Beach grass on dune

- general -
Most of us know beach strand simply as “beaches,” or “the seashore.”  Strictly speaking, beach strand is the sandy shoreline area between the land and the ocean.  It borders estuaries, sounds, or open ocean.
 

- threats -
Natural beach strand is in critically short supply due to shoreline development and stabilization.  The remaining beach plants and animals are continually disturbed by people walking on dunes, vehicular traffic, pets, and more.
The demand for developmental and recreational uses of these areas is intense; the result is an alarmingly high rate of habitat loss and the rangewide decline of virtually all beach strand plant and animal species.  Beyond losing their home, the living plants and animals that inhabit beach strand face daily threats.  Native plants, nesting animals, and a variety of invertebrates are frequently exposed to human disturbances such as walking, vehicular traffic, pets, feral and nuisance animals, and invasive plants. 
 

- details -
Beach strand is characterized by four zones: nearshore bottom (submerged areas below mean low water to 9 meters); foreshore (intertidal areas between mean low water to the high tide zone); backshore (exposed sandflats above high tide line to dunes, but occasionally submerged during storms or exceptionally high tides); and dunes (areas of wind-blown sand ridges or mounds above the highest tide line and exposed to wind action). Beach strand habitat lines the entire coastline of the project area from Cape May north to Cape Cod. The majority of this coastline is barrier beach -- the narrow, linear system of islands and spits, composed of unconsolidated sands, that parallels the coast a few miles offshore and is separated from the mainland by open water (coastal lagoons) or marshes. 

There are a number of species closely or exclusively associated with beach strand, many of which are rare or declining throughout their range. This group is described as disturbance-sensitive beach strand species, with a focus on nesting species, native plant species, and invertebrate populations occupying the backshore and dune zones of coastal beach strands, particularly those species that are sensitive or vulnerable to direct human disturbances (pedestrian and vehicular traffic) or human-related disturbances (pets, feral and nuisance animals, invasive plants). 

One group of species that has received a great deal of attention in recent years is beach-nesting birds, especially the piping plover (Charadrius melodus), which often nests in association with least tern (Sterna antillarum). Other birds that typically nest on beaches in the project area include roseate tern (Sterna dougallii), common tern (Sterna hirundo), black skimmer (Rhynchops niger), and American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus).  Several plant species, including seabeach amaranth (Amaranthus pumulus) and seabeach knotweed (Polygonum glaucum), occupy the same backshore zone of the beach as do the beach-nesting birds. These plant species are annuals whose seeds are distributed by wind and water. Locations of both plant and bird populations shift from year to year, and it is therefore necessary to protect potential habitat as well as known locations in order to maintain these populations over the region. 

The only known extant populations of the federally listed threatened Northeastern beach tiger beetle (Cicindela dorsalis dorsalis) outside of Chesapeake Bay occur at two beaches in southeastern Massachusetts. Experimental reintroduction of this species is occurring on New Jersey beaches.