Dune project starts on Oceanside’s northern beaches

Fences made of wired wooden slats went up in spots along Oceanside’s northern beaches last week for a pilot project expected to restore sand dunes and native plants.

“Right now it’s just some fences and shims, or wooden stakes,” said Jayme Timberlake, Oceanside’s coastal zone administrator. “We will see a noticeable difference in about a year.”

The barriers are intended to stop sand that otherwise would blow off the beach and onto adjacent streets, sidewalks and parking lots at Harbor Beach and The North Strand, creating a maintenance problem. Instead, the windblown grains will be caught to create low dunes on the landward side of the beach.

Grasses, verbena and other low-growing plants in the dunes will help anchor the sand in a natural way and build a buffer to protect nearby structures from erosion, Timberlake said Tuesday.

“We did a seed collection on Camp Pendleton native dunes in the fall,” she said. Harvesting seed nearby is a way to get plants that are genetically adapted to the prevailing environmental conditions and are more likely to thrive.

Crews from the California Conservation Corps worked with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife and the city to place five of the dune plots at Harbor Beach. Protected by the harbor jetty, it is the widest beach in Oceanside.

Four plots were placed near the foot of Surfrider Way, north of the Oceanside Municipal Pier, and several more were to be installed at the mouth of the San L...