The Plants
The Animals
Those plants that can tolerate
salty conditions, such as
beach primrose, can grow
directly on the foredune. Sea
oats and yucca can tolerate
the brackish environment on
the high parts of the dunes
where there is some relief from the salty conditions. The
valleys behind the dunes catch rain and feed it into the bulb
of fresh groundwater that extends from the land even out
under the beach in many situations. Other plants that need
less brackish conditions, such as wax myrtle, groundsel tree,
and thistle prosper in the rotting vegetation collected in the
valleys behind the front ridge. Plants of the dunes are further
described on page 11.
Deer and other wildlife
hide in the protected areas
provided by the dunes.
Bobcats patrol regularly
for the smaller animals like
rabbits, marsh rats, and fawn.
In the last few years, coyotes
are also present. As the vegetation grows, palmetto, pines, and
larger plants take root along with thickets of wax myrtle. It is
here also that stands of live oaks, heavily shaped by the wind,
take root and begin the formation of the maritime forest for
which our area is uniquely famous.
The Birds
Plants are not the only
beneficiaries of the rapidly
growing valleys between the
dunes. Shore birds nest in the
dunes. Terns nest directly on
the ground in the more open
areas, along with American
oystercatchers and black
skimmers. Wilson’s plover