High-Quality Sand From Woods Hole Strategically Placed To Feed Menauhant Beach

FALMOUTH- Bruce A. Mogardo stood atop an 8-foot-high, 200-foot-long pile of sand yesterday that was, until a few weeks ago, at the bottom of the Woods Hole entrance passage.
“This is the nicest sand I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Mr. Mogardo as he pointed out that there were no rocks or cobbles in a handful of the fine grains. 
Mr. Mogardo, assistant beach superintendent for the Town of Falmouth, is overseeing the daily dredging from Nantucket Sound onto the shores of Menauhant Beach as part of the beach nourishment project.
The project will move a total of about 20,000 cubic yards of sand from Woods Hole entrance channel onto Menauhant Beach. So far, almost 16,000 cubic yards of sand have been moved onto Menauhant Beach.
Mr. Mogardo said they will dredge for two more days, then grade the sand, and then let Mother Nature do the rest of the work.
“Erosion can be a nasty word,” said Mr. Mogardo, but he explained it can actually be a good thing. He said it is part of a “put and pay” system where the ocean transports the sand down the beach.

Bruce Mogardo stands on a hill made of Woods Hole sand and surveys the beach nourishment project at Menauhant Beach yesterday afternoon. The nourishment project should be completed in two more days. DON PARKINSON/ENTERPRISE

Mr. Mogardo said he expects some of the sand to wash away and spread evenly across the beaches to the east.
“Most of it will last hopefully until next summer,” Mr. Mogardo said.
Mr. Mogardo said this project will change the character of Menauhant Beach from a small coarse sand beach, into the nicest beach in Falmouth.
 Out in Nantucket Sound, the Barnstable County hydraulic dredge pumped water and sand through 4,000 feet of pipeline directly onto Menauhant Beach.
The project was initiated by National Marine Fisheries Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is dredging the Woods Hole entrance passage to make room for their new deep draft scientific vessel the Henry B. Bigelow.
Mr. Mogardo looked across the expanse of sand into what has become a kind of all-you-can-eat buffet for the local seagull population.
The seagulls feed on the worms and conchs which are pumped into a contained pool built up by a tractor. They get so full, Mr. Mogardo laughed, they have to take a break halfway through their meal.
Mr. Mogardo, protected from the cold air by a heavy coat, gloves and hat, said he has been working at Falmouth beaches since he was 15 years old. “This is my 38th year working on the beaches,” he said.
Some people are passionate about cooking or art, but Mr. Mogardo said, “This is my passion — beaches.”