Battered by storms, an unrelenting sea, and ever-closer construction, the sand dunes lining the Panhandle of Florida – and the many at-risk species that depend upon them – get hammered.

A slew of federal, state, local, and nonprofit agencies, though, are fighting back.

Armed with a $6.4 million grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the conservation partners are plugging 800,000 plants into the dunes and fencing off large swaths of sand to protect the fragile dunes. The Panhandle Dune Ecosystem Project aims to stabilize 21 linear miles of degraded dunes in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, and Gulf counties by 2027.

Already, there are signs of success. At Eglin Air Force Base, for example, fences keep beachgoers from strolling into dunes now planted heavily with sea oats, bitter panicum, Gulf bluestem, and beach elder. 

“You’re getting stabilization of the dunes which provides more habitat for endangered species,” said Luke Anthis, the project’s manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Restored dunes also help improve storm resiliency and protection of property.”

The Panhandle stretches 200 miles from Alabama to Florida’s peninsula with white sand beaches, blue-green waters, and wonderfully diverse plant and animal communities. Its exposure to the Gulf’s winds, waves, and storms, though, imperils the sand dunes. Hurricane Michael in 2018 unleashed its Category 5 winds on the unprotected coastline and decimated the town of Mexico Beach, Tyndall Air Force Base, and miles of dunes. 

The typically calm Gulf belies a creeping danger with its waters having risen 10 inches the last century. Another 10-inch surge is predicted by 2050, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

Dune threats come from the mainland, too. The so-called Forgotten Coast is no longer a residential backwater. The 18-county region is expected to add more than 700,000 people by 2070, according to the University of Florida, for a total of 2.1 million residents. And, while still the least-developed region in the state, the Panhandle can expect 18 percent of its land to be developed by 2070. Today, 12 percent is, the university reports.

“Dunes are essential for the protection of roads, buildings, and coastal properties,” according to the university’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. “They are resilient, flexible barriers that are the first line of defense against potential damage caused by wind and water from coastal storms. They absorb energy and dissipate the impact of tides, storm surges, and waves, providing protection to homes and businesses as well as our rare coastal ecosystems.”

It was an unnatural disaster, though, that fueled the Panhandle restoration project. A portion of the reparations from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill are funneled through NFWF to the Service, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the University of Florida for the dune project. An army of local contractors, including the nonprofit Franklin’s Promise Coalition, a job training organization for local youth, plant the grasses and shrubs. Private lands, too, are targeted with their owners’ blessing, of course.

“Coastal grasses and shrubs are the biological engineers of our dunes,” the university’s restoration report says. 

Plants stabilize the dunes and keep sand from blowing away. They also slow winds assaulting the dunes and help sand accumulate around their base. Then, hopefully, the dune will grow. 

There is a conservation balance, though, that must be upheld between the various creatures that depend upon the Gulf’s shores. Snowy plovers, for example, stop over on the Panhandle’s beaches during migration. The shorebirds nest in sandy, open areas near dunes. Care must be taken not to plant plants and build dunes for sea turtles, for example, that would harm plover habitat. 

“We’re working with shorebirds, beach mice and sea turtles. They all have different niches in the same coastal dune ecosystem,” said Kristi Yanchis, a Service ecologist and beach mouse expert. “We have to make sure we provide connectivity for the beach mice, build up some dunes with some height for nesting sea turtles, and leave some open space for shorebirds so they can access water and flat dunes.”

The tiny, and adorable, Perdido Key beach mouse, federally listed as an endangered species, should benefit mightily from the dune restoration project. Twenty years ago, an estimated 500-800 beach mice called Perdido Key home. Houses and condos replaced prime habitat for the yellowish-brown (with white underbelly) mice that rarely stretch longer than three inches. Hurricanes Ivan (2004), Michael (2018), and Sally (2020) hammered the dunes at Perdido Key, the Gulf Islands National Seashore, and Gulf State Park in Alabama where the mice live.

Thirty years of conservation, though, seem to have paid off. The Service, along with state and local governments and private developers, protected large swaths of mouse habitat. Today, maybe 3,500 mice roam a 17-mile stretch of sand dunes and sea oats in Florida and Alabama. 

The next phase of the Panhandle Dune Ecosystem Project, beginning summer 2025, will target Gulf Islands with 570,000 more plants. 

“We need to close some of those gaps so beach mice can traverse the dunes from Perdido Key State Park all the way over to Gulf State Park,” Yanchis said in late March. “Last weekend, while we were doing some mouse trapping, we came across several plots that looked great. And the plants are looking great already.”

And the mice?

“It’s a little too soon to tell,” she added, “but we got some pictures today that verified a beach mouse using the just-planted area in Perdido Key State Park.”