Rio Grande Valley Fly Tyers Club: Sand Dune Restoration

The oyster and seagrass beds were visible on the shoreline from Highway 100 as we entered Laguna Heights. We were on our way to help out the folks from the the South Texas Chapter of the Surf Rider Foundation plant grass seedlings on South Padre Island. The sun was out and one could tell that it was going to be a beautiful morning. Even better was that we were going to do something that would help restore the dunes and provide protection for the dunes against future storms.

The light breeze brought a comfortable chill as we turned on Cora Lee to pick up our friend Brad York and his son, Diego. They would be joining us, as would several of the Rio Grande Valley Fly Tier's Club members. After a little conversation, we headed to our meeting location and mindful that we had planned to be on time.

The Surf Rider Foundation tent was at the entrance of Beach Access #14 on Bougainvillea Circle. The tent signalled that we had found our way. We waited for others to arrive, but I couldn't help but notice that we quickly made friends. Better so, or maybe because they were all like-minded people is a snap. Within a couple of minutes we were greeted and we greeted half a dozen couples. Our group signed the registration booth and entered "RGVFTC" to note our participation. The crowd kept growing and eventually it seemed like a hundred volunteers would make this task short.

Students from UTB, Master Naturalists, and many wonderful folks were out on the dunes to plant grass plants into ten inch holes. The holes were dug by a crew that quickly made enough holes to put a couple of plants before covering. We were told to not leave any air pockets because the growing plants could freeze. We did our best and eventually caught up to those drilling holes. We made them work hard.

One would think that 10,000 plants would be allot, but with everyone's help we were done by 10 a.m. Sheala Castillo, who had been to several of these events, said that we might be done by noon. That was the expectation if everything that went on before was the same. She said that the number of volunteers was three times more than what she had ever seen.

There is so much to learn when you attend an event like this, but what is better is that you get to help conserve our dunes and its wildlife and at the same time be happy from being out in nature. For me, it was also seeing kids learning to serve their community and protect their environment.

Below are some other photos of all having fun.