New normal? Lack of dunes, vegetation has water creeping closer
Waves pounded on shore sending streams of water up to the houses on Bonita Beach. Water crept toward the beach access parking lots and formed large pools beside and under homes. It wasn’t a hurricane or even a tropical storm. It was simply a recent stormy afternoon during high tide that sent the water far beyond its usual high tide line.
When Hurricane Ian pummeled the coast in September, it demolished the sand dunes and beach vegetation that lined the back part of beaches throughout Southwest Florida. The dunes and vegetation form a natural barrier protecting homes, parking lots and roads. Now everything is flat, making it much easier for the water to keep going.
“The dunes are protection from storms,” said Kathy Worley, Director of Environmental Science and a Biologist at The Conservancy of Southwest Florida. “We really need to get our dunes back and revitalized.”
There are plans to renourish Bonita Beach and replace the sand that was lost in the storm, but there are currently no plans for beach vegetation.
“Hurricane Ian’s storm surge removed approximately 70,000 cubic yards of sand from above the mean high-water line of Bonita Beach from approximately Beach Access #9 south to the Lee/Collier county line,” stated Lora Taylor, Director of Communications for the City of Bonita Springs. “The restoration project would replace sand removed by the storm surge. Dune plantings are not a requirement of the project. It is anticipated to be fully permitted by the late summer, assuming it is, construction would start sometime in the fall and be finished in late spring of 2024.”
Recently Bonita Springs City Council approved using $2,180,620.92 in state funding to replace sand taken away by Hurricane Ian.
Collier County officials say they are working on beach renourishment this year and will focus on dunes and vegetation next year, but Taylor says right now there are no plans for dune vegetation on Bonita Beach. A few homeowners along the beach have planted their own vegetation, but no sand dunes. Well-planted and maintained dunes serve as barriers that protect against storm surge and coastal flooding. They capture sand that would otherwise blow off the beaches, and they provide important habitat for wildlife, including birds, turtles, insects, crabs, and small mammals.
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The dunes are especially helpful to nesting sea turtles. Turtle nesting season began May 1 and runs until October 31. The first nest laid on Bonita Beach his year was well beyond the high tide line, but not far enough away to protect it during a storm.
“During the storm the eggs were in the surf and rolling on the beach,” said Eve Haverfield, founder and president of Turtle Time, a non-profit group that protects sea turtles in south Lee County. “We were able to gather them up and we relocated them.”
Volunteers dug a new nest higher up on the beach and saved 82 eggs. But Haverfield has other concerns about the lack of dunes and vegetation.
“Sea turtles seek an area that is slightly elevated so they go toward the dunes so they will nest at the base or in the dunes,” Haverfield explained. “On Bonita Beach now, because we don’t have any dunes, we are very concerned about turtles crawling onto Hickory Blvd. Dunes are very, very important. Right now, the beach is really flat and low.”
Chad Washburn, vice president of conservation for the Naples Botanical Gardens, has been doing an in–depth study on the best vegetation for sand dunes. The study began in 2019 and focuses on identifying the best species for the dunes and their roles in helping dunes after disturbances. Washburn discovered that a variety of vegetation works best.
“We planted these areas to trial it, not realizing that not long after there would be a hurricane that was devastating to our coast,” Washburn described. “We went out to visit our plantings shortly after the storm and because we planted with diversity, with things that are not usually planted, our plantings recovered very quickly after the hurricane and we had significant regrowth. Our areas are not only regrowing, but they are some of the most diverse regrowth.”
Many people think of sea oats as a way to protect dunes, and Washburn said that is an important way to protect the beach. But he pointed to the variety of other vegetation that helps.
Beach elder, came back very quickly after the storm surge. It traps sands and helps build sand dunes. He said the beach elder that was planted in Naples is already helping to naturally rebuild the dunes.
“It has recovered very well and it is trapping sand,” Washburn described. “There is already 24 inches of sand. It is creating its own dunes.”
Railroad vine grows 60 foot long and when it gets covered up with sand, it roots in and grows.
“We are seeing it come back very quickly,” Washburn said.
Inkberry is part of a more mature dune growth and helps stabilize the sand. Bay cedar also helps stabilize the sand and is an attractive low growing plant that is usually put on the back side of a dune. Beach tea is also known as a sand stabilizer.
“We have identified about 20 species that really should be part of beach dune plantings,” Washburn explained “The more diversity, the more resilient our beaches will be. Some plant species hold sand in place, some are colonizers, some help build dunes, some act to reduce temperatures by shading the sand. Each performs different functions, and we need all those functions.”
Washburn touted the importance of dunes and vegetation.
“We need a resilient coast,” he stressed. “It is our front line of our homes and our communities. In Naples the mangroves are usually in front of natural areas. It is the beaches that are in front of our homes so the resiliency is very important. It helps it recover from destruction.”
Experts understand that Naples and Bonita Springs need to concentrate on replenishing the sand to get the beaches ready for this upcoming hurricane season. That is the priority. But they want both government and homeowners to understand the importance of also protecting that sand with dunes and vegetation.
“The municipalities are taking the right steps by bringing the sand in because we lost so much, “Washburn said. “But planting it would help stabilize and build on the sand that is brought in. Sand on the beach typically washes away by water or is blown away by wind. without healthy beach plantings, we will lose that sand. We spend millions of dollars renourishing our beaches, and if these dunes can protect this sand, there is economic incentive.”
The problem of beach erosion isn’t going away and Washburn said it could get worse.
“We know we will get more day-to-day storms,” he stressed. “We know the water levels are rising. We know this area will be impacted more and more due to climate change.”
Washburn plans to continue to study dune vegetation. He wants to make the variety of successful dune plants more available to both municipalities and homeowners along the beach.
“Something that I have been thinking of quite a bit is people know a lot about mangroves and how they protect our coast, but people don’t think about beach dunes that way,” Washburn concluded. “But they are the front line of our community against storms and high tides, and they are a vital ecosystem that needs to be protected much like our mangroves are protected.”
Brad Cornell, Southwest Florida policy associate for Audubon Florida and Audubon western Everglades, said the best sand dunes are the height that would occur naturally on our beaches. While beaches on east coast of Florida often have dunes over six feet tall, our coast typically has ones that are three to five feet.
“The Atlantic is more high energy so they need higher dunes than the Gulf does,” Cornell said.
Cornell’s concerns focus more on the future of our local beaches.
“We all have been watching the dunes and the beaches come and go with sea level rises,” he said. Sea level rise is going to increase the frequency when those kinds of high tides and winds will impact us.”
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: New normal? Lack of dunes, vegetation has water creeping closer
