[PCA] NEWS: Resisted for Blocking the View, Dunes Prove They Blunt Storms

[Olivia Kwong]

Not specifically about native plants, but points out the importance of 
having sand dunes and their plant communities as buffers to weather.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/04/science/earth/after-hurricane-sandy-dunes-prove-they-blunt-storms.html?ref=science

Resisted for Blocking the View, Dunes Prove They Blunt Storms
New York TImes
By MIREYA NAVARRO and RACHEL NUWER
Published: December 3, 2012

LONG BEACH, N.Y. -- Surfers railed against the project because they said 
it would interfere with the curl of the waves. Local businesses reliant on 
beach tourism hated it, too. Who would flock to the historic Boardwalk, 
they asked, if sand dunes were engineered to rise up and obscure the ocean 
view?

See the link above for the full text of this article.