Within six weeks, two people per day entering the dunes and returning to the beach along the same path can severely damage the vegetation. As few as 25 round trips on a path over one summer can destroy half the vegetation in the path. Similar intensity of use by an off-road vehicle will totally destroy the vegetation. Damaged vegetation is less capable of providing a windbreak, and as a result wind velocity increases near the ground where sand movement occurs. These changes result in larger areas of bare sand on the beach and in the dunes.
Wind then scours the sides of small paths, increasing their width and depth.
Progressive wind erosion results in the blowouts seen at intervals on our dunes. Thus, when foredune plant growth is damaged, vegetation on the interior dunes is also damaged, since an intact foredune shelters and greatly contributes to better growing conditions on interior dunes. In extreme cases sand can move rapidly inland, burying the wetlands it helped foster and any other vegetation or structure in its path. Examples of such runaway dunes also exist on our eastern shore. Other consequences of recreational use of our dunes may include harassment of waterbirds, migrating shorebirds, and nesting shorebirds.