Plant Discovery to Delay Dune Reopening

The discovery of what is described as a rare subspecies of flowering plant will push back by at least a month the reopening of the dune in Sand Dune Park to foot traffic. Originally slated for June, the dune will now likely reopen in late July or early August. 

The city was notified of what appears to be Orcutt's yellow pincushion—or in scientific terms, Chaenactis glabriuscula, of the orcuttiana variety—growing on the dune by Robert Roy Von de Hock of the Playa del Rey-based Ballona Institute.

Von de Hock, who was unavailable for comment, approached city officials with his discovery about a month ago, interim City Manager Richard Thompson said. The biologist had also spotted the pincushion plant in the Ballona Wetlands in early March, helping to halt a public works restoration and beautification project that was underway there.

Thompson said the city of Manhattan Beach is working with the California Department of Fish and Game to implement measures protecting the pincushion's growth, which is the reason for the reopening delay. The plant has so far been spotted only on the dune's north side.

Thompson said he did not anticipate additional costs associated with protecting the pincushion plant.

One short-term cost appears unavoidable, however.

"One impact is that we can't [yet] take our equipment over into that area," Thompson said of the need to alter construction plans in the pincushion zone, one of the protective measures necessitating the reopening delay. "When City Council approved the reopening, they wanted to move sand from the north side to the area used for exercise. Now we'll have to import sand to accomplish that."

The discussion over whether and how extensively to reopen the dune to exercisers has included concerns over the environmental impact of such a move. It is not immediately clear how the pincushion discovery will affect the overall debate.

As part of its decision in April to reopen the dune, the city had planned on installing a fence to cordon off the area intended for exercise. Now, Thompson said, that same fence will serve to protect the pincushion's growth on the north side.

The California Department of Fish and Game has designated the pincushion flower "critically imperiled in the state because of extreme rarity ... or steep declines making it especially vulnerable to extirpation from the state/province," according to its Natural Diversity Database, which was updated last month.

Kathy Parenteah of the Theodore Payne Foundation—a California native plant nursery in Sun Valley—said Von de Hock called her in March looking for more of the seed to plant after his initial discovery. Parenteah told him the foundation had none and, considering its rarity, asked the biologist if he would instead donate some of the pincushion seed once he had enough to share. The foundation would like to harvest the plant on its own property,  Parenteah said.

Two experts—an environmental specialist with the Marina del Rey Public Works Department and Dr. Mark Porter, a professor of botany at Claremont Graduate University—reportedly confirmed Von de Hock's discovery in the Ballona Wetlands as Orcutt's yellow pincushion.

Parenteah said the Payne foundation's president, John Wickham, is working with Von de Hock on how best to protect the pincushion plant. Among the questions to be answered are whether the plant should remain in the area of discovery or if it should be transported to what might prove a more suitable locale.

"It has to remain cool enough for the seed to mature and ripen," Parenteah said. "Otherwise, if it gets too hot too fast, the seed isn't viable. If we get a 90-degree June, right when the seed is starting to ripen, there will be a whole lot of seed pods with nothing in them."

Editor's note: Stay tuned for residents' reaction to news of the plant's discovery.