Free presentation on caring for sand dunes

A presentation on how to plant and maintain sand dunes will be held at the Wainui Beach School Hall on Tuesday 13 April at 6pm. All are welcome to this free presentation by Wayne O’Keefe from Indigenous Landscapes in Opotiki. He has been invited by Gisborne District Council to discuss his experience being responsible for beach care in the Bay of Plenty.

Council reserves planner De-Arne Sutherland says that it will be worthwhile to hear from someone with a lot of ‘tried and true’ experience in this area. “A number of Wainui residents have approached Council for dune care and planting advice. The Wainui community are highly motivated and eager to get involved with any form of beach care programme, which is why Wainui Beach is a good place to start conservation work.”

“A lot of erosion of the sand dunes occurred at Wainui Beach last winter. Wayne will give us planting and dune care advice specific to the Wainui area which can be challenging. The advice however will be relevant to planting and maintaining healthy sand dunes throughout our district. From this community meeting we hope residents will have the knowledge and confidence to plant their own properties, and together with Council, our reserve's sand dunes.”

“Grasses with their sand binding attributes are the biggest contributor to sand stability. They are a natural way to control sand erosion. To help residents protect their beaches they need to know what are the right grasses to plant, when and where they should plant and what sort of maintenance is required,” Mrs Sutherland added.