On Saturday, April 11, from 9 am to noon, the natural resources department of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) invites the public to a beach grass–planting day at Lobsterville Beach. Beach grass is essential for stabilizing coastal beaches and sand dunes, protecting shorelines from erosion, and buffering properties and roads from storms, waves, and flooding. It also provides habitat for local coastal wildlife, including migratory birds.
“We’ve been working on restoration in that area for 30 years — invasive species, cranberry bogs, managed by the tribe. All tribal properties have a form of management,” says the director of the Wampanoag Tribe’s natural resources department, Bret Stearns.
Stearns says part of the original restoration included putting a culvert under the road, and using fencing to slow the drift of sand up and down the beach in the winter. The beach grass planting started more specifically in 2015–16, a few years after Hurricane Sandy blew in. “We worked with the town of Aquinnah and Chilmark, read a lot of articles about sand from dredges, and along with the Army Corps of Engineers, we made sure the beach was restored to what it is today,” he says. “Planting beach grass is important, because it’s a very strong grass. As the wind blows down the beach, it catches the sand and keeps it on the beach. It’s a natural way of keeping the sand in place.”
The environmental programs coordinator for the natural resources department, Beckie Finn, says Island beaches took a real hit: “Hurricane Sandy took out a good chunk of Lobsterville. When the Army Corps of Engineers were dredging the pond, Bret saw it as an opportunity to get the dredged sand to nourish and rebuild the beach.” That first beach grass–planting day was a big endeavor. “We put out a call for volunteers to help plant, and we were amazed and in awe and grateful that 80 people came out. And that was the beginning. We’ve done it every year since.”
The planting events were very popular with the Island community from the get-go. “Even during COVID, volunteers and tribal members would come down on their own, grab a bunch of grass, and plant it,” Finn says. “It got people out and doing something to help. The garden club and the fishermen’s association helped as well, bringing in even more people. Other folks who joined in included ranger and lab staff member Andrew Jacobs, and lab analyst Marcella Andrews. Everyone is involved, and wears a lot of hats.”
Finn says they have also been working with Felix Neck and the Martha’s Vineyard Commission with the Marsh Elevation Program. “They help us learn how the landscape is changing. We’ve also received a lot of support from the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. We are very grateful for everybody’s support. Lobsterville is important to the community. It’s a place where many of us went fishing as kids, and still do, and it’s an area rich with medicinal plant life, beach plums, rosehips, and a lot of protected species that a lot of people don’t know about. This is a fragile, important ecosystem, and it’s worth protecting.”
Stearns emphasizes that the restoration reports over the years have shown that the beach grass–planting efforts are working. “It really was decimated, but our efforts are showing,” he says. “It’s been a great success, but the only way it stays this way is by doing work. These coastal areas, if you don’t do anything, will erode away.“
Both Stearns and Finn hope the community will join in again this year. “The Island community has a great time,” Stearns says. “People come with their families. Some people who have planted in the past want to come back and see how it’s doing. It’s only a few hours, and it’s always a really great crowd. And there is hot coffee.”
Quitsa Kitchen will be on site at Lobsterville for beach grass–planting day, and will be providing breakfast and coffee. If you would like to help plant beach grass, please reach out Beckie Finn at envcoord@wampanoagtribe-nsn.gov, or Bret Stearns at isa@wampanoagtribe-nsn.gov.