SCARBOROUGH LEADER • April 23, 2024
Work is nearly complete at Scarborough Beach State Park to repair damages from January’s storms and a plan to prevent similar storm damage with the use of an artificial dune is taking shape. The storms drove seawater and beach sand up the long, narrow path to the parking lot. Greg Wilfert, director of the park, said, “We lost 6 to 10 feet of dune depth, but the dunes did their job,” and will have time to naturally recover this summer. Beaches in the southern part of the country have used artificial dunes with success. At Scarborough Beach, a rectangular box about 10 feet wide and 3 feet tall filled with silt or sand could be placed at the beach entrance to the path. There would still be room for people to walk around the dune box on both sides.