Nourishing Ecology and Society with
Beachgrass
SNEP
The largest Atlantic hurricane on record, Hurricane Sandy in 2012 hit parts of New England causing
enormous damage and requiring a correspondingly enormous response. Recognizing that recovery was
not sustainable by simply replacing past systems, partners at the national, regional, local, and tribal
levels also incorporated efforts to enhance coastal resilience at the same time. Adopting this
philosophy, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) developed a plan to restore part of their
ancestrally important Commonlands by nourishing and stabilizing coastal dunes in a project area of
both tribal and municipal lands at Lobsterville Beach in Aquinnah, on Martha's Vineyard. Hurricane
Sandy and subsequent storms damaged Lobsterville Road and the culvert beneath it while erosion of
the dunes put the adjacent marsh ecology at risk. To address these issues, the tribe partnered with the
town of Aquinnah to carry out a SNEP-funded coastal enhancement project that included dune
nourishment, plantings, reinforcements, and a culvert replacement.
Lobsterville Road runs parallel to the beach and is a major local access way. People rely on the road to
reach their fishing boats or to hunt, and nearly everyone relies on the road to support their livelihoods.
The marsh, too, is a culturally significant place for the Wampanoag and is home to several endangered
and threatened plant species. In addition, the Commonlands support some of Massachusetts' very few
naturally occurring cranberry bogs.
Dunes were the key to protecting the marsh and the road alike. The tribe worked with the Army Corps
of Engineers to move 43,000 cubic yards of dredged sand from another project into place along the
shoreline. After initial delays, the work was finished in just under three weeks. Volunteers came in to
plant the newly formed dunes in 2016 with 19,000 plugs of beach grass on one section of the beach.
Native shrubs were planted near the roadside and cedar shakes—small wooden planks that catch
windswept sand—were added to amplify the effects of the beach grass. Each subsequent year,
volunteers repeated the process in another area, for a total of three finished installations.
The tribe and town also needed to stabilize the road and
improve drainage from the marsh by replacing a culvert
along Lobsterville Road. The culvert was designed to
capture nutrients and sediment to reduce impacts on
the beach. Consideration was also given to climate
change impacts, and the culvert was sized to
accommodate higher flows resulting from more intense
storms.
Volunteers plant beachgrass on Lobsterville
Beach. Photo by Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
Aquinnah Natural Resources Department
Southeast New England Program
www.epa.gov/snecwrp

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Nourishing Ecology and Society with SMEP
Beachgrass (continued)
The results have been astonishing. After the initial nourishment with dredged sand, the beach grew
from a depleted ten-foot width to around seventy feet. The grasses have taken root and continue to
send out shoots and runners, stabilizing the dunes with new growth. Experiments measuring the
efficacy of the cedar shakes showed that the implants functioned like an artificial beachgrass and
succeeded at capturing sand before biodegrading. Water can be seen moving from the brackish
wetlands under the road and out to the ocean through the improved culvert. Even the plovers have
come back.
While it may seem like a straightforward planting project, this restoration highlights the connections
between human society and the ecologies we depend on. The tribe's millennia-long relationship with
the land inspired members to join the volunteer crews each year. Every October, they mark the
cranberry harvest with a festival celebrating the significance of their entanglement with the land. The
planting days have built relationships between the tribe and other civic organizations. The Girl Scouts
turned out to plant alongside local fishermen and garden club members, all united in a desire to keep
the land.
The effort continues this year despite delays and limitations caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. The
tribe has about 90 native shrubs on order waiting to go in along Lobsterville Road when restrictions are
lifted. In the meantime, the project managers have divided up the beach into planting zones spaced so
that individual families can safely start planting the 20,000 beachgrass plugs and enjoy some time
outside.
The tribe has made a long-term commitment to restore this part of their Commonlands and is making
binding relationships around the ecological restoration effort. Water quality monitoring will continue
for at least another five years to get a data set that can effectively demonstrate the improvements
made by the culvert replacement. Plantings will continue, too, and the enhanced ecology and the local
social fabric will restore one another in turn.
For more information please contact Bret Stearns (isa@wampanogtribe-nsn.gov).
Southeast New England Program
www.epa.gov/snecwrp

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