BRIGANTINE, New Jersey—New Jersey’s plan to protect threatened shorebirds by taking control of who can drive on a stretch of pristine beach has ruffled some feathers in a town accustomed to motoring across the sand, even as foes acknowledge the need to steer clear of the birds.
The state Department of Environmental Protection has begun issuing permits allowing vehicles to drive on the northernmost beaches of Brigantine, a popular coastal town just north of Atlantic City. They took over that function from the local government, which had been regulating beach driving for years.
But new rules limiting beach traffic to 75 vehicles a day—there formerly was no limit—and limiting permits only to drivers who use the beach to fish touched off a mini-revolt in this town where people’s attachment to their beach borders on the spiritual.
Hundreds of people packed a school auditorium last Tuesday to denounce the plan; only one, a conservationist, spoke in favor of it and he was booed.
“They’re taking away our solitude, our peacefulness, our happiness,” said Ricky Palatucci, a Vietnam veteran who bought a home in Brigantine in 1992, and likes to drive on the beach. “It’s like we have no rights anymore. It’s un-American. The freedom we had on this island is being taken away from us.”
State environmental officials say all they are trying to do is protect fragile shorebirds that are required by law to be protected.
“Balancing recreation with environmental protection is a tough thing to do,” said Mark Texel, director of the state Division of Parks and Forestry.
Several states, including Massachusetts, New York, Florida, Texas, Oregon and California, allow beach driving in some spots. But nearly all of them include restrictions designed to protect wildlife.
New Jersey officials say they counted vehicle traffic on the beach last year and never saw 75 at once, saying the new regulations should not result in any noticeable decline in beach traffic. But Brigantine officials say they’ve proved they can manage the beach safely for people and animals on their own.
At issue is a 2.5-mile stretch of undeveloped sand home each year to the piping plover that nests in shallow indentations in the sand, and the seabeach amaranth, a plant that was thought to be extinct before it was rediscovered in 2001.
The beach is also frequented by least terns and American oystercatchers—two birds whose numbers are of “special concern” to conservationists—and the diamondback terrapin turtle.
It’s also a stopover for the red knot, a bird considered threatened in the United States and endangered in Canada. They fly 8,000 miles from Chile to the US east coast each year, stopping in New Jersey before continuing another 2,000 miles to Canada. Researchers counted fewer than 10,000 red knots in January, down from more than 13,000 a year earlier.
“We are not seeing the recovery we need to see with these species,” said Christine Davis, a state environmental specialist. Less than two decades ago, there were 17 pairs of piping plovers in the Brigantine area; last year there were four.