JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The beach at Naval Station Mayport in Jacksonville looks pristine from afar, but when you get closer to the shoreline, you may notice cones and construction equipment crowding on the sand.
Half of the beach is under construction to build back not only a bigger, but more resilient beach, according to Jim LaGrone, a project manager with the Army Corps of Engineers.
"They got impacted by Hurricane Ian and Nicole and eroded their beach about 60 feet horizontally and about 10 feet vertically," LaGrone told First Coast News. "That's a lot of material that was lost and pushed down over by Hanna Park."
Back-to-back Hurricanes Ian and Nicole in 2022 devastated one of the most crucial security measures at the navy base: sand dunes.
“The dunes at Naval Station Mayport have been eroded by passing hurricanes northeastern and exceptionally high tides in particular," NAC Southeast Environmental Resiliency Program Manager Arnie Olsen said. "The passing of hurricane[s] resulted in the loss of almost all of the dune sand on the southern part of the naval station."
Sand dunes act as the main line of defense when protecting buildings on base. Since those storms in 2022, Naval Station Mayport has had to tear down towers and their boardwalk due to excessive damage.
“We have already lost facilities aboard Naval Station Mayport because of the erosion of the dunes and we would continue to lose those facilities and impact our ability to execute the missions at Naval station Mayport,” Olsen said.
From now until the end of the year, crews will move sand from the St. Johns River to Mayport’s coastline, building a second line of defense after the beach from storm surge.
"The most difficult part is the logistics of moving almost 80,000 cubic yards of sand across Naval Station Mayport," OIsen said. "We're doing this while the installation, while Mayport is fully functional."
Creating higher and wider sand dunes not only serves as a way to protect the naval station from erosion, but sea turtle nests, too.
“Sometimes you get a lot of calcium and the sediment actually acts like a hard pan," LaGrone told First Coast News. "If that sediment compaction happens and it solidifies, turtles can't dig in their nest. So, not only are we actually benefiting resiliency associated with infrastructure, we're also building an ecological benefit. So for the turtles can actually nest on the shoreline."
But, the sand dune project is not the only one that’s impacting the navy base's beaches. At the same time, crews are putting natural barriers in place to slow down erosion in high water areas, expanding the size of the beach.
"Our job here is, is trying to get reestablished that beach so that folks who want to get back out here for recreational purposes, can recreate more and have a better beach," LaGrone said. "Right now, at mean high water, it's right up at the dune. So by the time we finish our, our beach project, it will extend that mean high water out so that more recreational can happen on the beach."
Mayport will spend the rest of the year hauling sand back and forth on base until the dunes are complete, then will install new boardwalks. Their goal is to have their entire beach up and running by March.