To the editor: The article on California’s wrestle to guard properties and infrastructure from storms and rising seas with out sacrificing its seashores factors to a bigger drawback: We hold treating coastal erosion and flooding as emergencies to scrub up after fairly than threats to organize for (“California’s plan to save coastal homes from El Niño could end up killing beaches,” Sept. 28).
As a Santa Monica native and lifelong surfer whose father spent 30 years as a lifeguard alongside this stretch of coast, I’ve watched these seashores change for many years.
For years, our reflex has been acquainted. A storm tears into the seaside, bulldozers arrive, sand will get pushed again into place, and we look ahead to the subsequent storm. Elsewhere, communities flip to riprap, seawalls and jetties — buildings which will shield one stretch of coast whereas narrowing seashores close by or pushing erosion downshore. With one other probably highly effective El Niño looming, that cycle seems to be much less like resilience and extra like denial.
Better Los Angeles residents can see a distinct strategy taking form at Santa Monica Seaside.
Simply south of the pier, town of Santa Monica, the Bay Basis and UCLA are increasing a dune restoration project. Section 3 will lengthen restored habitat throughout greater than 30 acres towards Venice. Native vegetation traps sand and permits dunes to construct naturally, making a buffer earlier than the waves arrive as a substitute of sending in heavy gear afterward.
The stakes are actual. Current storm surf stripped sufficient sand close to the pier to drive cancellation of the inaugural Ocean Way music festival.
We aren’t going to bulldoze, armor or jetty our manner out of sea-level rise. Santa Monica is exhibiting one other path: serving to seashores adapt by working with Mom Nature as a substitute of repeatedly attempting to overpower her.
Matthew King, Santa Monica
