Advocating for the restoration and preservation of our beautiful beaches
The beaches of San Clemente are disappearing at an alarming rate. We are a group of concerned citizens, scientists, and surfers who have come together to advocate for cost-effective, nature-based solutions with a high probability of success.
What is causing this erosion and how can it be reversed?
Beaches represent a delicate balance between the amount of sediment delivered to the coastline (sediment supply) and the erosive forces that move it offshore (wave energy). In our local area, the natural supply of sediment has been nonexistent for the last two decades.
Solutions exist on both sides of the equation: increase sediment supply through engineered sand replenishment or decrease the wave energy through nature-based structures such as artificial reefs.
San Clemente is in the unique situation of having the railroad sit directly on its beach, and the railroad has an unacceptable solution: pile on more rock. We as a community must develop and support more sustainable solutions in collaboration with our local, state, and federal governments and other stakeholders if we are going to preserve our lifestyle and environment.
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San Clemente has a variety of beaches with unique problems and solutions
The City of San Clemente has undertaken a $15M sand replenishment program to widen the northern half of “City Beach” by 50 feet. It is anticipated that much of this sand will drift southwards, widening the southern half of “City Beach.”
Based on other restoration projects in the Oceanside Littoral Cell, it seems unlikely that this sand will appreciably widen the beach at San Clemente State Park, which is eroding at a rapid rate. Meanwhile, most of North Beach and the south end beaches have no dry sand left at all, only waves crashing against the rocky seawall protecting the railroad. These high rates of erosion are moving inwards and will soon affect more public beaches unless quick action is taken.
We are advocating for feasibility studies for both in-water and out-of-water restoration projects to retain beach sand brought in by the federal project and protect the sand along the shoreline for beaches not covered by the federal project. This should be a marine ecosystem approach that will work to restore our sandy shore habitats. Ideas include: artificial reefs, constructed tide-pools, underwater cobble deltas, living shorelines, and dune restoration.
We are actively seeking volunteers to help in our work
Save Our Beaches San Clemente engages primarily in advocacy for practical, cost-effective, nature-based solutions to restore our beaches.
Our leaders include community organizers who work on understanding the local stakeholders’ needs and desires for their local problems; coastal scientists who are working on identifying solutions and developing conceptual designs; and government liaisons working to obtain funding for feasibility studies and implementation of those ideas.
If you would like to help, please let us know via our contact page.