Sands of Samar

[3][4] The Samar sand dunes were formed over thousands of years as grains of crumbled Nubian sandstone from the Timna valley were carried south and east toward the salt pan of Yotvata.

[5][6][7] Israeli researchers at the University of Haifa, in collaboration with Jordanian academics, discovered evidence indicating that the organisms inhabiting the Sands of Samar have a unique genetic composition.

[9] According to local residents, predators like wolves, foxes and jackals, which thrive on the easy access to food provided by increased agricultural development, have supplanted more delicate organisms uniquely adapted to extreme environments.

[14] In October 2011, environmental organizations and local residents petitioned the Land Administration's newly appointed chairman, imploring him to suspend plans to allow bulldozers onto the dunes.

[15] In January 2012, bulldozers razed one third of the dunes and environmental organizations working to save Samar — led by the Green Zionist Alliance, the Green Movement, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and the Israel Union for Environmental Defense — successfully saved the remaining two thirds of the Samar sand dunes, which will be preserved by the state as a wilderness and recreation area.