Tybee Island, a barrier island off Georgia's coast, is losing beach faster than it can be replaced. In a natural system, sand drifts south from islands farther north, but development, sea walls, jetties, and the Savannah River shipping channel have interrupted that flow. The Army Corps of Engineers has responded with repeated renourishment projects since the 1970s, dumping dredged sand onto the beach roughly every seven years.
The most recent renourishment, in the winter of 2019–2020, placed 1.3 million cubic yards of sand on Tybee. More than half of it is already gone. In places, the dune now ends in a five-foot cliff, exposing roots and threatening sea turtle nests. Businesses have lost bookings, and chair and umbrella rentals have been forced off some stretches. With sea level rising about half an inch a year, the beach and dune system are the island's main defense against storm surge.
Tybee was due for another renourishment this winter, but Congress underfunded the federal program and the island was left off the project list. The city, county, and state had already set aside their required 40 percent share of the $20 million cost. After lobbying by officials, a letter-writing campaign, and visits from Georgia's congressional delegation, the Corps agreed to divert leftover funds from New Jersey beach projects to Tybee.
This time, the Corps plans to try a different approach: instead of pumping dredged sand offshore, it will deposit it in the shallows off Tybee's beach. That is meant to reduce wave action and let the sand move more naturally, potentially stretching the interval between renourishments from seven years to ten. It is a temporary fix, though, not a solution to the human-made disruptions that keep starving the island of sand.