Salisbury Beach residents are calling on the state and federal government to address coastal erosion concerns after spending more than a half a million dollars to create a sacrificial dune that washed away just days later.
Residents of the northern Massachusetts beach community spent $600,000 of their own money to truck in 15,000 tons of sand for protective dunes in early March, only for it to be washed away by a storm three days later. Many of these homes have been passed down through generations.
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Now that the owners are getting a front row seat to rising sea levels, they’re calling on the state and federal government to step in.
“All our sand is right out there and you can tell by the way the waves break further out, that’s where the sand is,” Salisbury Beach resident Tom Saab said. “And we just need to dredge it and bring it back on.”
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“It’s something that we can’t give up and we can’t give up on,” Salisbury Beach resident Rick Rigoli added. “It’s like if you have a fence on your property and you paint your side of the fence and your neighbor doesn’t paint their side of the fence. Eventually, that fence is going to rot out if its wood.”
Congressman Seth Moulton visited with residents Wednesday to survey the damage and discuss possible solutions.
“This is an example of trying to control nature – it doesn’t always work,” Moulton said. “I’m going to get the Army Corps involved where we can and where it’s appropriate, but ultimately this is a state beach and so the state and the local community has to figure out what they’re going to do with it.”
State Sen. Bruce Tarr’s office issued the following statement:
“Salisbury Beach is a precious state resource that protects homes and infrastructure, generates economic activity, and provides incalculable contributions to coastal defense and carbon capture. Stewardship of this resource demands that we plan carefully, act boldly, and invest wisely. Over the past 18-24 months state, local, and federal officials have been engaged in intensive collaboration to design proper steps to not only respond to damage at the beach, but also to put it on a course to sustainability for the foreseeable future. Now it is time to act.”
