Man and Machine Help Groom Beach

Working to save Ventura’s beaches takes effort, and the city has a new tool to help in the struggle to keep sand from washing back into the ocean.

City workers on Thursday showed off a $50,000 sifting machine that is used to groom sand. The simple device, a tractor pulling a barrel-shaped cage, was given a test run back and forth across the beach near the Ventura Pier.

The device culled stones, driftwood and a surprising amount of trash out of the sand and into a trailing mesh barrel.

When the barrel is filled, workers sort the cage’s contents and send the trash and driftwood to be recycled. They then clean the stones and pile them back on the beach.

Taking care of the city’s beaches is a year-round, catch-up game, said Terry Murphy, the city’s parks superintendent. Until three years ago, much of the sifting was done by hand.

Even with mechanical help, workers must constantly chase the shifting shoreline, moving rocks from where they shouldn’t be to where they should.

Waves work the stones back beneath the sand, where they become “anchors,” providing nooks and crannies to hold the sand.

The new tractor will help, but stopping people from the illegal practice of taking rocks off the beach will help more, said Ventura City Councilman Brian Brennan. So would removing Matilija Dam above Ojai and restoring the Ventura River to its natural state, he added.