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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 2021
ERA OF BEACH DRIVING COULD END
Erika Bolstad/Stateline.org
Beachgoers await the sunset on one of the remaining drivable beaches north of Pacifi c City.
By ERIKA BOLSTAD
Stateline.org
PACIFIC CITY — To access the beach,
Nicole Boulden eased her all-wheel drive
Dodge Durango from the highway down a
steep, rock-strewn access road toward the
ocean. Behind her, Boulden’s friend, Kari
Layman, drove a Dodge Caravan very care-
fully down the same path.
“We take it kind of slow,” Layman said.
They parked in a wind-sheltered cove
on the Oregon Coast where their children
could play and their teenagers could sneak
away. Then, they unfolded beach chairs and
a sun shelter and leashed their dogs to the
Durango. Only a handful of other vehicles
were in view.
To the south, they could see one of the
iconic haystack rock formations of the Ore-
gon Coast. All around was the roar of the
Pacifi c Ocean. It was a bright, sunny Fri-
day afternoon in early June, and the week-
end beckoned. Layman, a native Kansan
who embraced the beach when she moved to
Oregon fi ve years ago, was at peace.
“If I’m feeling really stressed, I think: ‘I
need to go to the coast,’” Layman said. “The
sound of the waves, it’s relaxing and also
refreshing. I always feel better after a day at
the beach.”
But accessing this sort of scene by car is
increasingly diffi cult in states with beaches,
a trend sped up by the pandemic. In Califor-
nia, the state’s Coastal Commission recently
announced plans to phase out vehicular
access at its remaining drive-on beach state
park, Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recre-
ation Area, along the central coast near San
Luis Obispo.
On Florida’s Atlantic coast, offi cials in
Amelia Island decided in 2020 during the
pandemic to restrict vehicular access to day-
time driving and residents only — and then
kept it that way. And just south of where
Layman and Boulden parked for the day
recently, the Oregon State Parks and Rec-
reation Commission decided to close a pop-
ular beach to driving, in part because of
overcrowding.
Environmental concerns
States must balance the demands of
short-term tourism that supports local econ-
omies with the desires of permanent resi-
dents, many of whom don’t want cars or par-
tygoers to interfere with their view or their
enjoyment of a quiet walk along the ocean.
There are also the competing needs of work-
ing fi shers and shellfi sh harvesters, as well
as the environmental stress of cars on nest-
ing turtles, birds and other marine life.
And driving itself can damage dunes and
other natural formations that protect coastal
communities from storms. Many states, par-
ticularly those on the East Coast with frag-
ile sea turtle populations, have faced legal
challenges from conservation groups over
the environmental damage caused in part by
beach driving.
“Certainly driving on the beach has his-
torically been a recreational opportunity for
some communities, but it also infringes on
other uses,” said Derek Brockbank, execu-
tive director of the Coastal States Organi-
zation, an advocacy organization that helps
states with coastal management policy.
“Managing public use on our coast is a real
challenge. There’s a lot of diff erent dynam-
ics at play.”
A smattering of coastal states allow beach
driving. In states such as New Jersey and
Massachusetts, it’s allowed only by permit
and restricted to a few locations, mostly for
fi shing. Conditions vary, but many beaches
— particularly on more remote coastlines —
often require four-wheel-drive vehicles or
advanced driving skills.
Citing environmental concerns, the Cal-
ifornia Coastal Commission this spring
decided to phase out off -road vehicular
access to Oceano Dunes State Vehicular
Recreation Area. The beach, the only coastal
state park open to cars, draws thousands of
all-terrain vehicles a day and an estimated
1.5 million visitors each year. The commis-
sion’s decision to ban off -road driving came
after a 12-hour public meeting that drew
more than 200 virtual public comments. Off -
road enthusiasts have fi led a lawsuit chal-
lenging the changes, which are expected to
be phased in over the next three years.
In Texas, the beaches along the Gulf
Coast were historically used as public road-
ways, according to the state’s General Land
Offi ce, and even today the primary way to
access many beaches there is by vehicle.
The state’s Open Beaches Act of 1959 gives
the public the free and unrestricted right to
access Texas beaches.
In fact, the Texas law makes it hard for
municipalities to restrict vehicular access. In
the Gulf Coast community of Crystal Beach,
each May an unoffi cial gathering known as
the Jeep Go Topless event draws hundreds
of thousands of people in four-wheel-drive
vehicles. In 2019, more than 21,000 people
signed a petition calling for Jeep Go Topless
to be discontinued. This spring, the annual
event resulted in more than 230 arrests,
according to a local television station.
Some locals are unbothered by the Jeep
invasion, saying the Go Topless event is no
diff erent from any other busy holiday week-
end on the Bolivar Peninsula.
“You can camp on our beach,” said David
Harris, who runs a visitor bureau for the
region. “That’s what makes Bolivar. If we
didn’t have beach access, we would have no
tourism down here.”
In Oregon, the public also is guaranteed
the free and uninterrupted use of beaches,
but not drive-on access. Nonetheless, an esti-
mated 25% of the 363-mile Oregon coastline
remains open to beach driving, said Chris
Havel, associate director of the Oregon
Parks and Recreation Department. Beach
driving in Oregon got its fi rst endorsement in
1913 when Gov. Oswald West, a Democrat,
declared the tidelands along the coastline a
state highway. His action paved the way for
the 1967 Beach Bill, which maintains all of
Oregon’s beaches for public access.
The sands perhaps best known for unfet-
tered beach driving, though, are the Outer
Banks in North Carolina. There, off -road
driving is both a way of life and a big part
of marketing the barrier islands as a vaca-
tion destination. The practice allows visi-
tors to explore far-fl ung places within the
Cape Hatteras National Seashore and other
state-managed destinations on the barrier
islands, said Aaron Tuell, the public rela-
tions manager for the Outer Banks Visitors
Bureau.
“The ability to move about the islands
and enjoy wonderfully wide-open natu-
ral spaces is part of the Outer Banks’ brand
image,” Tuell said in an email.
Park rangers patrol the beach every morn-
ing to stake out sea turtle nests, said David
Hallac, superintendent of the National Parks
of Eastern North Carolina. He described
driving on the Cape Hatteras National Sea-
shore of the Outer Banks as more akin to a
beach “parking” program. In the high sea-
son, four-wheel drive vehicles often line up
side-by-side, tailgates aimed at the waves,
fi shing lines pulling in the surf.
“This is not a program where peo-
ple are where there’s sand fl ying in the air
and everybody driving on the dunes,” Hal-
lac said. “Typically, they’re either anglers
or surfers or just families that are spending
their day at the beach.”
Last year, the National Park Service sold
48,000 off -road vehicle permits, which cost
$120 for an annual pass or $50 for a 10-day
permit. To obtain a permit, drivers must say
they watched a safety video.
On Amelia Island in Florida, there were
“literally no rules” before the pandemic,
said Sabrina Robertson, a spokesperson for
the board of county commissioners. Nassau
County had been working before the pan-
demic to restrict nighttime driving to protect
nesting sea turtles. The closures during the
pandemic allowed the community to address
long-standing concerns about beach driv-
ing. Now, they’ve restricted beach driving
access to county residents only, those who
own property on Amelia Island and peo-
ple with military identifi cation. Most days,
fewer than 200 people drive on the beach.
Daytona Beach, a storied beach driving
destination in Florida, until the late 1950s
used to host car races on the hard-packed
sand. The Daytona 500 moved, and the local
government now charges most visitors $20 a
day to drive and park on the beach. But the
cost hasn’t deterred beachgoers.
“It is very political in nature,” said Kate
Sark, a spokesperson for Volusia County,
which contains the city of Daytona Beach.
“We get feedback from the public on both
sides. We get some people who say, ‘This
is what we’re famous for, we should have
it.’ And then we get other people who say
there shouldn’t be cars on the beach. It’s a
big toss-up.”
Closing beach access
In Oregon, the state Parks and Recre-
ation Commission recently closed public
access to a popular drive-in beach in Pacifi c
City, just south of where Boulden and Lay-
man parked on their recent excursion. Two
hours west of Portland, the tiny beach town
has a photogenic rock formation, excellent
surfi ng conditions and a popular brewpub
with a view of the ocean. It’s also used by
commercial dory boats, fl at-bottomed fi sh-
ing vessels launched directly from land into
the sea.
See Beach driving, Page A6
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Going to the Dogs!
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PHOTO
Welcome to
’s
D G DAYS
& Chip
Juniper
National Dog Day
Photo Contest!
Grab your collars and your cameras, National Dog Day is Aug. 26 and we
are on the prowl for the bestest, cutest, snuggliest pups on the coast.
Bookkeepers are in demand. CCC offers classes
to get you ready for a successful career in
bookkeeping. Take your Bookkeeping classes
from me at CCC.
According to www.nationaldogday.com, the day celebrates all dogs, mixed
breed and purebred, and works to promote the many dogs that need to be
rescued.
Last year we had 144 shots of over 160 critters.
Submit your photo(s) before midnight Wednesday, Aug. 18 here:
dailyastorian.com/dogdays
Then, come back and visit the pooches all that next week and vote on
your favorite before midnight Sunday, Aug 22. Vote once a day.
N
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P
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ION IS
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REGIS
The top vote-getters will be featured in the annual Going to the Dogs
section on Thursday, Aug. 26.
Share with your friends and family: #Going2TheDogsNW
Now, who’s a good boy? Who’s a good girl?
For more information, call The Astorian at 971-704-1555 or email sales@dailyastorian.com
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