The Draft 2025 Soil Conservation Plan for Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area is a disappointing endorsement for hauling our beautiful beach to the dump. For years, massive amounts of sand has been tracked out on vehicle tires from the Grand and Pier Avenue exits, resulting in tons of sand being hauled to landfills—an estimated $80,000 annual expense.
This violates the Public Resources Code. Constant vehicle traffic and State Parks’ heavy machinery destroy coastal biodiversity and prevent the formation of natural foredunes. We saw the proof during the 2020 COVID-19 closure, when sand stopped piling up on streets and protective dunes immediately began to reform.
By ignoring this evidence, State Parks plans to rubber stamp these destructive practices in the new soil conservation plan, leaving Oceano vulnerable to flooding. To meet legal conservation standards, the Grand Avenue and Pier Avenue entrance/exits must be immediately closed to motorized traffic and allowed to naturally restore.
We must stop treating our beach like a highway, restore it as a vital natural defense for our community, and allow one of the most beautiful beaches in California to survive. Mother Nature proved in 2020 that this restoration can be done rapidly. We hope others will join us.
Bonita Ernst
Oceano Beach Community Association
This article appears in Volunteers 2026.
I question whether the sand in the streets can be blamed on offroad vehicle use, since the wind also causes this problem. I imagine that the park staff who have to periodically plow the sand off of the road to the Guadalupe Dunes parking lot will verify this.
We have plenty of photos to document. Park’s removed both track out devices immediately after the Covid closure and streets were clean.