sea grapes - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-28T19:46:09Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/sea+grapesAlong the Coast: The great sea grape debatehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/along-the-coast-the-great-sea-grape-debate2020-10-28T19:14:05.000Z2020-10-28T19:14:05.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8088204491,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8088204491,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8088204491?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a><em>Beachgoers rinse their feet near the sea grapes that form a canopy along the shore in Delray Beach. <strong>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-size:12pt;"><em><strong>Consensus emerges that <br /> trims are better for dunes</strong></em></span></p>
<p><strong>By Larry Barszewski</strong></p>
<p>When it comes to managing sea grapes at the beach, what’s an environmentalist to do?<br /> Should the growing trees and shrubs be left alone to provide a friendly habitat for birds and small animals and shield the beach from man-made light that can disorient sea turtle hatchlings?<br /> Or should the sea grapes be trimmed to stop them from crowding out other plants and allow for a far more diverse beach ecosystem?<br /> In September, Delray Beach commissioners voted 3-2 to cut away, approving a plan to slash some remaining untouched sea grapes — five arbors up to 20 feet tall — to a height of 4 feet. These sea grapes were spared this summer during an extensive trimming at the beach, where they form canopies that create green tunnel pathways for beachgoers.<br /> Nearby residents, whose views of the ocean have been blocked by the tall sea grapes, complained the tunnels are dangerous, house homeless people and should be cut back.<br /> Others see the beach’s sea grape archways as iconic, creating a more natural look that should be preserved.<br /> Leaving the conflicting aesthetics debate aside, many coastal experts say the city is moving in the right direction from an environmental viewpoint.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8088213661,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8088213661,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8088213661?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="315" /></a>Some residents were upset in May when sea grapes were trimmed from tree height to waist high. They have since resprouted leaves.</em></p>
<p><strong>Explosive growth</strong><br /> “You have this one species that is exploding, and it outcompetes and kills everything underneath it,” said George Gann, the chief conservation strategist for the Institute for Regional Conservation based in Delray Beach. “The sea grapes have not only grown up, they’ve also grown out. They’re overwhelming so much of the biodiversity on the dune.”<br /> Gann compliments past dune restoration work at the city’s public beach, saying it is “one of the most biodiverse and successful beaches in Southeast Florida.” But, he cautions, “the sea grapes threaten the good work that has come before.”<br /> In addition, Gann and coastal management consultant Rob Barron said the sea grapes have brittle wood and shallow root systems, increasing the chances they could blow over or become projectiles in a major hurricane. They’re also not great at capturing sand or providing erosion resistance, Gann and Barron said.<br /> At the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Dave Kieckbusch says you can trim or not trim in environmentally friendly ways depending on your preference. But the sea grapes are invasive, he said. Even though they are native, they can grow prolifically and potentially harmfully.<br /> “You plant the sea grapes, they’re very nice looking, but they’re very fast-growing and they can shade out the [other] native plants,” said Kieckbusch, an environmental specialist who serves as the department’s field inspector for Southeast Florida.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8088211280,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8088211280,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8088211280?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a>Clusters of sea grapes dwarf all other vegetation in some areas, creating a monoculture.</em></p>
<p><strong>Sea turtle concerns</strong><br /> One of the main environmental arguments against trimming is that the taller sea grapes shield the beach from artificial light emanating from buildings along State Road A1A, light that could disorient sea turtle hatchlings and discourage female sea turtles from nesting. Kieckbusch said trimming permits require lighting surveys before and after the work is done to assure light along A1A won’t get to the beach during nesting season.<br /> Even a February consulting report prepared for the city — one that recommended leaving the remaining tall sea grapes untrimmed — said “the ultimate solution is for upland homes and buildings to comply with the city’s lighting ordinance and install turtle-friendly lighting.”<br /> It took until 2017 for the significant light issues immediately north and south of Atlantic Avenue to be resolved to protect sea turtles and hatchlings, making it possible to do the remaining trimming that has now been approved, Barron said. He has been involved with the city’s beach management for decades and was a leading proponent of the trimming.<br /> For Kieckbusch, a big environmental problem along the coast is private property owners who trim illegally and expose the beach to artificial light sources.<br /> “This is starting with the snowbirds coming down. This is our busy time of the year” for permitting and enforcement, Kieckbusch said.</p>
<p><strong>Shadows on the beach</strong><br /> From a sea turtle’s perspective at the municipal beach, Barron said the taller sea grapes don’t make a difference. Delray Beach’s sandy dunes themselves block out lighting that’s lower than the tops of telephone poles, he said. <br /> But David Anderson, the sea turtle conservation coordinator at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in Boca Raton, doesn’t dismiss the benefits of taller sea grapes — even if direct light sources aren’t an issue.<br /> Tall sea grapes not only shield the beach from light along A1A, but also can help block out the ambient glow created by light from cities to the west, Anderson said. To the extent sea grapes cast a shadow on the beach from the ambient light in the night sky, they provide darker spots that will attract nesting sea turtles, he said.<br /> “Those turtles are just offshore, sticking their head out of the water, looking for a dark beach,” he said.<br /> The narrower strip of beach next to Red Reef Park in Boca Raton, for example, next to high dunes and with shading from tall sea grapes, has made nesting density greater there, Anderson said. In the same way, tall beachfront condos with turtle-friendly lighting actually have a beneficial effect, attracting nesting sea turtles by casting shadows that block the ambient light, he said.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8088212699,RESIZE_930x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8088212699,RESIZE_710x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8088212699?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="710" /></a>George Gann of the Institute for Regional Conservation works with Keith Buttry of Neglected Plants LLC to plant sea lavender in a more diverse stretch of the Delray Beach dune. <strong>Photos by Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align:left;"><strong>Delray’s sea grape history</strong><br /> Sea grape plants are native to Florida, but historically hadn’t been a significant part of the region’s beach dune system, which was full of grasses and saw palmettos, Barron said.<br /> In the early 1970s, beach erosion had ocean water lapping near the edge of A1A, prompting the city to do a beach-widening project, Barron said. When blowing sand from the new beach caused problems of its own, the city initially rejected a proposal to plant sea oats — an idea derided at the time as “hayfields on the beach,” he said.<br /> Sea oats, which conservationists say are one of the most effective beach plants at trapping sand and building up dunes, were eventually planted in the mid-1980s and are now a significant part of the beach’s foredune.<br /> The sea grapes west of the oats, between the foredune and the sidewalk, were planted earlier in the 1980s and started thriving after the sea oats were introduced, Barron said. They doubled their footprint about every nine years and quickly overtook the community of plants in the coastal strand portion of the city’s beach ecosystem, he said.<br /> Gann wants to see numerous plant species returned to the beach’s coastal strand once the sea grapes are trimmed and the exotic vegetation removed. That will create a habitat for dozens of species of butterflies and birds and rejuvenate the natural ecosystem, he said.<br /> At the end of October, the city began adding new native vegetation following the trimming and the removal of exotics done during the summer. The plantings include bay cedar, golden beach creeper, Walter’s ground cherry and sea lavender.<br /> Some argue the sea grape trees near A1A provide a fertile habitat for small mammals and migratory birds, but Gann said there’s not much place for the mammals to hide and the sea grape fruit is attractive only to larger birds, such as blue jays. Trees are typically part of a maritime hammock to the west of the coastal strand. But that type of hammock, which is in place at the city’s Atlantic Dunes Park, is not present at the municipal beach.<br /> Gann compared the sea grapes at the beach to cattails in the Everglades. <br /> Just as the cattail population explodes as a result of nutrient-rich agricultural runoff flowing into the Everglades, the sea grapes take advantage of excess nutrients near the beach to proliferate out of control, he said.<br /> “In hindsight, it would have been a lot better to plant other things,” he said.</p>
<p> </p></div>Sea grape dispute: Delray Beach — mid-Augusthttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/sea-grape-dispute-delray-beach-mid-august2020-09-02T22:25:31.000Z2020-09-02T22:25:31.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960963071,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960963071,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960963071?profile=original" /></a>The iconic sea grape tunnels near the Atlantic Avenue pavilion likely will be spared from the chain saw, following an outcry from some Delray Beach residents. Conflicting environmental views and a wish to keep the beachscape character in place are the main issues. <strong>ABOVE:</strong> Elsewhere in the public beach dune, trimmed sea grapes soon will sprout branches and limbs. The trims kept with the decades-long belief that the sea grapes shade out other native plants that provide a more diverse habitat. <strong>BELOW:</strong> One of the tunnels. At the end of a 61/2-hour meeting on Aug. 18, one commissioner brought up a Beach Property Owners Association’s email that supported trimming all sea grapes. Vice Mayor Ryan Boylston and two other commissioners agreed to this, but the next day Boylston asked the commission to reconsider the height of sea grapes, which it plans to do Sept. 10. In February an Aptim Environmental study advised leaving the tall sea grapes uncut to provide habitat for migrating songbirds and a buffer from streetlights for sea turtles. <em>— Jane Smith</em></p>
<p><em><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960963453,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960963453,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" alt="7960963453?profile=original" /></a></em></p></div>Editor's Note: Old Ocean a holdout among vanishing ocean viewshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/editor-s-note-old-ocean-a-holdout-among-vanishing-ocean-views2015-11-04T19:50:32.000Z2015-11-04T19:50:32.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p> There are few places left in southern Palm Beach County where you can see the Atlantic Ocean. Private homes and condos block most of the views. Only along the public beach in Delray Beach, in spots where sea grapes have been trimmed along Boca Raton’s public beach and at the inlet bridges are glimpses of the ocean still visible. <br /> Manalapan provides some stunning views along A1A, but the increasing number and size of scattered beach cabanas may soon leave that stretch with views of the ocean limited to all but the property owners.<br /> There is one stretch of road, though, where for generations those “in the know” could drive to check on the beach conditions or simply cruise by to catch a glimpse of moonlight on the ocean. It’s named Old Ocean Boulevard and is what remains of the old coastal route through Ocean Ridge and Briny Breezes. <br /> Before the hurricane of 1947, this was the road many from Palm Beach took — traveling the dune-top road down to a gas station and shell shop in Briny Breezes and then a bit farther to the polo fields in Gulf Stream and beyond to Delray Beach and Boca Raton.<br /> Briny pioneers tell tales of Harold Stirling Vanderbilt and his wife stopping off in Briny to buy gas and chat with the station owners on their way to and from Eastover, their home in Manalapan. <br /> A1A runs to the west now, the gas station and shell shop are gone and the polo fields are mostly golf course, but historic Eastover and Gulf Stream Golf Club remain — as does Old Ocean Boulevard. <br /> I’ve traveled this bit of road in both directions for more than 30 years — sometimes taking my elderly mother or aunt for a ride to feel the sun on her face and see the rolling blue expanse of the ocean, and sometimes just to check for myself to see if the surf’s up or if the sand is inviting me down for a walk along the shore. <br /> At night I often drive home along this road from dinner with friends in Briny Breezes or the county pocket, listening to jazz on the car radio and stopping to catch a glimpse of moonlight on the water.<br /> Could I (and others) still do these things if Ocean Ridge’s proposal to turn this stretch of road into a one-way “promenade” happens? Maybe. But what if Briny Breezes chooses the un-neighborly option of turning “their part” of the road private? <br /> If these changes are implemented, we all stand to lose an important connection to local history. And for those of us not lucky enough to live on the water, there will be one less place to catch a glimpse of the ocean.<br /><br /><em>— Mary Kate Leming, editor</em></p></div>Boca Raton: Condo can prune sea grapes — but must protect turtleshttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-condo-can-prune-sea-grapes-but-must-protect-turtles2015-11-04T18:22:03.000Z2015-11-04T18:22:03.000ZMary Kate Leminghttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/MaryKateLeming769<div><p><strong>By Sallie James</strong><br /><br /> A beachside condominium can prune native sea grape trees that are obstructing ocean views if special measures are taken to protect nesting sea turtles, the city’s Environmental Advisory Board has decided.<br /> The Sea Ranch Club of Boca, at 4301 N. Ocean Blvd., must shield or screen lights that are exposed when the vegetation is trimmed, and require condo owners to tint or cover windows that might expose turtle hatchlings to additional lighting, according to a report by Boca’s senior environmental officer, Nora Fosman.<br /> The 8- to 10-inch leaves of the sea grape help shield sea turtles from the invasive artificial light of beach development. The shrub’s sprawling structure also stabilizes sand dunes, helping to prevent erosion.<br /> The condo can prune about 700 feet of sea grapes, but must leave 100 feet untouched, according to Chrissy Biagiotti, Boca’s communications and marketing manager. The 16-foot-tall sea grapes located along the eastern side of State Road A1A would be trimmed to 4 feet in height. <br /> A 200-foot-wide viewing corridor is planned on the north, and a 500-foot-wide corridor is planned on the south, Fosman’s report said.<br /> The condo would be prohibited from trimming any sea grapes located within 10 feet of an existing sea turtle nest.<br /> It is not the first time such projects have been approved. The Ocean Club condominium project was completed in November 2009; the Spanish River Park project was completed in June 2012; and the Boca Raton Yacht and Racquet Club project was completed in March 2014.<br /> A permit from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection is required because trimming can increase lighting levels on beaches and disorient hatchlings.<br /> Keen attention must be paid to the effect on nesting sea turtles, because Boca has the highest sea turtle nesting density of any urban area in the country, Fosman’s report said.<br /> According to the Sea Turtle Conservancy, hatchlings can become disoriented by lighting near the beach and wander inland, where they often die when they are run over, become dehydrated or are eaten by predators.<br /> Scientists believe turtle hatchlings have a natural instinct that propels them in the direction of the brightest light, which would normally be moonlight reflecting off the ocean, the Sea Turtle Conservancy said. Artificial lights often draw the hatchlings inland, where they are killed.</p></div>Boca Raton: Yacht & Racquet Club allowed to trim A1A vegetationhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-yacht-racquet-club-allowed-to-trim-a1a-vegetation2013-10-02T18:24:01.000Z2013-10-02T18:24:01.000ZChris Felkerhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/ChrisFelker<div><p><span><b>By Steve Plunkett</b></span></p>
<p> Work on a fifth “view window” along State Road A1A will soon give landlubbers — especially those in the Yacht & Racquet Club of Boca Raton — a better look at the Atlantic.</p>
<p> The Yacht & Racquet condo association will trim sea grapes bordering A1A between the complex and the ocean and replace exotic vegetation with native plants. The Boca Raton City Council approved the project Sept. 10; work cannot begin until sea turtle nesting season ends Oct. 31.</p>
<p> Under permits issued by the state’s departments of Transportation and Environmental Protection, the Yacht & Racquet Club will have native sea grapes trimmed to make a 430-foot-wide corridor across from its complex at 2711 N. Ocean Blvd.</p>
<p> Sea grape and exotic vegetation will be removed entirely in a 30-foot-wide strip bordering the highway. In an adjacent, 15-foot-wide strip the sea grape will be trimmed from an average 22 feet in height down to 4 feet above the roadway. The condo’s contractor will plant sea grape, saw palmetto, nicker bean, sea oat, panic grass and beach sunflower in the next strips extending to 100 feet from A1A.</p>
<p> Exotic invasive plants including Brazilian pepper, Australian pine, sanseveria, wedelia and beach naupaka will be eradicated from the dune system within the corridor and also on 0.49 acres next to it, the permit says.</p>
<p> The Yacht & Racquet Club will have to work with the San Remo Club condominium, which lies between it and Spanish River Park, to make sure lights from the neighboring complex do not adversely affect sea turtles, the Department of Environmental Protection said.</p>
<p> Boca Raton, which last year opened three view corridors across from Spanish River Park and one farther north, has so far seen no change in turtle hatchling disorientation and only a slight increase in false crawls, Jennifer Bistyga, the city’s coastal program manager, said.</p>
<p> “Sky glow is just the biggest concern, both within and without the view corridors,” she said.</p>
<p> The Yacht & Racquet Club applied for state permits in September 2012 and received the DEP and FDOT approvals in June. Boca Raton, in contrast, spent 18 months getting the OK to trim its corridors, partly because the regulatory agencies knew private-sector requests would follow, Bistyga said.</p>
<p> “Ours was kind of the guinea pig,” she said. “We went back and forth a lot with the department. Everybody wanted to make sure we did it right.”</p>
<p> Boca Raton spent $400,000 for its corridors.</p></div>Boca Raton: Sea grapes to be trimmed to improve the viewhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/boca-raton-sea-grapes-to-be2011-03-30T17:04:23.000Z2011-03-30T17:04:23.000ZDeborah Hartz-Seeleyhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/DeborahHartzSeeley<div><p><span><b>By Margie Plunkett</b></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Boca Raton will not back off cutting back the sea grapes on A1A near Spanish River Boulevard, vowing to submit a plan to the state Department of Environmental Protection to trim the plants in four coastal view corridors.</p>
<p>The City Council reached a consensus after learning that in February the state had requested Boca Raton only cut back one corridor of sea grapes, expressing fears that cutting all four could increase lighting on the beach and hurt the procession of sea turtles that nest in the area.</p>
<p>Cutting on one of the corridors was one of three options the state gave Boca. A second would be a compromise that would allow the city to cut back two corridors and then monitor for a year before possibly proceeding with more sea grape trimming.. The third option: Go for all four corridors and, if the state denied the plan, continue to an administrative hearing on the matter.</p>
<p>The light the department is concerned with is from sky glow rather than street or other lighting in the area. </p>
<p> Council member Susan Haynie, however, questioned how the state justifies that both municipalities to the north and south of Boca Raton have open beachfronts.</p>
<p>Jennifer Bistyga of Municipal Services said that regulations tightened up after Delray Beach cut its sea grapes due to “impacts that may have happened there. They’re making it a tougher project.”</p>
<p>Tallahassee is, however, amenable to doing the two corridors, Bistyga said. </p>
<p>Mayor Susan Whelchel protested that the state had already reeled in a more expansive program to trim the sea grapes and had agreed to the four remaining corridors. “But lo and behold, it’s changed on a whim,” she said.</p>
<p>“We backed down from the original,” Whelchel said. “Whatever we submit, it’s never quite right.”</p>
<p>Council members and the public debated whether the turtle population was negatively impacted by issues such as sky glow, noting recent reports that the hatchling population was flourishing and had grown. But others clarified that the one year of increasing number of hatchlings followed several years that saw the population decline. </p>
<p>Council member Anthony Majhess supported trimming the sea grapes, explaining it allowed A1A motorists to see the road and the beach at the same time.</p>
<p>“It’s astounding to me,” said Jack Fox, president of the Beach Condo Association. “We were told it was reasonable and we’d like to have it.</p>
<p>“I’m an environmentalist, a fisherman. There’s nobody more concerned about the preservation of the species,” he said, adding that the question is that in front of Spanish River Park, the “beauty of that turquoise water shouldn’t be <br /> blocked.” <span>Ú</span></p></div>