Confronting Shoreline Erosion on O‘ahu

While massive waves attract surfers and visitors to the North Shore of O‘ahu in Hawai‘i, they also cause coastal erosion and high sea level events that threaten coastal residents. Instead of building sea walls, the state took an ecological approach by restoring sand dunes in front of coastal properties. The restored dunes successfully protected homeowners from the massive El Niño-fueled winter surf the following year. With funding from NOAA's Regional Coastal Resilience Grants Program, the state is now developing initiatives to improve resilience to coastal hazards and sea level rise.