Restoring the Health of Coastal Environments and Community Connection to Them

Stewardship of coastal environments is a key component to our mission. Human introduced invasive non-native plants disrupt the balance of coastal ecosystems by crowding out native plants and changing ecological functions. We believe that we can make a positive difference in restoring coastal environments to a more natural state with the help of people like you. The majority of our efforts are focused on restoring coastal dunes but we also take part in salt marsh and bay restoration projects.

Our restoration projects incorporate education components to help participants understand the importance of their efforts. We can help you plan outreach events for groups and classrooms, which includes a photo filled presentation about dune restoration efforts on the North Spit. Contact our Restoration Manager, Emily Walter, to set something up.

Every year we help coordinate and plan large restoration events such as the Annual Lupine Bash, Annual Peninsula Clean-up, Humboldt State Universities Orientation Program and the list goes on. We also host student groups from all over the United States that are part of a nation-wide Alternative Spring BreakAway Program.

You can get involved by volunteering to participate on a regularly scheduled Saturday volunteer workday or by participating in our volunteer Drop-in Restoration Program at the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center.

Restoration Program Contact:

Emily Walter
Restoration Manager
707.444.1397
emily@friendsofthedunes.org

Restoration FAQs

These questions and answers below are based on the best information available at this time and the experience and expertise of conservation professionals in our community. Please understand that this is a work in progress and is intended to help facilitate a better understanding about coastal dune restoration. Check back frequently for updates which will be made available on a regular basis.

What is the goal of coastal dune restoration?

The goal of restoration is to restore the natural diversity of plants and animals to the dunes and help return, where appropriate, some of the natural processes that sustain dune ecosystems. The fact that our dunes still support such beautiful and diverse native plant and animal communities is largely the result of more than 30 years of coastal dune conservation. Key to maintaining the diversity of the dune ecosystem is the removal of invasive, non-native plants from the nearshore dunes. Here on the north coast, when invasive plants are removed, native plants return, allowing small sand openings periodically form from natural forces like wind and waves. This semi-stable system allows for a diversity of plants and animals including over 40 species of native bees, over 200 plant species, and over 250 species of birds.

Is Friends of the Dunes in charge of all the local dune restoration projects?

No, the Humboldt Bay area dunes are owned and managed by a number of different agencies and organizations. Friends of the Dunes manages restoration projects at the Humboldt Coastal Nature center but has assisted other land managers to provide volunteer restorationists for projects at various locations around the Humboldt Bay area including Manila Dunes Recreation Area, Mal-le’l and Lanphere Dunes Units of the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Little River State Park, Eureka Dunes Protected Area, and South Spit Management Area. For a map detailing the various land management entities go to resources.

Why is European beachgrass, which was at one time planted to stabilize drifting sand, now being removed?

While European beachgrass may have served its purpose of keeping sand from moving over roads and rail when originally planted in the 20th century, we now know this non-indigenous, invasive grass negatively impacts biodiversity and ecosystem function. Its dense thicket limits habitat for native plants, pushing out rare and threatened plant species, as it diminishes the coastal protection that dunes provide in their natural state. Where dune stability is needed, such as near communities like Manila, that stability is easily maintained and controlled through restoration that employs the use of native plant species that have the added benefit of providing greatly increased habitat value and ecological function in the restored areas.

Do restoration activities pose a threat to homes and roads?

No, restoration practices are planned and carried out in ways that pose no threat to homes and roads. Moving sand sheets are older features of the dune landscape and are locally most active in the vicinity of Lanphere and Ma-le’l Dunes where they pose no threat to infrastructure. In the Manila area, European beachgrass and human development largely halted the movement of large moving sand sheets. These dune areas have become stabilized and pose no threat to communities if, as planned and conducted, restoration in these transitional areas focuses on conversion to forest or other dune stabilizing native plants.

Does dune restoration increase tsunami hazard to coastal areas?

No, removing beachgrass from the foredune allows native plants to return and some sand movement for several hundred feet inland from the beach. Over time, this creates broader, undulating, volumetrically larger nearshore dunes which will continue to provide a better protective barrier to wave energy and tsunamis. According to the California Geological Survey, the large dunes located several thousand feet inland from the coastline (for example, the dunes west of the community of Manila) are what provide protection from tsunamis.

Has European beachgrass removal been responsible for recent declines in Western Snowy Plover populations?

No, in fact, removing beachgrass actually increases nesting habitat for Plovers. However, loss of nesting habitat is just one of 3 major factors that negatively impact snowy plover populations. Predators like crows and ravens probably have the largest negative impact on plovers, followed by human related disturbance and limited nesting habitat. Although there have been anecdotal sightings of plovers using beachgrass as cover in unrestored areas, there is no evidence that beachgrass removal negatively impacts plovers. The primary reason European beachgrass is removed during restoration efforts on the north spit is to increase natural ecological diversity and restore some natural dune processes, not for Plover recovery.

Is the decline of some young beach pines in the Manila Dunes due to restoration activities in the back dunes?

It is true that depending on location, the death of some pine seedlings in the back dunes at Manila Dunes Recreation Area (MDRA) has been hastened in the past by beachgrass pulling, but plans for managing this area in the future are changing. Although past management practices certainly have contributed to the decline of some pines, there are many instances of stressed pines in areas that have had no restoration activity. The presence of beach grass has created microclimate conditions for pines to get started in places where they would not normally have started had beachgrass not invaded. Depending on location, as pines grow beyond the minimal wind protection and moisture that beachgrass provides, they may succumb even without beachgrass being pulled. Beachgrass has not been pulled from this area since March of 2009.

Prior to March of 2009, beachgrass pulling was done under the guidance of the MDRA restoration manager who was working to fulfill the goals of the management plan, which called for the restoration of dune mat. The die-off of some beach pines at that time was ecologically acceptable under the management plan that called for the restoration of these areas to dune mat. Friends of the Dunes (FOD) role at MDRA was limited to providing and supervising volunteers to carryout the restoration plan as directed by their restoration manager.

As community concerns over restoration in the back dunes grew, FOD brought this issue to the MDRA manager and the members of the Dunes Coop to ask that management plans be reviewed and that the needs and concerns of Manila residents be factored into the restoration approach. For this reason, since early 2009, beachgrass is only being removed from the nearshore dunes. Land Managers at the Dunes Coop now agree there are benefits to managing some of the back dunes for dune forest, especially near adjacent communities, and recognize the importance of sociological concerns of adjacent neighborhoods. The focus has now shifted from restoring dune mat in the back dunes to allowing the area to succeed into forests. Hopefully, this shift can be incorporated as an amendment to the MCSD Restoration plan and more community members will come to support restoration knowing that the human community is an important part of any restoration plan.

Is there research to back up current restoration practices and future plans?

Yes. We are fortunate to have in our area a number of restoration professionals with years of experience studying the impacts of restoration to native plants and animals. For example, Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge ecologist Andrea Pickart and Bill Weaver, a geomorphologist are experts in their fields with years of experience consistent with a wide range of current, peer-reviewed research. Friends of the Dunes (FOD) is a member of the Humboldt Dunes Cooperative, a coalition of coastal land managers, who share information and seek to constantly improve the state of knowledge on dune restoration in our area. FOD is currently involved with the Dunes Coop effort to compile a “white paper,” referencing expert research and evidence guiding today’s restoration practices, highlighting the relationship between dune morphology and coastal communities and the implications for restoration. The goal is to have this available in early 2011. We are also in the early planning stages for a public forum on coastal restoration to be held sometime in spring 2011.