Florida Beach Renourishment

Beach renourishment rebuilds an eroded Florida shoreline with new sand, and Florida DEP says restoration and renourishment have been the main methods of managing beach erosion and maintaining beach habitat (Florida DEP Beaches, Inlets and Ports Program).

The state funds the work for specific public purposes. DEP's Beach Management Funding Assistance Program pays for beach and inlet projects on the Gulf of America, the Atlantic Ocean and the Straits of Florida to protect upland structures and infrastructure, provide critical habitat for threatened and endangered species, provide recreational opportunities and support local economies through tourism (Florida DEP Beaches Funding Program). Florida law adds a limit: DEP shall not fund projects that provide only recreational benefits, and every funded activity must have an identifiable beach erosion control or beach preservation benefit (s. 161.101, Florida Statutes).

At St. Augustine Beach, the Corps of Engineers states that the federal shore protection project exists to make up for downdrift shoreline losses caused by the federal navigation channel at St. Augustine Inlet, and to reduce storm damage to upland development (USACE Jacksonville District). DEP's list of fundable activities includes inlet management planning and inlet sand transfer as well as beach restoration and nourishment (Florida DEP).

Florida DEP counts 458 miles of critically eroded beaches statewide and says state-funded projects have restored and maintained more than 269 miles of them, or 59% (Florida DEP).

Those miles sit on a sandy coast DEP measures at 825 miles fronting the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of America and the Straits of Florida. The Strategic Beach Management Plan, the state's statewide plan for those beaches and for Florida's 66 coastal barrier inlets, is organized into seven regions: Northeast Atlantic Coast, Central Atlantic Coast, Southeast Atlantic Coast, Florida Keys, Southwest Gulf Coast, Big Bend Gulf Coast and Panhandle Gulf Coast, and the current portfolio was approved in August 2026 (Florida DEP Strategic Beach Management Plan).

A critically eroded designation is what opens the door to state money. DEP's eligibility rules require a project to be accessible to the public, to sit on the Gulf of America, Atlantic Ocean or Straits of Florida, to be on a beach DEP designates as critically eroded and to be consistent with the Strategic Beach Management Plan (Florida DEP). DEP links its Critically Eroded Beaches Report from the funding page, and each regional section of the Strategic Beach Management Plan inventories beach restoration and nourishment projects and the strategies to address critically eroded beaches in that region (Florida DEP).

DEP says state beach money is cost-shared with local governments on local and federally authorized projects, with each level of government contributing about one-third of the cost of the entire program, and state shares are set by law and by DEP's grant rules (Florida DEP).

Florida's statute lets the state pay up to 75 percent of the actual costs for restoring and nourishing a critically eroded beach, with the local government responsible for the balance (s. 161.101, F.S.). DEP's grant page states the working limits as up to 50% for beach projects and up to 75% for inlet projects, open to counties, cities, community development districts and special taxing districts (Florida DEP). The same DEP page also summarizes its grants as covering up to 75 percent of project costs without separating beach from inlet work, so the two DEP figures differ; only the eligibility section sets 50% for beach projects (Florida DEP).

The totals are large. Since 1998 the Florida Legislature has dedicated more than $1.6 billion to beach management from the Ecosystem Management and Restoration Trust Fund, the Land Acquisition Trust Fund and General Revenue, and nearly $315 million of that went to hurricane recovery projects (Florida DEP). The Local Government Funding Request for Fiscal Year 2027-28 was open from June 1, 2026, through July 31, 2026. Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the Florida DEP website.

Beach renourishment in Florida needs a Joint Coastal Permit from DEP, a single permit that, since DEP implemented section 161.055 on Oct. 13, 1995, has consolidated the coastal construction permit, the environmental resource permit and the sovereign submerged lands authorization (Florida DEP BIPP).

DEP requires a Joint Coastal Permit for work on Florida's natural sandy beaches facing the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of America, the Straits of Florida or their inlets when the work extends seaward of the mean high water line, extends into sovereign submerged lands and is likely to affect the distribution of sand along the beach. Beach restoration or nourishment, groins and breakwaters, public fishing piers, inlet maintenance and channel dredging with sand placed on the beach all fall under the JCP (Florida DEP). Chapter 161, Florida Statutes, and Chapter 62B-41, Florida Administrative Code, are among the governing rules.

Building landward of the beach falls under a different DEP program. The Coastal Construction Control Line Program regulates structures and activities that can cause beach erosion, destabilize dunes, damage upland properties or interfere with public access, and its permits also protect sea turtles and dune plants; the program takes questions at 850-245-8570 (Florida DEP CCCL Program). Florida law also requires every state-funded beach project to provide adequate public access and protection for endangered and threatened species (s. 161.101, F.S.).

On the St. Augustine Beach federal project, the Corps of Engineers describes a contractor locating a cutterhead dredge several miles off the coastline that excavates sand, mixes it with salt water and pumps it to the beach by pipeline (USACE Jacksonville District).

The St. Augustine Beach project in St. Johns County shows the full cycle. Initial construction of the 3-mile project was completed in January 2003, and it has been renourished approximately every five years or after significant hurricanes. Sand for the project comes from the federal navigation channel and the St. Augustine Inlet ebb shoal (USACE). The renourishment that followed Tropical Storms Ian and Nicole in 2022 placed approximately 2.5 million cubic yards of sand on three miles of critically eroded beach at St. Augustine Beach and Anastasia State Park, under a $33 million contract with Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company paid entirely with federal Flood Control and Coastal Emergencies money; the contractor began work on March 8, 2024 (USACE).

At St. Augustine Beach the Corps placed an extra-wide beach near the pier by design. It explains that waves and currents move sand from the dry beach to below the waterline and to neighboring beaches, so the adjustment may appear to dramatically decrease the beach width, but the project is operating as designed; full adjustment can take many months or several significant wave events (USACE). After construction, St. Johns County, the local sponsor, took over operation, maintenance and annual monitoring to decide when the next renourishment is needed. The practical tip for beachgoers: on a project like this, a beach that looks narrower a few months after construction has not failed; the Corps says it is adjusting to a more natural equilibrated shape and is then expected to recede at a slower rate.

FWC says sea turtles typically return to nest in March along the southeast Atlantic coast from Brevard County south to Broward County, and in April or May on Gulf Coast and north Florida beaches (FWC).

In a March 17, 2026 release, FWC states that it is illegal to harm or disturb nesting sea turtles, their nests or eggs, or to handle hatchlings (FWC). DEP says Coastal Construction Control Line permits also protect sea turtles and dune plants (Florida DEP), and state law requires each funded project to protect endangered and threatened species (s. 161.101, F.S.).

On the St. Augustine Beach renourishment, the Corps credited sea turtle nest relocation experts and shorebird monitors working with Anastasia State Park staff, and it notes that the restored beach provides nesting habitat for threatened and endangered sea turtles, shorebirds and the Anastasia beach mouse (USACE Jacksonville District). Nesting birds can stop work too: on May 1, 2024 the Corps halted renourishment in the Anastasia State Park reach after a least tern colony became established, deciding after consultation with FWC, the park, St. Johns County and DEP (USACE). For timing, FWC's dates put the usual start of nesting on the Brevard to Broward coast about one to two months earlier than on Gulf Coast and north Florida beaches.