Shore Pine Shift From Dune To Forest
April 25, 2023
Member Submitted Letter:
A concerned member submitted the following in response to the recent protestations from a small group hiding behind environmental righteousness to avoid HOA height restriction compliance. This small but vocal group references articles that have no relation to the Surfside environment to avoid their obligations.
You can read the full text of the members letter here.
You can read the full text of the members letter here.
Key Points and Facts:
- Surfside is a planned community, not a forest.
- The Long Beach Area Parks Management Plan recognizes the challenges of Shore Pines and that their proliferation has been assisted by invasive beach grass types that have negatively dominated and changed beach ecology (page 50, Vegetative management).
- In her February 8, 2022 post Habitat Restoration: Replacing Invasive Beach Grass With Native, local Naturalist Rebecca Lexa highlights the Shore Pines impact and negative ecological shift from dune ecosystem to forest and calls it a microcosm of a much larger problem that has destroyed native dune ecosystems all along the North American Pacific Coastline.
- The Washington Nature Conservatory also notes how invasive grasses allow shore pines to encroach on the shoreline and affecting the environment: "At Leadbetter Point, snowy plovers prefer the shifting sand dunes that are populated with sparse, native dune grass. Non-native beach grasses have overtaken areas of the dunes and have stabilized the land, allowing for forest encroachment upon plover habitat."
- The Pacific County Substantial Shoreline Development Application also ties the progression of shore pine encroachment on the the dunes to the invasive grass species. Acres of shore pines are being removed in these restoration efforts (100 acres in this application) yet there is no uproar from the minority of the Surfside environmental righteous residents because the truth is, they are only using the environment as an excuse not to comply with the height covenant.
- Phoebe Zarnetske, an Oregon State researcher stated in The Seattle Times: “The plover would probably become extinct in this region if not for these restoration areas.", "shifts in the way sand moves around these beaches is also helping pine forests slowly march toward the sea."
- The Shore Pine progression from the ridge is not natural, is not due to planting, and is aided by invasive grasses. As shown here even into the 80's there were very few Shore Pines on the lower lots. The people hiding behind their environmental cries are actually further damaging the ecology of the dunes by insisting that the Shore Pines be allowed to proliferate unchecked.