Damien Font (l-r), Hannah Doerr and other volunteers from Middletown Village School brave the inclement weather to plant American beachgrass on a dune during the American Littoral Society’s sixth annual Sandy Hook Beachgrass Planting held April 16. As a volunteer planting beachgrass, Andrew Stryker learns about restoring dunes and the importance of the coastal ecosystem. LAUREN CASSELBERRY MIDDLETOWN — The American Littoral Society celebrated Earth Day early this year, on April 16, at Sandy Hook.
The environmental organization sponsored the planting of American beachgrass on the beach dunes by volunteers.
Stevie Thorsen, education and outreach coordinator, said last week that volunteers for the society visited 12 area schools during the past eight weeks and gave the students American beachgrass culm, or dormant beachgrass stems.
The students planted the culms and took care of them either in their classrooms or at home for about four to five weeks, according to Eileen Kennedy, deputy director of the American Littoral Society.
“Around 1,200 students were taught about the coastal ecosystem,” said Kennedy.
Thorsen also gave a presentation on the ecology of the dunes and the coastal habitat while at the schools.
“The project has grown year after year,” said Thorsen, who became the education and outreach coordinator two years ago. “The first year it was started, there were only 200 students, and last year there were 800.”
The students were to bring their newly grown beachgrass and plant it to help protect and restore the dunes. The Littoral Society was to provide beachgrass for the general public.
“The students are invested because it’s their plant,” Thorsen said.
Plans called for volunteers to be taken on a nature walk along the dunes to the area where they would plant the grass, to see firsthand the ecology of the dunes as well as the other plants and animals that inhabit coastal areas.
According to Thorsen, many people are used to seeing signs or fences around the dunes warning them to stay off. They are there for a good reason.
Dunes are important to the coastline because they protect the inland, according to Thorsen. The dunes prevent storm water from destroying houses or most of the inland. Without the dunes, flooding would be more likely.
“It’s also a habitat,” said Thorsen. “Different birds can nest there, and theAmerican beachgrass gives the dune structure. It has a deep root system, and the beachgrass captures the sand when the wind blows or the waves bring it ashore.”
The sixth annual planting could have been canceled as a result of the U.S. Congress’ impasse on the national budget. Sandy Hook is a national park and would have been closed to the public if there had been a government shutdown.
American beachgrass is native to North America, growing along the coasts of the Atlantic and Great Lakes
Divers and naturalists striving to protect the littoral zone, better known as the coastline, established the American Littoral Society in 1961. A nonprofit organization, it has more than 5,000 members in 49 states and chapters in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions.