State comes through with $2 million for erosion repairs at Salisbury Beach

The one-time expenditure will help place roughly 30,000 tons of sand along the dunes starting in September.

After previous efforts failed to nourish Salisbury Beach, the town will receive $1.75 million from the state to mitigate erosion caused by winter storms, according to an announcement by the Healey-Driscoll Administration on Tuesday.

The funding is part of the administration’s ongoing efforts to implement a regional approach to coastal resilience, said Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Brian Arrigo in a statement sent to Boston.com.

“This decisive action moves Massachusetts and the DCR to a stance of proactive management in the face of continuing climate-related threats to public resources,” said Sen. Minority Leader Bruce Tarr of Gloucester in a statement sent to Boston.com.

The one-time expenditure will help place roughly 30,000 tons of sand along the dunes in the first phase of a long-term $6 million strategic plan.

“Now the plan can move forward, and not a moment too soon, to protect public infrastructure such as state Route 1A, marshlands that sequester carbon from our environment and defend Salisbury and surrounding communities, and a public beach that generates significant contributions to the regional economy and provides the priceless opportunity to recreate for thousands of people every summer,” Tarr said in a statement.

Due to the beach’s heavy summer recreation use and permitting requirements, beach nourishment is expected to begin in mid-September, before the next winter storm season. DCR anticipates the project will take two to three weeks to complete.

Salisbury Beach, the last coastal town before reaching New Hampshire, has private beach homes bordering a state-owned reservation. The beach is open year-round, and the state park to the south begins collecting parking fares on Memorial Day weekend. Visitors can swim, boat, fish or camp at the 484 campsites.

Neil Harrington, the town manager of Salisbury, said most of the damage is at the north end of the beach, which is over 3.8 miles long. The damage should not affect this summer’s season since most beach-goers use the central and southern portions of the beach.

Harrington warns that the erosion is threatening homes along the beach and a critical road — Route 1A, an evacuation route for the nearby Seabrook Nuclear Power Station.

DCR has already been working to repair the beach, including removing unsafe structures and placing sand at strategic spots to allow continuous access.

Since 2007, the state has spent more than $2 million on beach renourishment for Salisbury Beach, and over the last five years, the state has invested $15 million in the Reservation.

Harrington says the town also plans to ask for federal funds to support the ongoing mitigation plans on the beach.

Residents with beachfront properties on Salisbury Beach paid $600,000 this past winter to install 15,000 tons of protective dunes on the beach, only for them to wash away during a storm.

At the press conference at the end of April, when a $6 million multi-phase plan was announced, environmental scientist and consultant Tom Hughes said the beach’s dunes rose above 15 feet in sea level. Now, a 1,200-foot stretch of the beach is in the 13- to 14-foot range, below the 15-foot overwash level.

Overwash occurs when waves exceed the height of a dune during coastal storms, transporting sand and other sediments inland.

The aim is to restore the dunes to an elevation of 17 feet above sea level. The project’s second phase will raise the dunes to 19 feet and extend the volume further toward the water.