The U.S. Geological Survey is using unmanned aerial equipment with drone-operational assistance provided by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to chart dune erosion and beach loss at Town Neck, going back to the Jan. 23-24 northeaster and up through the Feb. 8 blizzard.

Before the arrival of the winter storm, the newly rebuilt Sandwich beach was surveyed so that scientists can track how the gusty weather and high tides impact the beach.

Christopher Sherwood from the geological survey told Sandwich selectmen Feb. 10 that the agency is trying to build models that allow a charting of beach erosion, focusing now directly on northeaster impacts, Wicked Local. 

“The resulting maps are quite precise,” Sherwood said. “They are almost as good as a registered survey. We are measuring (Town Neck) sand loss and change to that beach profile.”

Sherwood said the general assessment of change at Town Neck after the canal-channel sediment deposit at the public beach is that the beach profile has shifted.

“Quite a bit. Much of the new sand is now in shallow water and may shift back to the beach,” he said. “The sand put there may not be lost forever. It will continue to move around.”

That sentiment sat well with selectmen, especially after the $2.9 million project to place approximately 125,000 cubic yards of canal-channel sediment on Town Neck saw some of that sand wash away and result in dune erosion, at one point to a 15-foot scarp of the barrier system.

Selectmen Chairman Frank Pannorfi was resigned.

“I guess my reaction to these storms is it’s not something we did not anticipate. We’re going to see more winter storms, scarping, and erosion. That photo of (dune erosion) is shocking,” Pannorfi said.

There is a two-sided argument in the community following the latest round of storms hitting Town Neck. The first embraces the view the sand-deposit contract with the Corps of Engineers was awfully expensive just to see much sediment wash away.

The second argument: It is reasonable to assume that, if the canal sediment had not been placed on the beach, then the Feb. 8 storm would have swept through the barrier dunes and breached the town parking lot at the marsh.

Sandwich Natural Resources Director Mark Galkowski says it makes sense to refrain from moving into the shoreline to reshape the eroded beach for a few weeks and likely to weather a few more punishing storms.

Sandwich Town Manager Bud Dunham agrees with Galkowski, with a caveat; Any work by bulldozer operators in the sand must start and stop work prior to a March 31 deadline set by the Massachusetts Natural Heritage Agency.

“I think we might be able to do the reshaping in the next few weeks; then we’ll think about beach grass replanting to protect that dune,” Dunham said.

Galkowski repeated the point that a great portion of 125,000 cubic yards of canal sediment

“Some of it can be seen at low tide; some has shifted to the west. But you can see the high tide break on the beach now well before the dune.”

Town Neck, along Cape Cod Bay, has been badly hit by coastal northeasters arriving on high tides over three winters with this season being far from over. The resulting erosion is evidenced at public property on Town Neck as well as at private beachfronts where sand placed by homeowners at their own expense is – to a great extent – gone.

There were storm impacts north of the canal this week as well. They were markedly dramatic at Sagamore Beach where sand was blown in on the storm tides, covering beach stairs up to 4 feet. And at low tide this week, there was not a beach stone to be seen on the smooth, sandy-beach surface.

Sandwich officials still insist the natural littoral flow of sand along the bay from Manomet Point and Cedarville past Sagamore Beach is trapped in the Scusset Beach State Reservation basin due to the east-end canal jetty.

Dunham, meanwhile, said a final audit of the canal dredging and sediment deposit contract has yet to be finalized between the Army Corps of Engineers and the Great Lakes Dredge Co.

The contract called for 180,000 cubic yards of sediment to be placed on Town Neck. The final result was an estimated 125,000 yards. Dunham said this might mean the town could recoup some of the money allocated for the federal project.