The Santa Monica Office of Sustainability and the Environment and The Bay Foundation will be holding a virtual meeting tomorrow, Thursday August 15 at 5 p.m. to “learn about and provide feedback on the next phase of Santa Monica beach dune restoration.”
You can register for the event at EventBrite here.
While sand dunes can be naturally occurring, they are also constantly changing – growing and shrinking with the passage of time. Throughout the country, coastal sand dunes are being replaced by humans as shifting winds and rising sea levels take their toll on the coastline and naturally created sand dunes.
In the past decade, Santa Monica has already completed two phases of the larger Sand Dune Restoration Project. In 2016, the city completed three acres of restoration (more details) and in 2022 they completed another five acres (more details). The city and Bay Foundation are in the early stages of planning Phase 3 of the project, tomorrow’s meeting is the first public outreach.
After the 2016 restoration, the Bay Foundation checked in on the progress of the dune and found that the seeds they planted were not just growing, but returning year after year. This 2022 article in the Daily Press details how the 2022 project grew and was informed by the success in 2016.
While the restoration is necessary to protect the dunes from the ravages of time, there might be pushback. Even supporters of sand dune restoration note that the impacts are temporary and require closing off the protected areas for at least a short period of time. If the restoration involves plantings, it could be even longer.
But dune restoration has not proven controversial in Santa Monica which values its beaches and coastlines as natural treasures to be protected. The city and foundation hope that in addition to protecting and beautifying the coast line, that this project will protect local flora and fauna including the Western Snowy Plover, a shorebird found in Santa Monica that is listed as “threatened” by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Services.For more on the benefits of dune restoration, check out this article about the need for restoration in the Great Lakes area and its impact on local ecology.
