It is incomprehensible that State Parks, an agency tasked with conservation as well as recreation, would propose to place, within a few miles of each other, projects comprising 721 campsites, OHV staging and training areas, new OHV highways into the dunes, acres of parking, permanent administration buildings and staff residences, equestrian facilities, and, of all things, a shooting range for peace officers, all in an area that includes Oso Flaco Lake, designated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as “the most unique and fragile ecosystem in California, ranking No. 1 on the list of habitats in need of protection.”
There will be massive destruction of natural habitat and disturbance of dwindling wildlife so that people can have fun—a special kind of fun based on fossil fuels, creating noise and pollution on the ground and CO2 pollution in the atmosphere. State Parks has the temerity to refer to these projects as “improvements.” This is State Parks planning run amok; the scale of these projects raises the question of just how deeply State Parks is tied to the OHV lobby.
They are also a study in irony: The California Coastal Commission staff recommends eliminating OHV activity on the dunes completely and reducing the impact of camping on sensitive beach and dune habitat.
Recreation is a social good. But social goods must be balanced with practices that sustain the natural environment, that narrow band of atmosphere that fosters human life.
Johanna Rubba
Grover Beach
This article appears in Mar 4-11, 2021.