Marram Grass 20/20 Vision in Hindsight

Here’s an excerpt from an old walking map ⁽¹⁾.  It refers to the path between the Ocean Beach Car Park and the Ocean Beach.

“In the vicinity of the beach access track, you will see an excellent example of dune stabilization.  Unregulated traffic of walkers and vehicles across the dune over the years stripped away the protective vegetation and led to the formation of a break in the line of the dune, known as Millars Blow ⁽²⁾.  This has been fenced to allow Marram Grass (indigenous to Western Europe) to revegetate the dune.  A board walk has been provided to ensure that continuing access does not cause another “blow”.”

Thinking has changed since then.  This excerpt is from the Tamar Valley Weed Strategy website ⁽³⁾.

“Weed Impacts:

• Able to spread rapidly and over long distances from dune stabilisation projects to invade other coastal areas.
• Coastal processes are radically and permanently altered.
• Marram Grass produce coastal landforms which have completely different shapes to dunes produced by native plants. Large steep faced, highly erodible dunes are characteristic of areas with Marram Grass, leading to coastal recession.
• The build up of dunes by Marram Grass removes sand from the beach, surf and near shore zone and so has serious consequences for the natural dynamics of the coastal environment.
•  Outcompetes native vegetation, especially grasses.
• Displaces native coastal vegetation communities.
• Loss of beach nesting sites for shorebirds such as the threatened Hooded Plover.”

The lesson I guess is that any intervention in an ecosystem needs to be done with an excess of caution. 

And reportedly it ruins the surfing. ⁽⁴⁾

Photo by M Styles

REFERENCES

1. _{Probably pre-1990s.  Text compiles by Officers of the National Parks Service.  Printed by E.Davis & Sons Pty.Ltd, Portland.}
2. _{My map of the pre-National Park Glenelg River landings has a property on the eastern side of Beach Rd near town marked “Miller’s”, so maybe that is the source of the name of the blow.}
3. _{Tamar Valley Weed Strategy Working Group https://www.weeds.asn.au/tasmanian-weeds/view-by-common-name/marram-grass-ammophila-arenaria/}
4. _{https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-analysis/2015/10/07/damned-marram-not-all-grass-good-your-surfing}

Words by M Styles