“The bird had been split in half. The upper portion of the snowy plover was on the west side of a tire track and the bottom half was on the east side of the tire track…. The entrails of the bird were found on the east side of the tire track just north of the lower half.” —State Parks Public Safety Report, Aug. 23, 2019
Western snowy plovers are rare and threatened. They are also very small, but their bodies, when found crushed and mangled at the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (ODSVRA)—as happened on four occasions last month—contain a great deal of information beyond the biological. They bear witness to decades of regulatory failure at the park. As much as they are being run over by cars, they are being flattened by political maneuvering.
This shredding of the Endangered Species Act due to cars and trucks continuing to be allowed to drive through an environmentally sensitive habitat area is one reason why the staff of the California Coastal Commission at its July 11 meeting in SLO recommended that commissioners put in place amendments to State Parks’ coastal development permit for the park. The proposed amendments included stricter off-highway vehicle (OHV) use limits, a prohibition on nighttime vehicular activity, increased operational enforcement, and a permanent, year-round protective area for the plovers.
Had the commission voted to implement one or more of those amendments to the ODSVRA permit, some or all of those deaths could have been avoided. The same could be said of the commission’s failure to take action when it reviewed the permit at its 2017 meeting in Cambria, or at its 2015 meeting in Pismo Beach. On each occasion, the commission refrained from exercising its regulatory authority in the face of clear violations and the longstanding unwillingness by State Parks’ OHV division to address them. On each occasion, the commission instead asked Parks officials, in the spirit of collegiality and cooperation, to please fix the problems on their own.
In 2016, six dead plovers were found in tire tracks over eight months. This year: four dead plovers in nine days.
Per The Tribune‘s Sept. 8 report of last month’s string of deaths, the parks biologist said, “Unfortunately, we don’t have a big enough staff to watch all these birds every hour of the day.”
“Be aware of signs advising you about wildlife, be aware of speed limit signs,” he told The Trib, “and be extra cautious of wildlife—they have the right of way.”
The biologist said that this is the time of year when State Parks does normally find some dead birds “because the snowy plovers are entering their non-breeding season where they tend to roam around the beach more,” the article stated.
Well, thank goodness it’s normal. And hey, if birds insist in engaging in excessive roaming, what are you gonna do?
A reliance on signage and a confessed inability to protect threatened species in your care constitute an unacceptable response to an ongoing violation of state and federal environmental laws. This is at the heart of the conclusion of coastal analysts’ 2019 review of the ODSVRA’s coastal development permit: “It is clear that the coastal resource issues and constraints warrant elimination of OHV use at the park.”
On July 12, the Coastal Commission conveyed the message to State Parks: All of the proposed permit conditions in the commission staff report “must be addressed as permanent conditions within [State Parks’ public works plan] process,” and “it is time to explore alternatives to transition away from high-intensity off-highway vehicle (OHV) use to other forms of public access and recreation in order to meet Coastal Act requirements” at the Oceano Dunes.
At the Coastal Commission’s Sept. 11 meeting in Newport Beach, a Sierra Club representative asked the commission why it felt compelled to write three letters to Lisa Mangat, director of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, over a period of three weeks, stating and re-stating the outcomes of the commission’s July meeting.
One clue: On Aug. 15, the Off-Highway Vehicle Commission thanked Parks Director Mangat for stonewalling the Coastal Commission in a letter in which she told the commission that she considered all of their recommendations to be either unnecessary or premature. Mangat modestly accepted the thanks of the OHV rep, agreeing “that letter did deliver a strong message,” and adding that “it was a statement on behalf of folks above me, too. The Natural Resources Agency was very involved in that, and Secretary Wade Crowfoot provided good counsel and we spent a lot of time with him on that.”
It would seem that the California Natural Resources Agency, which oversees both State Parks and the Coastal Commission, is serving as the stumbling block on the path to the resolution of the chronic environmental issues at the dunes.
If you have a beak and feathers, there’s not much you can do about that. Those of you with voices and opposable thumbs might want to let the governor know how you feel at govapps.gov.ca.gov/gov40mail, by phone at (916) 445-2841, or fax at (916) 558-3160. Δ
Andrew Christie is director of the Santa Lucia chapter of the Sierra Club. Send comments through the editor at clanham@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Sep 19-29, 2019.
Great article. CA is such a leader in so many things. Its shocking to see this insanity still going on. The Coastal Commission made a grave error in not immediately shutting down this barbaric, polluting and destructive activity on sensitive coastal habitat. Were watching increasing disasters from climate disruption unfold in front of us and CA has been severely impacted. Yet the state condones and even promotes fossil fuel joyriding in sensitive habitat that KILLS an endangered species??? Its far, far past time to shut this down.
You have failed to mention that the plovers at ODSVRA are much more successful than their neighbors at Guadalupe dunes, and the most significant difference between the two beaches is the amount human activity. Nearly double the percentage of chicks survive to fledge at ODSVRA than they do at Guadalupe. Predators account for the highest measurable number of plover chick deaths and lost eggs. The plovers at ODSVRA enjoy active protection from predators, due to that presence of campers and off-roaders, and because the park rangers put up fences and trap and KILL skunks, opossums, and coyotes. They get this protection BECAUSE of the park, not in spite of it.
The idea of a bird that cannot move out of the way of an oncoming vehicle is highly speculative, it’s much more likely that a bird was already dead or immobile when it was run over. Yes, a few drivers at the dunes would intentionally run over a bird given the opportunity, but successfully hitting a live bird with a pickup truck would be amazing.
The idea of a tire slicing a tiny bird in half like a pizza cutter is ridiculous.
For Mr. Tanner’s edification:
“In March 2016 one snowy plover was found dead in tire tracks and another was found crushed in the riding area, on October 10, 2016, a snowy plover was found dead in a vehicle track, on November 1, 2016, a snowy plover was found dead in a vehicle track, and 2 additional snowy plover were found dead in vehicle tracks later in November 2016.”
– Notice of Intent to Sue for Violations of Section 9 of the Federal Endangered Species Act for Taking Western Snowy Plover, Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area, CBD, 7/19/17.
Neither Sierra Club, nor CBD, offers any proof the birds weren’t already dead. It’s pure salacious speculation and hyperbole. Even so, Oceano Dunes produces more fledged birds than any other Recovery Unit on the west coast. And it’s ONLY because OHV presence that the dollars are available for such astounding success. The Club has always managed to find and focus on a single turd in a a valley of gold.