Dune it Right: Planting the Seeds of Coastal Resilience [Podcast]

Chris Grippo: [00:00:00] It's all about getting your hands in the sand. You know, when we do beach cleanup, we talk about getting your hands dirty and the beach clean. Well, we're literally in the sand. Right? It's a pretty cool feeling. Our hands are in the ground. It's kind of, it's cathartic, right? It is. And, and you could feel, you really can feel that you're doing good?

Because something's gonna take growth. It's a great feeling. And you know, to see people come out on a kind of a cold Saturday when there's a ton of other things going on, you know, you can see that commitment. And this has been a long time coming, so this is a good day.

It's the start of something bigger.

Brian Yurasits: New Hampshire's coastal dunes are more than just sandy hills along a beach. They're a natural shield, absorbing storm surges, protecting [00:01:00] coastal communities and providing critical habitat for wildlife. Dunes are highly dynamic systems and are no stranger to change. However, these habitats face new pressures as we develop and harden our coastline within the context of a rapidly changing Gulf of Maine.

Thankfully, there are researchers, community leaders, and volunteers who are dedicated to protecting New Hampshire's dunes by planting and restoring native species. Shovel in hand, these volunteers have the desire to make a difference, they just need the dune grass to plant. That's where the Common Garden comes in.

New Hampshire Sea Grant Extension and the University of New Hampshire's Coastal Habitat Restoration Team, in partnership with New Hampshire State Parks have created a program to provide American beachgrass to New Hampshire coastal residents who are interested in restoring sand dunes on their properties.

I'm your host Brian Yurasits, and this is Time and Tide, a New Hampshire Sea Grant podcast where we explore the science, stories and people shaping our changing [00:02:00] coastlines. On today's episode, we'll dig into the Common Garden with Allison Eberhardt, a Coastal Ecosystems Extension Specialist, who is leading the charge to grow and plant native dune vegetation to strengthen these fragile ecosystems.

In Act two, we join Brianna Hagan, the Conservation Coordinator for the Town of Hampton, to learn about the power of partnerships in restoring crucial coastal habitats. And in Act three, we speak with the community members restoring dunes by hand, including Chris Grippo, chair of the Surfrider Foundation's New Hampshire Chapter.

And Patty McKenzie, a local resident who has been a part of this work since its inception. The common thread between everyone is a desire to grow native plants to help secure the seacoast's natural beauty for generations to come. Take a walk on the beach with us as we uncover how community, science and sand all come together to build resilience on New Hampshire's coast.[00:03:00]

Alyson Eberhardt: So, my professional background is on coastal ecosystems, monitoring them, evaluating their ecosystem value and function, and then exploring restoration opportunities to enhance habitat value, which is what led me toward dune restoration work. When I first started working with Sea Grant, there wasn't a lot happening related to our dune systems.

One of the first things I did in this role was meet representatives of our coastal communities to understand their perspectives, their interests and their goals related to dune habitat in the state and in their town.

Brian Yurasits: Can you paint a picture of what New Hampshire's dune habitat looks like over our 18 miles of coastline? We have a diverse coastline here that transitions between rocky shore and sandy dune habitat.

So, where is the dune habitat concentrated in that stretch of 18 miles?

Alyson Eberhardt: So over New Hampshire's 18 miles, approximately 18 miles of [00:04:00] coastline, less than two miles of that are sand dune habitat. And that's due to a few things. One, because we are a transition zone between sandy beach, barrier beach and rocky coastline systems. Also, because we've lost a lot of it to development. We estimate that we've lost over 83% of our sand dune habitat in New Hampshire to development.

Brian Yurasits: What's the importance of sand dune habitat to both wildlife and people?

Alyson Eberhardt: So sand dunes provide important wildlife habitat function, including they serve as breeding grounds for two state endangered species. The piping plover and least tern.

They're also migratory stops for many bird species and also insect species, including monarch butterflies. For people, sand dunes serve as our frontline defense. They are our best defense against coastal storms. So, coupled beach dune systems when they're big, robust, and healthy are without a doubt our best protection from storms.

Brian Yurasits: What [00:05:00] native grass species make up our New Hampshire dunes? Is there one species that's especially important to you and the work that you're doing?

Alyson Eberhardt: So, the primary species that you see in our sand dunes is American beachgrass, Ammophila breviligulata. That is the primary species we use for restoration as well. It goes by many different names, beachgrass, dune grass, but that one grass, American beachgrass, is the primary grass species that you'll see. Some other common species in sand dunes are goldenrod, seaside goldenrod, which has the beautiful yellow flowers in the Fall. Also, there's a pea species, beach pea that will grow in the front of the dunes. When you get to the backside of the dune where it's a little more protected, you'll see a bunch more species growing there.

One of the most common we have in New Hampshire is beach heather, which also is low lying, but also gets, pretty yellow flowers in the Fall.

Brian Yurasits: I know that another common term that folks will use for beachgrass is seagrass, but can you explain [00:06:00] why seagrass is entirely different from beachgrass?

Alyson Eberhardt: Beachgrass is a upland grass species that grows in our sand dunes.

It is drought tolerant. It grows outside of the intertidal and is the primary species that's stabilizing sand dunes. Whereas, seagrasses are flowering plants that typically grow in subtidal systems, so are growing underwater. We do have a species that grows in our salt marsh pools. A distinction between beachgrass and seagrass is that seagrasses are primarily subtidal, flowering plants.

Beachgrass is a grass species that's growing outside of the water in upland environments.

Brian Yurasits: What is it exactly that beachgrass needs to thrive? Is there like a formula for success for beachgrass?

Alyson Eberhardt: To thrive, beachgrass needs space to grow. It does well, of course, in a sandy substrate like dunes. It also needs nutrients, and the primary [00:07:00] nutrient input for sand dunes is input of sand. And then there's nutrients from the salt water clinging to those sand grains. And these plants are adapted to pulling those nutrients off those new sand grains. And in a lot of places we've cut off that input of new sand, whether that be due to shoreline hardening or loss of coupled beach dune environments.

In some places, dunes just aren't getting the nutrients they need to sustain and grow. We also have a nematode fungus coupling that is affecting some of our plants called beachgrass die off. So we're seeing areas of beachgrass dying off due to this fungus and nematode combination. So, those are the two primary things that we see affecting beach grass growth in New Hampshire, in addition, of course to development.

Brian Yurasits: So, now I want to get into this project you have called the Common Garden. It's essentially a plot of native beachgrass that you've just described, but it's [00:08:00] designed to supply dune restoration projects in the state. Why is beachgrass so hard to come by and how did the Common Garden come to be?

Alyson Eberhardt: So, the Common Garden started in 2015 along with collaborators as part of the UNH Coastal Habitat Restoration Team.

So, two researchers here at UNH, Dave Burdick and Gregg Moore, the three of us recognized the continual need for beachgrass. So, dunes are sacrificial systems. We know that they will be destroyed by storms. If left alone, they'll rebuild over time, but because we live in such close proximity to them, our role is often to accelerate that process and we often do that through planting beachgrass. And so we have this continual need for beachgrass. It grows relatively quickly, relatively easily. So, with funding from the New Hampshire Coastal Program and in partnership with New Hampshire State Parks, they are letting us use some land to grow out beachgrass for our restoration purposes.

We also originally, in a true collaborative effort, we originally [00:09:00] received plants from the town of Seabrook that had areas of very dense growth where we did some selective thinning, and that seeded the original Common Garden. So, the original intention was for restoration purposes in New Hampshire. Over time, we started to hear from landowners who had dunes on their property who were interested in restoring dunes and were having a lot of difficulty accessing plants and accessing best practices. From then on, and that probably happened a few years into the Common Garden, we developed a program for landowners to access the resources of the common gardens as well for restoring dunes on their property.

Brian Yurasits: What does the demand for beachgrass look like by local homeowners? And how has that demand changed, if at all, since the Common Garden first took root? How are people finding out about the availability of these native plants? Do you do any marketing? Has it mostly been just word of mouth?

Alyson Eberhardt: We're seeing increasing demand for the Common Garden, I'd say in the last two, three years, both from [00:10:00] coastal landowners and residents and from our local municipalities. I'd like to think that the reason for that, at least in part, is some of our work here at New Hampshire Sea Grant. I also think people in New Hampshire are very connected to their places and they see them changing. We've had some big storms that have altered our shoreline in the past few years.

I think people are looking for ways to make their shoreline more resilient. So, the change that they're seeing, they're looking for ways to respond and dune restoration is an important tool in that toolbox.

Brian Yurasits: How does the planting of dune grass fit into the bigger picture of coastal restoration and resilience?

This seems to be a low cost first step to get dune grass restoration efforts moving and like off the ground. But it's also a very visual project that engages a lot of different community members. The before and after photos from a dune planting event are incredible and it's tough to walk by this newly planted dune grass on the beach and not wonder, why are folks planting [00:11:00] these?

Alyson Eberhardt: We're finding that our dune restoration work, in addition to the on the ground outcomes, is also serving as an important catalyst to important conversations on how we wanna manage our coastlines into the future. We find that our volunteers often come with a lot of interest in the coast, and then by engaging in on the ground restoration, conversations bubble up about our coastlines in general and how they're changing and what they may look like into the future, and threats and what we can be doing.

We see this dune restoration work not just as important now for increasing resilience of our coastline, but also in seeding important conversations about other strategies toward managing our coasts. The way we're doing dune restoration, it's low cost, like we've set up the Common Garden to enable kind of like basic dune plantings, but ideally, like there are spots, I would love to go into Plaice Cove and for $250,000 or you know, half a [00:12:00] million dollars, develop a living shoreline, bring in, you know, do some treatment, like some soil testing, and then figure out what's going on with the plants not growing there.

We could spend a half a million to a million dollars on that site, on that little postage stamp of a lot no problem. In a perfect world, if we wanted to bring these systems back meaningfully, it would take a large investment of money. The reason we are intervening with plantings and dune restoration is we have disrupted the natural cycle of rebuilding of these systems.

If we had untouched beach dune systems, they would be working in conjunction through cycles of erosion and accretion naturally, and we would do nothing. However, because of coastal development, because of shoreline hardening, because of disruption of the cycle of material between the ocean, beaches, and dunes.

We now intervene to help that rebuilding process because we know that the bigger dunes are, the [00:13:00] better they protect the people, the homes, the infrastructure behind them. That's why we're intervening is to accelerate a process that would happen naturally anyway. We need to be thinking bigger picture about what we want our coastlines to look like into the future.

So dune restoration can serve as maybe a starting point for these larger conversations about how we manage our coastlines into the future.

Brian Yurasits: I feel like dune restoration is a volunteering project that attracts people from all different demographics and viewpoints. Having been out there with you all for a planting event, there were families, there were college and high school students, there were beachfront homeowners. And it just made me think that this is a local issue that brings people together in such a fun way, and the volunteers really could see the impact that they're having on this stretch of coastline. It's very visible, the impact that you're having.

Alyson Eberhardt: Personally, one of the things I love about dune restoration work is [00:14:00] the various people I get to engage with. People come to this work from all different backgrounds and interests.

But everyone is gathering with the same goal, and that is to build up and protect this resource and from a love of their coastline and their coast. I wrote down in my notes where people had come from, the backgrounds they represented, there were undergraduates, there were graduate students, there were young families,

there were, like you said, people from far away. There were coastal abutters. There were people from a little bit further inland. There was a nonprofit organization. There was retired UNH faculty. There was like such an amazing crosswalk of people there. It was awesome. Like I was reflecting on that and my notes.

Normally I'm like collecting data, making observations, but I was like writing out all the people that were represented 'cause it was such a broad group. It was really cool.

Brian Yurasits: What are your hopes for the future of the Common Garden? Do you have any seeds of hope that you'd like our listeners to come away with?

Alyson Eberhardt: This work has to be ongoing by the [00:15:00] very nature of these systems and how they function. My goal and hope is to continue what I've been observing already, which is our local towns and our local residents taking ownership of these systems and stewarding them in a way that sustains them into the future.

Brian Yurasits: As Alyson mentioned, dune restoration in New Hampshire wouldn't be possible without a strong commitment from municipalities and coastal managers.

The town of Hampton covers a good chunk of New Hampshire's coastline and is home to some struggling dunes. Thankfully, Brianna Hagan, the Conservation Coordinator for the town of Hampton, has been keeping her finger on the pulse of Hampton's dunes and is no stranger to addressing the concerns of residents who want to protect the beaches that matter most to them.

Stay tuned with us as we sit down with Brianna to discuss the power of dune restoration, to educate a community and serve as an important step for creating a more resilient coast. Brianna also speaks about the [00:16:00] tough conversations that lie ahead as the Gulf of Maine continues to change. Stay with us.

So Brianna, how long have you been partnering with New Hampshire Sea Grant on dune restoration?

Brianna Hagan: Yeah, so I think our first project was 2022. We had some residents on Plaice Cove who reached out to me because they were really concerned about the erosion in the dunes in that area, and they had previously worked with Sea Grant, so they were the ones that kind of helped me make that connection.

Since then, we have done several more dune planting efforts in the Plaice Cove area. We also, last year, worked with Sea Grant to do some dune planting and restoration south of the bridge on Portsmouth Ave. But Sea Grant was able to come in and [00:17:00] help us do some planting there, put up some fencing around that dune and maintain relationships with the people in that neighborhood as well.

Brian Yurasits: So you are like the middle person between the community members in Hampton, New Hampshire and the researchers, what were some of the biggest concerns that residents were bringing to you about the dune habitat in Hampton?

Brianna Hagan: Similar concerns in both places, and the two places that I'm mentioning are the only two beaches in Hampton that are town owned.

And so we have the responsibility for those. Residents have seen a lot of erosion, a lot of sand loss dune grass die off in certain areas and the overall concern was about their property's resilience in storms. So, there have been incidents in both of these neighborhoods where certain sections of the dune have been eroded away or kind of pulled away during storm events, and that has led to water coming into their neighborhoods during these storm events which is a kind of a perpetual issue. So, [00:18:00] the less dune there is, the less there is to protect and the more water that comes in and then the more dune that goes away. So, it's just kind of a self perpetuating cycle that all of these residents have seen happen. And a lot of them have been there for decades and have been really good at keeping tabs on all of these things. And making sure that me or the town, whoever's been in my position has been aware of this and that Sea Grant has been there kind of through a lot of these events as well, just to support the efforts, the resilience efforts.

Brian Yurasits: Thinking broadly, what does the scope of your work look like as the Conservation Coordinator in Hampton, and where does dune restoration fit into your own bigger picture?

Brianna Hagan: As the Conservation Coordinator, my work is more focused on natural resource protection.

We now have a Coastal Resilience Coordinator whose job is obviously just kind of more specifically that coastal resilience pathway. Our work, of course, overlaps and so a lot of this was taken on by me before we had that position. My work involves reviewing permit applications and [00:19:00] developments, impacts to natural resources, applying for grants to do natural resource restoration in the marsh, conserving marsh land or coastal land to aid with coastal resilience.

Brian Yurasits: What have your learning experiences been like with dune restoration? Were there some years that plants were more successful at taking root than others? And did you have any major lessons that you've learned along the way?

Brianna Hagan: Working with Alyson and Wells I have learned so much, which is probably my second favorite part of all this is just the opportunities that I have to learn alongside the residents with Alyson and Wells, who I find to be just amazing resources and really accessible and easy to learn from. As far as what this project has looked like over the years and the challenges and what happens when dune grass doesn't take. All of that has happened. We have a few areas that we've planted over and over again. Um, we have a few areas that have taken really well and we see, [00:20:00] you know, the roots growing in new, and new shoots coming up, but not enough. Like we still need that, kind of human intervention piece.

I've learned again from Alyson that a lot of that has to do with the fact that a lot of the dune area on Plaice Cove is starved. So, it's not getting the input of sand that it needs to kind of be a self-sufficient system, which is a conversation we've been having over the years. Ethically, ecologically, do we continue to play this role in this system, as in human intervention is needed to keep this system working.

Is that the role that we continue to play or do we explore other options? I don't think we're ready to stop the human intervention piece of the cycle. But you know, it's a challenge that we've discussed. We have challenges of the new plants not being noticeable enough, and so people continuing their habits of walking their dog or walking through the beach and not knowing to avoid them. The residents have in that area, have put up their own signs, have taken it really upon themselves to keep that area protected.

As a town we've also explored different signage and [00:21:00] fencing options as our resources have allowed it.

Brian Yurasits: What's it like to attend one of these dune planting events? Can you share any of your firsthand experiences from having hands in the sand and physically putting this dune grass into a restoration site?

Brianna Hagan: It is super powerful. I am always a proponent of finding like the simplest solution to things before going into the realm of like a big engineering project. Being able to get normal everyday people involved in these projects, it does always feel like much bigger than just, you know, putting plants in the ground.

I still talk about a planting event, I think it was last summer, where it was so hot and we had to move sand by hand. So, we had kind of like a bucket brigade of moving sand from one end of the dune to the other. It was so exhausting. We were hot and it was a lot, and then we also had to plant and put up a fence, like it was a big project for a small area.

The people that showed up to this were so ready to go. The volunteers that Alyson and Wells have just like their roster is so strong and these [00:22:00] people are so invested in it that they were like, hey, we have this really hard project and it's gonna be tough but we could really use your help. The other challenge of this particular project is that it's a small area, so we really couldn't have a ton of people because we would be tripping over each other.

So it was a small group that tackled this huge project. It was so cool. We all jumped in the ocean after like it was wonderful. The fence is still up and the dune is doing really well. So, I think all around it speaks to the power of volunteers and, and kind of the depth of that work is really, again, much more than just the ecology.

Brian Yurasits: What's the value of these planting efforts? To New Hampshire residents. So, for anyone listening out there from beachfront homeowners to visitors who come by just in the summertime, how do everyday people benefit from dune planting?

Brianna Hagan: We have a lot of property owners who live right up on the coast in some of the only dune habitat in the state. Especially in Hampton, we have really limited dune habitat. And so, when they have to restore their sea walls or any landscaping [00:23:00] work after storms, a lot of that is replanting dune grass. And fortunately, we have a good group of people, homeowners, who are committed to keeping that habitat healthy.

I'm always really grateful when I have these property owners that come to me and ask, what they can do to keep this natural landscape healthy. So I love connecting them to Alyson to use the Common Garden for that purpose. And it's also made the planting efforts in Hampton, I think, a lot stronger to be able to be there, like start to finish in Hampton, using this garden to harvest the plants and then transplanting them elsewhere. It's like, obviously it's hyper-local. It really can be this simple. I'm excited to see where it goes too, because I think with a little more resource input, I think it could continue to sustainably support the dune habitat in Hampton and surrounded communities for a while.

Brian Yurasits: In the grand scheme of things, what does the future hold for coastal resilience in the state of New Hampshire? What challenges are really front of mind for you?

Brianna Hagan: Some of the challenges [00:24:00] are funding based right now. There's just so much uncertainty and we've already lost some of our funding channels.

Not that we've lost projects, but funding channels that we would have used to pursue and further certain coastal resilience projects. An even bigger challenge is reconciling what people want with the reality of what is going to happen in Hampton. We are going to have no choice but to prioritize our natural resources like our dunes and like our estuary, which is going to compromise what people want to see with their properties.

While I think that there's gonna have to be some really big changes and big paradigm shifts. I'll go back to what I said when I was talking about how great it is that planting these dunes with volunteer efforts is a great low cost project. I don't think there's anything too small that could be done, and I always think about how Alyson will empty her sneakers into the dune when she leaves so that every last drop of sand gets back into that dune.

Brian Yurasits: How do you balance human needs with the needs of our [00:25:00] coastal ecosystems?

Brianna Hagan: It's important for just the general public to know that we are trying. Like it's frustrating when you live in an area that floods all the time, or when you see projects happening in other parts of town and you're concerned about your neighborhood and nothing's happening there.

Part of my job is to balance the impact of coastal resilience efforts with the value of the natural resources. And that scale is not always going to tip in the favor of what people want to see. That is all to say that we have a pretty good sense in Hampton of our problem areas, and we respond to feedback, we respond to concerns.

We have really good tracking of what's going on and where.

Brian Yurasits: Okay. One last question for you. Uh, Brianna, how do you personally enjoy the fruits of your labor? Is there any coastal recreation that you partake in?

Brianna Hagan: I am, I guess, embarrassed to admit that I was really terrified of the ocean for most of my life.

And worked on Star Island, on the Isles of Shoals, where I really started to overcome that fear 'cause I didn't have [00:26:00] a choice. I do live on the beach now, and I do really enjoy going to the beach for probably the first time in my life. I also really love kayaking through the marsh. I don't like getting out of my kayak in the marsh, that's a little bit too far outside my comfort zone. I kinda like that I have that boundary because I want it to exist in its own way, and I don't want to feel like I'm interrupting anything. So I love being in the marsh in that way.

Brian Yurasits: In our final act, walk with me as I join a dune grass planting event at Plaice Cove in Hampton, New Hampshire.

The event began at eight in the morning on a Saturday in April. It was cold, windy, and there were people of all ages eager to get out there and start planting. There were families with young children, high school and college students, researchers from UNH, surfers, groups of friends and local homeowners all joined together for one common cause. To restore the dunes that lie just past the parking lot.

I first met with Chris Grippo, the chair of the Surfrider Foundation's New Hampshire chapter, an organization dedicated to advocating for clean water, beach access, [00:27:00] plastic reduction, and the protection of our coasts for future generations to enjoy. Chris introduced me to his group of volunteers as they began working on a section of the dune together. Shovel in hand, Chris was very stoked to share why protecting this dune habitat matters to him and to the other volunteers.

Chris Grippo: I am the chair of the Surfrider Foundation, New Hampshire chapter. We're here at the Plaice Cove dune, Northside Park in Hampton, New Hampshire. Kind of paying it forward, fixing this dune. The Dune needs our help and we're here to help. It's been over a year, this dune was decimated about a year, year plus ago from a storm. The entire front of the dune was scoured out probably 12 feet of it, east to west, and six at least six feet deep. And the rest of this area was just overrun with water from that storm. And then over the years too, just from changes in the environment, this dune has been severely impacted. Years ago, this was a flourishing [00:28:00] dune with just vibrant dune grass, very lush. Uh, it was just a great environment, but over the years, we've just seen it diminish, and that's why we're here today with a bunch of volunteers from Sea Grant and the Surfrider Foundation New Hampshire chapter. People that really care about this, you know, it's in our backyard.

Brian Yurasits: What are you hoping to see as an outcome of this restoration? What does success look like for you?

Chris Grippo: Uh, what we're hoping to see is, uh, to get this to start taking hold and over some time begin to flourish again. Selfishly speaking, this is in my neighborhood, but a lot of the town residents, just in general, wherever you're from in the town of Hampton, love this beach.

You know, they view it as their beach. You know, so there's a personal connection to it. Uh, but, you know, I wanna see this beach flourish for everybody. You know, we don't want to see it impacted and have issues where there's massive amounts of flooding and nothing to protect us, because that won't help anybody.

Brian Yurasits: Here's my hardest hitting question. Um, how stoked are you to come back here in a few months and see if this all takes hold?

Chris Grippo: A hundred percent. [00:29:00] I'll take a look at it every day. And I'd be like, when's it gonna start growing? Like I said, it's the first step in a big process and that's always the hardest step, but it's a good day, right?

We're stoked.

Brian Yurasits: After speaking with Chris, I walked over to a section of the dune that separated coastal homes from the rocky shoreline where another group of volunteers was hard at work. That's where Patty Mckenzie, a local homeowner, was in the middle of patting down the sand around her last piece of dune grass.

When we got to speaking about how these dunes have changed over the years,

Patty McKenzie: So, I'm Patty McKenzie, and for the first 30 of the 40 years we've lived here in Plaice Cove, we've been maintaining the dune on our own, as a neighborhood, sometimes partnering with the town of Hampton. Lately, in the last decade, last five years, we've been doing so less successfully, and so we were thrilled when Alyson worked so closely with Brianna at the town of Hampton.

And introduced a work team that would really help us, um, [00:30:00] because we feel like we've lost ground as you can see in the last few years. So, I am so excited to see people out on a freezing cold day like today in early April that have not a vested interest in this project. They don't live within four or 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 miles of us, but they care enough about the fact that this is a resource that we don't wanna lose.

I am especially grateful that the kids are out here. We've got these students here today. Wow. That meant they got up at like eight o'clock this morning. Nice going.

Brian Yurasits: Spending a day on the coast with these dedicated researchers, community leaders and volunteers was a breath of fresh air. The vibes were high, people were filled with optimism, and it was just easy to feel a real sense of hope for a future that can so often feel so uncertain. As I was leaving to thaw on my frozen fingers, volunteers were chatting with Alyson, eager to learn as much as humanly possible about how they can help keep this momentum going. [00:31:00] And students posed for a group photo in front of their section of beach with freshly planted dune grass sprouting from the ground. Only time will tell if they will take hold. That's all for today's episode of Time and Tide. A podcast from New Hampshire Sea Grant. We've seen how growing and planting dune grass isn't just about restoring a habitat. It's about building resilience and a sense of community.

One handful of sand at a time. Explore more of our episodes featuring the latest coastal science happening in the granite state, wherever you get your podcasts. And if you like what you've heard, please consider leaving us a review. A huge thanks to our guests and to the community members who continue to put their hands in the sand to protect New Hampshire's coast for generations to come.

We'll see you next month on time and [00:32:00] Tide.

Time and Tide is a production of New Hampshire Sea Grant at the University of New Hampshire. Views expressed on this podcast are not necessarily those of the university, its trustees, or its volunteers.