10-4 Ken...
I grew up outside of Gary, IN and the dunes were our favorite getaway spot.
The Chesapeake Bay is wonderful, but the shoreline is not.
Rick - in Southern Maryland for the past 25 years.
On Wed, Sep 7, 2011 at 10:01 AM, Ken Norton <ken@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > It is indeed lush. That coast has a very wide range of topography and
> biological communities...
>
> I grew up along the Lake Michigan coastline. It is a similar situation
> there
> with the biodiversity just a dune away. Granted, maybe not as much
> biodiversity as the northern California coast, but still pretty impressive.
>
> Between the water's edge and the first dune-grass is a pretty inhospitable
> place, but once you get past the storm beach it's much more than just
> dune-grass. Once you get past the front dune there is often times a marsh
> hidden between it and the second dune. There are places, like north of
> Ludington, or west of Mackinaw, where there are multiple rows of dunes and
> numerous marshes and ghost forests. The dunes move and they cover stuff up
> and years later they reveal it again.
>
> Speaking of forests, again, the biodiversity of the marshes and grasses
> succombs to the hardwood forests. These have created a toe-hold in the sand
> and the actual soil is only a few inches thick. But as the dunes are
> rolling, you've got north, east, south and west facing slopes and they are
> as steep as silica sand will pile. Within the forests, at the bottom of
> these gullies are ponds.
>
> When it comes to bugs, the open dunes are home to the black flies, but the
> forests are home to the mosquitos.
>
> AG
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