The project, located in San Diego County, along the western edge of Highway (HWY) 101, spans approximately 2,900 linear feet of the shoreline at South Cardiff State Beach.

The sand dunes were constructed with ~30,000 cubic yards of sand from annual dredging and the San Elijo Lagoon Restoration Project and placed on top of the engineered revetment. The dunes are seeded with native plant seed collected within and surrounding the San Elijo Lagoon.

The project incorporated restoration methods (e.g., rice straw wattles) that would reduce seed blowing and provide nutrients and to establishing dune plants and a sand fence was placed within the dune system adjacent to the highway to prevent sand from blowing onto the Coast Highway. A pedestrian footpath with four access points into the beach was created parallel to the dune system (on the highway-side) to improve public access.

The project will also develop a robust monitoring program to provide data on the effectiveness of this approach for the west coast.

Project Partners: The City of Encinitas, California Department of Parks and Recreation, Nature Collective, San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with grants from the California State Coastal Conservancy and the Ocean Protection Coalition.