Ashdod Sand Dune
Encyclopedia
Ashdod Nitzanim Sand Dune Park is a psammosere
Psammosere
A psammosere is a seral community, an ecological succession that began life on newly exposed coastal sand. Most common psammoseres are sand dune systems....

 ecosystem located close to the city of Ashdod on the Israeli Coastal Plain
Israeli Coastal Plain
The Israeli coastal plain is the narrow coastal plain along Israel's Mediterranean Sea coast which houses 70% of the country's population. The plain extends north to south and is divided into a number of areas; the Plain of Zebulun , Hof HaCarmel , the Sharon plain , and the Plain of Judea The...

 near the Mediterranean sea. It is located south of Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

 and represents the landscape on which most of modern-day Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 was constructed on by pioneers following various Aliyah
Aliyah
Aliyah is the immigration of Jews to the Land of Israel . It is a basic tenet of Zionist ideology. The opposite action, emigration from Israel, is referred to as yerida . The return to the Holy Land has been a Jewish aspiration since the Babylonian exile...

's and the Establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.

Background

Until a number of decades ago, sand
Sand
Sand is a naturally occurring granular material composed of finely divided rock and mineral particles.The composition of sand is highly variable, depending on the local rock sources and conditions, but the most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal...

 dunes dominated the coast of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

 with 462 square kilometers of sand dunes of which over three-quarters were south of Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...

. Over the last few decades the dunes have made way for cities, industrial areas and power plants, and the dune landscape has gradually disappeared. Thus, one of the most characteristic and important aspects of the Israeli landscape is rapidly vanishing.

The largest remnant of Israel's coastal sand dunes is located between Ashdod and Ashkelon
Ashkelon
Ashkelon is a coastal city in the South District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with the Gaza Strip. The ancient seaport of Ashkelon dates back to the Neolithic Age...

. This is the only part of the landscape that still retains its shifting sands with its attendant animal and plant life and marks of bygone civilizations.

The importance of the area derives from its natural and cultural qualities. The dunes contain ecological systems of scientific value. Their function as an open area separating the urban sectors that are rapidly covering the country is of great significance, as is its role as a natural public recreation.

The Sand Dune Park

Because of the importance and uniqueness of this area and its potential for study, hiking, and recreation, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel
Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel
The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel , or SPNI, is an Israeli non-profit environmental organization working to preserve plants, animals, and natural environments that represent bio-diversity, by protecting the lands and waters needed for their survival, and is Israel's oldest and...

 (SPNI) has initiated the drive for a Sand Dune Park that would serve to protect the dunes and their properties for research, education, nature hikes, and public use.

The dune park extends over 11 square kilometers between the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

 to the west and agricultural areas to the east, and between the city of Ashdod to the north and the Avtach water way to the south.

The area of the proposed park falls within three municipal jurisdictions: the northern part belongs to the city of Ashdod, the central part belongs to the Be'er Tuvia Regional Council
Be'er Tuvia Regional Council
Be'er Tuvia Regional Council , is a regional council in the southern Coastal Plain region in Israel.It borders Yoav and Nahal Sorek regional councils in the east; Hof Ashkelon regional council, the Mediterranean Sea, the city of Ashdod and Gan Yavne local council in the west; Gederot, Hevel Yavne...

, and the southern part belongs to the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council
Hof Ashkelon Regional Council
Hof Ashkelon Regional Council is a regional council in the Southern District of Israel.The council is bordered to the north by Be'er Tuvia Regional Council, to the east by the Be'er Tuvia, Lakhish, Shafir and Yoav Regional Councils, to the south by Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council and the Gaza...

. Each of the municipal authorities had plans for developing the area which threatened to cover the dunes with buildings and roads. Additional factors threatening preservation of the dunes are the Ministry of tourism, which planned to build a "riviera" of hotels along the coast; the Israel Lands Authority, which is interested in mining the sand; the Israel Defence Forces, which wanted to use the area for manoeuvres; and others. Until 1982, the area was designated for a nuclear power plant. The plant was not built, but it resulted in stopping development, which saved the sands. When the plan for the power plant was canceled, interested parties pressured for development, but the SPNI then identified its importance and uniqueness and began to fight for its preservation.

In order stir public awareness and appreciation of the dunes, the SPNI established the Shiqmim Field Schol in Nitzanim
Nitzanim
Nitzanim is a kibbutz in southern Israel. Located between Ashkelon and Ashdod on the Nitzanim dunes, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 343....

 in 1983. The school is housed in an historic building that once served the original settlers of Nitzanim. The SPNI also initiated a survey that identified and mapped the area's nature and landscape features; on the basis of this survey, the SPNI in co-operation with the Jewish National Fund
Jewish National Fund
The Jewish National Fund was founded in 1901 to buy and develop land in Ottoman Palestine for Jewish settlement. The JNF is a quasi-governmental, non-profit organisation...

(JNF) drew up a conceptual plan for the Sand Dune Park.

The great demand for land use in the area of the dunes, the scant awareness of their value, and the fact that there have already been approved building plans for the area have made the establishment of a park a most difficult challenge. Progress in creating the park has been made through a combination of educational and informational activities to heighten appreciation of the area and public campaigns against the existing building plans, along with programmatic activity toward outlining the park. The combined approach has borne fruit. Today, the dune park is an established fact in the public mind and in various local and regional plans, despite not yet having a final official status.
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