You might see big equipment on Hilton Head beaches starting next week. Here's why

Hilton Head Island is prepping beaches for sea turtle nesting season, which starts in early May.

Beginning Monday, a contractor will begin tilling portions of recently renourished beaches, according to a town release. The project will take a little more than a month, and is expected to be completed by the end of April.

Scott Liggett, the town's director of public projects and facilities and chief engineer, said people can expect to see equipment that looks like a tractor dragging a rake across the beach. It will till sand in a strip 24 inches from the high water line, he said.

Amber Kuehn, the manager of the Hilton Head Island Sea Turtle Protection Project, said tilling breaks up the "crust" or upper layer of sand that often contains shells after beach renourishment.

She said she is less concerned about the "crust" affecting sea turtle nesting and more concerned that recently renourished beaches often have softer sand that make nesting more difficult.

Other concerns this year are the lack of dunes in the wake of Hurricane Matthew and the extended period of cold weather, which might affect nesting, she said.

Dunes are currently being restored through an island-wide restoration project.

The beach renourishment permit requires the sand be loose enough for turtles to nest, which is why tilling must occur, the town's release said.

Tilled areas include:

▪ South island between beach markers 11 and 43A

▪ South Forest Beach to the Folly between beach markers 52A and 97

▪ Along the Atlantic Oceanfront of Port Royal Plantation between beach markers 115 and 123

▪ The Port Royal Sound between beach markers 124 and 131.

This story was originally published March 22, 2018 at 1:10 PM with the headline "You might see big equipment on Hilton Head beaches starting next week. Here's why."