USACE dredged the Merrimack River and placed over 220,000 cubic yards in front of 26 homes from Center Island going North

Our first project was to focus attention on the intense erosion that was happening at Center Island during this period of time. We had noticed that we were losing significant amount of beach every year. We believed this to be abnormal. Our founding President Marc Sarkady was asked by then Selectmen Vince Russo of Newbury to lead a Beach Nourishment effort to address this situation. When we brought this to the attention of others—officials, citizens, the Army Corps, and others—we were not taken seriously. People said: well the ocean goes out and comes back in and so does the beach, etc.

We were determined to demonstrate that this was not ‘normal’ erosion. The need to address this was amplified by the ocean beginning to lap at our back doors, our porches, and run through the passage ways and create breaches onto Northern Boulevard and threaten the water and sewer system, along the length of the Island. Through a process of organizing the citizens of the Island, and then organizing our State and Federal Congressional delegations, we forged a force to be reckoned with. We educated ourselves on how the Army Corps worked. We were able to join with other citizens, government officials, and stakeholders in the formation of the Merrimack River Beach Alliance, now the MRBA.

Together we communicated with and then lobbied the Army Corps of Engineers with the help of our Congressional Delegation and the local Municipal governments. We were able to get the Army Corps to conduct what is called a 204 study to actually measure the erosion historically. This study proved that we lost over 13 feet a year for over 10 years. Normal erosion/accretion is 1-2 feet per year.

We hired Howard Marlowe, a nationally known erosion and coastal resilience consultant based in DC to work on behalf of our constituency.

This led to the dredge conducted in 2010/2011, where over 150,000 cubic yards of sand was placed on the beach north of Center Island, and the beach was stabilized and homes were protected, and we brought this area of the island into a sustainable context.