Volunteer efforts saving beaches
Thousands of hours spent planting are helping restore fragile landscapes in BOP
Almost 70,000 native plants were dug into Bay of Plenty sand dunes this winter — by local volunteers. The plantings, courtesy of Coast Care Bay of Plenty, will help regenerate sand dunes and ensure they are not lost to erosion, weather or careless behaviour across beaches.
“We couldn’t have done it without the help of our volunteers so a huge thank you to them,” Coast Care Bay of Plenty Regional co-ordinator Paul Greenshields said.
“Our coastal sand dunes are one of the most degraded natural ecosystems in New Zealand yet they are an integral part of our beaches, so we have to actively work to protect and regenerate them.
“We know that native sand dune plants play a vital role in maintaining the dunes, by binding light blowing sand onto the beach and making sand dunes more stable. Without these plants, the sand blows away and dunes disappear — leaving the land vulnerable to weather and wave surges.”
He said more than 4300 volunteers and 2700 school students spent 7895 hours to get the plants into the ground between June and September.
In the Bay of Plenty region, from Waih¯ı to the East Cape, there are just 3000 hectares of coastal sand dune plants left compared with 12,000ha pre-humans.
The Coast Care Bay of Plenty programme started 25 years ago and since then 250,000 volunteers have donated 300,000 hours of their time to plant 1.5 million plants along the sandy coastline.
“This work is essential if we want beaches to enjoy in the future. In the mid 90s the coastline was eroded, the dunes were not performing as they should and the community and its infrastructure was under threat with every large storm that would hit,” Paul Greenshields said.
The native plants dug back into sand dunes included pingao, spinifex and pohuehue. They also provide habitat for New Zealand native and endemic coastal flora and fauna.
“Volunteers have helped to build a resilient community by increasing the performance of the dune system and creating a natural buffer to sea level rise and the effect of climate change,” he said.