Since November, the state has been rebuilding the dune that protects the campground using large geotextile bags that hold approximately a cubic yard of sand, Marvin said. The heavy-duty plastic bags are filled and placed in a pyramid formation before being covered with more sand. It has taken 7,000 cubic yards of sand, roughly half into the bags and the other half on top, to rebuild the dune. A second phase of the project will plant vegetation on the dune for stability and move small rocks that naturally wash onshore in front of the dune. The park itself is more than 2,000 acres of lush old-growth forest and beach that lies between the headlands of Cape Lookout and Cape Meares.
Scientists call the area between the two headlands a littoral cell.
During normal weather patterns, winter storms and the ocean flow carry sand north and offshore. The pattern reverses itself in the summer. The net effect is no change to the beach, according to David Revell, a graduate student at Oregon State University's marine resource management program. In recent years, state officials gave homeowners in the oceanside communities of Neskowin and Rockaway Beach permission to use riprap to save their homes after punishing storms chewed away beaches and, in some cases, left the ocean at their doorsteps. Some scientists, however, think hard structures such as riprap inhibit the natural flow of sand.