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Plover / Access Meeting Down Cape
July 19, 2006
Plover policy raises ire
By JASON KOLNOS
STAFF WRITER
PROVINCETOWN - For many displaced off-road drivers, the Cape Cod National Seashore is looking more like a national wildlife refuge than a public parkland.
Most who spoke last night at the Province Lands Visitor Center worried that as more piping plovers arrive, public beach access might be lost if compromises aren't made.
Longtime off-road vehicle user Mike Bothun of Truro asked the crowd of 75 to raise their hands if they feel like ''the administration is doing you right.'' No one did.
''Their theme is inflexibility and there is no tolerance,'' he said. ''I don't seek solutions from this administration because I don't think I'm going to get answers. I'm writing to my congressman.''
For the first time ever, all vehicle access to the Cape Cod National Seashore's eight-mile off-road vehicle corridor from Race Point Light in Provincetown to Longnook Beach in Truro was temporarily closed to protect piping plovers.
Since the sweeping closures in late June, parts of the closed portions have been reopened as plover chicks that nested in the area fledged, or ''moved out.''
As of yesterday, the ORV corridor has been reopened along Pole Line Road from the crossover road, and out to approximately six-tenths of a mile of beach at Hatches Harbor in Provincetown. In addition, approximately one mile of the ORV corridor has reopened at High Head in Truro, and two miles of the ORV corridor remain open at Coast Guard Beach in Truro for night fishing from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Most of the closed areas are likely to reopen by the end of the month.
Seashore Superintendent George Price said officials understand their concerns and will review their management practices.
Price said management of the threatened shorebird follows federal and state laws and guidelines developed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Piping Plover Recovery Team in 1996.
''We're not obligated to be lock step with the guidelines per se, but we're obligated to have the final outcome that protects the birds,'' Price said.
The Seashore has options.
''We will take a look at alternatives that we as a management group feels confident in suggesting, then we can move ahead with a process to get those adopted without any acts of congress,'' Price said.
Price said the Seashore is a ''victim of its own successes.'' Last year, more than 80 successful breeding pairs nested, four times as many decades ago.
Ranger and biologist Carrie Phillips said that the goal of having 625 pairs in New England has been accomplished. But residents were dismayed when Seashore officials told them that only one death of a plover chick, which was last year, had been directly linked to a vehicle.
''Only one bird last year was killed by an ORV, but how many were eaten by predators?'' wondered Matt Mroczka of Eastham. He said the numbers of non-native predators have increased dramatically over the last few decades.
''There is nowhere in their plan that tries to control these predators,'' he said. ''Eliminating ORV access to save one bird is not going to cut it. We need to control the predators.''
Other residents, like Sam Carpentieri of Truro, urged Seashore officials to consider providing alternative access or creating other off-road vehicle trails that will link to stretches of beach where plovers aren't known to nest.
''There is very limited flexibility in opening other areas or expanding the corridor, that's the way it is following the rule-making process,'' said chief ranger Steve Prokop.
An ORV advisory commission is expected to meet this winter to brainstorm ideas for changes. ''I'm not going to throw out unrealistic expectations to you all, but I can commit that we will have a review of this and a public dialogue,'' Prokop said
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