With sea oats, volunteers plant hope

ST. PETE BEACH - Volunteers are embracing natural ways to protect the beaches of St. Pete Beach.

Despite the hot weather, Pass-a-Grille became more than a usual tanning spot on Saturday. Instead of sunbathing, about 200 volunteers equipped with gloves, hand shovels, watering cans or milk jugs helped with the first-ever sea oats planting project on Pass-A-Grille.

Photo Gallery: Sea Oats Planting

Planting of native vegetation like sea oats helps form and maintain sand dunes, critical to controlling beach erosion, said Beach Stewardship Committee member Markus Lehtovirta.

The dune restoration project was organized by the St. Pete Beach Stewardship Committee in collaboration with Pinellas County.

“It’s a natural way to help retain the beach,” said Lehtovirta. “Dunes help protect the beaches. During a storm, dunes help retain the beaches. Passes, like Blind Pass, have been created by a storm. That’s nature’s way.”

He added that all coastal areas are subject to ever changing coast line and erosion.

Lehtovirta said that sea oats have been planted before, in the early 90’s but this is the first volunteer-based sea oats planting project in St Pete Beach.

Natural methods are one of the beach erosion controls, including the permanent structures installed on Upham Beach, he said.

“We should use as many natural methods for beach erosion control as possible,” he added.

According to the committee, there are other ways to control beach erosion, such as permanent t-groin structures installed in Upham Beach.

Many children and their parents participated in an introductory class about plants and numbers.

"If we plant a sea oat, that helps eventually a dune to grow right there," he explained to the children. These dunes are very important as they work as barriers against erosion. You plant them about one or one-and-a-half foot apart from each other in line with the direction of the beach in a checkerboard pattern."

Planting sea oats involves more that just love of nature. It is a math lesson, he says.

"Two hundred sea oats cover about a 25-foot-by-25-foot area," explained Lehtovirta.

For Heather McEnry and her 6-year-old daughter, Megan this event was a learning experience.

"Megan is in charge of the trash cleanup and we have been planting sea oats together. We are trying to preserve the sand on the beach," said McEnry.

Dan Blamchard, assistant scout master for Troop 104 from Lakeland, camped with a dozen scouts and family members in Fort DeSoto last weekend. Instead of fishing, the scouts opted to renourish the beach.

“We are sweating like crazy here planting sea oats,” said Blamchard.

Other volunteers were St. Peterburg College student, Loretta Murray and her nephew, Frank Williams.

“This is an opportunity for us to help the environment,” said Murray. “We go down the coast and plant as many sea oats as we can today. I thought it would be a great opportunity to give back.”

Committee members say the beach affects the economic livelihood of many businesses and property owners. Their help is more than needed in beach restoration projects.

“The community is coming together,” said Lehtovirta. “I invited the kids from the Montessori by the Sea and I hope they will remember they did something good for the environment. I am very happy with the outcome, an amazing amount of volunteers have come here, you can see them working in the dunes with good intentions."