Appreciate Your Local Sand Dunes

* Sand dunes are very important to our beaches. They serve as a living habitat for native plants such as silver beach wood, Brewer’s saltbush and red sand verbena. They are also home for some nonnative plants like ice plant, European beach grass and Bermuda grass.

The citizens of San Buenaventura should learn what the native and nonnative plants are and what they look like. We wouldn’t want anybody accidentally stepping on the plants, because the state parks are doing a restoration project for Ventura’s state beaches to restore and revive the sand dunes.

You can help by just watching where you step when you are at the beach. The new native plants that the state parks planted a month or two ago have sprouted, so try not to step on them. Thank you!

JESSICA WILBUR

Ventura

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Recently my science class went down to the Sand Dune Restoration Project. We learned why we need to save the dunes. I’m glad they are restoring the dunes.

“Why do we even need to restore the sand dunes?” a lot of people ask. If we don’t restore the dunes, part of the food chain will collapse. Also, if we don’t, people will think that the beach was supposed to just be flat with sand everywhere and no sand dunes. That’s not true--the beach is an environment for many plants and animals.

Some people say, “We already have sand dunes” with plants. In a way we do, but the plants that cover them are nonnative, which means they were brought here and were not native to the area. These plants will often take over, destroying the native plants.

I liked learning about the dunes. If you haven’t been down there, I think you should go. I bet a lot of Venturans don’t even know about the Sand Dune Restoration Project. Go and visit--it’s worth your time.

LUKE MITCHELL

Ventura

Jessica Wilbur and Luke Mitchell are seventh-graders at Cabrillo Middle School.