Recently I went on school camp with my daughter. The environmental educator taught us about the sand dunes and how sensitive they are. These waves of shifting sand are stabilized by communities of native grasses like pingao, who’s roots creep down deep into the sand to find moisture. We made our own sand dunes and eroded them using make-believe people and waves. Then we put down durable surfaces- wooden walks.
Looking carefully on the sand we saw lizard tracks, identified by the tail track and straddled by little footprints.
When people walk over the dunes, we damage the plants, bit by bit. If there are few enough people and enough time between each person, then the plants will recover. But often, the number of people is too great and the plants begin to die. Then the insects, birds and lizards that live in the dunes lose their homes and food sources too.
Choosing to travel on durable ground means sometimes going a little out of your way to use a designated track or find a less fragile surface. The council in Christchurch manages these impacts by concentrating everyone’s impacts on the tracks while leaving the rest of the dunes ecosystem to flourish. Sometimes it doesn’t take much to leave no trace.
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