Posted on May 5, 2025
Conservation crews at the Naples Botanical Garden are taking innovative steps to restore sand dunes on Vanderbilt Beach. This new approach aims to bolster the beach’s resilience against storms using a diverse array of plants.
Erik Sandsmark, COO of Earth Balance, emphasized the importance of these plants, saying, “Without these plants we lose the beach.”
WINK News reporter Paul Dolan explored how this project not only contributes to environmental restoration but also boosts local tourism. Chad Washburn, vice president of the Naples Botanical Garden, explained the economic significance of this initiative.
“Beaches really are the economic engine of our community,” said Washburn.
Washburn further highlighted the dual purpose of the project, stating, “This is an economic project, and it really impacts everyone in the community, even if you don’t go to the beach.”
The project stands out due to its emphasis on biodiversity. Washburn described it as a pioneering effort in South Florida.
“This is really the first time that this mix of plants that forms a healthy dune ecosystem has been put together in South Florida and used on a large scale to completely restore and heal the ecosystem, to make it more bio diverse, more protective and more resilient after a storm,” he said.
Jeannine Richards from Florida Gulf Coast University added insight into the benefits of planting diverse foliage.
“Some are really good at tolerating inundation from storm surge. Some are really good at capturing sand and growing up taller as the sand accumulates around the base,” said Richards.
Washburn explained how the plants contribute to storm protection.
“These plants will trap sand and they will build the beach dune, and they make a much higher, much more protective barrier to our community,” said Washburn.
Furthermore, Washburn stressed the importance of these plants in mitigating storm surge effects.
“We have storms where we have waves, and those will erode some of our beach, but they also erode some of that sand away from the plants. This will heal if we have the right plants very quickly, and it will look just like it does now as a healthy beach dune plant community shortly after a storm,” he said.
The project also serves to protect inland communities by reducing wave energy.
“It can still be over washed, but it is the thing that reduces the wave energy. If we do get storm surge, it reduces impacts to our inland community, and that can really, really significantly impact the community economically in terms of avoidance of damage in the community,” said Washburn.
If successful, the Naples Botanical Garden and Earth Balance teams hope to apply these nature-based solutions elsewhere in the state. Washburn believes that combining nature-based and engineered solutions can provide complementary benefits.
