75-year-old Sunset Beach palms are latest victims of erosion

Christy Ramos Hill watched with a heavy heart Thursday morning as city crews lopped off fronds of the palms at Sunset Beach Park on Oahu’s North Shore, then trimmed down the trunks, leaving just the stumps and roots behind.

The city’s Department of Parks and Recreation Division of Urban Forestry decided to cut down seven of the beachfront date palms Thursday after certified arborists determined the continual undermining of the trees by erosion made them a hazard to the general public and motorists.

It was an “emergency removal,” according to the city, which said although the trees are on the makai side of Kamehameha Highway, compromised palms can fall in any direction. Four certified arborists unanimously agreed the palms posed a hazard to the public if not addressed.

“It’s a really sad day,” said Hill, whose great-grandparents purchased the property across the street because of the palms. “My great-grandparents fell in love with those trees. It’s going to look so naked without those trees.”

She was referring in particular to a cluster of the four palms together that she remembers from childhood. The property, she said, was once a chili pepper farm, and still belongs to family.

Neighbor Cindy McCormick was equally sad, and said no one had informed her of the trees’ impending removal. She had only learned of it Thursday morning when trucks pulled up.

“These trees have been here longer than we’ve been here,” she said.

Beach erosion at Sunset Beach Park became more severe during the start of this winter surf season, according to the city, when researchers described the large 20-foot drop-off at the beach park as “unprecedented.”

In December the city had to relocate a lifeguard stand, remove an Ocean Safety storage shed and move the bicycle path next to the highway. In addition, parking and pedestrian traffic along the eroded areas have been cordoned off with nets.

Since that time, some of the sand that was washed away by a series of large northeast swells has returned, but a significant drop-off still remains.

“I think it’s fair to say Sunset Beach is showing signs of recovery,” said coastal geologist Dolan Eversole. “We are seeing sand migrate back into the beach park area. Unfortunately, that was such a severe event, it’s going to take some time to recover.”

In some places, he thinks, the erosion went as far as 10 feet landward, and might require intervention.

“It seems like we may be in some new state where we get these severe erosion events and it doesn’t quite recover to what it was before,” he said. “Each time it occurs, we begin to see, over time, chronic loss.”

City crews left behind low tree trunks and roots, which are expected to help reduce erosion.

The palms were approximately 75 years old, according to city Parks and Recreation spokesman Nathan Serota.

Sunset Beach resident Phyllis Shipman wished the city could have waited until an independent study by the Outdoor Circle was completed, and considered other options, such as pruning the fronds first.

“I understand where they’re coming from, but I think you need to have a plan,” she said.

Dawn Bruns, a Sunset Beach Community Association member, was disappointed by the removal of the palms because she thinks their removal will directly result in erosion loss of Kamehameha Highway. She also blames the loss of vegetation in the area, in part, on county permits for surf contests as well as bulldozers that have been pushing sand to the front of homes.

“I’m really hoping that we can get in there and replant the dune vegetation to stabilize it,” she said, “and reverse the harm that these county permits and actions have done to destabilize that dune.”

Serota said coastal erosion experts working with the city think cutting down the trees will not have an immediate impact on the erosion at Sunset, and that it takes some time for the root balls to decay. The city’s top priority is safety, he said.

“We are currently exploring short- to long-term plans on how to deal with erosion here and at other parts of the island,” he said in an email. “In the short term we are planning on propagating additional vegetation in that area.”