- Sea oats help keep sand in place and can stop beach erosion.
- Keep Wakulla County Beautiful is planting sea oats to help restore Mashes Sands Beach
- Watch the video to find out how you can get involved
Broadcast Transcript:
Did you know sea oats help keep sand in place and can stop beach erosion? I'm Kenzie Krueger at Mashes Sands Beach where groups are using this plant to repair their beach.
"All this behind me is sea oats which is a rhizome-driven grass, so it gets really deep root and will stop a lot of the sand erosion away during the storms."
Beach erosion is what Steve Cushman with Keep Wakulla County Beautiful is trying to reduce.
"We're trying to revitalize the beach bring it back. It's one of Wakulla county's forgotten beaches."
And he's right, I've been covering Mashes Sands Beach and neighbor's concerns about left over damage from hurricane Micheal for months.
Keep Wakulla County Beautiful is now bringing the community together to replenish it.
"We're gonna come in and start filling in all the holes and patches."
They're teaming up with the community and Mashes Sands residents to restore the beach.
Jim Cook, who's been hoping to see beach improvements, says this is a step forward.
"We're grateful. Anything that can be done to help the beach from washing out we're all for it."
He's taking part in planting the sea oats because he says it will help in the long run.
"The sea oats hold the beach in place a lot of people don't realize that but the roots run deep and keep the sand from going away. The more sea oats we can get here the more sand we can save."
They're able to do this because of a grant from Surfing Evolution. That's a nonprofit that helps other groups protect the environment.
They raise funds when people purchase this Endless Summer Florida license plate.
Cushman and other neighbors are working to get the beach back where it was before Hurricane Michael struck the area.
"We're just trying to get it built back, it really took a lot of damage after Hurricane Michael and it's a slow process of building it all back."
Come help Wakulla County Beautiful plant sea oats on Saturday at 8 A.M. Meet at the Mashes Sands Beach parking lot.
