The Beach and Dunes Task Force has established a set of beach maintenance guidelines:

Raking should take place only when there is a significant amount of natural matter to rake.
In order to promote growth of a continuous dune, no raking should be done west of the line of vegetation.
The accumulation of seaweed at the toe of the dune does not need to be raked.
Rake tines should be adjusted to a proper height to avoid “plowing” the beach.
Large quantities of seaweed should be raked and placed strategically in gap locations to help build dunes.
Beach maintenance vehicles should try to avoid driving at the toe of the dunes where coppice mounds are forming.
Litter should be hand-picked and disposed of properly. The dunes should not be used as garbage dump sites.
Litter barrels should be placed at equal distances in a straight line.
Litter should be picked up at all beach accesses.
Handicap mats should be maintained daily.
Paul Munarriz, chairman of the task force had one more suggestion: education.

“Tourists are always asking me, ‘Why don’t you rake that ugly seaweed off the beach? You used to.’ Yes, we did used to, and look at the beach we lost by doing it. We need some way to educate people that seaweed is a good thing,” he said.

¶ posted by Lucinda @ 6:33 PM