Dunes Vandalized in Beach 120s

Friendly reminder, please don’t destroy the dunes! NYC Parks and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently reached out to the Rockaway Civic Association to alert them about vandalism done in the dune area in the mid-Beach 120s last week.

According to the RCA, “With dune core reconstruction completed between Beach 126th and Beach 129th Streets, the contractors are now in the process of applying permanent “coir” mats over the dunes in order to facilitate the planting and rooting of grasses and shrubs this winter. The natural fiber mats will help anchor the growing plants and provide a permanent rooted structure to stabilize the entire dune, and prevent wind and water erosion in the future.” As seen in photos, some of these coir mats over the dunes and mobi-mats were ripped up and moved, in an act of vandalism.

NYC Parks Rockaway Administrator told the RCA, “We’ve been advised of extensive vandalism to the dunes in the Beach 120s where the coir mat to stabilize the slope and the new mobi-mats have been ripped up. We’ve seen previous episodes uptown, but this is the worst to date. This is the area that is supposed to be planted starting in January. If this continues to happen, it will cause delay to the project and add substantial expense for having to replace material and the associated labor.”

If anyone sees someone vandalizing these mats on the dunes, please report it to the local 100th Precinct. These destructive acts have the potential to significantly delay the completion of our dune project and the proper placement of important flood/erosion mitigation measures.

Please speak to your friends and family about the importance of the dunes and the work being done to protect our neighborhoods.