The dune in front of your house: sea oats, walkovers and the coastal construction line.

Florida DEP’s guide for coastal homeowners calls the beach and dune system the first line of defense against storms. Storm surge and waves meet the beach and dunes before they reach the house. The sand a storm pulls off the dune may only be carried out to the offshore bar for a while, and the damage to the house is less for it.

The plants are what hold the dune together. Per DEP’s dune plant maintenance guidelines, sea oats, sea grapes and the other salt-tolerant plants on a dune trap and stabilize windblown sand, cut erosion from wind and storms, buffer the house against surge and salt spray, shelter wildlife, and block light from reaching nesting sea turtles. They also grow back on their own after storms. What they can’t take is steady foot traffic, which is why the walkover matters so much.

The coastal construction control line (CCCL) marks where the state’s permitting authority starts. DEP describes it as a line of jurisdiction rather than a setback or a line of prohibition: building, remodeling and repairs are all allowed seaward of it, and the work that is not exempt needs a CCCL permit. The state has set these lines in 25 coastal counties with sandy beaches.

Seaward of the line, section 161.053 of the Florida Statutes bars anyone from digging, removing beach sand, changing ground elevations, driving across a dune, or damaging a dune or the plants growing on it, except as the law provides. To see where your lot sits, open DEP’s Map Direct and look for the solid red line.

Building a new house or adding onto one is a bigger subject with its own pages: building on the ocean in Ponte Vedra Beach and building on the ocean in St. Augustine. This page stays with the dune itself.

Sea oats are the dune builder. As blowing sand piles up around them, DEP’s Building Back the Sand Dunes brochure explains, new roots form on the buried stems and new stems push up through the sand, so the dune keeps growing. Section 161.242 of the Florida Statutes makes it unlawful to cut, harvest, remove or eradicate sea oats or sea grapes from public land, or from private land without the owner’s consent. Anyone other than the landowner found holding them is presumed to have broken the law. Licensed nurseries that grow them from seed or cuttings may sell them, which is where dune plants for your own planting should come from.

The owner’s consent is not the end of it, though. Seaward of the CCCL the dune plant rules apply to owners too. DEP’s guidelines say owners and their landscapers cannot cut down or damage beach dune plants there without a CCCL permit. Damage includes trampling, digging up and cutting beyond accepted pruning standards. DEP notes that sea grapes tolerate heavy pruning, and its staff will help decide whether a trim is exempt or needs a field permit. Native dune plants damaged without a permit have to be replaced to DEP’s approval.

The towns post the same message for everyone else on the beach. Jacksonville Beach asks people to keep off the dunes and not pick the sea oats, and notes that sitting, standing and playing on the dunes is unlawful under state law. St. Johns County asks beachgoers to use the walkovers and not to remove beach sand or vegetation.

A walkover keeps feet off the plants so the dune can hold and grow. DEP treats it as a minor, expendable structure, designed to use as little material as possible so less of it becomes debris in a storm. Its walkover guidelines set the shape most permits follow:

Sand fences and new plants are how a thin dune gets bigger. A permit from DEP is required before any sand fence goes in seaward of the CCCL. Per DEP’s sand fence guidelines, the fence sits as far landward as practicable, built of untreated wood where possible. On the nesting beach it goes in as separate short spurs, no more than 10 feet long and 4 feet high, at least 7 feet apart, angled to the prevailing wind, in a single row, with the landward post at least 5 feet from a seawall or dune scarp so a nesting turtle can’t get trapped. Fences only hold sand when plants grow in to stabilize it, and damaged fences have to be repaired or removed.

For the planting, DEP’s dune planting recommendations call sea oats an ideal choice for almost any beach or dune site. Bitter panicum spreads out sideways, and railroad vine and beach morning glory send long runners across bare sand. DEP suggests buying from local nurseries that use plant stock native to the region, planting no farther seaward than the existing line of dune plants, clearing invasive plants and litter first, and leaving the seaweed wrack in place, since it carries seeds of other native dune plants. It also notes that a permit may be required, so a call to CCCL staff comes first. DEP’s Building Back the Sand Dunes brochure suggests planting in early fall or spring, when the plants need the least watering.

The dune plants double as a light screen for nesting turtles, and DEP connects the two. Trimming or removing beachfront vegetation must not make artificial light more visible from the beach. Before cutting back sea grapes in front of the house, DEP suggests swapping any fixtures visible from the beach for shielded ones. On the walkover itself and at beach access points, any lighting has to be long-wavelength, downward-directed and fully shielded, and not visible from the beach.

FWC’s beachfront lighting rules come down to keeping fixtures low, shielded and on long-wavelength bulbs (amber, orange or red), and FWC recommends planting vegetation buffers between lights and the beach. Each town’s own lighting rule is in the sea turtle season guide.

Dune plants are built to come back, and the state has a set path for the cleanup. After each major storm DEP issues an Emergency Final Order, and its post-storm handout for property owners lays out what is allowed seaward of the CCCL: