“This island will continue to erode until it’s gone” points out Dr. Clark Alexander during a recent boat ride up the Intracoastal Waterway.
It's shocking to hear but according to Dr. Alexander it's what will eventually happen to Pigeon Island along with much of the marsh area along the Intracoastal Waterway.
“We find naturally we have channels migrating back and forth and so as one side erodes the other side grows so you have the channel moving back and forth.”
But in Coastal Georgia both sides of the channel are eroding an average of three to six feet every year.
After an in depth study Dr. Alexander and his team at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography believe they know what’s to blame.
“It looks like it is the intensity of boating activity that is occurring in our coastal zones in Georgia.”
While it’s making our waterways wider it’s slowly destroying land along the shoreline.
“Loss of uplands, so if you have a house on a nice bluff overlooking the coastal waterway you have to worry about the house and any other kind of infrastructure being damaged and lost over time.”
Some homeowners have taken matters into their own hands and have put up barriers...
But the marshes remain at the mercy of boaters... slowly being washed away. Alexander says not much can be done to save them or the animals that call them home.
“Try to stay away from the edges of the channel as much as possible so that we are not intensifying the activity from our wake.”
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement