What Does The Future Hold For Skaket Beach?

ORLEANS – Every year, winds invariably blow sand off of Skaket Beach into the parking lot and onto Skaket Road. The town’s department of public works collects that sand and stores it in the corner of the parking lot for later use in renourishing the beach. 

 The town also has a permit to bring up to 2,000 cubic yards of compatible sand onto the beach to further those renourishment efforts, Nate Sears, the town’s natural resources director, told the select board April 15. That includes heavier, gravel-like material that’s harder to displace, he said.

 “Let me tell you, the reason in my opinion why we have less of an erosion situation at Skaket is because of that course materialism,” he told the board. “That’s the stuff that sticks around. It locks into the beach.”

 It’s an approach that’s working at Skaket, which has been able to stave off the effects of erosion better than other beaches on the Cape. Adam Finkel, a senior scientist with the Woods Hole Group, said that while the beach suffered 2.7 feet of annual erosion on average between the years 1851 and 2024, more recently (1995 to 2024) that annual loss is closer to two feet.

 “And I think without that [town] maintenance, it’s likely that the rates of change would resemble that long-term trend,” he said.

 But while the town’s processes for maintaining the beach are working now, there could be room to take additional steps to protect the beach from erosion, flooding and sea level rise in the future.

 That was the takeaway from Woods Hole Group’s findings from a resiliency study of the beach, the results of which were presented to the select board April 15. Four alternatives were presented to the board for protecting the beach into the future, ranging from continuing the existing management plan to relocating physical assets and buildings at the beach.

 “I think a real central theme of this planning process is trying to avoid a situation where the town is experiencing repetitive losses in that location, and I do think that some of the alternatives that we’ve come up with help to address that,” Finkel said.

 Physical assets at the beach, including the snack shack and the restrooms, benefit from sitting at a higher elevation, which Finkel said currently protects them from serious flooding threats. But projections through 2070 show that that may not always be the case, Finkel said, noting that more serious storm events are likely to become more frequent between the years 2030 and 2050.

 “I know I keep saying that the landward assets remain resilient, but they are still at risk of undermining,” he said. “And they will become more at risk of undermining as we get further out into the future.”

 The first option presented to the board calls for continuing the town’s existing management practices at Skaket. The option is the most cost effective given that it doesn’t involve any capital investment, and would not impact existing parking or views of the beach.

 “So I think in the near term, what’s being done does make sense,” Finkel said.

 The second option calls for additional beach nourishment above what is being done currently. That could also involve the construction of a timber retaining wall and sand fencing in the front of the parking lot. Option two would be more costly and would require more advanced permitting through the Army Corps of Engineers, Finkel said. But it could also allow for a larger recreational area for beachgoers.

 The third option calls for enhancing the two existing dunes on the beach, as well as creating designative pathways for foot travel to limit disruptions in the dunes. Finkel added that the low-lying restoration would also be designed to catch some of the wind-blown sand that would otherwise be captured in the parking lot. 

 The final option calls for the relocation of physical assets at the beach to better protect them from flooding and coastal storm damage. Finkel said the restrooms could be relocated to the far end of the parking lot, while some parking spaces would be removed near the snack shack through the elimination of asphalt in the area of the building. Those spaces could be made up for on nearby town land, Finkel said.

 “I want to be clear about this alternative. It is a much higher cost. It is long lasting. But it also has the greatest impact to services, greatest impacts to parking,” Finkel said.

 Finkel said as of right now, conditions do not warrant proceeding with the fourth option. Should the town decide to build upon its current management plan, he recommended that the town at least begin the process of securing permitting to allow for the dune enhancements called for in option three. 

 “I believe it provides the town with flexibility to proceed with a project in this location when it’s warranted,” he said.

 Sears set out some vision for what improvements could be made with the permitting in place, including improved stormwater management, the installation of a “knee wall” at the edge of the parking lot and more sand being deposited on the beach side of the wall.

 Select Board Chair Kevin Galligan said with the anticipated passage of the state’s environmental bond bill “any day now,” the town should explore what funding might be available to further its management efforts.

 “I would say with the design and success of current management, it would only be in our favor to get some funding to go to the next step,” he said.

 “I lived on that side of town for so long and watched the erosion,” said Andrea Reed of the select board. “But I love the solution, that’s it’s dynamic, that it’s proactive, that it doesn't seem to me to cost a lot. And it maintains one of our biggest assets for multiple generations to use all the time.”

 Michael Herman of the select board similarly favored taking a proactive approach to protecting the beach, which he called one of the town’s most valuable assets alongside Nauset Beach.

 “I think we should be acting on it sooner than later,” he said.

 The board did not take any action on the Woods Hole Group presentation.