For Nature, a Minor Inconvenience
People are big. Birds are small. The question at hand is, can people be big-hearted enough to change a few habits to give an imperiled shorebird a better shot at survival?
In response to a lawsuit, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has designated much of Ventura County’s coastline as critical habitat for the western snowy plover, a threatened species that nests in the sand to raise its young. About 200 of the birds spend summers at McGrath, Ormond, San Buenaventura and Hollywood beaches, as well as at Point Mugu and the mouth of the Santa Clara River, arriving in mid-March and April and staying until October.
The new designation means a few new rules and restrictions.
Most humans don’t intend to harm the plovers but their actions can do so anyway. To minimize the impact:
* At McGrath State Beach, signs and fences have been posted over a quarter-mile of beach and dunes.
* At the Point Mugu Naval Air Station, beaches the birds use are now off-limits to military personnel.
* Collecting driftwood and kelp will be discouraged because the birds eat bugs from plants that wash ashore.
* Park rangers will encourage people to keep dogs on leashes so they don’t frighten or kill birds.
* Off-road vehicle use, particularly at Ormond Beach, will face increased enforcement.
* Beach-goers will be urged to pick up trash, which attracts owls and gulls that prey on plover chicks.
If the public goes along with these minor inconveniences, the agency will not have to resort to more drastic measures such as closing some of the beaches--a step that has been taken in Santa Barbara County. As an additional incentive to cooperate, under the U.S. Endangered Species Act harassment or destruction of a protected species or its habitat is punishable by up to one year in jail and a $50,000 fine.
The success of these restrictions depends on beach-goers’ willingness to be good-natured enough to be good to nature. If so, the plovers will have the peace and quiet they need to get their population numbers soaring upward again.
Surely any romantic beach-goer can do his or her part to support a goal like that.
