PEI

Portable boardwalk a new strategy for sand dune preservation

The Nature Conservancy of Canada and a group of volunteers were at St. Peter's Harbour Beach on P.E.I.'s North Shore Saturday working on two projects to preserve the dunes there.

Marram grass also planted to protect dunes

The portable boardwalk at St. Peters Harbour beach will be rolled up again and stored at the end of the season. (Submitted by Sean Landsman)

The Nature Conservancy of Canada and a group of volunteers were at St. Peter's Harbour Beach on P.E.I.'s North Shore Saturday working on two projects to preserve the dunes there.

They were planting 2,000 plugs of marram grass and building a portable boardwalk.

Volunteers built the portable boardwalk off-site. It was then rolled up and installed at the beach. (Submitted by Sean Landsman)

Julie Vasseur, program director for P.E.I. with the Nature Conservancy, said this is the second year for planting marram grass at the beach, but the first time for the portable boardwalk.

"We decided to go with a portable one because the right-of-way, the pathway to the beach, is too low to support a permanent one," said Vasseur.

The portable boardwalk will remind people not to walk on the marram grass, which is crucial for the preservation of the dunes. (Submitted by Sean Landsman)

"We still wanted to create a pathway for people to walk on. And this will also help guide them from not walking on the grass as well. So we decided that we would build a portable structure which is a really neat design that actually rolls. So we can roll it up at the end of the season and store it to keep it safe."

The Nature Conservancy of Canada owns and protects 149 hectares of land in the St. Peters Harbour beach area.

Volunteers helped plants 2,000 marram grass plugs. The roots of the grass will hold the dunes together. (Submitted by Sean Landsman)

With files from Angela Walker