CLEVELAND — A recent nationwide ’state of the beaches’ report put out by the non-profit Surfrider Foundation, gave Ohio beaches an "F."
People flock to the beaches when the weather is beautiful.
"I normally just read, drink and hang out on the sand,” said Parker Warren.
"I like walking up here, I come up here a lot during the summer,” said Terry Hughes.
"High performing states are doing things like mitigating and adapting to climate change and extreme weather and implementing reposes measures that prioritize beach preservation. Ohio unfortunately is not doing those things,” said Sarah Damron, the Southeast Texas and Great Lakes regional manager at the Surfrider Foundation.
Damron says its Ohio’s policies that are holding the state back.
"We don’t have mandated shoreline setbacks for development and our general response erosion is to place rock or concrete to protect development at the expense of our beaches and public beach access,” Damron said.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources says they were shocked to see this report and thinks the non-profit must have been using outdated information. ODNR says, it’s have poured tens of millions of dollars into preserving the beaches.
ODNR issued a statement that reads, in part:
"The Office of Coastal Management has developed tools to evaluate sand resources along our coastline and is actively working to protect those sand resources to maintain our beaches through our coastal regulatory programs. While we do not have a have a standard minimum shore setback policy, ODNR does identify eroding areas along the shoreline through the coastal erosion area program and discourages new development within those areas.”
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