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Driving on the beach discouraged
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Posted on Apr 16 2002
Driving big-wheeled pick-up vans may be hip among the youth, but a representative from the Northern Marianas College said beach driving has become a phenomenon that should be avoided.
Speaking before Northern Marianas and Guam students, Kathy Yuknavage of the NMC’s Cooperative Research Extension Education Services urged the youth and adults alike to refrain from driving on the beach due to the environmental destruction it may cause.
“Quit driving on the beach. This is a phenomenon that’s going on for decades,” Yuknavage said.
“If you drive on a beach, it drifts deposits of oil and gasoline into the sand,” she said.
As a result, the quality of sand is degraded.
Yuknavage’s short talk lightened up the series of presentations by different environmental agency representatives at the CNMI’s 1st Environmental Symposium held at the Diamond Hotel yesterday morning.
She also said that beach driving causes ruts, and these are harmful to turtles and other egg-laying creatures.
It would also destroy vegetation, which is responsible for keeping the sand intact.
“If you have erosion, you have cloudy water; if you have cloudy water, you have sick reef,” Yuknavage said.
Yuknavage ended his talk with an advice: “Walk it, don’t drive it!”
