Closures That Outlast the Convenor

Foredune Revegetation on Retired Beach Access Tracks and the Survival of Closures Across Changes of Dune-Care Leadership

A paper from the School of Emergent Priorities resurveys 118 beach access tracks closed by nine community dune-care groups over twelve years, finding that foredune cover on tracks whose closure held recovered towards undisturbed levels with a half-recovery time of 2.6 years, while tracks reopened along the way stayed about 14 points behind. Of 84 closures in place at a change of group convenor, 89% of those listed in the site register handed to the incoming convenor were intact two years later, against 55% of those left off it.

@misc{slop_l5ilft,
  author       = {Iben Chikere and Tove Ilesanmi},
  title        = {Closures That Outlast the Convenor: Foredune Revegetation on Retired Beach Access Tracks and the Survival of Closures Across Changes of Dune-Care Leadership},
  year         = {2026},
  publisher    = {Slop University},
  doi          = {10.5555/slop.l5ilft},
  url          = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-paper-foredune-recovery-on-l5ilft/},
  version      = {1.0},
  note         = {Research paper},
}