Terns Survive Despite Beach Vandals

* The article on the current plight of Ventura County’s least terns (“A Tern For the Better,” July 6) is remarkable only in its failure to present all the pertinent facts. When you state that “state and federal laws now protect the terns,” you merely perpetuate a wrongly held assumption that these laws are being obeyed. Nothing could be further from the truth.

These well-intentioned laws, with their stiff penalties and fines, have never been enforced to an effective degree at Ormond Beach. In truth, there is no official enforcement of the Endangered Species Act or Title XIV provisions.

Birds struggling to procreate under natural pressures have been abandoned to the tender mercies of ignorant drunks and unleashed dogs. The article and photos failed to mention or show the numerous tire tracks that girdle the nesting sites. David Anderson’s passive observance of unleashed Rottweilers turned loose near nesting sites is a prime example of the benign neglect that characterizes “protection” of these critically endangered birds. Standing idly by and muttering, “Oh, my” does not serve the biosphere well.

In all my years of hiking this wonderful area, I have yet to see a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service officer step foot on this beach. Numerous videotapes of violators and dozens of phone calls reporting intruders and their vehicles’ license plate numbers have yielded little or no response from agencies responsible for enforcing the laws designed to protect these animals. To date, the only law-enforcement agency consistently and speedily responding to calls for help has been the Oxnard Police Department. These officers issue citations for driving on the beach, a violation of a local ordinance that doesn’t carry the heavier penalties of a wildlife violation. Still, off-roaders and surfers continue to drive onto the beach (and over nests) with impunity and often threaten to assault anyone attempting to inform them of current wildlife protection laws.

Were it not for the tireless efforts of local volunteers dedicated to this bird’s welfare, Anderson would not have had any birds to count at all. Least terns (Sterna antillarum) “thrive” at Ormond Beach because these local volunteers spent their weekends hauling tons of fencing, fence posts and signs (all donated by local corporations) to nesting sites so that Boy Scouts and other volunteers could construct barriers to protect tern eggs and nestlings from human intrusion.

Once the least terns are gone, man, they’re gone. All that we’ll be left with is a beach strewn with broken beer bottles, cans, plastic six-pack rings and graffiti. Do we opt for a clean beach, seasonally safe for least tern nesting colonies, or do we abandon it to the dirt bikes, the off-roaders and their trash and litter?

DANIEL HAYES PEARSON

Port Hueneme