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Hunter said plovers fare better in the Oceano Dunes, because noise from the vehicles spooks predators. "The fledgling rate is way up here," he said.
Fourteen miles southeast of the off-road area, where the dunes become rows of strawberries and then tract homes, lives Bill Deneen, 84, behind a berm of pepper trees, a massive aloe plant and a faded American flag.
"My unfinished project is to get the vehicles off the beach," Deneen said. "If I can do that, I will feel my life has been significant."
Neither age nor property lines keeps him from roving the sand where he pleases. Zilke recently cited Deneen for walking into an area closed because of plover nesting.
Zilke nonetheless sees Deneen as a valuable local resource for translating the ecology of the dunes. "He's trekked every square inch of those 17,000 acres," Zilke said. "He knows the dunes better than any other living individual."
On a recent Sunday, Deneen headed out to Mussel Rock. Older duners know this place as "Devil's Slide" and remember racing up its steep faces. With his threadbare hat pulled low to the wind, he lifted his binoculars to the horizon and spotted three plovers. One pair flitted about in a mating dance.
Deneen made the case for the bird's importance. "What's one species?" he asked. "Not much. Get rid of them. But if you modify the whole habitat, when you wipe out hundreds, thousands of species, that is not very smart. We like to call ourselves 'man wise': Homo sapiens. But we're certainly modifying our habitat."
Deneen and Massara see the plover as a key indicator of the overall health of the California coast. In the last 50 years, the plover population has dwindled from tens of thousands to fewer than a thousand, and biologists believe it could become extinct within decades.
Massara rejects the notion, put forward by some, that one small swath of off-road area won't make a difference. "I think the more appropriate question is how much habitat do the humans need," he said.
Back on the beach, the steady stream of toy-hauling pickup trucks rumbled past Langford's patio and the teeming campsites. George Lopez and his family gathered around their campsite, flying a kite and preparing a birthday dinner for Lopez's son. Lopez has been coming to Oceano for a dozen years and is well aware of the plover habitat preservation closures.
"There are lots of animals that have gone extinct in the last thousands of years," said Lopez. "What does the snowy plover provide for us? I'd rather have the riding area, where people can grow with their families and have fun, rather than some bird that we've never even seen out here. Who knows if there's even a bird?"
zslobig@gmail.com
Fourteen miles southeast of the off-road area, where the dunes become rows of strawberries and then tract homes, lives Bill Deneen, 84, behind a berm of pepper trees, a massive aloe plant and a faded American flag.
"My unfinished project is to get the vehicles off the beach," Deneen said. "If I can do that, I will feel my life has been significant."
Neither age nor property lines keeps him from roving the sand where he pleases. Zilke recently cited Deneen for walking into an area closed because of plover nesting.
Zilke nonetheless sees Deneen as a valuable local resource for translating the ecology of the dunes. "He's trekked every square inch of those 17,000 acres," Zilke said. "He knows the dunes better than any other living individual."
On a recent Sunday, Deneen headed out to Mussel Rock. Older duners know this place as "Devil's Slide" and remember racing up its steep faces. With his threadbare hat pulled low to the wind, he lifted his binoculars to the horizon and spotted three plovers. One pair flitted about in a mating dance.
Deneen made the case for the bird's importance. "What's one species?" he asked. "Not much. Get rid of them. But if you modify the whole habitat, when you wipe out hundreds, thousands of species, that is not very smart. We like to call ourselves 'man wise': Homo sapiens. But we're certainly modifying our habitat."
Deneen and Massara see the plover as a key indicator of the overall health of the California coast. In the last 50 years, the plover population has dwindled from tens of thousands to fewer than a thousand, and biologists believe it could become extinct within decades.
Massara rejects the notion, put forward by some, that one small swath of off-road area won't make a difference. "I think the more appropriate question is how much habitat do the humans need," he said.
Back on the beach, the steady stream of toy-hauling pickup trucks rumbled past Langford's patio and the teeming campsites. George Lopez and his family gathered around their campsite, flying a kite and preparing a birthday dinner for Lopez's son. Lopez has been coming to Oceano for a dozen years and is well aware of the plover habitat preservation closures.
"There are lots of animals that have gone extinct in the last thousands of years," said Lopez. "What does the snowy plover provide for us? I'd rather have the riding area, where people can grow with their families and have fun, rather than some bird that we've never even seen out here. Who knows if there's even a bird?"
zslobig@gmail.com
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