COASTAL AREAS People and imperiled plover conflict over beach property

Bird lovers and beach lovers clash.
PACIFIC CITY, Ore. (AP) -- Doug Olson has never seen the snowy plover -- a bird so small it can fit into a child's cupped hands -- but he says a state proposal for protecting it could threaten his livelihood.
"This is the spotted owl on the beach," said Olson, 58, an innkeeper, referring to another endangered species that years ago brought logging to a halt on vast reaches of federal forests in Oregon.
The state has proposed closing 57 miles, or about 25 percent, of Oregon's northern coast to dogs, kites, vehicles and campfires during the six-month mating season of the threatened snowy plover.
Lays eggs
The tiny white bird lays its fragile eggs in dry sand, where they are easily destroyed. Pedestrians and horseback riding would still be allowed as long as it was on wet sand.
Residents are infuriated by the idea of surrendering their beach for a bird that many of them have never seen -- even though environmentalists statewide say the protections are necessary.
"Are we going to put up steel fences because the dinosaur might come back, too?" asked Paul See, 78, of Seaside, whose family has owned land in the coastal community since 1870.
But northern Oregon is only the latest battleground between business owners and the bird.
From coast to coast, wherever there is sand, people and the plover are coming into conflict.
Calif. beaches
In California, where 1,470 adult birds were counted last year, 17 beaches spanning more than 100 miles from San Diego to San Francisco have changed the way they do business -- from banning off-road vehicles to restrictions on kites, dogs and bonfires. On the Atlantic Coast, the piping plover -- the snowy plover's distant cousin -- has unleashed similar restrictions in 11 states from the edges of Canada to South Carolina.
In southern Oregon, 17 miles of beaches already have had various degrees of restrictions since 1993, the year the bird became listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. Some 90 adult birds were counted in Oregon last year.
In the newest proposal, state park officials want to extend the restrictions to all beaches where the plover could nest. Still in the initial stages, the proposed bans are at least two years away.
"The plover's been here for a long time. It used to nest in 24 areas along the Oregon coast and now it's only in eight -- this is an attempt to recover its habitat," said Michelle Michaud, a biologist with the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, the agency that drafted the proposed recovery plan.
Strong resistance
Resistance is particularly strong in Seaside, a town of 6,000 that has 21 restaurants and 1,000 hotel rooms in a six-block radius fronting the beach.
An aggressive petition drive started by See has grown to more than 2,500 signatures. At Bud's RV and Campground, a jar of hard-boiled eggs is jokingly labeled, "Plover Eggs, 75 cents."
In the East, residents have apparently learned to accommodate the closely related piping plover. A study by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in five beach communities found that the economic impact was minimal, said Anne Hecht, who leads the agency's recovery effort for the Atlantic Coast piping plover.
"The study found that maybe initially, there was an impact -- but over time, people started to use beaches in other ways," she said.
In Oregon, state officials argue the recovery plan could even spell a profit for the coast.
"In 2001, 46 million bird-watchers generated $32 billion in retail sales," said Phil Carroll, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who argues that ATV riders will be replaced by avid birders.
"People travel all over Oregon to see rare birds," said Susan Ash of the National Audubon Society.
Others aren't convinced. Down the coast in Coos County, beaches have faced restrictions since the snowy plover was listed in 1993.
"It's a total lie," said avid surfer and County Commissioner John Griffith, when asked if bird-watching had replaced the business lost. "It's hurt our economy and they know it."
While the plover has its detractors, it also has its local defenders -- though their numbers are far fewer.
"This," said Rebecca O'Day, who runs an artist's studio in Wheeler, "is a weird place to live if you are a sensitive person."