Building Beaches - The Te Rauone Beach Management Scheme.

Across Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, and the Pacific, beaches that provide valued community amenities and wildlife habitats are under increasing pressure from coastal erosion. Beach management schemes to address these issues are often beyond the resources of local communities that benefit most from them. This paper presents a case study of the unique partnership between Port Otago Ltd and the local community to plan and deliver a beach scheme at Te Rauone, near the entrance to the Otago Harbour. The beach scheme, completed in late 2022, is formed by rock groynes and renourished using sand dredged from the nearby shipping channel. The scheme has been undertaken by the Port working together with mana whenua, the Te Rauone Beach Coast Care Committee and local community, local contractors SouthRoads Ltd, and consulting scientists, engineers and planners. This paper describes the scheme development process, including the community involvement in scheme selection; beach design based on crenulate bay theory; resource consenting; environmental monitoring; groyne construction; and beach nourishment. It details how the scheme worked through the challenges posed by COVID19 lockdowns during the construction phase, and the first use in the Otago region of dredged sand pumped ashore via a sinking pipeline to create the beaches. Conclusions from the project relate to successful community involvement during the project development, the adaptive management approach incorporated in the scheme, and construction learnings and skill development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]