By Bill Lynn, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Republished from: Building Sand Dunes for "Building Sand Dunes for Fort Morgan Newsletter vers. 1"
With hurricane season over, and the holiday season approaching, it is time to start building dunes before the next season strikes in June. A strong sand dune system is your best defense to protect property against hurricane-associated storm surge. A simple way to build dunes is by recycling Christmas trees. Gulf State Park has recycled many leftover Christmas trees in the city of Gulf Shores to rebuild their dunes after storms. They use this simple design below:
In this design, you will need three (3) Christmas trees. Trees should be clean and free of ornaments or tinsel. Set them in or near the existing vegetated dune areas of your property. Two or three shovel full of sand should be tossed on each tree to help hold them in place. A month or so later, Gulf State Park personnel will plant more vegetation near these trees, including sea oats, seaside panicum, and beach morning glory. They wait a few weeks to allow the Christmas trees to catch sand. The decaying trees will give nutrients to the installed plants. If you do not have three Christmas trees available, one is better than none for rebuilding sand dunes.
If you do not prefer Christmas trees, sand fencing is your next best option for building dunes. Since Alabama has a sea turtle nesting population, the sand fencing design below is recommended to allow sea turtles to move around and not be tangled.
Most beachfront lots are 75 feet or less. Therefore, one roll of sand fence (50 foot) will usually suffice for most properties. The following is the recommend method for installing the sand fence.
- Cut the roll into 10-foot sections. You should get five sections.
- You will also need ten posts (two posts to support each section of fence). We recommend 4 inch by 8-foot agricultural fence post for support.
- Your first post (northern) should be installed near remaining vegetation at the east end of your property line.
- Behind the post, set a compass on top and look straight towards the Gulf of Mexico. Set the compass to 0 degrees or north (ignore the magnetic arrow).
- Orient the first section of sand fence to 45 - 50 degrees (again ignoring the magnetic arrow).
- Set the southern post giving yourself room to attach the first ten-foot section of sand fence to the post. Your first installed strand of sand fence should resemble the picture.
- From the northern post, measure 7 to 10 feet west and install the next northern post.
- Repeat. To check yourself, the southern posts should measure approximately the same distance between as the northern posts (7-10 feet).
Total cost for this sand fencing design is approximately $150.00 based on one fifty-foot roll of sand fence and ten post. If you property is a rental property, these expenses should be tax deductible as a landscaping effort. Sand fencing should not extend any more than 10 feet seaward of the existing vegetation dune line. If it is, it could interfere with law enforcement and emergency personnel response efforts.
Thank you to Kelly Reetz, Natural Resource Planner with Alabama State Parks for providing this information!
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