Beach grass was planted along the newly restored primary coastal dune on April 1, to help retain the sand and limit erosion. Beach grass helps to trap sand and build coastal dunes naturally, harnessing the power of nature.
The photo below, from Trustees archives, shows dune grass planting at Crane Beach in Ipswich ca. 1975. Visitors to Crane Beach today can see the success of these planting efforts—the dunes have built up to such an extent that the boardwalks have been rebuilt on top of the old structures, and remnants of the older boardwalks can still be glimpsed as you walk over the ones in place today!
Beaches are on the “front lines” of climate change impacts, and bolstering the resilience of these dynamic landscapes means we can help make them better barriers against storm surge and high tides—protecting habitats, access, and places we know and love.