Hardly a month has passed since the start of snowy plover nesting season at Surf Beach and already the beach is on the brink of closure.
Air Force spokesman Sgt. Shane Fibbs at Vandenberg Air Force Base told the Sun that nesting habitat violations have reached 26 as of April 1 and if that number reaches 30, then officials will close the beach until Memorial Day weekend.
Portions of the beach are fenced and off limits to the public to protect the nesting habitat of the western snowy plover, a bird that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife has classified as a threatened species since 1993. The habitat is clearly marked with signs.
The beach sits roughly 8 miles east of Lompoc, is open to the public, and is a popular destination for surfers and hikers. There’s an Amtrak station nearby.
If violations reach 50, Fibbs said, then the beach will be closed for the rest of nesting season. The beach is a part of VAFB and therefore base officials have the authority to close it to the public, if they deem it necessary.
There is a footpath that runs alongside parts of the nesting habitat, which Fibbs said should be considered allowable for walking as long as the habitat isn’t breached.
And what happens if you get caught inside the habitat?
“It would just be a verbal warning,” Fibbs told the Sun. “They would tally that as a violation.”
This article appears in Apr 7-14, 2016.