Since the age of the Gold Rush, California has lost approximately 60 percent of its coastal dunes due primarily to human intervention; by contrast, Santa Barbara County has lost only 10 percent. That’s according to a recent study released by the UC Office of the President’s Climate Action Research Initiative with active engagement by nine UCSB researchers.
Statewide the expansion of urbanization and agriculture has gobbled up roughly 442 square kilometers of coastal dune area. That’s down from the 739 square kilometers of coastal dune that existed in 1850. Looking at the loss in terms of linear space — as opposed to area mass — that’s a 19 percent loss.
While Santa Barbara County was relatively unscathed, the text of the report indicated the prime ag lands of the Santa Maria Valley swallowed up 178 square kilometers of coastal dunes. In addition, the report concluded that surviving dune areas are now more isolated and fragmented, roughly one-fourth their original size.
Coastal dunes protect the coast from coastal storms and sea-level rise. They provide habitat for many threatened, endangered, rare, and migratory species, providing them a much-need ecological anchor while helping buttress the coast. UCSB scholars involved in the research and writing of this report are Tim Baxter, Kyle Emery, Ian Walker, Jenifer Dugan, David Hubbard, Kareena Johnson, Sarah Smith, Dakota Fee, and Dan Willett.
