Sea and Survival
Many of t he problems that society confronts
are of such inordinate comp lexity t hat it
takes the greatest dedication and zeal to
assemble the necessary data, analyze and
p rescribe. Happily there are other pro blems,
where a very small perception can produce
astonishing results. If one accepts the simple
proposit ion t hat nat ure is the arena of life
and t hat a mo dicu m of knowledge of her
processes is indispensable for survival and
rather more for ex istence, healt h and de-
light, it is amaz ing how many apparently
diff icult problems present ready resolution.
Let us accept the proposition t hat nat ure is
p rocess, t hat it is interact ing, t hat it re-
sponds to laws, represent ing values and
opportun it ies for human use with certain
li mitations and even prohibitions to certa in
of t hese.
We can take t his proposit ion to conf ront and
resolve many problems. Let us first employ
it in a study of the New Jersey Shore.
The people of t he Netherlands have been
engaged wit h t he sea for t hese two millennia.
In the uncertain balance of t h is state of de-
pendence, love and fear, t he defenses against
t he violent sea have always been known. Be-
tween t he sea and man have stood two
barriers, t he one natural, the other its human
surrogate: dune and dike. It is the gr.assy
dune, backdrop to sand castles, ice cream
ca rts, the splashing bathers, th is most ben ign
of feat ures, wh ich provides the defense of
t he cou ntry. Where there are no natural
dunes, as in a s t retch of North Holland, then
Dutchmen have built as replacement their
three lines of dikes: The f irst of these, facing
t he sea is t he Guardian (Waker}, the second
t he Sleeper (S/aper }, and the last defense is
the Dreamer (Dromer}. These are great
efforts indeed to replicate t he role of a
simple du ne. The entire panoply of organiza-
tion that is the Waterstaat_ empowered to
defend Holland from the sea, its polders and
pumps, locks and harbors, windmills and
dikes, are all bu ilt upon the single basic
foundation t hat is nature's gift, the dune.
Now dunes are only little sand hills, fo rmed
by waves and wind and, where unstabilized,
extremely vu lnerable to these selfsame
fo rces. Yet there are grasses, sedges in
Europe and marram in the United States,
wh ich are the pioneers of t his environ ment.
They are astonishingly tolerant to h igh salin-
ity, extreme glare, soils lacking humus, an
uncertain and oscillat ing supply of water.
Indeed they t hrive o n these conditions, and
as the sand piles around the neck of the
plants t he roots extend below ground and ,
t he stems and leaves rise from the sand. The
product is a dense mat of roots, which stabil-
ize the dune belo w and the leaves that
entrap sand and anchor it above grou nd
level.
In their long d ia logue with the sea the Dutch
have learned that it cannot be stopped but
merely d irected or te mpered, and so they
have always selected f lexible construction.
Their dikes are not made, as are our de-
fe nses, wit h reinfo rced concrete. Rather
they are constructed with layers of fasc ines
-bundles of twigs-laid on courses of sand
and c lay, t he whole of which is then
armored with masonry. The dunes, stab ilized
with grasses, provide an even greater flexi-
bility than dikes, accepting the waves but
reducing t heir velocity and absorbing the
muted fo rces. In contrast concrete walls
invite the fu ll force of the waves and f inally
succu mb to t he u nderc utting of t he insidious
sea. The Dutch d ikes are fitting .
In the Netherlands th is informat ion is the
stuff of kindergarten classes, but in the
United States, even in those areas where sur-
vival depends upon such knowledge, it does
not even repose in the intelligentsia, far less
t he political process. It has made no impact
on engineering manua ls, where dependence
upon rigid const ruction has assumed t he
aspect of a creed. Yet th is simp le informa-
t ion has the same relevance to survival by
the sea in New Jersey as does t he knowledge
t hat plant photosynthesis is t he source of all 7
 food and atmospheric oxygen. T h is knowl·
edge is linked to survival.
.__...
T he dune grass, hero of Holland, is an aston·
ishingly hardy p lant, t hriving in the most
inhospitable of environments. Alas, it is in·
capable of su rmounting t he final crucial test
of man. In the Netherlands, the vu lnerability
of dune grasses to trampling is so well
understood, t hat dunes are denied to public
access; on ly licensed naturalists are permit·
ted to walk on them. Sedge and marram
Dun!: grass spre•d, along r~on h·south li ne succumb to man and here then is the first
Wmd deJ..)OSitS sand at thicket line.
l)( Sdrld OCCUIIlUidti UII . lesson. If you would have dunes protect you,
and the dunes are stabilized by grasses, a nd
t hese cannot t olerate man, then survival a nd
t he public interest is well served by p rotect·
Dune formation bllgins ut the thickot linr with depositit'n of windblown sand. ing t he grasses. But in New Jersey t hey are
~------~------------------~--~, t otally unprotected. Indeed nowhere along
our entire eastern seaboard are they even
recognized as valuable!
The first facts about survival by t he sea have
Thicket and woodland plan ts invade the rising been recounted . But perhaps we shou ld
__,..
As sand accumula tes on the dune. w111d removes scmd in
backdune sand under the protection of the begin earlier; there are other facts to be
fron t of the dune
growmg st<condary dune.
-~ learned before we can formu late policies
,,,f...,
,;•"' .,....
~ ... - .,.Sttt:.&~1'i!tafirJ".!m:~-...
which can give some pro mise of survival by
""--·--......~-- .~ -.....;~ ~_;:,~.·~~~'~
t he sea a nd indeed permit us to del ight in
t he special joys of t he ocean's edge.
Secondary dune for mation begins as tho dune-gr<~ss community is established. Snnd is remvved from front of the dune.
The p recipitous faces of t he Hudson and
Hatteras Canyons and the Bla ke Escarpment
rise from the abyssal oceanic plain of the
At lantic to the Cont inenta l Shelf; it is on
this shelf (which extends fro m Massachusetts
l ho cstdblishcd dune-grass cornmtHl ttv uuttates pr unaf y Ttucke t ami wootlland commum1ies aclvnncc north and to F lorida) that rests t he archipelago of
dune formation Mesic tond ttions i!I!Ow dunC-91'JSS CO!TIII"\Ufltlies to r""'·~~
~,uth I.JUhllld Ihe S!!COildory dune sa ndba rs t hat forms the New Jersey Shore.
While Cape Co d is essentially a terminal
.; spn.wcl scawt:~rc.J / ·. . .... moraine w it h outwash p la ins, t he residue
• _,•·,& • ~t.t.~ -~·l.',~·/ 1•1' from t he Buzzards Bay and Cape Cod ice
~ ~""'·-~ ,,/ -1(£~.- ...al:ll\liloii·QI~.. lobes of t he last glaciatio n, and t he FIor ida
Keys are old coral reefs, t he sandbars t hat
STAGE 4 The dune-gras!' community advances seaw~rd to the high -tide line Primary dune formation begins. parallel New J ersey and reach south of Cape
Hatteras have more recent origins.
The secondary dune os stabrllzed Dune grass os rep laced It seems t hat the processes t hat determine
,
\ by plants not requiring sand dcposr uon the creation of sandbars are under t he con·
•
) Sail spray •s reduced by the pn mary dune and grou nd t rol of waves and wind. Sto rm waves break·
level rises. Xeric thtckets replace dune grass
ing in relatively deep water offshore dig a
t rough in t he sand and cause t he d epositio n
o f a low submarine bar near to t he shore and
para ll el to it. When this continues to raise
t he bar above water level, a dune is formed
that is immed iately affected by the wind. An
angle of between five and ten degrees on the
ocean floor is associated with bar and subse·
quent dune formation. Isolated bars emerge,
then coalesce as a continuous dune. The area
of water between dune and shore becomes a
shallow lagoon or bay.
Ensuing dune formatio n then occurs on t he
seaward side, where a not her offshore sub-
marine bar is formed wh ich subsequently
rises above t he sea. The interven ing area be·
tween the two dunes is filled wit h sand by
the wind, resulti ng in a typical cross section: LITTORAL DRIFT
Beginning with the ocean there is t he inter·
tidal zone, t he beach and t he primary dune
(prima ry in defense, but seco ndary in time);
beh ind t his is a t rough, which rises to the
inland dune, wh ich in turn falls f rom t he
backdu ne to t he flat zone, terminating in t he
bayshore and the bay.
Waves usually approach t he beach from an
angle, the water runs over t he sand and
recedes at right angles to the shore. As a
result t he sand carried by t he receding wave
is t ransported downdrih of its origin. T h is is
described as littoral drif t a nd it is a ma jor
facto r in determini ng beach conf iguration.
As a result of th is, sand continues to be DEPOSITION AND EROSION FROM GROINS
tra nsported in one directio n. It is sout hward
in t he case of t he New Jer.sey S hore. Thus
the no rthern t ips of islands here tend to be
eroded a nd will shrink u nless replen ished
wit h sa nd, while t he southern most t ips of
islands are elongated. A h istorical ex <~min a ·
tioh of the shore shows t hat this indeed has
happened.
Such a cross section reveals a number of
enviro n ments, and t heir variat ions are vividly
reflected in plant ecology. Perhaps the most
stringent facto r is salin ity, particularly as
contributed by salt spray. The lagoon is
likely to be brackish and this too is an
important limit ing facto r. As oil fl oats on 9
EROSION AND TRANSPORT
 OCEAN
.. LIMITING-FACTOR GRADIENTS
••cOMMUNITY TYPES
water so does fresh water f loat on salt water.
There is then a prism of fresh water within
the dune, but it responds to t ides and rises
and fa lls twice each day . This fa lling of the
water level will be more serious on t he dunes
than in the trough or the bayshore. T he
problem of onshore winds, combined with
sa lt spray, is yet another environmental
factor. As a consequence the foredu ne will
be more exposed than the backdune, the
sheltered trough and back of the inland d une
will offer the most protected locations. In
response to t hese variations of env ironment,
plants occupy selected locations and create a
mosaic of associations. But they a re all re·
10 sponsive to t he onshore wind with its attend·
• •orawing after William E. Marti n. The Vegetation of
Island Beach State Park, New Jersey. Ecological Mono·
graphs, Vol. 29. Jan. 1959. p . 43.
BEAC H
!;r,t~D l.lClVf :.IE! 1
5AI.1 SPRAY
SOl l SJ\LINI TV
SOI L ~~O I STUHL
ant sea spray and so the t ips of t he tallest
plants conform to the profile of the wind
initiated by the primary dune.
Salt spray and sand movement will present
t he greatest pro blem at the beach and reduce
towa rds the bay; soil moisture and soil sa lin·
ity are lowest at the beach and increase
towards the bay.
As the dune begins to form, the marram
grasses co lonize it and enhance its growth by
arresting gra ins of sand. From t he bayshore
t he pioneer is reedgrass. Dune formation
assumes the form of a continuous ridge o n
wh ich the marrams spread. Sea myrtle arises
PRIMARY D UNE i~OlJGH SCCONDA RY DUNE HACI~DUI,IE l3AYSHORE BAY
t -········
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•r••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• , .11 u nlllll011tltto tii111Uouu 11 , 1110111111111 1
· · · · ·· · · · · ·· ·· · · · · · - · ·· · · · · · · · ·· ·· · ·· ,;,. "'? .,..
111 111111111111 . , , ,\''
...... .r::":~/ 1/////1
II 1111111111111111111111= = 111111tllltllllltlllllltl1111lllllllll!lltll=·" " " '
11
'"'"'"''''""'"
11 011
.......... ~" ' '"'"""""''"UIII II IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIUI IIIIIIII II IIIIIII IIIIIIIII!IIIIlll """''"""'""'llltoiiii'"''''W>... ~'.!":""'-"''~'~..,-; 7//1/li'
• • • • • •· · · · · . : Low mesic thicket
High m
esic thicket ·················
- Sail grass·marsh elder
savanna
•••••••••••••••••
- . . Salt grass-sea myrllo-red cedar
Red cedar woodland • savanna
Pine woodland
seaward of the reedgrass o n the bayshore. A prima ry dune is a thick stand of dune grass cedar-pine woodlands; high mesic thicket· response to autumn hu rricanes and winter
trough is formed in advance of the initial while in the trough nestle low myrtle, beach beach heather; salt marsh-marsh elder sa· storms and will sometimes be breached-
dune, which leads to the format ion of the plum and smilax thickets, which have re- vanna, and the salt marsh. examination of old a ir photographs shows
primary dune. This is colon ized by dune placed t he grass. The face of the inland dune quite different water channels and land
grasses, which accelerate its formation and is covered by beach plum and parthen· While the distribut ion is li kely t o fo llow this formations. During storms t he bay is likely
stabilize it. Beach heather ventures a[Tiong ocissus, interspersed with grass, while in the sequence from ocean to bay, the patt ern and to fi II and flood the bayshore and trough. In
the dune grass; bayberry and beach plum backdune there is a red cedar-pine wood· distribution wi II be a mosaic rather than severe winter storms the sea may cross over ·
extend from the bayshore towards the land, which graduates into a swampy red bands. T hese will refl ect the variability of the entire sandbar. The knowledge that the
backdune. As the primary dune grows, a cedar woodland and thence to the reedgrass, this environment in t he most precise way. New J ersey Shore is not a certain land mass
du negrass savanna develops in the trough, thistles, and to the bay. as is the Piedmo nt or Coastal Plain is of
the marram and the beach heather consoli· We can draw some conclusions from this some importance. It is continuously involved
date the original dune, while woody plant The ecologist describes these as plant asso- simple analysis. Unlike the Coastal Plain in a contest with the sea; its shape is
material, notably red cedar, grows in the ciations. These include the dune grass associ· formed in Tertiary and in Cretaceous times dynamic. Its relative stability is dependent
backdune and poison ivy jo ins the bayberries ation: dune grass-beach heather; low thicket or the Cambrian Piedmont, half a billion upon the anchoring vegetation. This involves
near the bayshore. In the fina l stage the of moderate mo isture- "mesic" to the ecol· years old, the sand dune is a very recent for· several convergent factors. The first of these
beach remains devoid of vegetation, but the ogist; fresh marsh; salt grass-myrtle; red mation. It wi ll change its configu ration in is groundwater. If the use of shallow wells 11
 lowers groundwater below a cri t ical level,
the stabil iz ing plants w ill die. On the other
hand, if by the building of groins or any
other tangential construction the littoral
drift is arrested, the source of sand to sup·
~lement the du nes will be denied. The fi nal
po int has al ready been mentioned- that this
critical vegetation, the dune grass, is most
vu lnerable to trampling.
We now have a code of basic proh ibitions for
human use. Thou shalt not walk on the dune
grasses. Thou shalt not lower grou ndwater
below the cri tical leveL Thou shalt not inter-
rupt littoral drift. These proscriptions will
merely ensu re t he perpetuation of a natural
sandbar and its native vegetation and expres-
sion. This wi ll merely susta in a publ ic re-
sou rce. We must now consider t he matter of
the people who would like to develop this
resource. What can we say t o them?
Perhaps t he most reasonable approach wou ld
be to investigate the tolerance or intolerance
of the various environments to human use in
general and to some particular uses. The first
zone is the beach and, fo rt unately for us all,
it is astonish ingly tolerant. It is c leaned by
the tides twice a day of t he debris th at men
leave, and even the most vulgar residues
achieve a beaut y when handled by the sea.
The creatures that live in th is area do so
most ly in t he sand and thus escape destruc·
tion f rom hu mans. So the beach is tolerant
to all the happiest of uses- swimming and
p icn icking, the mak ing of sand cast les, fish ·
ing and sunbathing.
The nex t zone, the primary dune, is abso·
lutely different: it is absolutely intolerant It
cannot stand any tramp Iing. It must be
prohibited to use. If it is to be crossed, and
crossed it must be to reach the beach, then
this must be accomplished by bridges. More·
over, if the dune is to offer defense against
storms and floods, then it must not be
breached. As a consequence no development
should be permitted on t he primary dune,
no wa lking should be a llowed and it should
not be breached at any point.
The trough is much more to lerant; develop-
ment can occur here. It is of course. more
protected than the du ne- from storm, wind
and blowing sand. The problem here is
groundwater. The vegetation that occupies
this zone exists on ly because of the relative
abundance of fresh water. Should this water
level be lowered t he plants wou ld die. This
cou ld happen through withdrawals from
wells, but it cou ld a lso resu lt from roofs and
paving t hat d ivert runoff into drains and
piped waste-water systems.
T he inland d une is the second line of defense
and is as vu lnerable as the primary dune. It
too is intolerant and shou ld not be devel-
oped. The backdune, however, reveals a
more permissive location and t his is perhaps
t he most su itable environment o n the sand-
bar for ma n. Normally this supports woody
vegetation- red cedar and pine. T he shade of
these t rees is a welcome relief from t he
bli nding light, glare and heat that char·
acterize the other zones. Fresh water is more
abu ndant in this environment t h an any
ot her - an important consideration for
development.
The final zone is the bay. It is not we ll
known that estuarine and bayshore environ·
ments are among the most productive in the
world, exceeding those better-kn own ex·
amples of rice paddies and s ugarcane farms.
It is in these nutrient-rich locat ions that the
infa ntile stage of most of the important fish
takes place and where dwell the most valu-
a ble shell fish. They are the breeding grounds
and homes of the most important wildfowl.
In o ur society it wou ld appear t ha t there is
an imp licit law that enjoins all disposers of
rubbish and garbage, all those who would
gratify their heart's desire by f illing land , to
choose marshes and baysho res for their
fulfillment This reveals a profound ig-
norance of the values of nature; the marshes
and bays are among the most productive
areas that we have. Thou shalt not fill or
dump here.
It takes only the shortest of reflection to
realize that those environments which sup-
port aquatic and semi -aquatic vegetation are
normally occupied by water or adjacent to
it. Plants reveal variety in bands reflecting
distance from the wa ter's edge. Knowing
this, it is not difficu lt to conclude which
environment is owned by water and which is
not. If, in disregard of th is principle, the eel-
grass flats on either side of the bayshore are
f illed, it is clear that t he capacity of the bay
to contain water wi ll be reduced. We can
assume that win ter storms and hurricanes
will cont inue with their normal frequency,
but the water storage capacity of the lagoon
will have been d iminished. The water will
t hen occupy that area which it requires,
inevitably covering t he prior area now oc·
cupied by building. Moreover, in t he process
of filling and building it is likely that erosion
will tend to fill the lagoon, making it more
shall ow and reducing its storm-wa ter capac-
ity. This will lead to a larger area of t he
built-up land being inundated in any storm.
Thus we can say: if you wish to find a loca-
tion that is likely to be flooded, then by all
means fill in the marsh on either side of t he
bay and build t here. If you wish t o make a
certainty o f this eventuality, why, then fill
the lagoon wi t h sed iments. In addit ion to
these expectations you will a lso have the
assurance of the least stable fou ndations
possible. Consistency is not a very noble
virtue, but it is the on ly one in this sad cata-
logue. Surely t his is not the way to act. Let
us rather say t hat ma rshes were not made to
be filled , they constitute a present value and
a real danger to hu man habitation.
Development should not occur on the nar-
rowest sections of the sandbar, fo r that is
where breach ing is most likely, but in the
search for a su itable environment for man
we have d isclosed a most fortunate situation.
The widt h of a dune tends to be a functi on
of its height and the angle of repose of sta-
bilized sand; therefore t he primary and
secondary dunes do not occupy mu ch space,
bu t t he flatter backdune area tends to be t he
widest of all the components of the sandbar 13

11 LU<M!T
(HI•'fl.l'.'i (o f l..llflll
t.l;f.J•:.'\:1 I O pr·lh..dl •II }f!H·ll
and it is here, propitiously, that the most
delightful, diverse, safe and to le ra nt env iron·
ment ex ists.
We could now consider positive recommen·
dations for development of the shore based
upon this little koowledge. The backdune's
widest stretch would appear to offer the
max imum opportunity for the concentration
of facilities, be it a village, a group of houses
or a recreat ional center-depend ing upon
actual dimensions. T here wiII of necessity be
a highway. It wi ll inevitably run parallel to
the sea and the dunes and could well be
located on the backdune. If · suffic ientl y
elevated, it could not only proffer splendid
14
•stanley A. Cain, Letter to tho Editor. Lands;cape Archi-
rccruro Quarterly~ Jan.. 1967, Volume 57, page 103.
BE!\CII
Tc 1LEhAt!T
lrtt• r 1 e r· r ·.ttt'Jl'
i ~(1 I .il IH l
views of the ocean and t he beach, but it
could prov ide a third du ne, t he equ ivalent of
the Dutch Dreamer.
Th is backdune could offer protection from
winter storms and could prevent the breach·
ing of the sandbar from the bayshore as has
happened in the past. In creating works like
an artificial dune to support a highway, it is
important that the san'd be wit hdrawn fr om
the o cean and not from the bay. The beach
is not a very rich environ ment while the bay
is the very richest. As Dr. Stanley Cain, the
eminent ecologist, has revealed, * dredging of
such rich environments can p roduce bio·
logical deserts.
14
PR IM!\R Y DUNL
INlOUf!NJI
t..Jn nass.J(,.. I r• iJlfilll'l m l,.tildm!J
Now if communities are established t here
arise t he problems of water supply and sew·
age disposal. First let us consider t he matter
of water. There are resources of grou ndwater
in the sandbars as we have seen, but the
water level must not be lowered so far as will
extinguish the stabilizing vegetation. This
s u ggests that withdrawal be distributed
among a number of wells. But water from
this source will be a limiting fac tor to
growt h. Sewage presents another p roblem.
The silts of the bayshore are unsu itable for
septic tan ks and, moreover, the employment
of this technique is certain to poil u te t he
groundwater supply. Both a sewer and a sew·
age t reatment plant will be necessary before
ROUGH SECONDARY OUNE
r·;rnLt.RHiJT
~~o p~·:sa~x. hr• hn•1 H l 11 tl·li:t~
development is permitted on the dune.
We now have t he broad outlines of an eco-
logical analysis and a plann ing prescription
based upon this understanding. A spinal road
could constitute a barrier dune and be
located in the backdune area. It could
contain all utilities, water, sewer, telephone
and electricity and would be the guardian
defense against backflooding. At the widest
points of t he backdu ne, settlement could be
located in co mmunities. Development would
be excluded from the vulnerable, narrow
sections of the sandbar. The bayshore
wou ld, in principle, be left invio late. The
beach wou ld be available for the most inten·
!:lACt'DUNE
1(1LEflAIIT
~ •!J.ol vlldhl• It I d I )JJJ,
sive recreational use, but without building.
Approaches to it wou ld be by bridges across
t he dunes, which would be prohibited to
use. Limited development wou ld be per·
mitted in the t rough, determined by ground·
water withdrawals and the effect upon
vegetation. A positive policy wou ld suggest
accelerating the stabilizing processes, both of
dune formation and of vegetative growth. To
do this the appropriate vegetat ion for the
associations would be planted. Particu lar
attention would be given to marram grasses
on dunes and to p lanting red cedars and
p ines on t he backdune.
In t he Netherlands, confronted with a sim·
BAYSHORC BAY
li l· ·tL. "', •Lb , !r
I I
lo 11llr• y h•t• ! 1 I>.;C
I I I'''"
ilar situation, it became a matter of national
reso lve to reclaim land from the sea and a
positive policy was developed towards that
end. If this were applied to the New Jersey
Shore it would involve the creation of
continuous dikes and dunes fac ing the sea.
There would be locks at these locations
where the lagoon was connected to the
ocean. Fresh-water flow from the land mass
into the bay would be regulated as wou ld
incursions of salt water from the ocean. Con·
stra ints would be exercised to ma intain
dunes and dikes, groundwater withdrawa ls
and native vegetation.
Sadly, in New Jersey no such planning prin·
15
cip les have been developed. Wh ile all the
principles are famil iar to botanists and ecolo-
gists, th is has no effect whatsoever upon t he
form of development. Houses are bu il t Lipan
dunes, grasses destroyed, dunes breached for
beach access and housing; groundwater is
withdrawn with li ttle control, areas are
paved, bayshore is fi lled and urbanized.
Ignorance is compounded with anarchy and
greed to make the raddled face of t he Jersey
S hore.
From the fift h to t he eighth of March 1962,
there came retribution. A violent storm
l as hed the e nt ire northeast coast from
Georgia to Long Island. For t h ree days
sixty-mi le-an-hou r winds whipped the high
spring tides across a thousand mi les of
ocean. Forty-foot waves pounded t he shore,
breached the dunes and f illed the bay, which
spill ed across t he is lands back to the ocean.
When t he st orm subsided, the extent of t he
d isaster was clear. Three days o f stor m had
produced eight y mill ion dollars worth of
dama ge, t wenty-fou r hund red houses des-
troyed o r damaged beyond repair, eighty-
t h ree h und red houses part ially damaged,
seve ral peo ple killed and many injured in
New Je rsey a lo ne. Fires subseque ntly added
to th is dest r uct ion; roads were dest royed, as
were utilit ies.
T here were, of course, other s ign if icant
losses, not least the expect at ion of income
fro m t ourism, w hic h is the major economic
base of the New Jersey Shore. In add it ion,
t his place, thought t o be a recreational re-
source f or the region, looked a sorry sight.
For the majority of people the damages we re
co mpounded because little was recoverable
by insurance. Many , many people now make
mortgage pay ments on houses t hat were
bulld ozed into the bay. Yet all of this dis-
ast e r was caused by man t hrough sins of
commission and o mission.
Immediat e ly after the d isast er, giant bull-
dozers pushed the wrecked houses into the
STORM DAMAGE- 1962
bay or burned them in great funera l pyres;
sand dunes were re-formed, streets exhumed
from under the overburden of sand and
slowly houses reappeared to fill the selfsame
sites of those that had been swept away. The
commonest problem was the exposure of
fou ndations; those houses that had sat h igh
on the dune, commanding a view of the sea,
found the sand swept from under them and
t here they stood, floors fifteen feet above
the sand, grotesquely leani ng, s upported on
their exposed telegraph pole foundations.
But not a ll of them. In a remarkable ex-
amp le of wisdom and virtue rewarded, in
those rare cases where the du ne was stable
and u nbreached, clot hed in grasses, t he
houses endured, suffering only broken win-
dows and lost shing les.
The evidence is there to be read. The record
of cause and effect cons titutes the common
knowledge of natura l scientists. But the
status q uo a nte is being reconstituted with-
out direction or const raint. T he fut ure seems
clear: t he New Jersey Shore lies in the path
of hurricanes. Winter storms are even more
regular. Sandbars are recent and ephemeral,
there is no assurance that they wi ll endu re.
There is no reason t o believe t hat the last
storm was the worst. In t he Netherlands it
was a thousand-year storm, wh ich took
a lmost two thousand lives and caused u ntold
damage, all but inundating t his best p repared
of people. What can t he most unprepared
people of New Jersey expect? We hope for
t he best, but it would be sangu ine to expect
anything less than disaster.
May it be that t hese simp le ecological lessons
will become known and incorporated into
ordinance so t hat people can continue to
en joy the specia l delights of life by t he sea.
The Case Study on tho New Jersey Shore was undertaken
by graduate students in l andscape Arch itec ture o f the
University of Penns ylvania in the Sprin g of 1962 under the
d irection of the author. Technica l advice wa~ given to the
students by Professor William Martin. The students pnr ti·
cipating were Roger D . Clemence, Ayrc M . Dvir, Geoffrt!y
A . Colle ns, Michael Laurie, William J. Oliphant and Peter
Ker Walk er.
17