![](https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/scene_salisbury_beach_ma_dune_gone_20240310_fb_salisbury_citizens_for_change.jpg)
26 March 2024
A decades-old problem became acute his winter. After high winds and a historic high tide damaged 20+ beachfront homes in January at Salisbury Beach, Massachusetts, the residents took up a collection to build a protective dune. It took five weeks, 14,000 tons of sand and more than half a million dollars to build the dune to protect the homes. Three days later it was gone.
Completion of the dune project in early March brought high hopes to Salisbury Beach.
![](https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/announcement-that-the-dune-is-complete-20240307.jpg)
But in the next three days a natural occurrence, an astronomical high tide, washed it all away.
The temporary dune did it’s job — no homes were damaged in March — but the idea of spending half million dollars after every storm is out of the question. So the town is regrouping and weighing options.
You might be wondering: Why don’t they just build a seawall?
Seawalls just move the problem a few hundred feet down the beach so they are generally not allowed in Massachusetts (see special exception in yellow).
![](https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/q3-can-i-construct-a-seawall-900x-annot.jpg)
Also, a seawall will remove the beach entirely as shown in this diagram. If Salisbury Beach builds a seawall they will have no beach at all, just a wall with a sheer drop to the ocean. Understandably, the homeowners want a beach.
![](https://www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/shoreline_erosion_after_seawall_USACE.jpg)
The ocean takes land slowly … and then all at once. No amount of money can stop it.
(credits are in the captions)