In southern California, the shoreline is vulnerable to coastal flooding during large storms and will also be affected by projected rates of sea level rise. Engaged by the City of Encinitas, GHD’s Coastal and Maritime team is part of a team that will build a ‘living shoreline’ at South Cardiff State Beach in Encinitas, next to Highway 101, to help prevent future flooding and further erosion.
Living shorelines use native vegetation alone or in combination with structures (for example, offshore sills) to stabilise the shoreline. They provide a natural alternative to ‘hard’ shoreline stabilisation methods like revetments or seawalls, in addition to numerous other benefits, including nutrient pollution remediation, essential fish habitat provision, and shoreline buffering from waves and storms. They also have the potential to store carbon and help mitigate the effects of climate change.
Using soft engineering techniques, the team will design and build a nature-based shoreline protection system in combination with a buried revetment, creating a coastal dune habitat and add a new pedestrian trail linkage between two coastal cities, with designated beach access points through the dunes delineated with post and rope fencing.
A first for California, the project will serve as a regional pilot program to assess the feasibility of utilizing dune systems for shoreline protection. A robust five-year monitoring program has been established, so that learnings can be shared with other coastal communities.