After releasing an initial draft of the plan last June, the Trustees spent the year gathering public feedback on topics such as oversand vehicle access, shorebird protections and pet regulations.

On Feb. 13, the town of Edgartown, in partnership with Dukes County and the Trustees, commenced the second phase of restoring the dunes along Norton Point.

The town board of health advised Thursday that people wait 24 hours after heavy rain to swim at Owen Little Beach, due to bacterial increases.

With people and vehicles digging into the sand all along the east coast, wild beaches are few and far between. But on the Vineyard, the rare and endangered northeastern beach tiger beetle, a key signifier of uncorrupted beaches, has regained its footing.

The state department of Fishers, Wildlife and Environmental Law Enforcement announced yesterday that it has taken ownership of the Leland beach - 100 acres of virtually unspoiled barrier beach stretching from Wasque to the Dike Bridge on Chappaquiddick.

Purchase price is just under $1 million; the beach, which has been owned by the family of the late Oliver and Edmund Leland since 1907, was purchased through land-taking measures under the state’s eminent domain laws.

Celebrate Earth Day early by lending a hand with the Vineyard Conservation Society’s 29th annual beach clean-up event.

Beach sticker prices in Chilmark are going up this summer, after selectmen voted Tuesday to raise walk-on and parking pass prices across the board.

Erosion on the Island’s coastline — a process as old and familiar as the Island itself — has accelerated to a point of critical concern this winter, battering South Beach, flattening dunes in Katama, flooding key intersections and roadways and crumbling cliffs at Lucy Vincent and Squibnocket.

High summer is here, and thousands are flocking to Island beaches. But the crowds have many Vineyard officials on edge.