That leaves regions with marshy, compactable soil - like Jefferson County - particularly vulnerable to the process' effects, Figlus said. But storms and rising sea level are shifting coastlines and hastening erosion problems across the globe. The primary aim of dune restoration at McFaddin Beach is to keep saltwater out of the marsh. But such beach renourishment projects have increasingly been used across the country as a way to curb the effects of coastal erosion, said Jens Figlus, an assistant professor in the ocean engineering department at Texas A&M University.Įrosion happens naturally because the coast is a battleground between land and water, Figlus said. And the plants' roots will make the dunes more resistant to erosion.Ī digger can be seen near a clay berm being built behind the the dunes and beach at the McFaddin Wildlife Refuge near Port Arthur on Wednesday, Dec. Vegetation will be grown on top of it to provide a habitat for migratory birds. The plan is to dredge sand from the ocean bottom about a mile and a half offshore and spread it over the clay berm. One initiative undertaken is the construction of a temporary 20-mile berm along the marsh's coastal perimeter on a stretch of the beach there called McFaddin. Local leaders, environmental activists and industry representatives are working together to execute a variety of projects - some bankrolled by BP oil spill settlement funds - to rehabilitate the marsh and protect the area's industrial complex. The problem has inspired a coalition of strange bedfellows in Jefferson County. "And it's not just an isolated problem where one swing of the hammer is going to fix it." "One day, you wake up and you go, 'Wow, we got a problem,'" Merendino said. Todd Merendino, a manager at the conservation-focused group Ducks Unlimited, said sand dunes used to line the shore near the Salt Bayou marsh, forming a crucial buffer between the Gulf of Mexico and the millions of dollars' worth of industrial infrastructure that lie inland. The dunes are "all gone now," he said. So our goal is not only to save Mary but to help aliens go back home.Ecologically-sensitive areas near the coast, like the Salt Bayou marsh, are more prone to inundation by seawater, which kills off salt-sensitive aquatic plants and animals. With less space between sea and shore, it can also make neighborhoods and industry more vulnerable to hurricane storm surges. This way leads her to the new discovery - island is a spaceship and all its people live as spirits on it. The heroine starts looking for Mary on the island. With its help she opens the portal between the city and the island. After that she finds a strange artifact from the flying island in Mary’s belongings. Our heroine rides to the orphanage to talk to Mary about her strange dream, but it turns out that she is missing for a couple of days. The same day our heroine reads the newspaper article about the strange light ray that connected abandoned sky island with the city, and most likely the source of the light was somewhere near the orphanage, where Mary was working then. One day Mary came to the dream of our heroine asking for help. Our main character is an orphan who grew up in the shelter, where she became friends with Mary. Soon everybody got used to it, and island became the central attraction for tourists and looters.
One day the life of some ordinary city was interrupted by appearance of the flying island, which turned out to be the abandoned homeplace of extraterrestrial civilization.