In addition to being a major tourist attraction, the beach, infrastructure and man-made dunes are serving to protect surrounding communities from sea level rise. Charles O’Neill suggests in his document, Structural Methods for Controlling Coastal Erosion, that “protective beaches” can be “…very effective at reducing the amount of wave energy reaching upland areas of the shore.” It is evident that Parlee Beach Provincial Park is the lone parcel of significant, non-residential land in Pointe-du-Chêne and it serves as an essential erosion control structure for the area. Without this protection, the impacts could be more severe on the cottage and residential community of Pointe-du-Chêne than the present rate of salt water intrusion.

Due to the current slope of the beach and dunes, there is a risk of the dunes being breached, which nearly occurred in 2000. A complete breach of the dunes would cause increased flooding and damage to the park and local community. To reduce the damage to the dunes during winter storms and to improve the efficiency of beach maintenance, the department proposed adjustments to the typical beach nourishment program. These activities were carried out last season and this year the beach will simply undergo ‘beach nourishment’.

Quick facts about the beach: Parlee Beach is rebuilt every year. Much of the beach is washed away each winter. Almost 1,000 truckloads of sand are needed to rebuild the beach – this work is known as the Beach Nourishment Program. The Parlee Beach sand dunes are human made. Due to the Beach Nourishment Program, the dunes had grown as high as they were in 1990. This was rectified during the dune restoration project that was undertaken last year. The dunes at Parlee Beach have to be periodically reshaped. The process of reshaping sand dunes to minimize winter damage to the beach is known as the Dune Restoration Program. This project was undertaken a year ago, in November 2009. This year, the beach will be maintained by bringing back sand that has eroded over the past year. It is anticipated that Parlee Beach will require annual maintenance each and every year to keep the dunes at the appropriate level and reverse the erosion damage. In order to cover the costs associated with this yearly maintenance, visitors to the park contribute $3 dollars to this work when they pay their park entrance fee.