Along the coast, dunes can protect beaches from erosion during storms and supply sand to a beach that is eroding. Dunes also provide habitat for highly specialized plants and animals, including rare and endangered species. Because of threats by both intentional and unintentional human activity and because of the benefits they offer, such as storm protection and sediment cycling between dune and beach environment, many countries such as the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United States employ dune protection programs.
These include stabilization programs and restoration efforts centered on building or re-building dunes.
Funding is available for suitable projects. Keep off the dunes Wheels, feet and hooves can destroy important plants, threaten wildlife and cause dune damage.
Follow marked tracks to the beach and only drive or ride on the hard sand. Watch your dog Dogs can disturb or kill shorebirds and other wildlife. Leave our beaches litter free Rubbish can be harmful to people and wildlife on the beach and in the ocean. Please take your litter home with you. Bin or bury fish carcasses Fish heads and bones from fishing are litter and should be taken home and binned, buried or composted. Leave sand on the beach It is illegal to remove sand, pebbles or rocks from our beaches.
These materials are the building blocks of our coastline and take years to build up. P: E: [email protected]. Thanks to the Dune Restoration Trust of New Zealand for allowing us to reproduce some of its information. Northland CoastCare groups carry out dune restoration projects to protect and enhance native vegetation through pest and weed control, fencing and replanting where necessary.
Pingao foreground and spinifex are able to tolerate the harsh front dune environment and are important sand-binding plants. Caring for Northland's dunes. Why protect our sand dunes? In this way the sand is trapped by the plants and builds up into hills and ridges. The real strength of the dunes comes from the plants that trap and bind the sands together, with marram grass being quite common in Ireland. In dunes the plant roots have to go very deep and wide to get water and this extensive root network is excellent at binding the sand together — like steel in reinforced concrete.
Despite dunes being tough and protecting us from coastal storm events, they are also very fragile. Unlike the grass in gardens and sport fields, the grasses that bind dunes in place are a not suited to being walked on. These dune grasses and plants die back very quickly with human trampling, leaving the sand free to be blown away. In these cases what looks like coastal erosion is actually erosion driven by human activity.
The preservation and strengthening of natural coastal defences, such as sand dune systems, play an important role in increasing our coastal resilience to the impacts of climate change. Other countries, such as the Netherlands, are protecting and restoring their sand dune systems as a cheaper and better method in some cases than hard coastal protection works. The easiest things to carry the plants in are clean old plastic sacks. Put all the plants into the bag the same way round. Make sure the plants are shaded and moist.
Heel them in if they need to be stored for more than a few hours. Make a hole deep enough to get at least 15cm of root into damp sand, whilst planting as near as possible to the depth the grass was originally growing at. To plant a slope, start at the top and work downwards to avoid trampling on what you have just planted. Plant the whole of a dune face, not just part of it, otherwise erosion problems will be encountered.
Below this height sand couchgrass Agropyron junceiforme or lyme grass Elymus arenarius can be used. For details of fencing techniques, see How to Build Fences [coming soon]. The following are special types of fencing adapted for sandy areas. Straining posts must be very well made. Dig the hole quickly and put the sand in one heap to reduce drying out.
Sand does not compress much with tamping, so replace the sand in layers about 5cm thick and water each layer until it is thoroughly moist. Where access control is to be combined with sand trapping, chestnut paling or dutch fencing reinforced with strained wire are best.
There are many different designs, mainly determined by the availability of materials. When using branches, ensure they are dead otherwise they may take root.
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