Strengthening Coastal Resilience and Revitalizing Biodiversity at Santa Monica Beach
Los Angeles’ iconic beaches are recognized worldwide, serving as the heart of surf culture and the coastal lifestyle that defines Southern California. To reduce the threats of coastal erosion, flooding, and sea level rise, The Bay Foundation (TBF) is actively growing sand dunes in Santa Monica.
Native plants are cultivated from seed and thrive on the salty coastal air. Coastal winds carry sand to their extended branches, where it is captured. This dynamic process of burial and growth continues throughout the seasons, allowing dunes to reach heights of up to one meter. This living shoreline, supported by the roots of plants, acts as a natural line of defense, protecting the beach and providing vital habitat for wildlife, particularly migrating birds. A notable success is the federally threatened Western Snowy Plover, which had not nested in the Los Angeles region for nearly 70 years until its first nest was discovered at our pilot site in April 2017. Depending on the season, dozens of Western Snowy Plovers can be seen feeding and resting in the Santa Monica Dunes.
TBF has successfully established dunes along Santa Monica’s coast, ensuring that future generations will have a beach to call home. In 2016, we established our first site, approximately 3 acres, followed by an additional 5 acres in 2024. In 2025 and 2026, in partnership with the City of Santa Monica and UCLA, we plan on expanding coastal dunes to approximately 40 acres of Santa Monica State Beach. Stay tuned for more exciting updates on this expansion.
Join us in experiencing the dunes firsthand and help shape coastal resilience at an upcoming volunteer restoration event!
Project Highlights
Bike Path Before & After
Click through to view a before and after view of the restoration site from the bike path, facing south. There is minimal change in view from this perspective.
Additional Benefits
This effort brings these benefits with low-to-no impact on existing recreational uses of the beach
- Enhancing a developed coastline
- Familiarizing residents, especially children, with a healthy, natural landscape
- Promoting tourism based on environmental values through unique aesthetics and bird-watching opportunities
- Educational opportunities, including native plants and healthy beach management
- Understanding a ‘softscape’ climate change protection project
Restoration Results
2016’s restoration site was seeded with native southern California coastal beach species, including beautiful flowering sand verbena and beach evening primrose. Today, small dune hummocks are slowly forming that stand one to three feet tall.
The plant palette also included sea scale and beach bur, both of which are low-profile and help form miniature dunes. The presence of these vegetated small dune hummocks will allow invertebrates and local shorebirds to make use of this previously uninhabitable space. Similar beach restorations have been successfully conducted along the California coastline, such as at Surfers Point in Ventura.
Ongoing Monitoring and Maintenance
Monitoring and maintenance are ongoing, and public reports are available in the Resources section. This effort provides not only a visibly pleasing landscape and habitat but also an effective and inexpensive means of reducing damage from storms and sea level rise.
Central Walking Path Before & After
Click through to view a before-and-after view of the restoration site from the central walking path, facing northwest with the Malibu coastline in the background.
Bike Path Before & After
Click through to view a before and after view of the restoration site from the bike path, facing south. There is minimal change in view from this perspective.
Additional Benefits
This effort brings these benefits with low-to-no impact on existing recreational uses of the beach
- Enhancing a developed coastline
- Familiarizing residents, especially children, with a healthy, natural landscape
- Promoting tourism based on environmental values through unique aesthetics and bird-watching opportunities
- Educational opportunities, including native plants and healthy beach management
- Understanding a ‘softscape’ climate change protection project
