Snowy plover eggs might shut down Sherman!!

[dpca10]

Got your attention? :^o

But seriously, this could happen. Not just to sherman, OB, Alameda Wadell and 3rd are all potential targets. Look what happened to tuba, and look what is happening all over the east coast. I tried to kite in Santa Barbara at Sands beach and a hippie almost tackled me since there was a plover protection area up the hill about 100 yards from my launch.

I love nature, but I don't think it should be put in a glass box and only touched with gloved hands.

The snowy plover is the worst offender, due to the facts that: First and foremost it is endangered. Second: It is endangered for a good reason, it is one of the dumbest animals since the dodo. Abandoning it's eggs layed in any sand dune at the first sign of anything out of the ordinary. Third: Our kites pose a specific risk to the plover according to the bird people stating that the kites in the air look like birds of prey to the plover leading to them abandoning their eggs.

Having a medical background I understand first hand the dangers of shoddy studies. I have tried to find this documentation and I have not been able to come up with it. I seriously doubt they have studied this in any controlled way, it is likely just an expert opinnion, unbacked by evidence. This is known as class 5 evidence, which in medicine is often wrong and can frankly be considered dangerous.

What I really want to get at is: the bird people are an incredibly powerful lobby group, and they have had there way dictating environmental impact regulation in california for a long time. Our bay access is constantly threatened by this group. Try kiting any spot other than those established already and you will inevitably encounter pushback in the name of bird wetland protection. Do we have any lobby organization or desire to preempt these situations before they happen. Hope we can have a useful dialogue about the future of our access.

[zgur]

How strict is the enforcement @ Tuba?

[Tony Soprano]

"Do we have any lobby organization or desire to preempt these situations before they happen"

www.sfba.org

[CdoG]

me too S.F.B.A.

start here
https://www.bayareakiteboarding.com/for ... =30&t=8797

[Bulldog]

What I don't understand is that if kites look like hawks/seagulls which makes the plovers abandon their nests, then what happens when a real hawk/seagull flies over?

And realistically, why wouldn't a predator just take out Mom plover even if she was still sitting on the nest, and then eat the eggs?

Truth is, if those birds are endangered it's because we've paved over most of the coastline (bay and ocean) for condos and seaside mansions, destroying their habitat.

[Tony Soprano]

To All Parties Interested in the San Francisco Bay Area Water Trail:

I am pleased to announce that the Draft Revised Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (DREIR) for the San Francisco Bay Area Water Trail Plan (WT Plan) is now complete and available for review. A Draft EIR for the WT Plan was prepared and circulated in 2008, but based on the nature of the comments received, the Conservancy as lead agency under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) extensively revised the document for clarity. The new public review period will begin on August 3 and end on September 21, 2010.

Please find attached the Notice of Availability (NOA) for the project. The notice provides details about where the document is available for review, procedures for submitting written comments, and the time and place of the public hearing (August 24, 2010).

The Executive Summary of the DREIR is also attached to give you an overview of the document. The full DREIR will be posted on the Conservancy’s website for review or download by the end of the day tomorrow, August 3 (www.scc.ca.gov ). We have divided the document into sections to facilitate viewing and download, since the maps within the document have large file sizes.

A hard copy and CD of the DREIR have been sent to the libraries listed in the NOA. A hard copy is also available for review at the Conservancy’s office in downtown Oakland at 1330 Broadway, Suite 1300 between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday except for the second, third, and fourth Friday of each month until the State budget is passed.

I anticipate that this DREIR will be finalized by the Conservancy Board of Directors in early 2011 at a meeting in the San Francisco Bay Area. As with all Conservancy board meetings, this meeting will be open to the public.

Thank you for your interest in this exciting project. I encourage you to review the document and submit written comments to me by mail, fax, or at the public hearing on August 24. Please feel free to contact me at the phone number below or by return e-mail.

Sincerely,


Ann Buell
Project Manager
California State Coastal Conservancy
1330 Broadway, Suite 1300
Oakland, CA 94612
Tel: (510) 286-0752
Fax: (510) 286-0470

Here’s why it should matter to you. The idea of a water trail would provide official sanction, and eventual funding, for sites that we use for access to the water. It will include sites for windsurfing, kiteboarding, stand-up paddling, kayaks, and other hand-launched craft. It is important for the users to let the Conservancy know if there are important sites that should be added to the Water Trail. It is also important that water users let the decision makers know about our own activities to take care of the resources. Some environmental organizations are very nervous about increasing public access, so we need to make sure that our side of the story is also heard.

Jim McGrath
Vice President, San Francisco Boardsailing Association

[Tony Soprano]

Any Wordsmiths out there?

It would be nice to have a sample letter to look at. To use to send in an informed letter during the comment period.

[CdoG]

like we want access at the north side of Cesar Chavez park berkeley,
access at the west end of the Albany bulb
access at the race track i.e. park inside
access at pt emery , more parking
access at the (toll plaza) i said it!
east end of the bay bridge beach
any more places you guys want to ride?

[WindMuch]

While I'm always one who would tend towards protection of any species, I often think the plight of the Snowy Plover might be being used inappropriately by some government regulators with a different agenda.

About 10 years ago I lived on the Great Highway for 12 years, between Moraga and Noriega Streets. At that time, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) shut down off-leash dog access on the beach from Stairwell 21 (in front of the Beach Chalet), south to Sloat Blvd, citing dogs were intimidating the plovers while they're nesting and hatching their eggs.

There were so many things unscientific about this closure and it really pissed off the local dog contingent who used the beach to walk/run their dogs daily.

First, the GGNRA and park service continued driving their patrol vehicles, often well above the high tide line, where they said the dogs where "harassing" the nesting birds.

Then of course it made sense to nobody that dogs were allowed off-leash south of Sloat Blvd, where, there is much less traffic, dogs and people. If I were a bird, I'd choose to nest south of Sloat over the middle of the beach where there is much more human traffic and activity.

The whole thing seemed very arbitrary, and many folks wondered if the GGNRA was using the plight of the Plover for some other agenda...

Kirk out

[kitecrazy]

So basically if we see one of these birds at sherman should we do our upmost to deter it from sticking around?