Oreti’s sand dunes need our protection
Where would we be without sand dunes? According to studies, if we didn’t have the buffer they provide between land and sea, coastal water would intrude inland.
Sand dunes also protect the land from high-energy storms and act as a natural barrier to the destructive forces of wind and waves.
Oreti Beach, Southland’s bestknown beach and sand dune system, extends from Riverton to the mouth of the New River Estuary.
Te Ara Encyclopedia says since the early 1900s, we have lost
70 per cent of our sand dunes to pine forests, golf courses and houses. With Stewart Island’s Mason Bay and the Fiordland coast, Oreti is one of the few examples left in New Zealand of a dune land ecosystem, and the source of much concern in terms of protecting it from the effects of unnatural erosion and despoilment caused by humans.
Invercargill deputy mayor Rebecca Amundsen said the Oreti sand dunes were the ‘‘first line of defence’’ against tsunamis.
They needed to be protected and people needed to be more aware of how to behave in and around them, she said.
This included not dropping litter or dumping vehicles on the beach and dunes, which has been a common occurrence.
Oreti’s health and wellbeing has brought the council and community together in a memorandum of understanding, which could broaden into the formation of groups, including people who would like to be involved with restoration work.
However, the focus this summer would be a campaign through media and social media on ‘‘what to do and what not to do’’ on the beach and sand dunes.
‘‘It’s to encourage people not to hoon around because it damages the dunes and grass.’’
Advocate and Invercargill City councillor Lloyd Esler said the dunes were stable at present. ‘‘It would be nice if vehicles didn’t drive on them.’’
He said the dunes were originally low and held together with native pingao. Later, marram grass was planted for stability, proving to be a curse and a cure.
Southland farmer Lyle Mason is the Coastal Restoration Trust of New Zealand’s only farmer/trustee actively involved in dune restoration.
He farms at Otara in the Tokanui area, and said if we did not have sand dunes the coast would be very exposed.
‘‘They are a protective spin-off of the beach. They do the same job as the beach, so they definitely have a mission in life.’’ Planting vegetation was the best way to protect dunes, he said.
The trust, formed in 2007, strongly advocates planting natives, and he follows this practice on his coastal farm property.
Dunes have a definite ‘‘shape’’ and are made up of dunes within dunes. The fore dune takes the brunt of the wind and waves, the middle dune can often hold wetlands and pools, and the hind dune is home to the green, herbaceous types of plants.
‘‘If the back dune is stable you can start putting the bigger plants – rushes, toetoe and flax – on them.’’
Invercargill City Council website is running an education campaign this summer to protect, respect and enjoy the beach.