America’s most special places will always be beautiful, but a warming climate forces us to accept that they can’t be frozen in time.
Assateague Island National Seashore, which sits on a 37-mile-long sliver of land just off the coast of Maryland and Virginia, is gradually shuffling westwards 1. Hurricanes and Northeasters have driven sand from the beaches across island into the bayside marshes. The entire island is shifting closer to the coast.
Scientists expect that as the climate changes, the storms will likely strengthen, sea levels will keep rising, and Assateague’s slow westward migration may accelerate1. The staff at the National Park is preparing for these changes. The storms have destroyed the parking lots 6 times in 10 years. The park’s crew worked to adapt to the storms and created toilets, showers and beach shelters that could be moved quickly.
These adaptations, however did not take into account Climate Change. The seashore is one of the first national parks in the country to explicitly address and accept, the effects of climate change. The park will try to adjust to the changes, rather than fighting them. It will continue to move as the island moves, shifting its structures with the sands.