Sea oats are proving to be rigorous defenders of coastal sand dunes under siege by hurricanes

Could sea oats be the real key to stabilizing sand dunes and avoid flooding along Key Biscayne's beaches and other shorelines?

"Absolutely," said Dr. Roland Samimy, Key Biscayne's Chief Resiliency and Sustainability Officer.

Environmentally conscious surfers didn't invent sea oats, but they may have perfected the planting of the wispy grass stalks.

After Hurricane Nicole swarmed in against Florida's east coast in November, several communities were battered and flooded. But, on Florida's Space Coast, where millions of dollars were lost to beachfront property damage and erosion, one area was unfazed.

The City of Cape Canaveral recently praised the efforts of the Cocoa Beach (now Space Coast) Surfrider Club for its efforts going back two decades in planting and preserving sea oats along the Cocoa Beach-Cape Canaveral beaches.

"They came up with a plan to do sea oats," said John Hughes, Executive Director of the Florida Surf Museum. "Everyone else said it wouldn't work ... all these years, sea oats allowed other vegetation to grow. While everybody's beaches are falling (back into the ocean), Cocoa Beach is actually gaining sand. You can see a new dune line forming."

Even a young Dan Marino would have trouble lofting a football the distance between the shoreline and sand dune these days.

Tony Sasso, a former Cocoa Beach city commissioner and state legislator, recalled being part of that sea oats startup team.

"We planted them, probably after 2004, 2005, but probably five years in a row (the first time)," Sasso said. "We'd put ropes and stakes, so people wouldn't walk through them. That, and the beach renourishment made it an effective barrier."

Sea oats, not to be confused with the larger leaf sea grape plants behind the dunes, look like stalks – stalks that actually fortify the sand.

"It's a native plant; there used to be a lot more in the late '70's, but people picked them for floral arrangements. Now a state law prohibits picking (or even standing on) sea oats," Hughes said.

On Key Biscayne, the value of sea oats could be immense. But getting them in place long enough to grow roots is an issue.

"We were starting the process of trying to get the sea oats (to grow), but unfortunately there wasn't time and they didn't take root," Village Manager Steve Williamson said.

Between the effects of Hurricane Ian, and then Nicole, an estimate of $2.8 million (an amount sent to Miami-Dade County for its damage assessment) will be needed to put back 31,000 cubic yards of sand, not including new vegetation.

"The beach is beautiful, the beach is fun. But it has its appropriate (benefit) to protect the coast and do its job," Williamson said. "But it's no longer there and we have to get it back."

Sea oats (Uniola paniculata)have become an extremely valuable plant to protect coastlines and barrier islands. According to the US National Park Service, the plant's massive root system is capable of holding soil and sand in place during extreme weather events, such as hurricanes and tropical storms.

"Everything is planted on the dune, native railroad vines, native plants, they are what hold the sand. They stabilize the dune and keep the sand from washing away," Dr. Samimy said. "A robust dune with a robust plant community on it (is what you want).

"When the wind blows sand and seaweed up into the dunes, (sea oats) grab the sand and the seaweed, and the seaweed dies and decomposes, dries up, and over time, those nutrients go in the sand, and they (sea oats) feed off that."

Any time dune restoration is done, the vegetation must be augmented, he said.

In the case of the Cocoa Beach area, Hughes said all of the planting was done "100% free, thanks to the Surfrider project."

Surfrider volunteers to the rescue

Since its inception in 1984, when a group of Malibu, CA, surfers and environmentalists joined forces to protect their favorite surf spot, the Surfrider Foundation has branched out to include more than 82 chapters around the world, along with 86 high schools and colleges, and more than 1 million supporters, volunteers and activists. They have collectively claimed more than 500 victories in the fight to protect clean water, beach areas and even whales.

Surfrider's motto: Protect what you love today, tomorrow and for generations to come.

In 1997, the Palm Beach chapter planted more than 60,000 mangrove trees in two county wetland restoration areas.

The Miami Surfrider chapter, started in 1997 by water and wave enthusiasts, is dedicated to preserving the coast and waterways from plastics and other harmful toxins.

"During the year, we do maybe two or three plantings (of sea oats)," said Mike Gibaldi, who, as part of Surfrider Miami's leadership team, is in charge of most of the dune restoration projects.

One such area they have focused on is Miami Beach, where a "big, ongoing" dune restoration project includes the removal of the invasive Scaevola so sea oats can be planted.

"We've consulted with plant biologists on different species (of plants), but sea oats are the most common native species and the most predominant (for a) natural dune with its deep roots, the way they extend out," Gibaldi said. "They're also drought tolerant and salt tolerant."

He said there is "absolutely a very high success rate" of the sea oats program on Miami Beach.

"The city supports it and has worked hard on getting a healthy grant (for the project)," he said, "and there's a lot of community support."

Surfrider Miami (there also is a University of Miami branch called Surfider UM) has a "hardcore" volunteer group of 40-60 people, a paid membership of 250, and an audience in the thousands on social media.

During the weekend of December 9011, the organization hosted a paddleboard cleanup at one of the islands in Biscayne Bay, set up a single-use container awareness station at the North Beach Music Festival, and was one of several environmental groups on hand at the popular Miami Beach Eco Fest.

Helping other communities, such as Key Biscayne, is a possibility, Gibaldi said, "but only to fill the gaps," where funding from state or federal governments does not cover the costs.

Those costs can be high in some cases. For example, on St. George Island in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida Panhandle, 175,000 sea oat plants were destroyed by Hurricane Gustav's storm surge in 2008. To replace them cost an estimated $262,500.

Gubakdi said the group mostly looks to help "at active oceanfronts, where surfing goes on."

Cocoa Beach concept a success

One of the primary benefits along Cocoa Beach and Cape Canaveral has been the additional sand being pumped in after a 1992 lawsuit claimed that the 1954 dredging of the port jetty by the US Army Corps of Engineers blocked the north-south flow of sand into that area. The result of that lawsuit provided 50 years of beach protection by the federal government.

Sasso, a former member of the Merchant Marines, said the Surfrider teams he's been affiliated with have "probably planted (sea oats) eight or nine times, all in rows," up and down the beach.

Over those years, "we found certain planting techniques worked better than others," he said.

"I had a big ... smile (after Hurricane Nicole) because the dunes were still up there, even with water in the pockets, but it didn't wash them away," Sasso said. "The fact that we maintained them (all these years) paid off."

Gibaldi said the sea oats planted on the dune line are basically "plugs" that come, say, 40 in a case, bigger than an egg crate. "They're already seedlings that have developed into a small plant," he said.

"We buy from suppliers, but they've been in extremely high demand for some time. We've seen a lot of what's happened (to storm-damaged coastlines) and it's getting harder to get sea oats."

A glance at websites of various Florida nursery farms shows sea oats priced anywhere from 75 cents to $3.10, plus tax, but many have "out of stock" inventories.

Now, after seeing the benefits of a properly planted sea oats program, Sasso would like to broaden the outlook.

"I'd like to popularize (this concept) for some communities instead of seawalls," he said. "I don't have a problem engineering the dunes but, obviously, with what we've seen in Daytona Beach and elsewhere, and with all the talk of sea level rise, we need to do something now."

If any community would like to reach out to Sasso, email him at [email protected] and he can provide planting techniques that have proven successful.

Sea Oat Planting Tips

From the North Carolina Coastal Conservation website:

Because sea oats are a warm-season perennial grass, seedlings may be planted during the warmer months of April through September.Seedlings should be placed at least 8 inches deep in moist sand, such as after rain. Don't worry about planting the seedlings too deep. Planting too shallow often results in poor survival.When planted in the spring and early summer months, seedlings will grow vigorously if properly fertilized and, if necessary, watered at planting.Including one level teaspoon of time-release (18-6-12 Osmocote or similar type) fertilizer in the planting hole will boost growth (use only time-release fertilizers in the planting hole because ordinary soluble fertilizers may damage the seedlings' root).