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Protect Wooli From Coastal Erosion

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Steady as she goes and a bit north

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2012 has been a big year for CCPA’s beach survey team of Brian Saye and Bob Stack

 

They have not only

–   completed four surveys of the entire beach from Wilsons Headland to Jones Beach

–   and computerised all that data into graphics that we can understand (see below)

–  but they’ve also recently become accredited quad bike riders which has really made the process easier and faster.

 

As Brian says “there may be an illusion (or two) in this initial data , such as not yet picking up the effects of the sand traps, but we’ll work those out over time. And Jones Beach is a bugger to get the gear to so has had only one survey. It’s a high priority after the Christmas break”.

 

As you can see from this view looking down on the beach in front of the village, Brian and Bob took measurements every 100 m (eg between S37 and S38). North and south of the village they took measurements every 200 m (eg between S38 and S39). A critical survey measurement is the beach’s height above average sea level (referred to on the graphs as AHD for Australian Height Datum)

Here are the views of the rest of the beach looking north to Wilsons Headland  and  south to Jones Beach

At each measurement point all four surveys are colour-coded so it’s easy to see how the beach is changing.  For example, take a look at an enlarged view of  S38  at the northern end of the village. While the beach hasn’t changed much near the Bowling Club at S22, its clearly grown at S52  near Wilsons.

 

The initial conclusions from this data are that the beach around the village has been stable during 2012 with a lot of sand deposited from January to June which has since been taken away and has now shown up at Wilsons Headland (hence the title of this page “steady as she goes and a bit north”).

 

Wooli and Council on the same page

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WOOLI MEETING WELCOMES COUNCIL INVOLVEMENT  

 

A meeting of Wooli community group CCPA (Coastal Communities Protection Alliance) was held on Saturday 9 June. The group formed in 2010 in response to the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan tabled by Clarence Valley Council, proposing “planned retreat” from Wooli village in the face of predicted coastal erosion threats.

 

The group ‘s vice president Peter Dunn welcomed CVC ‘s Strategic and Economic Planning Manager Dave Morrison and Environmental Planning Coordinator Scott Lenton, to what he called “a landmark occasion for Wooli”.

 

”When the draft Plan was exhibited in 2010, emotions ran high with over 100 submissions to council making Wooli ‘s opposition to the “planned retreat” proposal loud and clear” said Mr Dunn.” CCPA has been working with council staff for over a year on a revised strategy, and today we are sharing a community meeting with input from both community and council staff.”

 

 

“Today ‘s meeting is about a process for producing a new plan that replaces the “planned retreat” concept with one of adaptive management. This will enable solutions for Wooli ‘s future to be based on consultation, research and verifiable planning.”

 

Addressing the meeting, Mr Morrison said that the number of submissions showed CVC how concerning the draft plan was to the Wooli community. “They showed the social impact on the village was a major problem. It became very apparent that there was support for considering a wider range of options”.

Mr. Morrison agreed that subsequent discussions between council and CCPA representatives have been useful in putting both parties on the same page.

He went on to say that “in reviewing the plan greater emphasis is likely to be put on structured and on-going data collection to inform a range of potential alternatives, and the creation of an evolving, rather than a static, management plan. Providing more clarity to development controls and a move away from “planned retreat” options such as land swap will all be on the table.

He stressed, however, that a revised plan needed to be reviewed and approved by Council then the State Government, with continued community involvement, hopefully in the last quarter of 2012

Mr Dunn said that a research program into Wooli beach processes was already going ahead, with council cooperation.

“Time-lapse photography, beach surveys and sand-trapping are under way and there are plans for underwater data collection off Wooli beach. So far, funding has come from the community, but council has been approached for assistance and has applied to the NSW government for extra funds. A thorough and current understanding of how Wooli ‘s beach system works and an intelligent and adaptive plan are crucial to finding viable options to protect Wooli.”

 

Photographic Record of Wooli Beach

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Here are the full set of of pictures of Wooli beach taken so far by our camera system on the water tower.

There’s a folder of pictures for each day. When you click on a folder you’ll see that there are three pics taken each hour.  One picture looks north to Wilsons Headland, one looks south to Jones Beach and the third looks straight out to sea.

Once we have collected several months worth of these pictures they will become a vital input into Wooli’s Beach Protection Strategy to be developed later this year.

 

 

 

February 2012

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Hope you enjoy our latest newsletter (Janet Dunn, CCPA Commuications Team)

UP, UP AND AWAY

Wooli civil engineer Bob Stack hit the heights recently when he volunteered to climb the water tower with Frank Vaarwerk, CVC Operations Manager (Water Cycle). Why, you may ask? Indeed that is what Bob was asking himself halfway up the  104-foot tower.

 CCPA has been liaising with CVC for cooperation to kick off a research program into Wooli beach processes. There is little detailed reliable data available on which to base possible solutions to Wooli ‘s coastal erosion problems. Starting this data collection has been one of CCPA ‘s main tasks recently.

To do this, it ‘s necessary to monitor Wooli ‘s sand and water movements over an extended period. Placing cameras atop the water tower will record these and that ‘s where Bob came in. He and Frank identified several ideal positions for these cameras. When the cameras, computer and solar panels required to run them have been constructed by eCoast (managed by Dr. Shaw Mead), they will be installed hopefully soon.

 A side benefit of Bob and Frank’s climb is that the rest of us can also now see  the view from the top  .

 Bob deserves a huge vote of thanks from CCPA and Wooli, not only for his epic climb, but for the time and interest he has put into observing the beach, liaising on the Emergency Action Plan and writing submissions to Council on possible solutions to sand movement problems.

 

Another CCPA member who has been generous with his time and expertise is surveyor Brian Saye. As mentioned in the last newsletter, Brian started survey work in the new year and has reported that the initial survey has been completed. This involved a lot of time and effort and big thanks go to Brian and those who assisted him. These surveys will be updated on a quarterly basis if you can lend a hand, contact Brian on 0427-425744.

 Kristin Stubbins has put in valuable work talking to Council about amendments to the Emergency Action Plan, Bruce Bird has done an interview with ABC Coffs Harbour, Leone Coper photographed Bob ‘s climb up the water tower, other members are busy organising the WAG Artshow, Len O ‘Shea continues to coordinate the Dunecare effort and Peter Dunn has been beavering away behind the scenes steering the research effort. Others too modest to be mentioned are also doing their bit to help the campaign.

NEXT MEETING

CCPA Steering Committee will be meeting at noon on Sunday Feb. 26 at Len and Yvonne O ‘Shea ‘s house. Contact Len directly (0437120387) if you ‘d like to sit in on the meeting. Be quick though as space is limited. Email Pete (petedunn@bigpond.net.au) if you ‘d like a copy of the agenda.

The committee will be planning our next full CCPA meeting, probably at Easter at the Wooli Hotel/Motel. More on this later but there ‘ll be lots of new stuff to hear and discuss so please pencil it into your diary now.

DUNECARE UPDATE

From Dunecare Coordinator Len O ‘Shea: “I believe that our primary strategy is to save the dunes from further degradation, to start the process of building the dunes first and then start a program of plantings and regeneration.

 My idea for the next major working bee is to identify areas where water/wave action will create “ponding” and to 1) erect sand traps to build up these areas to prevent ponding of large quantities of water, 2) block the space from the end of the traps to the dune face to stop any water movement North/South along the dune base to prevent scouring and 3) erect a series of sand bag groynes at intervals along the beach to the dune face to prevent sideways movement of water/waves to prevent further erosion.

 We received a letter from the Hon. Dr. Mike Kelly AM MP dated 16/11/11 offering Wooli Dunecare Group a Community Action Grant of $5310.00. Thank you Hon. Dr. Kelly! I confirmed with CVC that we received our grant and the money is available for immediate use. I mentioned my idea of using the sandbags as an experiment to stop the erosion of the dune face and CVC did not pose any objection to this. Dave Richardson and I will coordinate with CVC to supply our required materials ASAP.

I was told that Minnie Water nursery will provide free plants to Wooli residents for dune planting. BUT… if you say that you are a Dunecare member, the cost of the plants will be debited against our CMA grant account!!!!”

Wooli Dunecare Group will hold an Executive meeting at Wooli Bowling Club at 10.00AM on Sunday 26th Feb. All are welcome to attend.

WAG ARTSHOW

Circle 6, 7 and  8th April on your calendar and join the fun for the second Wooli Artists Gathering Artshow. Last year, it was wonderful to see Wooli ‘s artistic talent on display. The show was a resounding success and a generous donation was made to CCPA. Express yourself in any medium, inspired by “Our Coast” art, photography, craft, mixed media and come along for a great opening night cocktail party at the Wooli Hotel/Motel. This year, prizes will go to Best of Show $150, Commended $100 and People’s Choice $100 (this one judged by visitors to the show). Details and entry forms on protectwooli.com.au, gayeshield@hotmail.com or Di on 0266 479021.

WEAR WOOLI

There is still stock of most sizes of Protect Wooli t-shirts. They are well-priced quality pure cotton, ideal for casual summer wear, in sizes from 4 years to XL. Proceeds to CCPA for beach protection. See Lyn (Wooli General Store), Nicki (Main Street store) or Ian (Wooli Hotel/Motel).

Future newsletters, notices and changes will be emailed automatically to those who register their email address on the website. Don ‘t forget to register on the website homepage at www.protectwooli.com.au. You can also post comments and questions there. Send newsletter contributions to janet.dunn@xtra.co.nz or CCPA,PO Box 173, Wooli, 2462.

Beach Surveys

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There is little data available with respect to trends for Wooli Beach, which has been  impacted by the training of the river entrance at the southern end and other human  developments. Collection of times series data of beach state/position provides very important information with respect to long-term trends and beach response (erosion or accretion) to  different types of events.

Our initial survey will establish bench marks for each profile along the full length of the beach. Once this is done regular surveys are a relatively easy and cost effective method of recording beach changes using standard land survey equipment (e.g. a total station). While the more data the more often is always best, bimonthly or quarterly surveys would be adequate, with the addition of post-storm surveys if possible. Profiles positioned 200 m apart along the length of the Wooli settlement, with wider spacings (400-500 m) along the other parts of the beach would be more than sufficient.

CCPA is very fortunate to have Brian Saye as one of its Members as he is a professional surveyor and has agreed to lead the team to undertake the surveys. Brian is in regular contact with Council surveyors to ensure the data coming from our surveys is suitable for use in developing the long term protection strategy for Wooli beach.

The results of the surveys will be published here as they become available in early 2012