"It means that the actual sand dunes become more resilient to the increasing frequency of big storms. So instead of our sand dunes blowing out into the sea the sand stays here and stabilises and we believe that's a real insurance policy for our community," Mrs Smaill says.
The plants will act as a barrier collecting sand that washes onto the beach and over time a dune barrier will establish.
Mrs Smaill says the area is prone to having "very big storms up here out of the east and the north. They move through here, constantly moving sand up the beach, it gets locked into place in these grasses rather than going across the road into people's properties."
Usually rock walls would be built to protect low lying areas.
But, coastal scientist Jim Dahm says they're more expensive - and they ruin the natural aesthetics and process of the coastline.
"No one is saying that there are not sites where they (rock walls) need to be used. Obviously there are, what we're saying is we need to understand and work with our coast and minimise the number of sites where we use these (rockwall) things and try to work more with nature."
More than 700,000 sand dune plants have been put in by community groups across the Coromandel since 1993 - a drive which is fully supported by the Waikato Regional Council.
Made with funding from
