The Westport Conservation Commission has approved a state request that should make it easier for the state to re-distribute cobble at Horseneck Beach when it becomes a problem.

Every winter, and during coastal storms at other parts of the year, millions of cobblestones wash in and add up in massive piles along the beach, making access difficult for sunbathers and fragile species that call it home. Periodically, the state has used graders, backhoes and other heavy equipment to move the cobble, but the approval process for that activity has been cumbersome and not specifically addressed in the beach's operation and maintenance plan. As a result, beach officials have for the past two years needed emergency approval to re-grade those cobble piles when they grew too big — in some cases as deep as eight feet.

At the commission's meeting last week, Jorge Ayub, a coastal ecologist for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), asked for and approved unanimous approval to amend the plan to specifically allow cobble removal prior to April 1 of every year. Commission members approved the request unanimously.

"The plan we had in place didn't specifically state that we could move that cobble," said Horsneck Beach Reservation supervisor Jeff McGee. "There were lots of hoops to jump through."

With approval in place, McGee said workers were able to re-distribute some cobble last Thursday, March 31.

Under the updated plan, cobbles will not be removed from the beach; only graded to level them out and make access easier, and to make "more of a transition between the dry beach and the intertidal zone," Ayub said.

Though the cobble has always been there, he said, large build-ups have been an increasing occurrence in recent years.

"It's been moved around by the ocean for a long time," he said. "As climate change and sea level rises and other influences are happening, the intertidal zone has been changing elevation year after year. These berms have been getting increasingly sharper and higher."

Recently, the Buzzards Bay Coalition launched a $1 million-plus study to determine the impacts that the Gooseberry causeway could be having on the surrounding environment, and cobbling at Horseneck and connecting beaches in Westport was cited as a growing issue. Ayub told commission members that he has heard of and welcomes the study.

"In the meantime, small things like this are the only thing we can do to enhance the recreational value of the property as well as protect endangered species."