KEN SCHLAGER / NEW JERSEY MONTHLY – It happens every spring. Massive mounds of sand rise on the beach in North Wildwood. The mounds loom alongside the boardwalk, gray and menacing, like a rogue wave.

But the great mounds are nothing to fear. They are evidence of emergency beach replenishment, an annual ritual in this oceanfront resort. North Wildwood trucks sand from Wildwood City (which has too much) and deposits it on its own beaches (which have too little). In the weeks leading up to Memorial Day, the mounds disappear as the sand is spread and North Wildwood’s beaches are restored …