report on the show identifying all the prize winners and volunteers.

As Kathleen noted “The Wooli Public School artwork again proved to be a fantastic asset and the children seem to gain great joy from displaying their work. Of course having their art work judged and winning prizes is just an amazing confidence boost for them.”

Over the six shows, WAG’s contribution toward protecting Wooli tops $10,000 – a good reason for CCPA members to take a prominent role in making sure the show continues. The 2017 show is already on the drawing board and will need help from volunteers. While a small number of our members were involved this year, we can do better. Please be ready when the call goes out for the 2017 event on Friday April 14th to Sunday 16th April. Save the date and put your hand up for WAG – and Wooli.

Thanks, it’s working really well, but what if …

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Little dune viewed from big duneThanks to the DuneCare members and volunteers who worked steadily over the summer holidays on sand-trapping and replanting both the main dune and the fore dune. In some places the fore dune is even beginning to spawn another little dune nearer the water. DuneCare’s ongoing success is a credit to Craig Drabsch as he hands over the Coordinator responsibility to Sharon Nelson after three years. Thanks Craig and Sharon.

We reported earlier in the Little Hero article that the fore dune has already protected the main dune from substantial storms. However, as Kristin Stubbins noted recently “..we are worried that the fore-dunes beach scrapingthat have been built up might be taken by a big storm and then it takes us 6 months to organise a beach scrape (to repair it) – and there could be another storm in that time” which could seriously damage the main dune.

So it was timely to hear from Angus Gordon, Chair of the NSW Coastal Committee, that “I would always recommend it (beach scraping, also known as Nature Assisted Beach Enhancement) during the recovery phase after a severe erosion event. … I think I would put beach scraping on the “to do” list if you see the fore dunes being eroded”. For more detail on Angus’ views here is his recent paper, some of the highlights of which are :

  • Beach scraping provides potential to limit the erosion impacts of subsequent storms.  Reforming a fore dune sand buffer prior to secondary storms can reduce, but not overcome, the long-term rate of shoreline recession.
  • Focus on dune re-formation is vital. The sooner a sediment buffer is re-established at the back of the beach, the better it provides protection against following storm events. The formation of an incipient fore dune assists with deflection of onshore winds at the rear of the beach, allowing gravity to assist in releasing sand for depositing on the emerging dune.Also, the sooner the incipient dunes are formed the sooner re-planting and re-colonisation by remnant vegetation can occur, thus “kick-starting” the natural process that will eventually lead to the re-establishment of an effective, vegetated dune system.
  • NABE is basically a mechanical intervention to speed up the natural processes of beach and fore dune recovery after a storm event. It is a useful tool to achieve rapid reestablishment of a fore dune and beach berm. It can be used not only to create a buffer against further back beach erosion during following storms, but also to re-establish a dune crest level that will prevent a wash through from wave over-topping. While it is not a panacea for overcoming long-term coastal recession it can reduce the recession rate by mitigating the compounding impacts of multiple storm erosion events.

bright ideaBased on that very experienced advice, the CCPA steering committee has begun the next step of working with the Council to have a beach scraping plan pre-approved and pre-funded so as to be ready when its needed to quickly repair the fore dune.

Cautionary note: meaningful progress of that plan will be tied to getting our new CZMP approved by the Minister along with the funding application that went along with it.