Beaches of the Gulf Coast

7. Beaches of Alabama

T HE coast of Alabama is not very long, but its beaches are almost all well developed. It extends from a portion of Perdido Key on the east through Dauphin Island across the mouth of Mobile Bay (figure 7.1). Like most of the northern Gulf Coast, the Alabama beaches have been severely eroded by tropical storms and hurricanes. Two recent hurricanes have resulted in major erosion of the beaches and destruction of built property: Ivan in 2004 and Katrina in 2005. These took place on a coast that was experiencing tremendous growth and development for the tourist industry. Obviously, good beaches are an integral part of this development, and these storms caused considerable loss of beach sand and tourism dollars. Hurricanes are very destructive to beaches as well as the built environment. Nourishment is the primary way that beaches can recover from these storms. On the Alabama coast, nourishment took place along both Gulf Shores and Orange Beach in 2001 to mitigate the erosion of Hurricane Danny in 1997. The erosion from Hurricane Katrina required considerable nourishment to bring the beaches back for tourism. In 2006, what is one of the largest nourishment projects on the Gulf Coast was constructed with more than 7 million cubic meters of sand distributed along about 22 km of beach at a cost of $28 million. This portion of the Alabama coast is a combination of developed sections and parks. There are two communities with multiple high-rise towers, Orange Beach and Gulfport. Excellent beaches extend throughout this area with generally small dunes on their landward side. The Alabama portion of Perdido Key received beach nourishment as part of the large-scale project in 2001, as well as after Katrina. The beach here is now in very good shape (figure 7.2). This location is one of the best examples 7 Beaches of Alabama 143 144 BeaChes alonG The GUlf of MexiCo CoasT of how effective snow fences can be in helping to develop dunes. They are now buried with small dunes forming, and vegetation is becoming established. The large buildings in the distance front beaches that are equally well developed (figure 7.3). The heavily constructed community of Gulfport has excellent beaches that invite tourists for recreation (figure 7.4). This region had abundant oil on the beaches after the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010. After considerable cleanup work, the beaches were returned to their essentially pure state in about a year. Within the developed portion of the Alabama coast, there are parks with excellent beaches. The development of dunes is being encouraged through Figure 7.1. Satellite image of the Alabama coast showing the barrier islands. Photo courtesy NASA. 145 BeaChes of alaBaMa fencing and vegetation, providing terrific coastal environments for both recreation and shoreline protection of the upland developed areas (figure 7.5). The western portion of this barrier system is only modestly developed, primarily by residential construction (figure 7.6). There are also extensive areas where the beach and adjacent environments are in pristine condition and receive few visitors (figure 7.7). Figure 7.2. View to the east along the beach at Gulf Island State Park on Perdido Key. In the distance is the Florida section of Perdido Key, which is part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore. Figure 7.3. Beach on the state park looking toward the developed portion of Orange Beach. This part of the beach shows effective use of fencing to encourage dune growth. 146 BeaChes alonG The GUlf of MexiCo CoasT Dauphin Island is the only Alabama barrier island west of Mobile Bay and is a mostly low, developed barrier that has experienced considerable modification by hurricanes. The western side of the Mobile Bay entrance is a combination of residential and undeveloped areas, whereas the eastern side is dense residential development. Dauphin Island has a nineteenth-century fort, Fort Gaines, at its eastern end where major shoreline changes have taken place (figure 7.8a). Erosion has caused the shoreline to move landward over the past few Figure 7.4. Excellent highly developed beach in the tourist area of Orange Beach: (a) as it appeared before nourishment and (b) after nourishment . (b) (a) 147 BeaChes of alaBaMa decades, resulting in boulders as armor near the fort and tree stumps in the active beach near the eastern end of the island...