Climate Action

The Challenges at Ocean Beach: Why We Need Your Help

Ocean Beach in San Francisco is a beautiful but changing coastline. We're seeing more and more sand washing away, strong winds blowing sand onto our roads, and sea level slowly rising. This isn't just nature at work; past human actions, like building roads and seawalls, have also changed how the beach naturally protects itself. 

What's Happening to Our Dunes? 

The dunes at Ocean Beach today aren't entirely natural. Many were built during the construction of the Great Highway and they're struggling because of several issues:

• Foot Traffic and Sand Blowouts: The biggest problem is people creating their own paths (social trails) through the dunes. Walking on these informal trails crushes the plants that hold the sand, leading to massive "blowouts" – large, bare, wind-carved holes in the dunes. These blowouts are especially bad at major street crossings like Lincoln Way, Judah Street, and Noriega Street, creating wide, open paths for sand to blow inland. 
• The closure of the Great Highway to cars has increased foot traffic and more people walking on the dunes has made this problem worse. We want to see more people enjoying Ocean Beach while also protecting the beach for generations to come. 
• Sand on Roads: When dunes are damaged or have blowouts, the wind carries sand directly onto the Great Highway and nearby walkways. This creates unsafe conditions and clogs storm drains
• Rising Sea Levels: Over time, rising ocean levels are expected to make the beach narrower and cause even more dune erosion, putting beach access and coastal structures at risk. 

Nature-based Solutions and Community Engagement 

• Beach wildrye is a native grass that spreads quickly and is excellent at catching sand and building strong, broad dunes. It's much better than marram grass at resisting and recovering from blowouts. 
• Other recommended native plants include yellow sand verbena, beach bur, Seaside amsinckia, coastal sagewort, San Francisco spineflower, mock heather, seaside glaucus, seaside buckwheat, beach saltbush, beach strawberry, Pacific wildrye, silvery beach pea, Douglas bluegrass, distant Phacelia, yellow bush lupine, and dune bush lupine. (Plane et al. 2023)
  

• Change where sand is dug up for the "backpass" operation, moving it closer to the water where the sand is coarser and less likely to blow away. This also frees up space for dunes to grow naturally. 
• Sand cleared from roads should be put back on the foreshore (closer to the water) so waves can move it around naturally, instead of placing it where it prevents new dunes from forming. 
• Leaving natural debris like wood and kelp (wrack) on the beach is important. It helps new "baby dunes" (embryo foredunes) start to grow by trapping sand and protecting young plants. We can also strategically place large logs to help this process. (Plane et al. 2023)

• Consolidate paths and create clear, marked paths for people to access the beach, especially at street intersections, to reduce walking all over the dunes.
• Using coarse sand on paths helps stop wind erosion
• Temporary fencing (like posts and cables) and brush mats (branches laid flat) will help keep people off newly planted areas while the plants grow. 
• Signs to educate beach users about the project and encourage them to help protect the dunes. 
• Getting the public involved through education and volunteer opportunities is essential to build a shared sense of responsibility for the dunes.  (Plane et al. 2023)

Citations

Plane, E., Baye, P., Battalio, B., Lowe, J., Harris, K., & Burg, J. (2023). Growing Resilience: Recommendations for Dune Management at North Ocean Beach. SFEI Contribution No. 1155, San Francisco Estuary Institute, Richmond, CA.