Environmental Impact of Vehicles on the Beach
- Destruction of Wildlife Habitat: Driving on beaches can severely damage habitats for various species. For instance, vehicles can crush the eggs and young of beach-nesting birds, as well as disturb sea turtle nests. The presence of vehicles can scare adult turtles away from nesting sites and disorient hatchlings trying to reach the ocean.
- Erosion and Vegetation Damage: Vehicles can contribute to beach erosion and damage sensitive dune vegetation, which plays a crucial role in maintaining coastal ecosystems. Protecting these areas is vital for sustaining local wildlife and preventing further environmental degradation.
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Dune plants are key to the health and stability of beaches. They gather sand, shelter birds, and withstand wind and waves. But they are very sensitive to a vehicle driving over them. All motor vehicles can kill native beach plants with a single pass, and even the wide flotation tires of quad bikes crush and destroy plants.
The sparrows are “living on the edge,” in more ways than one, Grace McCullough, a master’s student at the University of New Hampshire who studies the birds, said.
"Travel by off-road vehicles on beaches and dunes has a range of well-known environmental impacts: damage to dune vegetation, harm to nesting birds and turtles, and reductions in abundance and diversity of invertebrates."
"Too much driving on the beach can contribute to habitat degradation as well, says Comins. “It tends to really greatly contribute to beach erosion and certainly to the detriment of dune vegetation, which is important for stabilizing these beaches,” he says."
Beach traffic can substantially modify the physical environment on sandy beaches. Vehicle impacts on beaches were quantified on North Stradbroke Island, a barrier island on the east coast of Australia where large volumes of recreational off-road vehicle (ORV) traffic are concentrated on two beaches (Flinders Beach and Main Beach).
► Driving on the beachf ace affects the exchange of sediment between beach and dune. ► Driving compacts seaweed wrack and limits seaward development of dune vegetation. ► Does not cause a net seaward loss of sediment but alters beach-dune morphology. ► Lower crest and base elevation makes dunes more susceptible to storm surge.
"When off-road vehicles drive on beaches, they can reduce the number of creatures living on the beach by as much as 50 percent, according to a recently completed three-year study by a University of Rhode Island graduate student."
