Fortifying Vegetation

Until recently, common practice for re-vegetating New Jersey’s coastal dunes was to inter-plant Japanese Black Pines.  However the intentional introduction of this prolific alien species has displaced native vegetation and contributed to depreciation or damage to private property.

Operating within a community supported program, we have developed several sites within the town, replacing the pines with native species.  This particular site on 74th and 75th Street in Avalon exhibits textbook dune morphology, making it ideal for future design schemes to model. Taking cues from the morphology, we developed a responsive planting solution, using American Beach Grass closer to the primary dune, low mesic plants in the trough, and xeric thicket-forming plants on the secondary dune.

Design team: The Lomax Consulting Group, Coastal Environmental Consultants