Ormond Beach, Oxnard California
Toggle to the bottom of this post to see all of the photos of the damage
Off Road Vehicles
Sadly on our last nest survey of the season we discovered the worst illegal, off roader damage we have witnessed on Ormond Beach in 40 years. Someone cut the North Habitat fences, entering between two signs posting the area as closed from March 1-Sept 15. We believe this happened between sometime between Sunday August 20th and Thursday August 21st. We were able to fly a drone and document the damage. If anyone has information please email us at contact@venturaaudubon.org. You may do so anonymously.
Overview of Ormond Beach with fence locations and the area damaged by off roaders. Thank you to Sand Shed and CSUCI for your quick help capturing the drone images.
Drone Imagery of damage
Below, close up images of the damage (Top = Before and Bottom=After)
What needs to be done to address this problem:
The land owners to seek permission from the Coastal Commission to install better fencing inland from the dunes where the ATV's are cutting the mesh fences.
Funding needs to be found to install fences that can't be cut and that block enough area that motorcycles and quads can't get into the dunes.
We also need better surveillance cameras so we can capture identifying features of the ATVs and to figure out if there is a pattern to their trespassing.
Once a/the perpetrator(s) are identifies they need to prosecuted to the limit of the law.
Public outrage communicated to the land owners and the California Coastal Commission over this wanton destruction of rare and endangered dune habitat in our community
This is the kind of fencing we need
It was installed at the back of the north habitat in 2006 and it successfully kept out off roaders for a decade. However it rusted in the beach environment and was removed and not replaced. We need similar fencing replaced in this exact location, only it needs to cover a longer area.
Following is a series of photos from August 30
