Sand dunes are found throughout the world, from arid desert zones to lakes and coastal plains. Dunes form picturesque and unique environments that provide habitats for a wide variety of life, which have amazingly adapted to what can be the most incredibly beautiful or the most eerie and inhospitable places on Earth.
Along an 18-mile (29-kilometer) stretch of the central California coastline, from Point Sal north to Pismo Beach, is found an unique complex of sand dunes known as the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes. The complex is 15,000 acres in size. Roughly 6,000 acres of the dune complex are now protected by a variety of state, federal and private organizations.
The origin of sand dunes is complex, but three essentials are always found: 1. There must be a large abundance of loose sand near land that is generally lacking in vegetation, 2. a source of wind strong enough to move grains of sand, and 3. a land topography that results in the sand particles losing their momentum and settling back to the ground.
A variety of objects, tightly secured in the land, such as rocks, scrubs or even anthills, can cause the genesis of a sand dune. The shape that the dune will take is determined by the direction and velocity of the wind and the local supply of sand.
In the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes, the prevailing winds blow inland from the Pacific Ocean. The winds push the grains of sand up into a wave-like crest that runs in a north-south orientation along the coastline. The dunes of Guadalupe-Nipomo extend inland from the ocean between 2 to 5 miles (3.2 to 8 km) and can reach a height of about 500 feet (150 meters).
On the west, or windward, side of a dune, the slope is gentle. On the east, or leeward, side of a dune, the slope is very steep. The grains of blowing sand tend to collect together over the dune crest on the leeward slope. When enough grains are gathered, gravity results in small sand-slides downward. Thus the leeward slope of a dune is often referred to as the "slipface."
Here in the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dune Complex the Santa Maria River plays a key role in the dune ecology. The river brings a constant supply of sediment to the Pacific Ocean and deposits the sediment on offshore sandbars during the winter months. In summer, the sediments wash ashore onto the beach and are then blown inland by the northwesterly winds forming transverse-ridge and parabolic dunes.
Amazingly, many varieties of plants secure a life-sustaining hold in these constantly shifting mounds of sand. The dunes are home to vegetation at both the southern and northern extremes of the plants' range. There are 18 species of rare and endangered plants found in the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dune Complex. Here a dune strawberry (Fragaria chileonsis) adds color and a source of food to a normally barren landscape.
A carnival poppy (Meconella linearis) adds striking beauty to the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes. Other beautiful wildflowers, such as the prickly phlox (Leptodactylon californicum) and the giant coreoipsis (Coreopsis gegantea) are also found scattered among the rolling dunes. The dominant plant community found on these dunes is the coastal dune scrub. Scrub plants of this community stabilize the dunes by causing the blowing sand to accumulate and thus preventing the continual sand movement.
Animal life is also abundant in the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dune Complex. Populations of mountain lion, whitetail deer, coyote, jackrabbits and bobcats make their home territory here. So too do the endangered Califorina red-legged frog (Rana draytonii) and the California tiger salamander (Ambystoma californiense) survive in the harsh and unique dune ecosystem. This photo shows one of the many insect species, the Painted Lady butterfly, (Vanessa cardui) found among these amazing dunes.
More than 200 species of birds have been sighted living in or migrating through the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dune Complex. This too is the site of one of the last known nesting colonies of the endangered California Least Tern (Sterna antillarum browni). The nesting colony is located in the dunes just south of the Santa Maria River. The photo above shows a pair of common swift swallows (Apus apus), which also nest among the rocky cliffs of the dune complex.
Pelicans, both the endangered California Brown (Pelecanus occidentalis), and the protected American White (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos), are found within the dune ecosystem. Here a group of white pelicans preen in one of the many estuaries found within the sand dunes. Over 1,200 plant and animal species are found in this most amazing coastal ecosystem.
Only 10 percent of the original California sand dunes remain and the conservation effort for the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dune Complex is led by the Dune Center in Guadalupe, Calif. Founded in 1999, the Dune Center is a non-profit 501(c) organization. It was first conceived by a group of concerned citizens and the 1989 Nature Conservancy's efforts to help preserve and restore the Guadalupe Beach and Oso Flaco Lake Natural Areas. [Stunning Sands Gallery: A Rainbow of Beaches]
The Dune Center promotes the conservation and restoration of the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes ecosystem through education, research and the support of cooperative stewardship. More information about the Dune Center and its work can be found at this website: http://www.dunescenter.org/index.htm
Oso Flaco Lake Natural Area State Park is one of the most scenic natural areas found along the coast of California. The freshwater lake is found among the dunes and was named in 1769 when Spanish conquistadors led by Gaspar de Portola passed through the area and here killed a bear along the lakeside. "Oso flaco" translates to "skinny bear." A 2-mile-long (3.2 km) trail, much of which is over well-maintained bridges, passes over both the unique sand dunes and the beautiful Oso Flaco Lake.
Access to the seashore is open by way of a series of marked trails through the preserve. Here a group of shore fishermen try their hands at catching dinner as the 500-foot-tall (150 m) Mussel Rock Dune rises in the background. Mussel Rock Dune is the highest sand dune along the entire coastline of the western United States.
Hollywood discovered the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes in 1923 when legendary producer Cecil B. DeMille filmed his epic silent movie, "The Ten Commandments," out upon the dunes. When production was complete, DeMille had the entire movie set that reproduced a city of ancient Egypt dismantled and buried in the dunes to prevent future use. Now, some 80 years later, the shifting sands are bringing some of that historic set back to the surface. More information on DeMille's Lost City can be found here: http://www.lostcitydemille.com/index.html
The cooperative efforts between the many agencies and individuals to preserve and protect the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes Complex are constant and ongoing. Great efforts are now underway to remove invasive plant species that threaten the future of this ancient and fragile habitat.
The dune-building processes in central California began over 18,000 years ago at the end of the last glacial period. The oldest dunes found in the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dune Complex are found east of the current preserve atop the Nipomo and Orcutt Mesas. These dunes are now totally covered with vegetation and stabilized. Younger Pleistocene Epoch dunes are found between these mesas and the seashore. But even today the dune building process continues as fine grains of sand are deposited by the wind into bowl-shaped and parabolic mounds, just as it has been done for thousands of years.
And as the sun sets into the Pacific Ocean ending another day over the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dune Complex, the future of the dune ecosystem once again looks bright for future generations to come, to see, to learn and to enjoy; this time because of the concern, the work and the intervention of modern man. [Related: Sights and Sounds: Cali's Gurgling Mud Volcanoes]
