Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge was hit hard by last week's winter storm. Wind gusts of up to 85 miles per hour created a pounding surf that carried away parts of the beach and parking lot. This is normal for a barrier island, but it's a huge problem for the nearby town of Chincoteague. Like many of Virginia's coastal towns and islands, money is the only thing that can save them.
Each year, more than a million tourists come to Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge to see wild ponies, protected species, and a working lighthouse. But the pristine sandy beach that's part of Assateague Island National Seashore is the biggest draw, worth about $50 million a year to the town of Chincoteague. From town, it’s a quick drive to the edge of the Atlantic Ocean where you park. But the beach is on a barrier island so its sands are shifting all the time.
“Particularly the southern end of this island. They describe it as the tail of the dog is wagging. The land where we sit right now wasn't here 100 years ago.”
Kevin Sloan manages the refuge. Maintaining the beach parking lot along with the U.S. Park Service has become his biggest challenge. Last fall, just after a nor'easter, Sloan gave a tour of the lot and beach. Since 2003, the Park Service has spent about $6 million making repairs after storms.
“And then $1 million each time they've had to move the Tom's Cove Visitor's Center, which is at its third location now.”
The storm took chunks of the lot out to sea and will cost upwards of $800,000 to repair. The gaps in the beach will likely fill in until the next storm but Fish and Wildlife is proposing to move the beach and parking lot north, to a more protected area and leave this beach to mother nature. That worries Chincoteague Mayor Jack Tarr.
“Because without some type of dune system, without some type of berm system that southern end where we're parking now protects Chincoteague. So if we just let nature take its course and wash the barrier island away, then Chincoteague is vulnerable for the ocean the next storm.”
This is happening all up and down the East Coast. Just to the south of Chincoteague is NASA's Wallop's Island facility, also located on a barrier island. In 2013, the facility received $40 million to replenish its 3-mile long beach and protect it with a quarter-mile long, 14-foot high sea wall. NASA spokesman Keith Koehler.
“And then we had to go back in after Sandy and put about $11.3 million worth of work on the beach.”
All this protects $1.2 billion worth of assets owned by NASA, the Navy and the Commonwealth of Virginia, including launch pads, a space port, and a drone runway under construction.
Mayor Tarr knows that kind of funding is out of the question for his tiny town and for the disappearing beach from which they make their living.
But he is asking state and local politicians and the Army Corps of Engineers for help.
“We think the elevation of the beach should be much higher. We're asking for some dunes, for some sand fencing in the winter months to help stabilize the beach and keep it there for as long as we could, and we think the wagging tail will stop wagging so much.”
In a few months the beach will be ready for another summer tourist season. Meantime, the town of Chincoteague will continue to fight to save the beach while working with the federal government in determining its own future.
