9.09.2010

A photo that I took

This is a beach (if you can call it that) in my town, right off the promenade. Believe it or not, this used to be a really nice, wide, sandy beach. I'd often come here to lay out in the sun and play on the beach all throughout my childhood and teen years.

How did this happen, you ask? Well, not too much farther up the coast is a river that used to flow steadily into the ocean, bringing with it the silt and sand that made up this beach. In the 50's they dammed it up, and the beach sand was no longer regularly replenished. Over the past 10-15 years the existing sand (and staircase) finally eroded away to what you see above.

There's a local movement to tear the dam down since it no longer serves its original purpose, and is destroying what was once a beautiful beach. Not only that, but the river used to be full of trout that can't survive in the tiny stream that's left. It sounds cut and dried, but of course there's all kinds of red tape and bureaucracy that's holding up the project. Here's hoping they're able to cut through all that soon and bring back the beach I once loved!

4 comments:

~stinkb0mb~ said...

Oh that's just really terrible, it's sad how man made things and what some consider "improvements" can have such a negative affect on the natural environment and in this case can turn a once beautiful beach into something not so.

xx

^J^ said...

Awe, I hope the beach you remember comes back soon and you can make new and happy memories.

Steph said...

That's still so pretty! (i love the water)

I KWYM about bureaucratic nonsense. I hope the beach can come back soon.

-my husband grows cotton- said...

Beautiful picture. Hope the beach returns soon!