Project Summary

1. Project Identification

Name	Santa Rosa Island Dune Restoration
Region	Gulf of Mexico
State	FL
Location	Santa Rosa Island (Eglin AFB)
Date of this update

2. Problem(s) addressed (check one or more)

Habitat Restoration/Protection
Wetlands
River systems
Beaches/Dunes
Offshore areas
Mangroves
Assisting Species at Risk
Pollution Mitigation
Non-Point Source Pollution
Other (describe)

3. Project Description (100 words or less. Please include qualitative information, e.g. acres of habitat restored, miles of steam reopened to migration, and legislative authorization, e.g. WRDA, ISTEA, CWA/NEP, CZMA, etc.)

This project was created in response to Hurricane Opal and subsequent erosion of Eglin's coastal dune systems. Eglin AFB is responsible for the stewardship of 17 miles of Santa Rosa Island. Of the 17 miles, 4 miles are open to the general public for recreation and 13 miles are closed for mission reasons. Prior to the hurricane, Eglin's portion of Santa Rosa Island was rated by The Nature Conservancy as the highest quality barrier island in northwest Florida. This island provides important habitat to 8 threatened and endangered species to include: Santa Rosa Beach Mouse, Green Sea Turtle, Loggerhead Sea Turtle, Snowy Plover, Least Tern, Perforate Lichen, and two species of golden asters. One species in particular, the Santa Rosa Beach Mouse, was hardest hit by the hurricane. Eglin's beach mouse population was the largest, and healthiest population of beach mice in northwest Florida and south Alabama. Post hurricane evaluations estimate the population to have been reduced by fifty percent.

The project was designed to accomplish five main objectives: 1) To help accelerate the natural dune building process, 2) To do so in a manner that would provide the greatest short-term benefit toward restoring Santa Rosa Beach Mouse habitat, 3) To evaluate the efficacy of two different sand fencing materials arranged in three different configurations, 4) To determine which types of native plantings and planting seasons where most successful, and 5) To publish our findings in hopes of benefiting other land managers and private citizens.

The project consists of seven different treatments (six actual treatments and one control) that were replicated six times on Santa Rosa Island. Each of the seven treatments is 45 meters in length making the total length of each replication 315 meters. The total length of sand fencing erected was 1,890 meters or 6,201.09 feet (1.17 miles).

4. Goals/Benefits (quantify where possible using measures of success list) Was a cost-benefit study conducted for this project? yes/no If yes, provide a summary of findings.

Sand fencing will help accelerate natural dune building processes and as a result will help to restore threatened beach mouse habitat. Sand fencing will also help develop a dune system in critical areas were U.S. Highway 98 was washed out by Hurricane Opal's storm surge.

5. Partners (include each participant's responsibilities - funding, permitting, etc.)

• Federal

  Lead: U.S. Air Force – Project origination, funding, implementation and monitoring;
  Others: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection – Permitting;

• Non-Federal

  State government
  Local government
  Private industry
  Public interest groups
  Educational Facility: University of Florida – study design, collection and analysis of data, publish findings
  Other partnerships

6. Funding/Contributions (organization and amount)

• Cash

  Federal		$22,000
  Non Federal	State government
  	Local government
  	Private industry
  	Public interest groups
  Total		$22,000

• In-Kind Services (hours, equipment, or other forms of assistance and estimated dollar value)

  ---

  Federal	U.S. Fish and Wildlife hosted a meeting to share information regarding dune restoration techniques. They also conducted literature reviews.
  Non Federal
  Total

• Volunteers (number of people and hours, and estimated dollar value)

  Boy Scouts of America: 120 man-hours

7. Legislative authorities used by each participant

---

8. Value added by Coastal America Partnership including Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) goals achieved through this collaboration (500 words or less)

1. Would the project have been undertaken by a single agency? (yes or no)

   Yes

2. IF YES: How was the project different as a Coastal America Partnership Project than it would have been as a single agency project? (e.g. size and scope, funding, time frame, etc.)

   We would have taken some actions to address dune restoration however by involving other partners we were able to accomplish more objectives by broadening the scope of the project and conducting the project in the form of a research experiment.

9. Project Status

Initiation date	15 July 96
Completion date	Fence erection: 30 July 96. Planting native vegetation scheduled during the fall of 96 and winter 97. Monitoring and evaluation ongoing until completion. Project should be completed in entirety by July 98.
Current stage	Completed fence erection phase. Entering the monitoring and evaluation phase

10. Contacts

• Project Manager

  Carl Petrick
  Super. Wildlife Biologist
  Eglin AFB, Natural Resources
  107 Highway 85 North
  Niceville, FL. 32578
  (904) 882-4164 x 104
  (904) 882-5321 (fax)

• Participating Agency/Organization Contacts: (e.g. volunteer groups, conservation groups, state agencies, and other federal agency contacts)

  Univ. of Fl. At Milton	Dr. Debbie Miller and Dr. Mack Thetford University of Florida at Milton 5988 Highway 90 West, Bldg. 4900 Milton, Fl. 32583 (904) 983-2632 (904) 983-2637 (fax)
  U.S. Fish and Wildlife	Gail Carmody U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1612 June Ave. Panama City, Fl 32405-3724 (904) 769-0552 (904) 763-2177 (fax)
  Boy Scouts of America	8 adults, 16 scouts

11. Any additional information/comments

Hurricane Opal dramatically altered the dune systems of northwest Florida when it made landfall on 4 Oct 95. Approximately one and half miles of U.S. Highway 98 on Santa Rosa island were washed out as a result of the storm surge. This highway, which links together the resort communities of Fort Walton Beach and Destin, was closed to traffic for over a month. After the immediate storm recovery efforts were conducted, a flurry of well intentioned but misguided efforts were directed toward rebuilding sand dunes. Most of these efforts were focused on protecting private property, structures, and roads. The Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) granted a blanket permit enabling citizens the ability to push sand with heavy equipment (beach scrapping) to protect private structures. Unfortunately, a lack of oversight led to these efforts going far beyond their intended purpose and resulting in considerable environmental damage. As a result, DEP canceled the blanket permit. The media covered this issue extensively. The public began to question which practices were appropriate and effective, and expected land management agencies to rebuild the dunes. There was no good source of information available to help determine which dune restoration practices were the most effective and least damaging to the remaining dunes. The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service hosted a meeting attended by most of the public land management and regulatory agencies in northwest Florida to discuss appropriate dune restoration techniques. During the meeting, it became apparent that at lack of information exited regarding dune restoration techniques. After the meeting, I solicited money to conduct a project which I thought was practicable and realistic.

This page was last updated on Saturday, 24-Jun-2000 11:48:47 EDT
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