ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION 


Understanding Opposition to Dune Restoration: Attitudes and Perceptions of Beaches 

and Dunes as Natural Coastal Landforms 

By LISA M. VANDEMARK 
Dissertation Director: 
Karl F. Nordstrom 


Using a written and photo-questionnaire, this study examined the attitudes and perceptions of 153 owners of coastal property along a developed shoreline towards natural coastal landforms and the characteristics of landscape that will accompany environmental restoration of sand dune ecosystems. The shoreline is predominantly privately owned in the United States and property owners have a strong voice in the coastal land use debate. Development and beach management practices have degraded and destroyed natural dune systems, and increased the vulnerability of coastal communities to natural catastrophe. Reversal of these trends requires changes including increased height, width, and vegetation cover of sand dunes; prohibition of access to areas of the beach; alteration of pedestrian access routes to the beach and to the ocean; and cessation of mechanical raking in order to preserve the wrack line. The social dimensions of potential opposition to these landscape changes is poorly understood. This study identiied lower tolerance for these changes among absentee owners of coastal property (versus owner-occupiers) and among those who conceptualization the beach as a recreation area rather than as a natural area. Among all respondents, an unobstructcd 

view of the sea was important, and vegetation density of 11-25% was preferred but vegetation density in excess of 75% was well tolerated if it did not occlude more that 30% of the visible horizon line in photographs. Shorefront owners were as tolerant of occluded sea views and of dense vegetation cover as were non-shorefront owners. Demand for access to the beach and demand for beach cleanliness emerged as multi- faceted variables. Demand for access was comprised of a sense of the beach as public property, a demand for modem conveniences (bathrooms and parking), and a demand for easy pedestrian locomotion. Cleanliness was defined by the absence of human-generated debris and of decaying natural debris. Less than one-third of respondents found floral debris and faunal debris already reduced by the action of dehitivors to be unpleasant but two-thirds found decaying debris unpleasant. Natural features of the beach were found to be important landscape characteristics despite the long history and the extent of development in the region.