New Hanover County has one of the nations oldest shore protection programs, though the work often goes unnoticed, it pays big dividends for the county's coast and industry. "The tourism industry on the entire NC coast in 2016 was $1.7 billion. New Hanover County alone was $200 million. That's real money," said Layton Bedsole, shore protection coordinator for New Hanover County.Bedsole is often thinking about protecting the businesses that rely on tourism.His job is maintaining a coast tourists can enjoy that can also withstand powerful storms and shifting sea levels."We're not building beaches. We're building infrastructure. That construction berm protects the storm berm, that storm berm protects the dune line and the dune line protects the anthropogenic infrastructure, the tourism industry and everything that goes into it," Bedsole said.Bedsole oversees protection at Wrightsville, North Carolina, and Kure Beach's shores, along with Fort Fisher and three inlets. He's constantly monitoring which way the sea is moving."Carolina beach without shoreline maintenance has an erosion rate of about 16 cubic yards per foot every year. That's pretty high."That erosion could leave the beaches, and the folks behind them less protected from a major storm or encroaching water.To counteract it, New Hanover County's Shore Protection Program takes sand from inlet borrow sits and replenishes the berms and dunes on the beach."We just finished putting 950 thousand cubic yards on Carolina Beach and approximately 950 cubic yards on Kure beach."This isn't stealing sand, more like borrowing it, as the sites are engineered to allow Mother Nature to move sand back into the borrow sites over time, naturally replenishing what was taken."To recharge that borrow site, so that we can recycle it back up on the beach."The process solidifies the berms and dunes, putting back on the beach almost exactly what Mother Nature takes off during the cycle, the dune fields now are much more expansive than they were decades prior."That's been generated through regular maintenance, public control of access. The accessways run over the dunes, they don't go through the dunes. That protects the dunes' integrity."Most folks will never notice the sand redistribution and it doesn't happen every year."Every three years for Carolina and Kure and every four years for Wrightsville. I mean it's like changing the oil in your truck."But much like an oil change, the maintenance now saves headaches later."A 45-dollar return on every dollar spent on CSDR coastal storm damage reduction, that's a pretty good return on your money."Beach erosion is a problem for many communities up and down the east coast. Still, not every place has a Shore Protection Team in place."It's not all-encompassing and there are communities that are either being left out or not quite focused on it just yet."Bedsole said he doesn't know if the same tactics can work everywhere, but he does know, they're working here.He said they've "fine-tuned this operation so that our infrastructure thrives, our industry thrives and our natural resources have the opportunity to thrive."