Nahant sets time frame for beach grass planting

NAHANT – With fall just around the corner, town officials are preparing a plan to plant the promised beach grass on the dunes at Short Beach.The beach grass was approved at Town Meeting at the end of March and Town Administrator Andy Bisignani said during the spring that it would be planted in the fall. On Thursday, Selectman Michael Manning confirmed that the beach grass would be planted in late October or early November, with a Conservation Commission meeting to discuss the details on Sept. 3.?It?s basically a hearing to determine any extra conditions necessary or what not, or just hear the outline of the plan,” Manning said of the meeting.Manning said the plan is to plant about 40,000 square feet of beach grass from one end of Short Beach?s dune to the other, “basically covering the entire dune.” Most likely, Manning said, the planting will follow the same plan as when the beach grass was last planted in 2008.?We prepared beds about 20 feet deep, about the distance from the ocean to the road,” said Manning. “They took very well – the patches there are still growing. We are going to do the same thing, but with a slightly larger amount of beach grass over a four-week period.”Manning said they picked that time period for planting because mostly, hurricane season will have passed by then. “If we had to take into account the hurricane schedule, we?d probably never plant any beach grass,” laughed Manning.The hope is that the beach grass will extend the life of the dune by filtering material like sand and rock that washes over the dune, said Manning. The beach grass will slow it down and keep the material on the beach, rather than washing over the beach.