by Alessandra Haddick
Four years ago, crews hauled 70 tons of invasive ice plant off the sand in North Manhattan Beach. In its place, native dune grasses now ripple in the ocean wind, their deep roots quietly building a natural seawall one grain of sand at a time.
The Manhattan Beach Dune Restoration Project, led by The Bay Foundation in partnership with the City of Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles County, and the California State Coastal Conservancy, represents a shift in how local beaches are managed — away from heavily groomed sand and toward living shorelines designed to work with nature rather than against it.
Stretching across approximately three acres from 36th to 28th Street and from 26th to 23rd Street near Bruce’s Beach, the project officially kicked off in January 2022 after four years of planning. It’s now in its long-term monitoring and maintenance phase, with active volunteer events still drawing residents to the dunes.
According to Nick Collins, a Coastal Adaptation Program Field Technician with The Bay Foundation, the site has been built deliberately, one step at a time.
“Our beaches are groomed and raked daily,” Collins explained while working on site. “That raking essentially rips out all of the life from the sand. It uproots plants and destroys nests that birds and other animals try to form.”
To counter that cycle, The Bay Foundation first installed posts and rope fencing to protect the area from mechanical grooming and excessive foot traffic. What followed was the massive removal of invasive iceplant and other non-native species that had dominated the area for decades.
“When we first established the dunes, we had to remove over 70 tons of ice plant,” Collins said. “Hundreds of volunteers spent thousands of hours getting that done with us.”
Only after clearing the invasive plants could restoration truly begin. Native coastal dune species were seeded and planted—species adapted to wind, salt spray, and shifting sand. Collins explained how these plants do more than add greenery. They actively shape the landscape.
“Those plants grow, and they collect sand with the wind,” he said. “That’s what forms these dunes.”
The Dune Restoration Project is not a one-off volunteer effort. Before any work began, the project was guided by a formal Restoration and Monitoring Plan that outlined both short and long-term goals.
The plan identifies three core objectives: increasing shoreline resiliency by restoring sandy beach and foredune habitat; implementing nature-based protection measures against sea-level rise and coastal storms; and increasing community engagement through education and outreach.
Funding came primarily from the California State Coastal Conservancy through Cap and Trade dollars, part of the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The investment reflects a growing recognition that natural infrastructure can deliver economic returns. An adaptation plan suggested that dune restoration could help preserve $65 million in non-market value for the beach through 2100.
Beyond initial planting and invasive removal, the plan calls for at least five years of post-project monitoring and adaptive maintenance. That includes supplemental planting, fencing upkeep, and continued invasive species control. The plan is a recognition that dune restoration is an ongoing process, not a single event.
“We’ll be reinvaded without a doubt,” said Tom Ford, Chief Executive Officer of The Bay Foundation. “The seeds will continue to blow in with the wind and wash down through the streets and alleys. So we’ll be at it for many years to come.”
In addition to planting native vegetation, the restoration plan incorporates design features meant to mimic natural dune processes. Sand fencing and “biomimicry stakes” are strategically placed to slow coastal winds and trap windblown sand, helping rebuild dune topography over time.
“These are living shorelines,” Ford explained. “They’re a nature-based alternative to hard infrastructure.”
Unlike concrete seawalls or rock revetments, restored dunes provide multiple benefits at once. They buffer storm surge, slow erosion, support wildlife habitat, and continue to evolve naturally with changing conditions.
Native plants such as beach evening primrose — Manhattan Beach’s official city flowe r— along with sand verbena and seacliff buckwheat, are particularly effective. Their deep root systems stabilize sand far better than invasive species, many of which have shallow roots and can actually increase erosion risk.
“Often, invasive species are annuals that aren’t invested in the long term,” Ford said. “They build shallow roots. It’s those deep roots that really hold the sand in place and push back against erosion.”
As native vegetation has taken hold, wildlife has begun to return. The restored dunes now provide habitat for migratory birds, California legless lizards, and rare insects.
Most notably, the endangered El Segundo blue butterfly has reappeared in significant numbers.
“Folks walking along the bike path in May and June will see thousands of those butterflies,” Ford said. “They’re endangered, and now they’re back.”
The butterfly’s return is anchored in a larger regional comeback story. At the nearby LAX Dunes, the largest remaining habitat for the species, the population has surged from fewer than 500 butterflies in 1976 to an estimated tens of thousands today.
The Manhattan Beach project was designed specifically to create a “stepping stone” for the El Segundo blue butterfly, which is famous for its extremely limited flight range, often staying within 200 feet of its host plant. The key has been the survival of seacliff buckwheat, the only plant the butterfly uses for its entire life cycle. Thousands of buckwheat plants were established in the 2022-2023 season.
Evidence from recent years suggests that if you plant it, they will come. El Segundo blues naturally recolonized the Point Vicente Interpretive Center and Alta Vicente Reserve within just one year of buckwheat being planted there. Biologists expect the Manhattan Beach site to follow this trend, acting as a “genetic bridge” between the LAX and Palos Verdes populations.
“It’s not just about rare plants,” Ford said. “It’s about bringing the whole ecosystem back.”
While science guides the restoration, volunteers make it possible. Events held regularly in Manhattan Beach bring residents face-to-face with the dunes—and often change how they see the beach.
Teresa Fricke, a local volunteer with a degree in environmental health, learned about the event through the Nextdoor app.
“I just signed up online,” she said. “It felt like the perfect fit. And it’s nice to come to the beach in a different kind of environment to work in.”
For Fricke, the experience answered questions she had long had as a beachgoer.
“I’ve seen people out doing this before when I’m at the beach, and I always kind of wondered about it,” she said. “Now I know what it’s all about.”
Collins emphasized that volunteers do more than provide labor.
“We love having our volunteers,” he said. “They help us get the work done, but they also help build community around protecting these spaces.”
As a nonprofit with limited funding, The Bay Foundation relies heavily on volunteer participation. Even a few hours can make a meaningful difference.
“Even small actions like this matter,” Ford said. “Coming down for a day and volunteering—we can add beauty and life to our coastline while protecting it.”
One of the most common concerns surrounding dune restoration is access to the beach and preservation of ocean views. Project leaders say those concerns were central to the design.
“We made sure every established access path down to the beach was preserved,” Ford said. He explained that if people were clearly using a particular informal route, they adjusted by clearing a path.
The dunes and vegetation are also intentionally height-limited. Most plants grow only two to three feet tall, maintaining ocean vistas while still providing ecological and protective benefits.
Symbolic fencing, designated pathways, and interpretive signage help guide visitors through the area while limiting trampling of sensitive habitat. The result is a space that is both protected and welcoming.
The approach has proven effective elsewhere. At Santa Monica Beach, a similar dune restoration project received unanimous approval last September to expand to nearly 40 acres. The project demonstrated that restored dunes reduced wave travel distance by an average of 45 feet during storm events, protecting the bike path and infrastructure while still accommodating heavy beach use.
Educational outreach is a key component of the project. Interpretive signage explains dune ecology and history, while The Bay Foundation has released an informational video on its YouTube channel to help residents understand why dunes matter and how they function as natural buffers.
“This project helps people reimagine our coastline,” Ford said. “Not just as a place for recreation, but as habitat, as something living and breathing.”
City and university partners describe restored dunes as a form of climate adaptation that provides sediment accretion, carbon sequestration, and habitat expansion — benefits traditional engineered solutions don’t offer as effectively or affordably.
The Manhattan Beach project is part of a growing network of restored dunes along the Santa Monica Bay. The Bay Foundation has led similar living shoreline efforts in Malibu at Zuma and Point Dume, and in Santa Monica, where the first Snowy Plover nest in Los Angeles in 70 years was documented. A Dockweiler Shoreline project is now in planning to help connect the LAX Dunes to the immediate shoreline.
By closely monitoring plant growth, wildlife presence, costs, and timelines, The Bay Foundation aims to provide a clear roadmap for communities interested in similar projects—demonstrating that heavy recreational beach use can coexist with meaningful habitat restoration.
“We want to be able to say to other cities, ‘You’ve seen what’s happening in Manhattan Beach — here’s how long it takes, here’s what it costs, and here’s what it looks like over time,'” Ford said.
In five to ten years, project leaders expect the dunes to look much the same, but even fuller, healthier, and more resilient.
“I hope people take away an assurance that small actions matter,” Ford said. “And that this becomes part of the beach story, something we pass on to future generations.” ER
That butterfly is actually a moth species and it is not anywhere near extinct. There are millions of them along the Argo ditch at LAX and throughout Westchester. Exact same species and DNA from LAX to San Pedro and beyond. So stop the BS.