Pacifica Tribune/Jane Northrop, Staff, 1/30/13. "New Western Snowy Plover protections approved for Pacifica State Beach."
 |
| Shorebird Alliance NIMBY helping to draft "the plan" |
The plans call for a 15-point plan that has been the result of numerous communications between city staff, regulatory agencies and concerned residents over the last four years. The plan passed by a 4-1 vote, with Mayor Len Stone casting the nay vote.
"I spoke with more than 50 people on Linda Mar Beach and asked them what they thought about putting symbolic fencing on the beach," Stone said. "Not one person was supportive. I'm in favor of informational signage and enforcing the leash law, but prohibiting access to such a big part of the beach is an extreme measure." Read article.
Reference - US Fish & Wildlife Service, "Western Snowy Plover." "Official Status: Threatened,
the Pacific Coast population of the western snowy plover is
federally listed under the Endangered Species Act of 1973
as threatened. The western snowy plover is a Bird Species
of Special Concern in California. Snowy plovers were listed
as endangered under Washington Department of Game Policy No.
402 in 1981, and as threatened by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife
Commission in 1975. The threatened status in Oregon was reaffirmed
in 1989 under the Oregon Endangered Species Act."
Note: Photo corralled from CNN, 2/1/13, "The Beatles in unseen photos."
Posted by Kathy Meeh
43 comments:
Go figure. I thought this crap was supposed to end when we elected our all new council. Ms. Digre's philosophy is well known so her role in this was to be expected and she delivered! Surprising that the rest of the bunch, other than Stone, really differ very little from their predecessors when it counts. And it counted big time Monday night. Or, did they simply not comprehend the real implications of what was before them and their options. They had options! And singing kumbaya while handing over the beach should not have been on the menu.
I can assure you the plover activists know exactly what they won. They're probably more amazed than anyone at the extent of their success. They'll fund this expandable plover corral themselves if need be. This beach grab has been in the works for years with lots of helpers. You know all those nice volunteers who remove the ice plant? Plovers won't nest in ice plant. What a coincidence! This Council gave in to the whims and extreme demands of people who are not only out of touch but whose priorities are badly skewed. Every council has extreme ideas presented to them. Where was the judgement? Which asset are you going to give away next? We haven't much left, as you well know.
The fact that Ms. Ervin had very valid concerns but went ahead anyway reflects very poorly on her judgement. I voted for her and O'Neill hoping for some common sense and change. My mistake? Were we expecting Ms. Digre to be made irrelevant in this new line up? So far, when it counts, it's Mayor Stone marching alone.
Look at map in the articl.
Hard to read print but plovrville takes up a lot of space its the fenced area and then those nuts
will want a buffer zone. like a dmz and these so called docents get real pushy with people to even walk near theyr precious plovers
what a joike. with high tide not enough room to walk past to the rocks
Excellent observations Anon@3:04PM!
While FixPacificans and others were congratulating themselves and patting each other on the back after the last election, they have effectively created City Council Vreeland-Lancelle-Dejarnat 2.0. Since LMB is not critical habitat for the WSP, Council was under NO obligation to do anything other than perhaps post warning signage. Once someone/anyone claims the little buggers are breeding, LMB becomes nothing more than a mural in a museum to us. As you have previously stated Anon, this is the first step of what will eventually be complete forfeiture of our rights to utilize LMB for recreational purposes.
Good job FP et al! I say let's vote Vreeland, Lancelle and Dejarnatt back in. At least no one will be fooled as to what they really have sitting in CC chambers. Pathetica. Truly Pathetica!
let's stop with calling it symbolic fencing. it's fencing period. nothing symbolic about it.
and i believe stone's little survey a lot more than the one given at council by the surf club guy. somebody gave him a shot of the old kool aid before that meeting. he didn't even sound convinced himself, just trying to put the right spin on it for council or some reason. he's on rec commission. bet they've all been told to just go along.
I thought this was a pro economy blog that helped elect a pro economy city council. what a huge disappointment
@404 from 304 You got that right!
This council has shown it's stripes by supporting this blatant and uncalled for beach grab. And if those weren't their true stripes then they're just plain incompetent.
No one in this town can be happier with this outcome than Julie Lancelle who was also a key player in the loss of Mori Point to the GGNRA. She set the beach grab in motion years ago. This council continues her work and vision. They fooled a lot of people last November.
I think from now on it's wise to keep a little homespun wisdom in mind in all matters involving the Pacifica City Council..."don't you pee on my leg and tell me it's raining."
@517 yeah well our pro-economy council turned out to be 3 shape-shifters, a dedicated enviro and the Lone Ranger. they just gave away a big part of our economy, such as it was.
You got any coyotes?
keep the people and dogs far enough away, lose the ice plant, and the little buggers are going to breed. might take a while but count on it. and how do we tell them to stay within that fence? so stupid.
@517 you have no idea just how big a disappointment
of course they'll breed. they bred there before. 40 years back. this enviros are nuts they want to turn back the clock on the bveach, at the golf course, hetch hetchy, that searsville dam cookoorakoo
How many of you "oh, this council sucks" went to the council meeting? Numbers count, numbskulls, and the plover pushers had numbers. Works every time. When are you going to learn! Bitchin on this blog doesn't get shit done. Go to council and say the same thing. Call council and say the same thing. Email council and say the same thing. Saying how upset you are after the fact doesn't do scratch. If you don't want to show your face in public, make your council know how you feel one on one. Otherwise, this is an exercise in enjoying how outraged one can be.
from Anon404:
From SFGate; June 19,2012:
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Monday designated 38 square miles along the West Coast as critical habitat for a federally listed beach- and mud-loving bird called the Pacific Coast western snowy plover.
The designation more than doubles the amount of habitat set aside for the threatened pocket-size birds in California, Oregon and Washington."
So aak yourself: "Does this tiny little bird with its supposed tiny population and its contested "threatened" status really require sole possession of Linda Mar Beach (a USFWS designated non critical habitat for the WSP) for its survival at the expense of losing important and limited recreation space for humans in a crowded urban area?"
Question #2: "Is the type of ad hoc habitat creation that Council just approved at Linda Mar Beach just an excuse by radical environmentalists to remove humans from open space areas?"
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Habitat-set-aside-for-western-snowy-plover-doubles-3643036.php#ixzz2JiRcoyjM
The Plovers will fix Pacifica, and fix the economy!
Hey does anyone know what happened to Hutch? He vanished.
@Invisible Man, of course you're right. We should have been there, but let's consider something. The election results in November were not ambiguous. The winners did not campaign as enviros and yet in their first critical vote they embraced an extreme enviro position. One that went far beyond the legal requirement of signage. They did this after several of them showed confusion and misgivings. On an issue that has defied consensus for years and ignited fierce debate, council on that night heard from only one-side, including a couple of their own PB&R commissioners...and they knew it was only one-side. So what gives? Was council ambushed? No, it doesn't work that way. Did they not understand what was before them and its implications? To some extent probably so. Did they really believe they were hearing community consensus? Of course not, that's absurd.
Council's usual reaction to confusion and controversy is study sessions, task forces, more public input. Bring the new members up to speed. We've seen this over and over and yet this time they voted. What the hell have we elected? What gives? This reeks. It absolutely reeks.
@810 anon, plover hunting?
Breeding plovers seen on Pescadero State Beach June 2012! First time in 30 years.
State beach means no dogs, none at all. LMBeach is also a state beach but the city has an agreement to manage it. That's always bugged the plover group. How long do you think it'll be before they go back to working that angle? This is a holy crusade for them and they have a battle plan. Wonder how Half Moon Bay is doing.
if council needed to toss a bone to those nuts they could have voted for signage and education
including the fencing is stupid even by pacifica city council standards which are in decline
hey chamber and the rest the enviros are still running the show
any more ideas on fixing that? other than changing the subject?
c'mon people, these are politicians. they're not about to piss off all those votes and the enviros (full range from rabid to mild)are still a lot of the votes in this town whether you want to believ it or not. ervin and nihart got all the enviro nobie endorsements. we shouldn't expect much out of them other than some acting and handwringing. oh and apologies.
Why did they do it? Not ruling out any of the reasons other posters have given, definitely not, but IMHO oouncils' latest dazzler is all about the money. Well, more like the lack of money in Pacifica. They needed the $32,903 in Coastal program grant funds offered by the USFW (fish&game) for plover habitat protection. USFW kept suggesting, yeah merely suggesting and not requiring, a fence instead of the city's proposed series of signs in the sand and the new council 4 rolled over. Went belly up. A second consideration was the dune protections required by the CCC as a condition of the recently obtained paid parking program permit.
So to sum up, our new council 4 sold the beach, and swung the door wide open to the eventual loss of recreational use, for $32,000 and some pie in the sky parking program which may never even break even. Gee, they regularly pay more for consultants to study the studies of other consultants. That must have been the confusion.
so they sold out the city's only economic engine for a mere $32000. Because Julie Lancelle said so. Great job "new" city council. Your first vote was a disaster of epic proportions.
there is no such thing as a western snowy plover. it is like calling someone a "Northern Californian". maybe a different breed of cat than someone from Orange County, but same species. it is a big scam by the envirowackos and F&W.
@ Anon 11:30: so we're supposed to believe anonymous you with no reference or citation, instead of the US Fish & Wildlife Service? That's beyond weak. It's dumb.
Actually 1159 there's some interesting info out there on this subject. The plover is not just a coastal bird and the ones called Western Snowy Plovers do not differ genetically from the very common plovers found inland throughout the US and elsewhere. They are prolific. A threatened species? The numbers don't support that. More likely, it's as simple as most of these birds live inland. Do we really need to help them move to the coast? Is that natural?
What is dumb, Anon@11:59AM, is anyone who would accept anything from USFWS et all in light of the history of lies and junk science, e.g., the Drakes Bay Oyster Farm.
Anon, you and your ilk choose to believe it because it affirms your agenda. Me, and others, prefer to believe the science. The Western Snowy Plover is merely a subspecies designation for the Snowy Plover. Fact. As Anon@11:30AM put it, Northern Californians are analogous to a subspecies of Californians - no scientific/genetic difference whatsoever. Likewise, you would choose to believe that my brother who lives in New York is a different species than me because he doesn't live in Pacifica. Utter nonsense.
Here is your link: http://oceanbeachdog.com/id57.html
Thanks for the sanity Anon@11:30AM!!
Anon 3:11: you're making false assumptions about me and what I "choose to believe" and my "agenda." Still dumb.
Oh god no, not false assumptions, oh please that not. Not while the Stupor Bowl is being played.
Not all of us who believe these plovers are nothing special are part of the dog lobby like poster@311 may be--Just assuming!! based on the link he gave. Some of us just don't like being bullied and decieved by extremists of any stripe. Also not fans of betrayal by elected officials. Really not a fan.
wow Fix Pacifica is in left field once again. the council said they would look at it if there is money. which there is Not and if the coastal commission approves. It makes those awful people go away and builds nothing. There was no plan presented. Brilliant I would say. Or are you all just short sighted and ready to criticize everything. Just dumb people.
I was watching the Puppy Bowl
Just a spinnin' and a grinnin' at 846.
Sure, sure, it was all a brilliant ploy by council to outwit the birders, their pals, the USFWS, Coastal Commission, etc. Yeah, my money is on council. Truly pathetic.
Wasn't it awesome!
Oh no 846? You sure you wanna go with that "there was no plan presented" story again"? You a little dizzy? The plovers aren't in the quarry, they're at the beach.
Collect your thoughts, talk it out, whatev, and then give it another spin!
@846 did you watch the meeting, read the agenda and packet? you might want to do that before you jump in. want the simple version?
go to pacifica index.
btw, they may have to wait til the feds new budget starts on 10/1 to apply for the discussed Coastal Programs funding but then again the birders are so freakin' ecstatic they'll probably find grants to pay for it. either way a large part of the north end of the beach will soon be fenced off.
".. the council said they would look at it if there is money. which there is Not and if the coastal commission approves," etc. Anonymous 8:46 PM.
Right today, WRONG tomorrow (next funding cycle)! And the city council vote was 4-1 to move forward. See City Council Agenda direct, 1/28/13, Item 9 (Staff Report and a-i).
1. Summary Report, 9/24/12, discussion, last paragraph (9, h): "Staff is currently working with USFW's Coastal Program to secure funding." At city council (1/28/13), oral communications, Shorebird Alliance pledged the matching funding requirement. 2. Map of the WSP PSB site plan, 1/2013 (9, i).
The only one out in "left field" still looking for Snipes seems to be you, Anonymous. How "short sighted" and "dumb" is that? (These demeaning and insulting italicized words, are your words; but they apply to you, not others who have made a good effort).
The council said
We would like a hamburger today, and will gladly pay you Tuesday.
mmm mmm hamburger good, but toasty plovers better and the city's going to set up a plover farm. with a corral. how thoughtful is that?
@846pm Lack of funds has never stopped a Pacifica City Council from pandering to enviro interests.
This council is no exception. Should they be momentarily distracted by their other disasters, the enviros will find the funds to implement the USFWS approved plan that this council has now agreed to.
Not to worry. We won't be spared.
All we need to know about this plover thing is that our then mayor, Julie Lancelle, set this thing in motion in 2009. That's when she created a sub-committee of Open Space and PB&R to develop recommendations to protect the plovers and other shore birds. Plovers were on the threatened species list. The sub-committee also included people from the Pacifica Environmental Fam, POOCH, Shorebird Alliance.
The rest of the story, short version...Couple years later after a lot of back and forth and more people involved, including the USFWS, the city had a plan that involved no fencing on the beach, a fence along the paved bike path to protect the dunes and plovers, regulatory and educational signs on the beach at 75 foot intervals and in other high traffic spots. The plan seemed adequate, particularly since it followed the measures put in place at Crissy Field and Ocean Beach which also have roosting, not nesting, plovers. Those areas are GGNRA properties. Some folks felt optimistic, that despite the plan and USFWS involvement, absolutely nothing would ever be done because the city was broke. Hahaha. Plan sent to USFWS for comment and they seemed agreeable at first. Back and forth and a USFWS guy assigned to the project.
Back and forth and more input from local birders and USFWS wants the signs 25 to 35 feet apart. The city says too many signs on our little beach. Back and forth and USFWS wants a fence instead of the signs, and docents, and a more formal agreement for non-profit group participation, and they don't care about the fence along the bike path (although the Coastal Commission apparently does). Funding of almost $33,000appeared to be available for the plan through USFWS Coastal Programs. Council plays dead and adds the fence to the plan recommendations and votes for it 4 to 1 on January 28, 2013. About then we learn funding may not be available til new fed budget year which starts October 1, 2013. Shore Bird Alliance pleges some $9,000 in matching funds. Bet they're checking their other pockets right now. The plover corral and all the volunteer plover-cops are on the way to LMBeach. Remember who to thank.
Julie is the new John Curtis whispering in the councils ears
New council just like the old councils
So it would seem.
If a plover is a plover is a plover then make it a big public announcement at a Concil meeting with supporting scientific documentation. Stop them from spending more of our tax dollars foolishly and giving away more Pacifica real estate to the nutjob enviros.
Too late for that. The USFWS is involved and they are invested in the idea that the plovers here are a distinct species and threatened. How can we be surprised at what's happened when a succession of city councils did nothing--no signs, no effort to control off-leash dogs. I think the signs may have actually been ordered at one time. Probably in a warehouse somewhere. Council's vote for this beach grab was inevitable. The enviros have brought in powerful allies and they are not going to back off. Surprised it took them so long.
Post a Comment