Restoring Dunes Is Key to SPI’s Protection
by R. Daniel Cavazos
Photo: Natural vegetation helps to stabilize SPI's dune system.
South Padre Island is buffeted by the weather, wind, and water. It is an ecosystem with its natural defenses at times eroded and in need of repair.
There are hurricanes and tropical systems that come ashore or close enough to inflict coastal damage. Combine those factors with the daily mix of winds and waves, and it all adds up, leaving an environmental impact.
“There’s always wear and tear,” said Kristina Boburka, the Shoreline Director for the City of South Padre Island. “The beach is so dynamic. You look at it one day, and the next day it’s completely different.”
The Island was spared any direct hits during the 2021 hurricane season. The 2020 season wasn’t so kind with Hurricane Hanna coming ashore north of SPI near Port Mansfield and with other tropical systems brushing by and inflicting erosion and damage. The damage left behind by 2020 season brought a need to restore and repair.
Photo of Kristina Boburka as provided by city.
The city is currently doing just that in partnership with the Texas General Land Office. A project to restore dunes within SPI’s city limits got going in early November and is scheduled to be completed in mid-January 2022. The work covers about 18 acres. Boburka said the project is spread over six sites from the city’s north end at the Hilton Garden Inn and extending south to the La International Condominiums.
“We want to make our Island more resilient,” Boburka said. “Rising seas and intensifying storms are a concern for every coastal community.”
Vegetation & Dunes
Boburka came to the Island with this sort of work in mind.
She’s a Pittsburgh native and came to Texas from the Steel City to do graduate work in marine biology at Texas A&M University in Galveston. Among her duties for the city is overseeing and coordinating efforts to rebuild dunes and nourish beaches. She is working with Coastal Transplants, a North Carolina-based company that specializes in dune restoration and vegetation in assisting barrier islands like SPI to address environmental challenges.
Aerial photo shows wooden fencing being installed to collect sediments and build new dunes. (City provided photo).
The city contracted with Coastal Transplants to apply additional sand to the existing dune system with natural vegetation planted so roots can grow and connect to stabilize the system. Wooden fencing is being put into place to capture sediment and build new dunes. The dune system, Boburka said, “is our first defense against any high tide or storm surge,” while also helping to preserve critical wildlife habitat for threatened and endangered species.
The project in progress is funded in part by a Texas Coastal Management Grant. Sixty percent of the funding is provided by the federal government.
“This Island has come so far,” Boburka said of efforts in recent years to restore dunes. “We’ve very fortunate that we do have a very robust system.”
Vegetation is critical to maintaining a stable dune system.
Beach Nourishment
The Island received an added boost in early 2021 when SPI received well over 300,000 cubic yards of sand.
The delivery of this much-needed material came from the U.S. Corp of Engineers and the dredging work done on the Intercoastal Waterway. Boburka said the city paid for the incremental costs for transporting the sand to the Island, with SPI getting 270,000 cubic yards and Cameron County receiving 90,000 cubic yards, which were applied on county-managed areas like Isla Blanca Park.
The Corp of Engineers-delivered sand was used to nourish and raise the levels of beach lands in fortifying the barrier island’s natural defenses.
Boburka will continue to do her surveys, study the data, of which she said, “it’s amazing how much of it we have.”
Beyond the numbers, Boburka sees what everyone else does in living and working on the Island.
“It’s so unique down here,” she said. “It’s wonderful to work in such a gorgeous place.”
Sand dredged by the U.S. Corp of Engineers and delivered to SPI early this year is fortifying the Island's defenses against storms and tides.
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