The Wild Dunes community is blessed with almost two and one-half miles of Atlantic Ocean beachfront and one mile of inlet shoreline along Dewees Inlet.  The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control-Office of Coastal Resource Management (OCRM) classifies the northeastern end of the Isle of Palms beach as an unstabilized inlet zone, which means Dewees Inlet has not been stabilized by jetties, terminal groins or other structures, and the downdrift beaches are significantly influenced by inlet migration, changes to the ebb tidal delta and the effects of shoal by-passing and attachment.

Since 1982, the beach in front of Wild Dunes has experienced at least four discrete shoal-bypass events.  During each event, which can last from two to four years, a shoal detaches from the inlet delta and migrates to the beach.  While the shoal is attaching to the beach, it can cause significant, focused erosion on either side of the attachment where the beach is rapidly accreting.  While this process eventually adds large quantities of sand to the overall beach, the temporary erosion can be severe enough to require action to protect property and infrastructure from damage.

In 2007, in response to severe erosion of the Wild Dunes beach, the Community Association's Board of Directors and Wild Dunes Resort engaged the services of Coastal Science & Engineering (CSE) to develop a feasibility study and a long-term plan to address the periodic erosion at Wild Dunes.  CSE's feasibility report, completed in November of 2007, recommended a large-scale beach renourishment project be implemented as soon as possible.

In the spring of 2008, the City of Isle of Palms obtained permits from OCRM and the Army Corp of Engineers for beach restoration on the northeast end of the Isle of Palms, utilizing up to 885,000 cubic yards of sand dredged from borrow sites 2.5 to 3 miles offshore.  The cost of the project, which was completed by Weeks Marine, Inc.

on July 1, 2008, was $9.9 million and was funded through a cooperative effort of the Community Association, Wild Dunes Resort, the State of SC, the City of Isle of Palms, Charleston County and front beach property owners from Shipwatch Villas to Ocean Club Villas. 

Post-project surveys of the renourished beach have shown that approximately 81% of the sand placed on the beach remains in the system.  There remains some focused erosion in front of Ocean Club Villas and the eighteenth hole of the Links golf course as additional sand and shoals move toward the beach in front of the Property Owners' Beach House.  The City plans to address this focused erosion and future erosion in the unstabilized inlet zone with a shoal management plan that includes scraping of approaching shoals and renourishment of the eroding beach with the scraped sand.  A permit from OCRM and the Army Corp of Engineers will be required prior to implementing the shoal management plan.