Nahant spruces up Short Beach

NAHANT – Crews worked Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning planting shrubs and beach grass in the sand dunes at Short Beach.Town Administrator Mark Cullinan said there has been a lot of erosion along Short Beach and the sand has been deposited on a sandbar just off the beach. He said the lack of vegetation along the beach could be a factor in the erosion.”This is a major dune vegetation restoration,” Cullinan said. “We are planting more than 20,000 beach grass plants, 100 Beach Plums, 100 Bayberry and 100 Black Pine.”In April, Town Meeting approved spending $5,000 in Community Preservation Act funds to purchase the vegetation, which was planted this week.Cullinan said the project would not have been possible without help from the office of Essex County Sheriff Frank G. Cousins. The office has a program that allows some offenders to participate in various municipal projects in Essex County while under the supervision of Department of Corrections staff.