Dune Beaches

Beaches backed by a working dune system substantial enough to be part of the identity of the place: sand mountains, moving dunes, or a barrier island whose whole form is wind-built. A working dune system is fragile and most of these sites restrict where people may walk, because the vegetation holding the sand is what stops the dune moving. That is not precautionary: dune fields in this register have buried forest and villages within recorded history, and several are still advancing measurably each year. Most of the dune systems here are protected areas with marked routes, and the restrictions are the reason the landform still exists. The dunes themselves are frequently the landmark rather than the beach at their foot.