Sez St. Lucie and Martin Counties to Their Southern Neighbors: No Sand for You!

Where Sand Is Gold, the Reserves Are Running Dry. (The New York Times, 8/24/2013)

Print edition headline:  "Where Sand is Gold, the Coffers Are Running Dry".

Published November 26, 2012.


Excerpt:   But in South Florida — Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties — concerns over erosion and the quest for sand are particularly urgent for one reason: there is almost no sand left offshore to replenish the beaches. 

In these communities, sand is far from disposable; it is a precious commodity. So precious, in fact, that it has set off skirmishes among counties and has unleashed an intense hunt for more offshore sand by federal, state and local officials who are already fretting over the next big storm.

Florida Beach Management Program Long Range Budget Plan for 2013-2023.

Published February 8, 2013.


Related article
Beautiful beaches come with hefty price tag, other costs, in St. Lucie County. (TC Palm, 9/3/2012)

Excerpt: Since 1973, almost $172 million in federal, state and local money has been spent in the Treasure Coast's three counties to replace sand on beaches, according to figures supplied by officials in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties and the Town of Jupiter Island. This spending counts only large-scale beach restoration projects, not the many more instances in which local officials truck or bulldoze sand to smaller erosion hot spots.