Mediterranean developed coasts: what future for the foredune restoration?

The feasibility and efficacy of soft engineering foredune restoration approaches still lack insight from research and monitoring activities, especially in areas where dunes are under persisting human disturbance. We evaluated the efficacy of Mediterranean foredune restoration in dune areas freely accessible to tourists. Foredunes were reconstructed using only sand already available at nearby places and consolidated through the plantation of seedlings of native ecosystem engineer species and foredune focal species. We monitored transplanted and spontaneous seedlings for one year to assess their mortality and growth in relation to the distance from the closest beach access, either formal or informal, as proxy of human disturbance. We also tested whether species differing in their ecology (i.e., affinity to a given habitat) and growth form showed different response to human disturbance. The relationship between seedling mortality and growth and the distance from the closest beach access was tested through Generalized Linear Mixed Models. We found a clear spatial pattern of seedling survival and growth, which decreased as the proximity to the closest beach access increased. Only invasive alien plants and erect leafy species showed to better perform at lower distances from beach accesses. In dune areas with a strong tourist vocation, foredune restoration should be coupled with the implementation of integrated management plans aiming at optimising the relationship between protection and use. Management plans should not only rely on passive conservation measures; rather they should include educational activities to stimulate a pro-environmental behaviour, increase the acceptance of behaviour rules and no entry zones, and actively engage stakeholders in long-term conservation.

Environmental Justice and Public Beach Access

Beaches are an important recreational setting due to their provision of ideal open spaces for diverse water– and land–based recreation opportunities. Despite the importance of assessing the environmental justice of public beach access, few empirical studies have been conducted in community recreation. Using an environmental justice framework, this study examined whether inequities exist for certain racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups with respect to the distribution of public beach access in the Detroit Metropolitan Area. Results indicated that inequitable public beach access is associated with population density, median housing value, elderly population, and nonvehicle ownership. Such findings can help public leisure agencies to assess environmental justice, a first step in developing more effective community recreation planning and management policies. Study implications, limitations, and recommendations for further research are also discussed.

High Tide

The book’s core, this chapter treats Douglas’s somewhat unconventional personality and his management of staff before surveying his role in the commission’s handling of 12 representative issues and/or cases that came before that agency during his executive directorship (1985-2011). In many ways a maverick administrator, he carefully selected staffers and then trained them to be coastal warriors. His 26-year tenure as agency chief attested to his superb political skills, which he deployed not only to defeat various attempts to fire him, but also to maximize the clout of the Coastal Act. Lawsuits and/or commission decisions involving Malibu beach access, the Jonathan Club, Marine Forests Society, Bolsa Chica Wetlands, and the 241 Toll Road are highlighted.

Footprints in Sand

News of Douglas’s death triggered a plethora of newspaper obituaries and other valedictory pronouncements from the California legislature and Congress. Most of these hailed his leadership; some compared him to John Muir. During a 34-year career with the Coastal Commission Douglas witnessed an overall severe cut in the agency’s funding and staffing; still, development had been checked and regulated while California registered the nation’s largest coastal economy, proving that effective regulation and economic growth could be compatible. Moreover, beach access had been increased substantially. Though Peter Douglas’s achievements for the coast have been singular and might land him in the pantheon of California’s greatest environmentalists, more time will have to transpire before history hands us its verdict on his legacy.