Jason Roberts: local hero

This article was originally posted on the Dunes Trust website on 14 May 2015 in the News category.

Christchurch’s recent beach erosion was reduced due to 20 years of dune restoration planting by Coastal Ranger, Jason Roberts.

The earthquakes may have passed but coastal erosion is still with us in Christchurch. If you go down to the beach today, after the recent spectacular stormy seas, you’ll see some significant dune erosion in places such as at Spencer Park beach, and some fully vegetated and stable dunes in others, such as the pictured South Brighton beach. Same day, different management input.

The first line of defence, and the cheapest insurance policy, against such storms is having healthy functioning and managed sand dune systems in place. The stable dunes pictured at South New Brighton, have a full face of sand binding Spinifex in place, trapping sand and being a natural buffer.

Without our history of 20 years of persistent Dune Restoration plantings by the community and facilitated by committed CCC coastal park rangers such as Jason Roberts, we could well see all our dunes looking like those also still found today just north of Spencer Park, with the 4-5m cut scarp.Keep up the great work, Jason!