Moving mountains for Muriwai

Joanna Davies | 4th December 2009

Dunes in ruins, dumped plastic bags, soiled nappies - people are turning Muriwai Beach into a tip. Joanna Davies investigates what's being done about it.

Litter lines the high tide mark at Muriwai Beach. Small bits of plastic and paper are tangled in seaweed, washed to shore by the currents, but other rubbish has been left there by people.

Then there's the sand dunes. At the southern end of the beach, the dunes look like cliff faces, with plants and broken walkways teetering along the top of them.

It wasn't always like this, says long-time resident Anna Mason.

"My family have been here since 1946, and the beach is the worst that I've ever seen it," she says.

"How can you call it beautiful? There are people leaving their disposable nappies in the park, and people throwing their rubbish out of their cars as they leave here."

She says the steep sand dunes were formed after local authorities added rocks to the south end of the beach to protect a culvert.

The rocks have been removed, but the tide and water from the culvert pushes the sand into tall piles.

Auckland Regional Council and groups of residents are planting new grasses along the dunes to limit their height, and already the council has removed part of the southern car park and a road going to the surf club because both rested on unstable dunes.

Resident Delwyn Shepherd says the erosion will continue because of the culvert. "We're never going to stop the erosion completely, because it is a natural process. The grasses we've planted will bind the sand together, rather than build the sand dunes up."

Mrs Shepherd says the sand dunes were all low-profile before people started changing the beach environment in the 1930s. "If you look at any early photo of the beach, the dunes were all nice and low. We're trying to flatten them out again."

She says volunteers from the surf lifesaving club and the community are helping with planting.

Scott De Silva, the regional council's park manager for Muriwai, says the dunes need to be lower because they are unstable.

"We've already started our plan to lower the dunes, and we will look at doing more planting after the summer in April."

Mr De Silva says one of the problems is people walking through the newly planted areas.

"The council and the community want to avoid putting fences in to keep people off the sand dunes and the planting.

"I feel that if you don't need a fence, don't put one in, so we are looking at other options to stop people walking on the new plants, which will look more pleasing."

Mr De Silva is disappointed at the rubbish on the beach.

"We have noticed an increase. We do ask people to take all of their rubbish home with them, but not everyone does."