Environmental Enhancement of Infrastructure
Cape Cod
Chatham, Massachusetts, United States Stabilizing an eroding coastline with a system of natural materials and native plants. Coastal communities on Cape Cod have suffered from increasing damage due to sea level rise, growing storm intensity and frequency, and worsening erosion. One property had experienced erosion along the bottom of the bank, and in 2010, a coir fiber roll array was installed to slow this erosion. The array quickly fell into disrepair and required replacement due to inadequate installation techniques and materials not designed for the coastal environment. Wilkinson Ecological Design proposed a nature-based approach that included a properly installed and maintained coir fiber roll array to stabilize the eroding toe of the bank and a reinforced transitional high marsh to provide a second layer of stabilization that would also restore salt marsh species where none existed. The union of these techniques maximizes the stabilizing capabilities of a living shoreline while enhancing the ecological benefits and protective aspects of a salt marsh. After extensive permitting beginning in 2014, the protective bioengineering structures were installed in 2018.
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