. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Dunes along Wrightsville Beach's popular waterfront strand are now anchored with 25,000 sea oats planted through an innovative partnership between the town and a Florida grower. Wrightsville Beach allowed an out-of-state grower to harvest seeds from homegrown sea oats. In exchange, the grower returned plants raised from the seeds. Volunteers — recruited and trained by Spencer Rogers, North Carolina Sea Grant's coastal erosion and construction specialist — planted the sea oats along about a mile of shorelin
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Dunes along Wrightsville Beach's popular waterfront strand are now anchored with 25,000 sea oats planted through an innovative partnership between the town and a Florida grower. Wrightsville Beach allowed an out-of-state grower to harvest seeds from homegrown sea oats. In exchange, the grower returned plants raised from the seeds. Volunteers — recruited and trained by Spencer Rogers, North Carolina Sea Grant's coastal erosion and construction specialist — planted the sea oats along about a mile of shoreline in June. The plants were placed on a renourished section of beach that had been consumed by Hurricane Fran in 1996. Dredged sand was pumped onto the beach to make up for future erosion, and the sea oats were planted to help stabilize the new dunes and to trap sand. Sand dunes are a beautiful sight on North Carolina beaches, but they also have a practical purpose for waterfront landowners because they can protect buildings from storm surges. During a storm, the ocean has to scour away the dunes before reaching the foundations of nearby "Dunes can save buildings during storms," Rogers says. "Sand buys time. It's the sand that really provides protection. Dune grasses trap sand and keep it from blowing ; Waves whipped up by Hurricane Fran destroyed about 500 homes both north and south of the beach renourishment projects at Carolina and Wrightsville beaches, Rogers says. By comparison, the homes within those projects, where man-made dunes were in place, suffered no foundation failures. The sea oats-harvesting project — coordinated by Gregory Walker, director of Cape Fear Resource Conservation and Development Inc. — allowed the Florida grower to collect seed at Topsail Island and Wrightsville Beach and to market the plants in North Carolina. The North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension Service is also working with farmers to gro
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
