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RVs invade dunes; group fears overuse

By Staff

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Campers and visitors drive along the beach during Labor Day weekend at the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. / Adobe/Mark Brown

The Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club has filed a Public Records Act request with the state Department of Parks and Recreation to find out if the agency is letting more vehicles into the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area on big holiday weekends than it should, a Sierra Club spokesman said.

The public records request was faxed to the State Parks’ legal office in Sacramento on Aug. 19, and the agency had 10 days to respond. The Sierra Club expected a response by Wednesday, Santa Lucia Chapter president Andrew Christie said.

The request asks for all documents relating to “the implementation of State Parks’ agreement to continue enforcing the interim vehicle limits at the Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area ... at all times, including the holiday periods of Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving.”

Capping the number of cars allowed into the Oceano Dunes SVRA was part of a 2004 consent decree that State Parks entered into with the local chapter of the Sierra Club to settle a lawsuit filed by the club against State Parks.

As part of the decree, State Parks agreed to cap the number of vehicles let into the dunes daily at 4,300, Christie said.

“Anyone who’s seen the dunes on a holiday weekend in the last four years should want to know if (State Parks) is holding the line on vehicle caps,” said Santa Lucia Chapter Chair Karen Merriam.

She added, “We need to see evidence of compliance with their permit.”

The Sierra Club is also suing State Parks to enforce the terms of the county’s Local Coastal Plan, which designates about 600 acres of the Oceano Dunes SVRA as a buffer between the open riding area and adjacent private property. The LCP provision was certified 20 years ago, but has never been implemented, Merriam said.