News

Our nomination ‘Restoring natural form and function to our coastlines to benefit the public and the environment’ in the “Protecting our Coasts and Oceans” category has been short-listed as a finalist in this year’s Green Ribbon Awards.

The ceremony and announcement of the winners will be held on 8 June. Our chair Greg and one of our other trustees will be attending.

Firstly, I would like to thank the Coastal Restoration Trust for their support in awarding me one of the postgraduate study awards for this year, this award will go a long way in assisting with some of the financial pressures faced during my study.

The Masters Research project I am working on at Victoria University of Wellington, in conjunction with the University of Auckland, is focussed on taking a geochemical approach to solving a long running scientific debate in the Coastal Science literature; ‘What processes dominate shore platform development along the rocky coast?’ Are they cut through the action of waves or by the sub-aerial weathering of the cliff that backs the shore platform? This is important as we want to identify the suite of processes which represent the baseline conditions for shore platforms. This informs us of how human action in the recent past and going into the future has and will affect these baselines.

To answer this question I am undertaking an analysis of Cosmogenic Nuclide accumulation on two of New Zealand’s prominent shore platforms at the Kaikoura Peninsula and at Okakari Point near the Leigh Marine reserve in Auckland. This method will tell us the long-term history of development for these shore platforms, how old they are, and how fast they form. With this information we can take a numerical modelling approach to work out which processes have been at work on these interesting coastal features, and work out how the sea cliffs respond to changes in sea level and what this might mean for coastal hazards in the future.

So far I have completed field sampling at the two shore platforms and I have almost completed the lab chemistry for the Kaikoura samples, I expect to have the first set of results In July.

Following our media release of 13 January, Kiwis loving NZ’s beaches to death, (see this story) an article appeared in the NZ Herald on 10 February: It focuses mostly on the numbers of beach visitors by area/city. However, Greg Bennett, our chair is quoted on our views of coastal restoration. See the full article here.

The National Trust Community Weed Busting Project is funded by DOC and seeks to facilitate and assist community groups waging war on weeds in ecological areas to support biodiversity. Through this project Coast Care groups may be able to access funding to combat weeds, for tools, materials, Growsafe certifications, herbicides, transport and food on volunteer days etc.

If you are looking for some extra assistance for this kind of thing, please contact Mike Urlich directly on 022 0430 9402 or at .

MEDIA RELEASE

January 13, 2017

New Zealanders are worried about the future of our beaches, with storm surges, degradation of sand dunes, coastline development, sand mining and climate change putting their survival at risk, a new national survey has found.

The Coastal Restoration Trust’s survey of 1775 people, conducted by Horizon Research, found that almost two-thirds of Kiwis believed beach erosion was worse than it was 20 years ago, and most were worried that some New Zealand beaches might vanish forever.

Trust spokesman Tim Park said that, in many cases, New Zealand’s beaches were paying the price for overwhelming public popularity.

“We’re loving our beaches to death. We’re driving on them, building sea walls that change beach dynamics and sand movement, developing beachfront property virtually right on top on them.

“We’re shaping and managing our beaches to fit what people want and expect from them, rather than understanding and working with natural processes that are best for healthy, resilient beaches.

“If we can work with nature, rather than against it, everyone benefits. It’s vitally important, because some beaches are already under enormous pressure and are at risk of disappearing.

“Once a beach is gone, it’s gone for good.”

Mr Park said while many people saw erosion as a big issue for New Zealand’s coasts, research showed beaches could recover if coastal ecosystems – particularly sandy foredunes – were in a healthy, functioning state.

“In many situations we can manage issues more sustainably through ‘soft’ options that give beaches the space they need to breathe. Sand dunes are a perfect example. Not only are they a buffer against storm surges and even the potential of tsunamis, dunes play a vital role in the natural transit and accretion of sand, which is what helps keep a beach ecosystem healthy.

“We tend to overlook just how important sand is and why we need to look after it.”

Giving beaches more breathing space also meant taking a new look at how property development on our coastlines was managed.

“It’s natural for us to want to live as close to the beach as possible, but in many places we’ve simply gotten too close,” said Mr Park.

“Rather than trying to fight what’s a losing battle by building sea walls, or dumping loads of boulders, ‘setback’ (planning development further back from beaches to prevent the loss of dunes/houses completely in large storm events) is best. It’s also far more cost-effective to look after sand and restore dunes by planting native sand-binding vegetation, for example, at a fraction of the cost of seawalls, which don’t last long-term and often just shift problems somewhere else.”

The trust’s holistic approach to coastal management had led it to change its name from the Coastal Restoration Trust to the Coastal Restoration Trust, said Mr Park.

“It’s recognising that our coasts are part of an inter-connected system. It’s not one thing or another but a whole range of factors that shape our coastlines, and the survey shows more Kiwis are getting that.”

LIFE’S A BEACH: KEY SURVEY FINDINGS

• New Zealanders plan to go to the beach for an average of 13.6 days this summer
• 50% say they have seen the effects of erosion at beaches in New Zealand; more than 60% say beaches are more eroded now than 20 years ago
• 77% are concerned about the effect erosion may have on the future quality of New Zealand beaches; 28% are very concerned
• Respondents rated “storm surges” as the major cause of beach erosion, followed by “degradation of sand dunes”, “development on coastlines”, “commercial sand mining” and “global warming/climate change”

The Horizon Research surveyed 1775 respondents nationally aged over 18. The sample has a margin of error of 2.3%. Breakdowns of the results by geographical and socio-economic indicators are available on request.

For more information, contact: Tim Park, Coastal Restoration Trust, 021 247 9739.