TY - JOUR T1 - The retreating coast JF - Journal of Soil and Water Conservation SP - 146 LP - 151 VL - 41 IS - 3 AU - Donald W. Davis Y1 - 1986/05/01 UR - http://www.jswconline.org/content/41/3/146.abstract N2 - TWO-THIRDS of the world's population and more than 40 of its largest cities occupy coastal areas. In the United States 75 percent of the population lives in close proximity to the sea. Human occupancy within a mile of the ocean shore is now increasing at more than three times the national growth rate. These cultural elements and associated physical forces are the shoreline's worst enemies. Together, they are also responsible for the loss of a considerable portion of America's wetlands. But the same problem confronts all coastal countries. Three-fourths of the world's shorelines are retreating at a rate of four inches or more per year. A third are retreating at a rate of more than three feet a year. The threat in perspective Regardless of the man-induced activities responsible for the problem, coastal real estate is threatened. Between 1850 and 1950 at least 269 million cubic yards of material eroded from the Virginia shoreline of the Chesapeake Bay system (4, 17)—enough material to cover the District of Columbia with 4 feet of soil. The bay's shoreline currently is retreating at a rate of 2 to … ER -