Lompoc Beach Closures to Save Animals Spark Battle

A breathtaking stretch of beach near here has been closed to the public and farmers a short distance inland prevented from tilling their land, as the federal government moved dramatically in recent months to save two endangered species along the Central Coast.

Good news for a tiny shorebird, a slightly larger salamander and their environmental advocates has rankled many people in Santa Barbara County. Surfers and beach goers say they have been deprived of one of the few public access points on a long stretch of coast controlled by Vandenberg Air Force Base and private ranchers. Farmers complain that they’ve been forced to change the way they have done business for generations.

There is a sense on both sides that such environmental confrontations will become more common as the region’s rural roots and its increasingly suburban future collide.

“We’re very concerned about these issues and how they’re being handled by [the U.S.] Fish and Wildlife [Service], both on a personal level and an economic level,” said Lompoc Mayor Dick DeWees. “People come here from all over to fish out at Ocean and Surf [beaches], and farming is a lifeblood for this whole area.”

But environmental advocates said the government is finally trying to restore a delicate ecological balance in the region, thrown out of whack as both population and agriculture have boomed.

“We have a moral obligation to protect other inhabitants of this planet, not only for their intrinsic values but so our great-grand-children will be able to see these tiger salamanders and snowy plovers and the land that supports them,” said Brian Trautwein, an analyst with the Santa Barbara-based Environmental Defense Fund.

The environmental controversies began in earnest in January, when the fish and wildlife agency placed the population of tiger salamanders in Santa Barbara County on the endangered species list.

Federal officials had considered the listing for years. They made the “emergency” designation when biologists reported that the creatures--6 to 12 inches long with dramatic yellow splotches on dark bodies--had declined rapidly as much of their habitat was plowed under to make way for new vineyards and crops.

A dozen property owners were notified that the endangered species listing meant they would have to curtail activities that might harm the salamanders’ burrows or breeding pools. Destruction of those habitats or the death of a salamander will be considered an illegal “taking” under the Endangered Species Act, punishable by up to a year in prison and a $50,000 fine.

Under the act, landowners must present the Fish and Wildlife Service with “habitat conservation plans” for the acreage where salamanders might dwell.

Farmers see the requirement as just the latest case of government intervention in their lives. Many have spurned suggestions that they cooperate with federal agents. “You are afraid to let anyone on your land,” said rancher Jim Campbell, whose family has operated 1,200 acres near Lompoc for 75 years. “Today it’s the salamander, tomorrow it’s who knows what.”

Farmers have protested loudly at public hearings. One agricultural lawyer estimated that as many as 23 ponds and 29,000 acres may eventually be affected by the endangered species designation.

“The feeling is that this is just another layer of bureaucracy and restriction on their operations,” said Rich Morgantini, secretary-manager of the 2,000-member Santa Barbara County Farm Bureau. “It’s one thing here and one there and, eventually, it may force people out of business.”

The growers’ frustration has intensified as wildlife agency officials have been unable to outline which activities are prohibited, instead calling for surveys of each farm. Even killing ground squirrels might be considered a violation of federal law, because it could reduce the number of burrows where the salamanders make their homes.

“In the past, a ground squirrel was considered a pest,” Morgantini said with a sigh. “Now it’s a host for an endangered species.”

But environmentalists insist that farmers and salamanders need not be pitted against each other. They plan a news conference today to describe conservation programs that would pay farmers to keep sensitive land out of cultivation.

“If we work together we can protect farming and the salamanders,” Trautwein said.

The salamander controversy was already churning at the start of this month, when Vandenberg Air Force Base and the Fish and Wildlife Service negotiated an agreement to protect the western snowy plover. The tiny bird’s population at four beaches on the base had dropped from 238 to just 78 adults in two years. Two of those beaches, Ocean and Surf, have traditionally been open to the public.

Nearly five miles of beach was closed by the Air Force, leaving only half a mile of Surf Beach for the public and an additional three-quarters of a mile of the strand for military personnel.

Access to the coast already was limited in the area, because the base controls 98,000 acres and 35 miles of shoreline, much of it inaccessible and rocky. More than 30 additional miles are in the hands of private ranchers.

But the Air Force has long allowed the public to use Ocean and Surf beaches. The waters are rough but offer fine surfing when the wind is just right. Retirees and others like to stroll along the wild strand, and fishermen dot the shore.

But the stretch also is considered one of the best remaining locations in the state for the snowy plover--which once ranged from Canada to the southern tip of Baja California--to lay its thumbnail-sized eggs. The bird has been listed as “threatened” since 1994, but other measures had not prevented its precipitous decline at Vandenberg.

Closure of the beaches is designed to protect not only the tiny eggs but also the chicks, which run alongside their parents hours after hatching and peck in the wet sand for tiny crabs and insects.

Mayor DeWees and other locals suggest that coyotes kill more plovers than people do. The wildlife agency counters with studies that show fledglings fare better when humans aren’t present.

“Federal entities like Vandenberg are legally required to take specific steps to help endangered species,” said Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Le Ann Naue. “They must go even further than private property owners.”

The Coastal Commission last week validated the beach closure plan, despite protests from Lompoc residents that their needs were left out of the discussion.

“There has to be some allowances for humans here,” John Roskoski, a 50-year-old surfer and painting contractor, said. “We have to be counted among the creatures who need the beach.”

Manuel Garcia, 76, said he has fished and explored along the closed beaches since his childhood. “They can’t just cut us off from the ocean like this,” Garcia said. “I’ve been going there for 70 years. All we want is to get to the beach. Let the birds have the dunes.”

The Lompoc City Council and the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors both unanimously opposed the beach closures. County supervisors are upset because the county spent $500,000 to build a park to access Ocean Beach, but that beach is now closed.

Coastal Commission employees said they hope portions of the closed beaches can be reopened as soon as possible.

“It’s an incredible conflict here. Vandenberg is a very critical access point for the public, and it’s the best plover habitat in the state,” said Mark Delaplain, the Coastal Commission staffer who monitors coastal access on federal land.

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Protecting Wildlife

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials moved to protect two endangered species this year along the Central Coast. A dozen landowners between Buellton and Santa Maria were told they must avoid destroying California tiger salamanders or their habitat. All of Ocean Beach and most of Surf Beach on Vandenberg Air Force Base were closed to the public to protect nesting grounds of the western snowy plover.