Between Ocean Safety Lifeguard Tower 8-B and Kaelepulu Stream, there lies a sea of dunes.
Created over the years by the combined effects of sea-level rise and blustery, onshore tradewinds that typically whip across Kailua Bay, the steeply angled sand dunes have caused fundamental changes to the appearance, the size and even the public’s safety at city-owned Kailua Beach Park.
To improve the quality and conditions at the popular Windward Oahu beach destination, a collaborative effort has taken shape.
The city Department of Parks and Recreation, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands and the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program say they plan to work with community groups to smooth and flatten the dunes toward the makai side of the park.
They also want to remove ironwood trees — used as windbreaks for decades at the beach — and reintroduce more native beach plants to prevent further erosion.
That work is scheduled to begin in early 2025 on the Lanikai side of the park near Kawailoa and Alala roads, according to DPR spokesperson Nate Serota.
“Beach erosion, unfortunately, is not an uncommon thing that we see here on Oahu and around the state,” Serota said Monday during a news conference at the park. “It’s estimated that about 5-1/2 miles of beach and shoreline have been lost since we started tracking it.”
He said initial work to improve and maintain Kailua Beach Park in particular began in November.
In November, DPR crews frequented this stretch of shoreline several times to address safety issues posed by exposed tree stumps and fallen and tilting ironwood trees undermined by the eroded Kailua beach, the city said.
During that time crews removed four tree stumps, two fallen trees and five leaning trees, and trimmed 14 trees to reduce the likelihood of their structural failure, the city said.
In early 2025, DPR crews will return to the area to relocate sand accumulating along the park pathways and comfort station, pushing it farther makai. Crews will also remove remnants of nonfunctioning park infrastructure, such as undermined concrete pads and inoperable irrigation, the city said.
“So that’s really the beginning stages, kind of the maintenance aspects of restoring Kailua Beach Park,” Serota said.
Following this initial sand pushing, the work will involve installation of geotextile fencing designed to capture and retain the fine, wind-swept sand before planting native ground cover and trees, and creating designated pathways to further stabilize the shoreline, the city said.
Serota said the fencing has been used with success on other islands, including Maui, to help prevent beach erosion.
Additional sand pushing is expected to be conducted prior to the beginning of these planting efforts, which are expected later in 2025, the city said.
According to Serota, the funding for this work comes out of DPR’s existing budget.
He did not say how much the project would cost the city.
At the news conference, Amy Wirts, a Hawaii Sea Grant agent, said the “idea is to get the sand from the back shore and bring it back to the shoreline and to the beach, to create the beach where it used to be … so we have more usable beach space,” she said.
“We really want to do this in coordination with all of the users of this park … so that we have access for the people who like to walk along the beach, the people who come out here to do kitesurfing, the folks who want to just have a nice weekend with their pop-up tent in the back shore, and also importantly the canoe clubs that use this beach for a lot of major regattas,” she said.
To do so, the work will also ensure sand dunes don’t reappear on the beach.
Wirts said landscaping with native ground coverings such as akiaki grass, pohuehue and nanea, and native shade trees like kou or milo, would “stabilize the sand and keep it down low to the ground.”
Ironwood trees tend to “really suppress the growth of our native dune plants,” she said.
“And we really want to work with our users and the community clubs to make sure that all of the park uses are balanced and that we can replace some of the ironwoods that have fallen with more beach-appropriate shade trees,” Wirts added.
The phased work will begin in January and likely last for about a year, she said.
The Kailua Beach Park efforts are being planned in a phased manner to minimize the impact to beachgoers, the city said.
Additional meetings for a community working group will be planned to coordinate these efforts among members of the public and Kailua Beach users.
Chu Lum, a longtime Kailua resident who attended Monday’s news conference, said she walks her dog daily at the beach park and has noticed the adverse changes there.
“I’m just concerned,” she added. “And the community is concerned.”
And, she said, “we have to think of our keiki that are coming up and even hopefully getting them involved” in the beach park’s restoration.
“It will take a community; it will take a village,” said Lum. “This is a big part of our community, and so I’m hoping the local residents see it that way and come out, too.”
According to the “Recreational Use and Management at Kailua Beach Park” report published by Hawaii Sea Grant, over 1,700 people visit the beach park daily.
Meanwhile, the Honolulu Climate Change Commission indicates 3.8 feet of local sea level rise will occur in the state by 2100, as stated in the commission’s 2022 Sea Level Rise Guidance Update.
