The Surfside Dune Seed Project

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     This project was the brain child of Gary Wilst, webmaster for the CCCF website.  Gary initially suggested we undertake the project on Galveston Island.   The city of Galveston refused to issue a permit for the project, so Gary turned to Brazoria County, who gladly issued one.  At this point, it was decided to begin the project on what has become to be known as Sam's Beach.  Sam's Beach is located between entrances 5 and 6 on Surfside, TX.  The first project was organized on several internet forums, including CCCF's, TOBA and TTMB.  On these forums, the project was coordinated and the first project in 2004 saw close to 200 trees staked out and tied down.  Vic Martinez, aka Vjer, coined the phrase, dune seeds, that cold January morning and it stuck.  The second project in 2005 saw about 325 trees staked out, and two different staking patterns were used. 

     When the trees are laid out, each end is staked and tied down in order to hold the trees in place while Mother Nature starts building the dunes.  The process is fairly fast and the dunes were well along by 90 days later.  Within 9 months, vegetation formed and most of the trees have become completely buried in sand.

     Sand dunes are home to many creatures, including birds, reptiles, plants, and sea turtles.  By providing naturally forming dunes, the dunes made using Christmas trees are a much better choice than other types of man made dunes.  In 2004, an endangered sea turtle returned to nest in the dunes and lay her eggs.

Most of the 2005 project volunteers