Few issues have generated as much complaining as the closure of our beaches to 4x4s during the summer months due to the nesting of piping plovers. The closures at Suffolk County’s Smith Point Park have drawn the most vocal response because of their length and additional restrictions on nighttime closures of the park which prevented even walk-ons from fishing during the prime summertime hours. Along with the considerable impact on surf fishermen, thousands of other beach users who purchased the $100 resident Outer Beach Permit were shut out from the recreational opportunities available along this popular stretch of oceanfront. These closures have also had a devastating impact on businesses along William Floyd Parkway, the main access road to the park. Tackle shops, beverage distributors, delis, 7-11, Dunkin Donuts, gas stations and fast food establishments all suffered loss of business as a result of these closures. Smith Point Bait & Tackle, a beer and beverage distributor and a local deli reported business declines of 50 percent or more this summer which they attribute directly to the beach closure. Family run Smith Point Bait & Tackle was devastated by the lack of beach access to the point that its customers and other members of the fishing tackle community held a fund raiser for the shop on August 21st.
Kudos to Suffolk County Legislator (3rd District) Kate Browning and Congressman Lee Zeldin, both who have lent their support to the issue. Everyone wants to see the piping plovers protected, but some kind of compromise must be reached to insure the rights of thousands of people to recreate in parks intended for that purpose, and to protect the small businesses that rely on those people to pay their bills.
U.S Fish & Wildlife, which oversees piping plover management, has developed a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) that will “promote long-term conservation for the shorebird while increasing the flexibility of recreational management on beaches with nesting plovers.” The plan acknowledges the impact of plover management on beachside communities and parks, and a willingness to alter management plans.
Developed under federal and state endangered species laws, the HCP acts as an umbrella under which individual beach managers can develop site-specific management plans choosing from a menu of options for recreational and operational management. Applicable to private, municipal and state lands only, the plan covers access activities including use of roads, parking lots and over-sand vehicles in the vicinity of flightless chicks. In the case of Smith Point, the goals established to meet the requirements of the plan are unrealistic and need to be tempered. Suffolk County Parks has gone overboard in their effort to protect the birds with large tracts of the beach groomed for plover habitat, sacrificing dune construction which can prevent washovers during storms so that plovers can easily access the surfline from the back beach, and the total elimination of access by the public. Despite all of this, and the survival of all the chicks except one this summer, they still fall short of the goals set forth by the HCP.
On the federal level, F&W must lower the goals to more realistic levels, something that Congressman Zeldin is in a position to help accomplish. On the local level, Kate Browning and her fellow Suffolk County Legislators can encourage the parks department to do all it can to accommodate beach users during the summer season. In both instances, if it requires more funding to get it done, then let’s see to it that the funding is made available.
As this is being written, the last of the plover chicks have fledged and the beach has been reopened, but the issue will rear its ugly head again next spring unless steps are taken now to find a satisfactory compromise that allows for beach access but also provides for the continued recovery of the plover population and their ultimate removal from threatened species status.
For all of you who complained so loudly this summer, you have an opportunity to show your support for making changes in the way our beaches are managed next summer by attending the Suffolk Legislature’s Parks Committee meeting at 12:30 on Wednesday, August 31st at the Legislative Building in Riverhead. Equally as important is the general meeting of the full Legislature at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, September 7th in Riverhead. Fishing clubs should send representatives, and anyone who has been frustrated by these closures should make every effort to attend. These meetings are also a good opportunity to address related issues such as the creation of access to Burma Road that does not include using the Outer Beach, which is subject to washouts during periods of high surf.