or withhold sand on the islands (16). Unfortunately for the inhabitants of the barrier islands, this is a geological behavior which can only continue if the islands remain in a natural state.In recent years humans on these shorelines and islands have been responding to the naturally changing conditions, through the use of man made structures such as seawalls, groins, and sand replenishment, in an effort to save beachfront property from erosion. Obstructing the natural shifts of the islands, says Orrin Pilkey of Duke University who has studied these islands for thirty years, will cause them to, "be lost forever" (16-17). Attempting to hold beaches in place with the use of seawalls, groins, and sand replenishment may seem like a good solution in theory, but in practice they probe ineffective.One of the most common methods of attempting to hold barrier island beaches in place is through the use of sea walls, which are costly and ineffective. Seawalls are typically cement walls constructed parallel to the seashore in an effort to block waves from coming over the beach and into property. However, seawalls tend to withhold sand behind the wall during times of high surf and the natural tendency of the beach to respond to waves is disturbed (Kaufman 207). The structures commonly fail from undermining or erosion by waves breaking over their tops. Under normal conditions sand would be spread out by outgoing currents, which in turn would lower the slope of the beach and cause the waves to break gradually. With seawalls in place, sand remains stationary while waves erode the beach as wave energy is deflected against sand not protected by the seawall (208). In addition to advancing the erosion rate of the sand and inhibiting the beaches' natural tendencies, seawalls have become quite costly to maintain. For example, in New York $120 million was paid by the federal government to sustain and replenish seawall installations as of 1996, and rep...
