Dune Restoration and Management

The City of South Padre Island is committed to completing a continuous dune line. This will help preserve and restore our beaches after storms, provide habitat for local flora and fauna, and provide natural infrastructure protection for the Island.

Building dune walkovers are preferred to allow the dunes and vegetation to grow to what they typically would. Unmanaged pedestrian and vehicular traffic destroy dune plants, lower the overall dune elevation, contribute to blowouts, and form resulting storm surge channels. A dune walkover removes that traffic and those risks from the dune.

All dunes and vegetation are protected under the Texas Natural Resource Code § 63.091 and 31 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 15. It is under these laws that an entity must establish a dune protection line (DPL) for the purpose of preserving sand dunes. Unless a permit is properly issued authorizing the conduct, no person may damage, destroy, or remove a sand dune or portion of the sand dune seaward of the DPL or within a critical dune area or kill, destroy, or remove in any manner any vegetation growing on a sand dune seaward of the DPL or within a critical dune area (Natural Resources Code §63.091).

If you plan to do any work in or near the dunes, please contact the Shoreline department to determine if a permit is needed. Do you need a permit?