Too Big To Bully

The backlash against beach nourishment has begun, it being a particularly opportune time to note that dumping sand is a costly and seemingly futile endeavor — since tons and tons of sand have been swept away from local beaches in storms this winter.

At the same time, Montauk is just starting the long-awaited federal nourishment of its beaches. In the right light, it looks like throwing good money after bad straight into the ocean. It seems almost ridiculous.

Don’t be fooled. There is a conversation to be had about whether spending millions and millions of dollars to dump sand on beaches is practical or prudent, but context is crucial.

Beach nourishment is preposterous because it’s unnatural — in fact, it’s anti-nature. Because beaches come and go on their own schedule, and it doesn’t always line up with human needs. We dump sand because we want big, broad sandy beaches — to lay beach towels on and to protect the buildings we build a short distance away — and nature isn’t always going to cooperate.

The problem is the alternatives. Hard structures destroy beaches even faster, even as they save the buildings. It’s similarly pointless but also actively harmful. As long as we want to dwell, and frolic, near the ocean beaches, there are times we have to remake them to suit our needs.

That’s not cheap — and it’s only a temporary fix. It can look wasteful, certainly, because it is: Living with nature often means accepting the fleeting terms she offers. If you want to bully the beaches into what you want them to be, prepare to spend, and to watch that money get washed away.

So, why do it? Because an entire economy benefits. Because human beings have thrown caution to the wind and built far too close to the fragile waterfront and will fight tooth and nail before moving back — and buying time to work that out is essential. Because we have the sand, and the money, to buy a little time in the sun and convince ourselves that nature, in the end, is too big to bully.