How dunes will keep the home of golf from being doomed.

Words by Abigail Myers, Art by Emma Dalton.

St Andrews, Scotland, a town best known for its iconic golf course and picturesque views, attracts more than 660,000 visitors to the quaint shores each year. Although visitors are met with the seemingly perfect long sandy beaches and rolling grassy dunes, there is more than meets the eye. Thirteen years ago, visitors would have been met with a vastly different picture. Flattened dunes, no vegetation, and a waterlogged golf course were just a few of the effects a 2010 storm surge caused, spanning from West Sands in St Andrews to the surrounding area. The Links Trust and Fife Council were forced to reevaluate their management strategy and quickly adapt to the damage to protect the longevity of the ecosystem. 

A multi-step plan was devised to restore West Sand’s classic look, along with some new hidden and overt protection measures to ensure the safety of the beach and surrounding Old Course. Gabion cages, which provide the dune with its general shape were installed, thus creating a more stable and durable dune base less likely to be affected by natural disasters. They were the optimal solution because when looking at the shoreline they are undetectable, so overall visuals as well as durability were a priority. However, the gabion cages were just the foundation. Much of the sand was gone after the storm, so thousands of tons of sand had to be transported for the redesign. Due to the sheer amount of sand that had to be transported, the Fife Coast and Countryside Trust had to obtain a special license. Many of these organizations played a key role in the efficient restoration process because so many were affected by the failed mitigation the dunes offered. 

The next step to the problem was figuring out how to keep a natural disaster, such as the 2010 storm surge, from causing as much damage as it did the first time. To stabilize the dunes, the addition of vegetation was essential, so marram grass was chosen to be planted along the dunes. This was a long-term investment in the area because the vegetation’s benefits are not immediately in place once they are planted. It takes a long time for biodiversity to reaccumulate in an ecosystem and currently, as 13 years have passed, varying species of birds, spiders, and plant life have now been recorded. The high biodiversity of wildlife makes these coastal ecosystems more resilient when any disturbances occur. Disturbances to the dunes, both human and natural, had the ability to make the dune restoration unsuccessful. 

St Andrews West Sands is an ideal case study to look at the success of how the combination of soft and hard engineering created a thriving, resilient ecosystem. St Andrews is made up of equally important ecological and social factors, so developing a restructuring project for the dunes that benefitted both was an essential goal. St Andrews, like many other coastal towns, will be faced with a difficult future; so coastal management will need to be able to keep up with the pace of climate change if coastal ecosystems stand a chance in the coming years.