SANDY CREEK, NY – An energetic group of Sandy Creek Central School student volunteers recently spent a fall Saturday helping experts replant beach grass in an effort to stabilize the fragile sand dune system along the shore of Lake Ontario.
Northern Oswego County is widely known for hosting a large portion of the 17 mile stretch of sand dunes that graces the eastern shore of the lake, with the barrier dune separating North Sandy Pond and Lake Ontario serving as a prime example of this type of landform.
The much loved and sometimes overused area has benefitted from efforts to utilize native beach grasses to help stabilize and grow the barrier dune, providing habitat for many species of wildlife that call the windswept peninsula home.
Replacement of grasses allows the blowing sand to be “captured” by the plant’s structure. The constant trampling of the dunes by beach lovers has created “blowouts” that become more pronounced over time.
New York State Parks Piping Plover Steward Sarah Forestiere, Kennedy Sullivan and SCCS Life Sciences teacher Karin Johnson, led the group of volunteers and demonstrated the proper technique for harvesting and replanting the grasses.
“It won’t happen overnight, but if we keep planting beach grass and installing snow fencing, the dunes will grow and hopefully be returned to their original size,” Forestiere said.
The hardy band of students and adults picked up shovels and buckets and began hiking down the backside of the dunes, eventually emerging from the forested east side of the sandbank and on to the beach, where they continued walking past the private residences and further on to the State Park land. After arriving at an immense field of healthy beach grass, the volunteers began to dig up fronds of grass and place these specimens in the buckets for transfer to the area needing grass replenishment.
“We are going to move some, but not all of the grass down at Moon Cove to areas where the grass is not as prevalent,” Forestiere said.
The students quickly acquired the skill of using shovels to gently pry the grass from the wind-packed sand, then separating the delicate roots of the individual plants. Soon the buckets were full and the group headed south, finding an area that was needing further plantings. The newly minted environmental activists then spread out and began gently placing the grasses in their new home.
“It feels really great to see these young people come out to do this kind of work,” Forestiere said. “This younger generation wants to make a difference, and wants to protect the environment.”
SCCS Life Sciences teacher Karin Johnson enjoyed the day on the dunes, and was inspired by the student volunteers’ efforts to help with the project.
“I think it is fantastic, and I am very impressed that the students would want to spend a good four or five hours doing pretty difficult work,” Johnson said.
The veteran teacher also thought that the learning went beyond the actual physical work skills the students utilized.
“I think it was a very valuable experience for them to interact with people who are in fields that they might be interested in,” Johnson said. “I also think that they learned a lot about the ecosystem that is surrounding the place that they live, and how special that stretch of the dune system is.”
Bog buggys, lifted pick-ups, 4-wheelers/side-by-sides are a big threat to our natural areas. Anything that keeps them parked is a step in the right direction.