Dune Restoration Projects

Sand dunes are a buffer for waves during storms and important habitat for plants and animals.

Discover more about our dune restoration projects helping to protect our coastline. 

Please stick to the paths and stay off the dunes. 

Restoring dunes at Cavanbah and Belongil Beaches

In late 2024 we began work on restoring the dunes along Cavanbah and Belongil Beach. 

Works included repairs to Council’s beach access way at Don Street, Belongil. This has helped to provide safer pedestrian access and protect the road reserve, land on the coast and dune vegetation.

At the same time a Dune Vegetation Restoration Plan was actioned. This involved:

  • Placing brush matting (seeding Acacia branches) on bare areas of the dune. Although many branches have been used for illegal camp fires, the seeds have gone into the dunes for eventual regeneration. Further seeding will be take place at some point in the future. 
  • Fencing the dunes and access ways to deter public trampling and informal access.
  • Removing weeds.
  • Seeding. 
  • Planting hind dune species and tree guards will take place in 2025.  
  • Removing waste and green shade cloth from dune area.

Signage has been put up along the dune fencing and access ways reminding the public to please stick to the paths and stay off the dunes. 

A contractor places brush matting on bare areas of foredune

A contractor places brush matting on bare areas of foredune

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New public access way timber fencing and signage from Border St to beach

New public access way timber fencing and signage from Border St to beach

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New timber fencing and signage of public access way

New timber fencing and signage of public access way

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Contractor placing seed along the fenced dune

Contractor placing seed along the fenced dune

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Completed temporary fencing plastic stakes and wire along the dune

Completed temporary fencing plastic stakes and wire along the dune

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Sandbags on the dunes in front of the First Sun Holiday Park

Sandbags on the dunes in front of the First Sun Holiday Park

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New Brighton Dune Stabilisation Project

In October 2017, we completed a program of beach scraping at New Brighton beach. 

The aim was to create a larger sand dune for a buffer against coastal erosion during storm events. 

We then fenced the dunes to prevent public trampling and combined this with an intensive revegetation program. 

This was successful in retaining sand, limiting dune blowouts from trampling, and establishing stabilising ground cover plants. 

What is beach scraping?

Beach ‘scraping’ is a cost-effective technique for rebuilding dunes or restoring beaches. This technique is also known as ‘Nature Assisted Beach Enhancement’.

Scraping speeds up the natural process of dune re-building by moving sand from the intertidal area of the beach and placing it on the dunes.

Beach scraping may help to reduce the risk to property and infrastructure but it does not eliminate the threat, especially under rising sea level threat.

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