First of all, I largely agree with all of the major points made by the Down to Earth column authors (“Why are we still running over plovers?” Jan. 1). Rather than a habitat conservation plan, it is an expanded off-highway vehicle conservation plan. As pointed out, the environmental basis of the 2021 California Coastal Commission decision to phase out vehicles on the beach and dunes to protect public health, flora, and fauna has not yet had its day in court.
The authors missed the mark in equating Oceano with Guadalupe in terms of a southern entrance to the State Vehicular Recreation Area (SVRA). Oceano is a beach community that had its beach seized in 1982 by local and state governments and put in service to off-road vehicles. Guadalupe is 5 miles from the beach, and its beach is vehicle free. The promise was that once a southern entrance to the SVRA was developed, vehicles would no longer use Oceano Beach. A March 18, 2021, Coastal Commission staff report stated that “the base [coastal development permit] only temporarily authorized such uses so that State Parks would have time to explore modifications to park operations. … It was anticipated that conclusions … would be finalized within a couple of years.” The report adds that the Coastal Commission “has never analyzed or authorized permanent use of these entrances, as is required in the original [coastal development permit]. Thus, under the Coastal Act, they remain only temporarily authorized some 40 years later.”
The economic repression and environmental injustice suffered by the community of Oceano for more than four decades cries for a just resolution. I ask for the Sierra Club to demonstrate more creativity and compassion for the plight of Oceano. If the SVRA continues, Oceano still deserves a vehicle-free beach, which means a new southern entrance. The two can coexist. If the SVRA is phased out, then Oceano will have a vehicle-free beach.
Time for locals to step up!
Charles Varni
Oceano
This article appears in Volunteers 2026.
I read this as I was sipping on my first cup of joe this morning and nearly gagged. Isn’t this the same Chuck Varni who crushed all the clams while driving his Subie below the high tide line on “said beach.” Perhaps the theme of his letter is one of attonement…
As a innocent mollusk, I ask only that I be spared motorized mayhem so that I may peacefully continue my inevitable journey into a bowl of chowder.