If they have their way, the Duxbury Conservation Commission will succeed in
closing
Duxbury
Beach!
With the help of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection,
the Conservation Commission is proposing severe limitations on the use of
Duxbury
Beach
for the future. Once again, their
tool is the Piping Plover. Also,
they are seeking to add another species of bird, the Least Tern, to the list of
protected species. Note that this
bird is not endangered or threatened in
Massachusetts
, however, the ConCom has seen fit to include it in an effort to close more
territory for longer periods of time.
Earlier this year, the Duxbury Beach Reservation, the owners of the
Duxbury
Beach
, sought to extend the current “Orders of Condition”.
These “Orders” describe the manner in which dune maintenance and
construction, road maintenance and the construction of experimental habitat
areas for endangered species are undertaken by the Reservation.
Town Counsel, in an opinion letter to the ConCom advised against opening
the “Orders” of Condition. However,
instead of extending the “Orders”, as had been done in the past, the members
of the Conservation Commission voted
unanimously to open the "Orders of Condition" that the beach
operates under.
According to the Department of Environmental Protection regulations which
authorize action by the ConCom, the ConCom can deny a request for an extension
of an Order of Conditions only in limited circumstances.
In the case of
Duxbury
Beach
, the only one that might fit is "where new information, not available at
the time the Order was issued, has become available and indicates that the Order
is not adequate to protect the interests identified in [the Wetlands Protection
Act]." 310 C.M.R.
10.05(8)(b). The
ConCom has not explained or even stated what conditions have changed since the
orders were last extended that would result in their refusal to extend them
again.
Among the new restrictions that the ConCom insists are necessary are the
following:
·
Kite flying is now banned from May 1st through August 31st. No
reason has been stated for the ban.
·
A 200 yard long area, parallel to the beach, from the bay to the
ocean to be cordoned off for each Plover nest.
This would close the beach and the road to "non-essential"
vehicles. That's a football field on either side of each nest!
(Note: Under U.S. Fish and
Wildlife guidelines, plover nests should be protected by a 50 meter radius area
around a nest, NOT a 200 yard area)
·
Addition of the Least Tern and a 200 yard long area, parallel to
the beach, from the bay to the ocean to be cordoned off for each Least Tern
nest. These species have more nests
, thus more area of the beach closed for a longer period of time.
Just one nest within one football field of the first crossover and the entire
beach is closed. And these birds are
NOT listed as threatened or endangered under
Massachusetts
Law and therefore are not included in special
habitat designations.
·
The beach is to remain closed at the second crossover south at
8pm
, regardless of the presence of any of the above named species.
Again, no reason is giving for this restriction.
In 1991 the DBR started the Piping Plover monitoring program.
In the 10 years since, according to Al Vautrinot, a director and member
of the DBR Technical Committee, there has not been one documented
"take" of a Piping Plover due to humans.
Last year the Duxbury Beach Reservation spent nearly $100,000 monitoring
and protecting Piping Plovers.
In a typical year on
Duxbury
Beach
, there are 10-12 pairs of Plovers that lay 4 eggs each and fledge 1.5 per nest.
Therefore, from 44 or so potential new Plovers, only 16 survive long enough to
fly. The remaining 28 or so are "predated" or die by some other
means. Extrapolated out over 10 years, that's somewhere around 280 Plovers
succumbing to natural causes.
In June, 2001,
Duxbury
Beach
was closed due to emergency circumstances: a woman was missing and a search and
rescue mission was conducted by local and state police, coast guard and the
harbormaster. During the rescue
operation, all persons, including “Plover monitors” were removed from the
beach. Subsequently, a Plover was
found dead, presumably killed by emergency vehicles.
Despite the long history of conservation efforts by the DBR, the Mass DEP
along with the Audubon Society jumped on this opportunity to force severe
restrictions on the use of
Duxbury
Beach
, leading to the dog restrictions and the
8pm
closures, among others.
Now, our own ConCom is seizing the opportunity to further restrict access to
the beach and continue on with DEP and Audubon's goal of completely closing
Duxbury
Beach
. Their stated reason is: there COULD be another “take” of a Plover by a human if the beach
isn't closed.
It's time to stop the insanity. For the 10 years that Plovers have been
actively monitored on
Duxbury
Beach
, Plovers and people have coexisted with little or no problem.
If you enjoy
Duxbury
Beach
and consider these restrictions as ridiculous as I do, pick up the phone and
call the selectmen’s office. It's
time for us to let our selectmen know that the ConCom is out of control.
The "Draft
Beach Management" plan from the Concom.
Our criticisms of the new DBMP
Proposed Beach Management Plan
by the Reservation,
1.3Meg file
