Dune Grass III

Dune Grass III


So..what will be the dune of the future? In our lifetime, as in the next 30-40 years, the dune system that we grew up with, that we all know and love, will likely become a mere shadow of its former self as it is slowly compressed into a narrow strip between the westerly advance of the Sitka Spruce/Beach Pine forest and the easterly advance of the Pacific Ocean.


The forest advances into new territory (created in the last 90 years) and the beach is no longer accreting fast enough to create new dune as we know it and it is far more likely that mean sea level rise will claim land back. Why is the sea rising? Well, for that last 7000+ years the sea has risen 120-200 feet as North America came out of the Ice Age. It more recent times, thermal mass exapansion of ocean water as well as continued ice melting will likely accelerate the trend.


What that means for Seaviewites, Long Beachians, Ocean Parkians and Surfsideians is that we'll have a much narrower dune grass environment. Those of you that doubt the rapidity of change..please recall that in my father's lifetime of 88 years, the beach accreted into its current state so in my lifetime it could certainly go the other way.


If you want a peak at what the future might hold..drive up to Leadbetter Point State Park and Wildlife Refuge and walk the beach along Willapa Bay and you will see a Sitka Spruce forest right up against an eroding beach. The one difference with the ocean side is that the wind driven salt spray and sand (with salt) will likely create a very tough zone for some plants and that might be wider, say 20-50 feet and more typical of what you might find along static beaches on the West Coast of Vancouver Island. Just south of Tofino is a beach..Long Beach of all things, and it has a very narrow grassy area that clearly ebbs and flows with winter storms pulling sand away and summer winds driving sand back up. That might be our beach of the future.

Embrace change..its whats happening.