Martin Dunes

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One of Monterey County’s signature landmarks is Martin Dunes, a coastal property located among the dunes fringing Monterey Bay north of Marina. Adjacent to the Salinas River National Wildlife Refuge, which is open to the public and is owned and managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), the sandscapes of Martin Dunes sustain a unique community of plants and animals, some so rare they occur nowhere else in the world. Indeed, this beachfront area hosts more threatened and endangered species than any other property The Big Sur Land Trust (BSLT) has conserved to date.

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The dunes rise from the coastal strand at the edge of the bay to more than one hundred feet in elevation. The natural vegetation communities found on the property reflect dune formations of different time periods. Some dunes date back to ancient glacial epochs, when changing sea levels created vast sand features at the edge of evolving landscapes. Vistas from these historic dunes offer stunning panoramas across the arc of Monterey Bay.

In the early 1990’s BSLT began working to conserve the Monterey Bay coastline, leading to a report—The Monterey Bay State Seashore: A Study for the Preservation of the Monterey Bay Dunes—that detailed the scenic, biological and recreational values of the Monterey Dunes Complex. This influential report helped encourage the California State Legislature to create the Monterey Bay State Seashore in 1994.

The Land Trust has for several years partnered with the USFWS to manage invasive species on the property and to help protect the habitat of the snowy plover, a small endangered bird that makes its nests on open beach areas. In 2007, this partnership blossomed when the USFWS awarded a significant habitat restoration grant to the Land Trust to improve the Martin Dunes habitat. By reducing populations of invasive species, specifically iceplant, European beachgrass, and an annual grass named ripgut brome, our restoration efforts have increased the ecological health of this vital part of Monterey County’s extraordinary coastline.

You can help protect the snowy plover’s habitat.