After a lengthy lawsuit involving the endangered Snowy Plover and off-road vehicles, a portion of the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area is temporarily closed to vehicles.
The closure began Tuesday morning following a year-long legal battle between State Parks and the Center for Biological Diversity, where a federal judge ruled State Parks was violating the Endangered Species Act.
Charles Varni is an Oceano resident and part of the local Surfrider Foundation.
“The lawsuit says basically look, snowy plovers are endangered species, it's against the law to kill them," Varni said. "State Parks has been operating in such a way that endangered species birds are dying.”
One organization that supports off-roading, Friends of Oceano Dunes, is concerned about the impact the closure will have on local businesses.
"I've also talked with several business owners in the local area who've expressed their concerns and frustrations, and one is trying to figure out what they're going to do during this six-week closure," said Jim Suty, a member of the Friends of Oceano Dunes.
This ruling affects The Surfrider organization, which wanted 2.2 miles of the beach in front of Oceano to close to vehicles and Friends of the Oceano Dunes, supporters who want to keep the last off-roading beach in the state open.
“Friends of the Oceano Dunes is very disappointed that both the CBD [Center for Biological Diversity] and the judge really wanted to close the park when there's six weeks until having this all resolved," Suty said.
Everywhere south of the Arroyo Grande Creek is now closed to off-roading. Reservations have been canceled and campers have been given until the end of Tuesday to leave.
Various visitors on Tuesday morning said they weren’t comfortable with an on-camera interview because of how heated the debate is in the area. However, one off-roader said they were devastated with the closure, while a birder said they’re happy about the change.
Varni said Surfrider's goal wasn’t to protect the plovers, but it’s a benefit to not having vehicles on the sand. He said this could be used as a test for the SVRA to close in front of the dunes’ Pier Avenue entrance.
“That's what the Oceano Vehicle Free Beach campaign is about," he said. "2.2 miles of beach in front of Oceano for people, for families, for beach-going tourists who aren't going to come to a beach with vehicles on it.”
The space will be closed until State Parks finishes its habitat conservation plan, which Suty said has been in the works for years.
State Parks anticipates reopening this area later this year, but with a plan that’s taken over decades to finalize, both sides say it’s an ambitious goal.
“They really have to show some leadership to get that done," Suty said. "If there's challenges after that, we'll be more than happy to step in and do whatever legal challenges are needed to protect the park and continue access.”
State Parks anticipates that the area south of the creek will reopen to off-roading in late May.
“This will be a sort of an interesting natural experiment, really, to see how things go," Varni said.
State Parks provided KSBY with the following statement concerning the closure:
"California State Parks disagrees with the April 9 court ruling to suspend off-highway vehicle recreation at Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area (SVRA). State Parks operates one of the most successful western snowy plover conservation programs on the West Coast at Oceano Dunes SVRA. This lawsuit does nothing to improve the program and will result in thousands of families losing their camping reservations and coastal recreational access, while cutting operational revenue that funds environmental conservation. We are reviewing our options to continue to effectively maintain both important environmental protections and coastal access for all Californians."
