Strengthening Coastal Resilience and Revitalizing Biodiversity at Santa Monica Beach
In 2016, The Bay Foundation (TBF) restored approximately three acres of native plants very close to the shoreline in Santa Monica. Living on the ocean’s edge, this community of plants attracts insects and birds and adapts to the harsh conditions of beach life, including salt spray, wind, and intense sunlight. As the coastal strand habitat plants grow, they capture windblown sand beneath their branches and leaves. Over time, they build dunes that prevent waves and extreme tides from flooding the beach and nearby infrastructure. By reestablishing this habitat, TBF and its partners are creating beaches that are naturally resistant to sea level rise, while creating refuge for endangered species and adding natural beauty to our beaches. Today, small dune hummocks are slowly forming that stand one to three feet tall. Scientific monitoring of this pilot project is being used to inform other projects in development by TBF across the Los Angeles County coast. Sea level rise and more frequent large-wave events result from global climate change impacting our coast. These projects, taken together, are the start of a significant effort to locally adapt to climate change. This effort uniquely preserves our iconic beaches and gives them the capacity to protect us from climate change.
View the site in person by joining us 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
