by Shane Irwin ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) - 7/8/10

AVALON -- A professor from Rutgers University has been using a beach in South Jersey for a multi-year study. Thursday, he released his findings, and explained why Avalon should serve as an example for other shore towns.

Like so many quaint, well-kept South Jersey communities, Avalon's beaches attract thousands of people every year. But, unlike other towns, visitors of Avalon are treated to pristine raked beaches, as well as undisturbed, naturally occurring dunes.

"It was the first place I thought of when I thought of coming down and looking at what happens when you rake a beach, and when you don't rake a beach in terms of sand transport by wind," said Dr. Karl Nordstrom, a professor at Rutgers University's Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences.

Avalon's proactive efforts were reason enough for the doctor to conduct a multi-year study on Avalon's beaches.

"The most important reason why I'm here is because Avalon is such a progressive bureau in terms of identifying how the beach should be managed, and managed in a way that's compatible with the natural system," Nordstrom said.

The doctor stopped by two sites at the beach Thursday afternoon, and later presented some of the study's findings to Avalon residents and city leaders.

In his presentation the professor discussed how important restricted beaches like this are for endangered birds and wildlife.

"Endangered species, it's our responsibility to take care of them because they're endangered because of us. So, we have to do something to make up for that, and the best thing we can do is allow some of these locations along the Jersey Shore to evolve naturally," Nordstrom said.

Tourism is vitally important to New Jersey, and what Avalon has done can now serve as an example to other shore towns across the state.

"But, in terms of my future activities, I now have the difficult task of trying to determine to what extent what I found here applies to other New Jersey municipalities," Nordstrom said.

"Tourism is the second largest industry in New Jersey. It creates about 300,000 jobs and about 38 billion dollar in taxable revenue. So, with 128 miles of coast, New Jersey has a very valuable resource it's gotta protect," said Avalon's mayor, Marty Pagliughi.

And, Doctor Nordstrom also explained to the crowd that the best way to improve a beach and its accompanying dunes, it to simply leave it all undisturbed. That means no raking and no other adjustments.

Dunes are key to beaches, Avalon lauded for preservation approach

Written by MARY LINEHAN
Thursday, 15 July 2010 10:25

AVALON -- A college professor and author with formidable academic credentials and years of field research spoke here last Thursday night, telling most residents what they already knew. "What you have here, in Avalon, is one of the best beaches in the state, in the country, in the world - for a populated site and developed area," said Karl Nordstrom, of Rutgers University Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences.
"I haven't been everywhere, but I've traveled the country and the world studying beaches and dune systems, and Avalon is singular in its long-term commitment to dunes for shore protection and is eager to support scientific study," Nordstom said, lauding Avalon's beach and dune management system as "independent and creative." "Avalon is, essentially, a poster child for good dune management," he concluded.
Nordstrom, speaking at the invitation of Mayor Martin Pagliughi and members of the Borough Council, presented his most recent scientific research on the borough's beaches. The professor's research focuses on the processes affecting the size, shape, and location of beaches and dunes in ocean and estuarine environments.
A full professor at Rutgers since 1994, Nordstrom, who holds his doctorate in geography, began teaching there in the late 1960s as a research assistant. He has held visiting positions at universities in Germany, Italy, Brazil, Australia and the Netherlands, including two stints as a Fulbright scholar.
Nordstrom's research includes assessment of winds, waves and currents and the effect of these processes on sediments and landforms.
"Models of beach and dunes change have been formulated for both developed and undeveloped coasts," according to his current research description. "Research has also been directed toward analysis of coastal land use, requiring assessments of the social implications of changes to beaches and dunes."
Showing slides of beaches and their dune systems, Nordstrom commented that "…wide, flat beaches with no dune systems" are not naturally occurring. "Beaches look like that," he said, showing a slide of an empty, flat beach is Cadiz, Spain with the horizon broken only by high-rise beachfront condominiums, "because people want it to." "There are areas that have absolutely no nature left on the beaches. The beach looks exactly the same in winter and in summer. Those people who only visit those beaches are left thinking that is natural," he said.
Dunes protect buildings and infrastructure inland, provide a reservoir of sand to compensate for beach erosion and provide environmental habitat, according to Nordstrom, but are "often the battleground on which land use wars are fought.
"Humans want stability and predictability on beaches, but nature wants to be dynamic," he said. "We can reach compromise by acknowledging that those two positions exist on the same spectrum"
He said that the compromise has been reached on Avalon beaches, where sections of "raked" and "unraked" beach coexist. Raking grooms areas for beachgoers, removing beach wrack.
Beach wrack is natural litter: piles of seaweed, plants and animal remains that wash ashore and are found in the tide line. Beach wrack is vital to dune formation, because it provides habitat for invertebrates, which are food sources for other species, seeds and plant growth and results in traps for windblown sand.
"If you want a dune to form, don't rake," said Nordstrom. "Nature will take over and come right back." Cultural litter is, simply, trash generated by people, from popsicle sticks to much worse items.
"Cultural litter can always be removed," he said.
Nordstrom has worked with the federal government on management strategies for the national seashore and Federal Flood Insurance guidelines, and with state and municipal officials on "…assessments of the effects of creating or altering dunes, and restoring naturally functioning environments to intensively developed municipalities."
His research has been documented in numerous publications, most recently in his textbook "Beach and Dune Restoration", and has included recommendations on how to develop manmade dunes that are aesthetically pleasing while also providing the protection to lives and property.
"As other areas move forward, especially here in populated areas, Avalon beaches will provide a larger example of what communities can achieve," Nordstrom said. About a dozen people attended the public meeting on July 8.

Original Article on Shore News Today