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Wing Beach: Walk it, Don’t Drive it!
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Posted on Dec 22 2004
Some beach goers may have seen a change at Wing Beach this month. As part of the “Walk it, Don’t drive it” beach campaign, government agencies teamed with local volunteers to prevent illegal driving from continuing at this important nesting site for the threatened green sea turtle. Wing Beach’s northern parking area was enlarged to accommodate regular visitor traffic while other illegal vehicular accesses to the shore were blocked for anyone other than authorized vehicles.
With the larger centralized parking area, the Department of Public Safety will find it easier to patrol all cars, making break-ins less likely, and beachgoers no longer have an excuse for parking on the shoreline.
An emergency access gate and information signs were also installed. The signs provide facts about the threatened green sea turtle and why it is important to observe the law, 9 CMC Section 5807(b). If you can spell the word “D.R.I.V.E.” you can remember why you should not drive on the beach.
Why should I stop driving on the beach? Because when you DRIVE on the beach you:
D eposit oil and gasoline on the shoreline and create
R uts in the sand that destroy turtle nesting sites.
Besides did you know that it is
I llegal for unauthorized vehicles to drive on the beach, not to mention that it also destroys
VEgetation that prevents erosion and filters pollutants?
So please remember to “Walk it, Don’t Drive it.” (Kathy Yuknavage)
Yuknavage is CRMO’s Natural Resources Planner.
