Tourism and Parks
Tourism and Parks

parlee01

Dune Restoration and Beach Maintenance

Tourism and Parks will proceed with the dune restoration project and continued beach nourishment. The portion of dune crests which are higher than 5.5 metres would be pushed landward and beach nourishment practices would be used to considerably reduce dune slope. This would result in a larger dune base and is a compromise between moving the dunes landward and maintaining current dune structure. In addition, storm surge damage would be minimized as wave action would be dissipated over a reduced dune slope and the base of the dunes would be wider. This will minimize the potential for a complete breach of the dunes.
 
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Quick facts about the beach:

pointParlee 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.

pointThe 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.

pointIt 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.

 
 

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