Conventional fertilizer materials should be broadcast by ground or 

 aerial equipment, and always pelleted or granulated to minimize drift. 

 A helicopter is particularly well suited, provided the area involved is 

 large enough to warrant its use. The advantages of using a helicopter 

 are: better distribution of the fertilizer, no wheel-track damage to 

 dune cover, a good distribution of the pellets of granules under windy 

 conditions because the down blast from the rotor prevents pellet drift, 

 and helicopter landing requirements permit loading close to the area to 

 be fertilized. 



g. Dune Building by Geographic Regions . 



(1) North Atlantic Region . 



(a) American Beachgrass . This grass is native to the North 

 Atlantic coast and the only plant regularly used as the initial stabilizer 

 in the foredune zone. It is easy to multiply under nursery conditions 

 and to transplant, grows rapidly when transplanted, and is exceptionally 

 effective in trapping sand and stabilizing dunes. It is usually planted 

 in pure stands which makes the planted areas subject to rapid deteriora- 

 tion in the event of serious pest damage. 



Recently, severe losses of American beachgrass stands in North 

 Carolina have been caused by infestations of a soft scale, Erioooaaus 

 oarolinae (Campbell and Fuzy, 1972). This pest appears to be widely dis- 

 tributed along the mid-Atlantic coast and probably occurs on the North 

 Atlantic coast. For this reason, immune species should be interplanted 

 with American beachgrass to reduce this hazard. 



Disease is a factor which affects the vegetation and the resulting 

 dunes. Marasmius blight was first observed in 1965 on Ocracoke and 

 Hatteras Islands, but was not fully identified until some years later 

 (Lucas, et al., 1971). This disease was subsequently found to be des- 

 tructive to American beachgrass and to have profound effects on the 

 development of these experimental dunes. Dune growth and configuration 

 were materially affected by blowouts and other species spread into what 

 would otherwise have been dense stands of American beachgrass. Damage 

 varied widely from year to year, but some losses were observed during 

 each growing season thereafter, except in 1973 where no development of 

 Marasmius blight was observed anywhere along the North Carolina coast 

 (Woodhouse, Seneca, and Broome, 1976). 



Damage first occurs in distinct patches, roughly circular or oval in 

 shape, that vary from 1 to 2 feet in diameter. All plants in the patch 

 die simultaneously. Losses are usually limited to the interior of each 

 section behind the zone of active sand accumulation. Losses from this 

 disease are inhibited by rapid sand encroachment. Consequently, the 

 front of a growing American beachgrass dune tends to remain intact even 

 though severe, disease-induced blowouts occur immediately behind the zone. 

 Also, new grass stands escape damage through the first, and usually the 

 second growing season, enabling such plantings to establish a continuous 

 front line before losses begin. 



56 



