Girl Scouts learn how to care for the coast
American Littoral Society program teaches role of sand dunes, beachgrass

Top, Jim Peck points out how beach grass fortifies the dunes on Sandy Hook. Below, each Girl Scout planted four dormant beach grass stems.

SANDY HOOK - Friday was a cold and blustery day out on Sandy Hook, but it didn't stop 130 local Girl Scouts from venturing out to help the environment.

Members of the Monmouth Council of Girl Scouts Rumson-Fair Haven Service Sector, in grades kindergarten through six, spent the afternoon learning about sand dunes and the plants that grow on them, and their importance to the environment in their coastal community, with the help of with the American Littoral Society, a coastal conservation nonprofit headquartered on Sandy Hook

During a brief educational presentation by Jim Peck, education coordinator for the Littoral Society, the Scouts learned about how dunes protect the upland coastal environment and the important role that beachgrass and other plants play in keeping the dune structure intact.

With assistance from Scout leaders, parents and staff, each Scout mixed her own potting soil from sand and peat moss and planted four American beach grass culms (dormant, bare-root stems) in pots to be taken home and nurtured until planting time later in the spring. The dormant plants will sprout new shoots in four to six weeks.

After planting the grasses, the Scouts headed over to North Beach, where the group saw firsthand examples of healthy dunes, disturbed dunes and a newly planted dune.

The excursion ended on the North Beach lookout, where participants could get a bigger picture of the dunes and their place in the vegetation hierarchy typical of coastal New Jersey.

According to Eileen Kennedy of the Littoral society, this same exercise will be repeated on Friday for another 150 Girl Scouts.

On April 28, the entire group of more than 300 Girl Scouts, troop leaders, volunteers and American Littoral Society staff will return to Sandy Hook to plant more than 1,200 beach grass plants in an area in need of restoration.

This is the second year the American Littoral Society has partnered with the Rumson-Fair Haven Girl Scouts on projects that educate them about the environment and give them the opportunity to make a positive contribution to their community.

The American Littoral Society is appealing to area businesses to help defray the cost of this program. Businesses or individuals can contribute $25 or more by contacting Eileen Kennedy by e-mail to eileen@littoralsociety.org, by calling (732) 291-0055, ext. 111 or mailing a check to the American Littoral Society at Sandy Hook, Highlands, NJ 07732.