BasicPatrick
11-05-2007, 12:55 AM
More good news...the following text was run as the "In Our View" spot in the Cape Cod Times. This is where the Editors of the Times give their opinion on certain issues.
Detour ahead
November 04, 2007
The process of building up piping plover numbers along the seashore is sounding more and more like the Cape Cod Commission's way of controlling the bad effects of development:
We don't want to stop you in your tracks, but if you're going to make things worse (kill plover chicks, add more cars to the roads) you must make up for it in some other way.
It's called mitigation. No harm, no foul. That's fair.
If Orleans can win special permits from government wildlife regulators by introducing some mitigation into its plover management responsibilities, it will mean happier off-road vehicle owners enjoying Nauset Beach for more of the summer. It may also return almost $250,000 in ORV sticker sales lost over the last three years, an important part of the town budget.
This past summer the appearance of some 22 plover nests and then nursing the hatchlings along for the requisite 30 days stopped beach traffic on much of the spectacular spit from June 22 to Aug. 1. The year before, the roadblock lasted until July 25. Prospective sticker buyers ($180 for nonresidents) said no thanks — that's too big a bite out of the sticker's value. The number of stickers sold has dropped to less than half of the 2,571 sold in 2004.
The permits are an accepted part of federal endangered-species protection now that there has been a fairly good rebound in plover numbers. In the New England region, 440 nesting pairs was the permit threshold; the count is well above that at 632.
The bottom line is that some "take" of plovers is tolerated if the net effect is no danger to the overall survival of the species. What will Orleans and other Cape towns with popular ORV beaches have to do
to win the special permits?
One way might be to post guides to escort ORVs along the beach when nests and chicks are present. The Massachusetts Beachbuggy
Association has said it would contribute money and volunteer "plover wardens." There are federal grants for up to 25 percent of permit costs.
Another way is killing animals that prey on plover nests. This form of mitigation would require "very targeted, limited predator removal,"
said Scott Melvin of the Massachusetts Division of Wildlife and Fisheries. To Orleans Selectman Margie Fulcher, that means "destroying one species to save another," to which she is philosophically opposed.
The difference is that skunks, coyotes and foxes are not endangered — the "species" would not be destroyed.
There should be a middle ground here. There is much to be gained — not the least of which is human happiness and appreciation of a beautiful natural asset — by cooperating with the federal options that promote the survival of the plover at the same time.
Detour ahead
November 04, 2007
The process of building up piping plover numbers along the seashore is sounding more and more like the Cape Cod Commission's way of controlling the bad effects of development:
We don't want to stop you in your tracks, but if you're going to make things worse (kill plover chicks, add more cars to the roads) you must make up for it in some other way.
It's called mitigation. No harm, no foul. That's fair.
If Orleans can win special permits from government wildlife regulators by introducing some mitigation into its plover management responsibilities, it will mean happier off-road vehicle owners enjoying Nauset Beach for more of the summer. It may also return almost $250,000 in ORV sticker sales lost over the last three years, an important part of the town budget.
This past summer the appearance of some 22 plover nests and then nursing the hatchlings along for the requisite 30 days stopped beach traffic on much of the spectacular spit from June 22 to Aug. 1. The year before, the roadblock lasted until July 25. Prospective sticker buyers ($180 for nonresidents) said no thanks — that's too big a bite out of the sticker's value. The number of stickers sold has dropped to less than half of the 2,571 sold in 2004.
The permits are an accepted part of federal endangered-species protection now that there has been a fairly good rebound in plover numbers. In the New England region, 440 nesting pairs was the permit threshold; the count is well above that at 632.
The bottom line is that some "take" of plovers is tolerated if the net effect is no danger to the overall survival of the species. What will Orleans and other Cape towns with popular ORV beaches have to do
to win the special permits?
One way might be to post guides to escort ORVs along the beach when nests and chicks are present. The Massachusetts Beachbuggy
Association has said it would contribute money and volunteer "plover wardens." There are federal grants for up to 25 percent of permit costs.
Another way is killing animals that prey on plover nests. This form of mitigation would require "very targeted, limited predator removal,"
said Scott Melvin of the Massachusetts Division of Wildlife and Fisheries. To Orleans Selectman Margie Fulcher, that means "destroying one species to save another," to which she is philosophically opposed.
The difference is that skunks, coyotes and foxes are not endangered — the "species" would not be destroyed.
There should be a middle ground here. There is much to be gained — not the least of which is human happiness and appreciation of a beautiful natural asset — by cooperating with the federal options that promote the survival of the plover at the same time.