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Hundreds participate in state’s annual dune grass planting

Volunteers, DNREC staff transplant plugs onto five beaches across the state
DNREC hosted its annual beach grass dune planting event March 21. Hundreds of volunteers helped plant beach grass at five beaches. Pictured on the beach north of the Indian River Inlet are Amanda Baier and Roman Paulino. CHRIS FLOOD PHOTOS
Chris Flood
March 27, 2026

Story Location:
Coin Beach
Indian River Inlet
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
United States

Hundreds of volunteers planted thousands of beach grass plugs into dunes as part of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's annual dune grass planting.

The event took place March 21 at five bay and ocean beaches across the state – Fenwick Island, Bethany Beach, north side of the Indian River Inlet in Delaware Seashore State Park, Broadkill Beach and Bowers Beach.

Jennifer Pongratz, an environmental scientist with DNREC's Coastal Construction Regulatory Program, was on hand at the Indian River Inlet. She said about 1,000 bundles of beach grass, each with 200 plugs, were distributed among the five beaches.

The majority of the bundles went to two beaches that recently underwent beach replenishment projects – 450 at the inlet and about 370 at Broadkill. The remaining bundles were distributed evenly among the three remaining beaches.

The morning of the event was sunny and unseasonably warm with only a slight breeze.

“This is a great day to plant beach grass,” said Pongratz. “It’s not usually this nice. It’s March, so it’s usually windy, rainy or both.”

There’s a recommended method for planting the grass – two stems per hole at about 8 inches deep, stems spaced 12 to 18 inches apart with about 12 to 18 inches between rows. Many of the volunteers used poles provided by the state, but some brought their own.

Karen Pla brought an auger attached to a hand drill. She said she had done it before and saw others doing it.

“Using the broomstick thing is hard,” she said.

According to DNREC, since spring 1990, volunteers have planted more than 5 million stems of beach grass along Delaware’s ocean and bay beaches. Beach grass helps build and stabilize dunes by trapping wind-blown sand, which can create new dunes and expand existing dunes.

 

Elle Bornemann uses the stake to make the hole that John Gordon will put the beach grass plugs into on the dune at Broadkill Beach.
Hundreds of people spread out across the dune area of the beach at the Indian River Inlet.
Kathleen Bergin, field operations program manager for DNREC’s Shoreline and Waterway Management Section, talks with DNREC Secretary Gregory Patterson at the Indian River Inlet.
Each bundle of dune grass has about 200 hundred stems in it. Each hole in the sand gets two stems.
Jennifer Pongratz, an environmental scientist with DNREC, brings in more stakes for volunteers to use.
DNREC employees spread out bundles of dune grass along the top of the dune at the Indian River Inlet.
The black tape at the end of the polls mark how deep the hole needs to be for the dune grass.
The dune at Broadkill Beach looks a lot better now that a stabilization project has been completed.
This is Karen Pla’s first time planting the beach grass, which is why she brought a drill to help make the holes.

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Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.

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