Beach Grass Planting Volunteer Registration is open for the 31st year in the State Of Delaware
Hello Everyone!
We are planning the 31st Annual Beach Grass Planting! Our efforts this year will be focused on areas where dune repairs were made and to fill in with more grass in areas that were planted last year.
Each March since 1990, many dedicated volunteers have helped to build and protect Delaware’s sand dunes by planting Cape American beach grass on Delaware’s ocean and Delaware Bay beaches. Their efforts have been very successful in helping to re-establish the vegetation along our coastline. Our plan is to plant beach grass in various bare areas, to help stabilize existing dunes so that they may continue to grow.

The 2020 Beach Grass Planting will be from 9 AM to 12 noon on Saturday, March 21, 2020. If you and your family and friends are able to volunteer, please register online at: http://de.gov/beachgrass
(If you have trouble reaching the registration site, please try updating your browser or using Google Chrome.)
Please note, that we will be planting in several areas and some require more volunteers than others. Also, even though an area is listed, it may not be ready for beach grass by the time of the event. Therefore, we would greatly appreciate if you made at least 3 choices in order of preference (1=most preferred, 5=least preferred). We will do our best to assign you to your first choice, but this is not guaranteed.
Please expect to get an e-mail confirming your registration and giving you your assigned site and other information about a week prior to the event.
If you do not wish to register on-line or have any questions about the planting, please give me a call at (302) 739-9921 or send me e-mail at Jennifer.Pongratz@delaware.gov .
Thank you in advance for volunteering!
Jennifer Pongratz
Environmental Scientist, CFM
DNREC, Division of Watershed Stewardship
Shoreline and Waterway Management Section
DNREC’s 31st Annual Beach Grass Planting scheduled for March 21st!
The 2020 beach grass planting will take place on Saturday, March 21, from 9 a.m. to Noon. To volunteer to plant beach grass, please register here.
If you have any questions or wish to be put on the email list to receive more information about the next beach grass planting, please email Jennifer Pongratz.
Volunteers are the backbone of Delaware’s shoreline stabilization. Every spring since 1990, many dedicated volunteers have stabilized Delaware’s sand dunes by planting more than 5 million stems of Cape American beachgrass along ocean and bay beaches.
Sand dunes are more than beautiful! Sand dunes provide protection against damaging coastal storms by absorbing wave energy. Sand dunes offer protection by acting as major sand storage areas which replenish sand to eroded beaches during storm events. Without sand dunes, storm waves rush inland and flood properties.
Dunes are unstable – subject to the ravages of wind and water. Beachgrass helps build and stabilize dunes. Blades of grass help trap wind blown sand which can create new dunes and expland existing dunes.
To promote new dune growth and to help protect inland properties from the ravages of flood waters, we must limit – and sometimes prohibit –people and vehicles from crossing dunes in all but designated areas. Especially as applies to beachgrass, which has thick, brittle stalks that can easily be broken and destroyed by pedestrian or vehicular traffic.
Please help conserve Delaware’s beaches by telling friends and family about the importance of beachgrass, and reminding them to stay off of the dunes.
If you have questions about beach grass planting, or would like additional information about it, please call 302-739-9921 or email your questions to Jennifer Pongratz.
Also, please visit: Dune Protection and Improvement and Barrier Island/Sand Cycle to learn more about beach and dune preservation.
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