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Entire ORV route closes
Banner Daily Update posted Fri. July 13
By Kaimi Rose Lum
Banner Staff
PROVINCETOWN — The last bit of beach remaining to off-road vehicle drivers was roped off on Friday after a brood of piping plovers picked up and relocated to a point just a half a mile south of the access road at High Head. Until then the National Seashore had been able to leave open at least a half a mile of drivable beach at High Head while the remaining portions of the ORV corridor were closed to protect the 30-odd pairs of nesting plovers that have taken up residence on the Outer Cape this year.
The closure at High Head means the entire ORV route, which winds along the outer beach from Hatches Harbor in Provincetown to Coast Guard Beach in Truro, is now off-limits during the daytime to those who would prefer to roam the beach on four wheels. Nighttime ORV use continues to be permitted at Coast Guard Beach only, between the hours of 6 p.m. and 7 a.m.
The closures are temporary and will last only until the plover chicks have fledged or the broods of plovers in question have moved to a safe distance from ORV access points, according to a press statement from the Seashore. Because piping plovers are a threatened species, the Seashore is responsible for protecting them and must set up protective, ORV-free buffer zones around the broods.
Those who hold ORV permits will be allowed entrance to the parking lots at Herring Cove, Race Point and Head of the Meadow beaches free of charge as long as the complete ORV route closure remains in effect.
The next week could see a chink or two open up in the corridor at Race Point North. North District Ranger Craig Thatcher reported Friday that two sets of piping plover chicks at Race Point North are on the verge of fledging. The “fledge windows” for the chicks are July 10-20 and July 14-24.
As soon as they fledge, a half-mile section of beach will be reopened at Race Point North.
See the July 19 Provincetown Banner for more on this story.
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Jul 12th, 2007