Posted on 12/30/2024 1:27:58 PM PST by nickcarraway
After part of the iconic Santa Cruz Wharf collapsed into the ocean amid powerful waves on Monday, feathered culprits have been found to factor into the pier’s damage: seagulls.
Specifically, environmental requirements meant to protect the birds during their nesting season delayed necessary repairs to the 110-year-old structure, the Mercury News first reported.
Santa Cruz Wharf to remain closed indefinitely after partial collapseSanta Cruz Wharf to remain closed indefinitely after partial collapse A 2021 repair and maintenance plan for the wharf published by the California Coastal Commission states that repairs and maintenance are needed on the structure due to its “age, location, and construction material.” The plan also states that since seabirds like western gulls and pigeon guillemots are known to nest in the wooden columns that support the wharf, major repairs should take place outside of the birds’ nesting period, which occurs from mid-February to the start of September.
That means major repairs — including the replacement of the pier’s wooden columns — must take place during what are generally the stormiest months of the year.
Santa Cruz Wharf collapse: Bathrooms that washed up onshore being removedSanta Cruz Wharf collapse: Bathrooms that washed up onshore removed “Our work window is a very narrow six months over the winter time when we tend to have storms and big waves,” Tony Elliot, director of Parks and Recreation for the city of Santa Cruz, told the Mercury News. “The wharf is a 110-year-old structure, and it requires a lot of work. … It takes more than six months out of the year to maintain it effectively.”
Those maintenance needs directly conflict with protections for the seabirds, which are upheld by the Coastal Commission. A memorandum included in the commission’s wharf repair plan said the birds are “sensitive during their reproductive life history phases” and wharf repair processes “have the potential to significantly disturb nesting seabirds and affect nestling survivorship.”
Santa Cruz Wharf damaged drone video. Video Gallery: Damage caused after Santa Cruz Wharf partial collapse
The memorandum continued, “There have been discussions recognizing that the unique nature of the wharf environment itself is unlike typical seabird nesting sites and therefore warrants special consideration, and the City has continually expressed concern that protections for the nesting seabirds impose conflicts with the needed wharf maintenance and repair.”
Concerns from the city regarding the need for repairs to the wharf caused the Coastal Commission to modify its requirements in February, allowing some repairs to be made during nesting season. Per the changes, workers were required to stay 300 feet away from nesting birds and only work for a maximum of four hours a day. But the changes “didn’t change the dynamics” of the repair schedule, Elliot told the Mercury News.
Santa Cruz wharf collapse prompts safety warnings due to debris
Monday’s damages to the pier caused the closure of multiple beaches in the area due to debris washing up on local shorelines. A high surf warning remains in effect in the region through Sunday morning.
Not Climate Change?.................
Yeah: when you don’t want to blame lack of maintenance, blame seagulls.
animal-sentimentalism is being carried to insane levels.
Sea gulls are extremely common, and are often pests.
No. Seagulls did not play a factor. Idiot enviroweenie policies did.
Summary: “Seagulls are why we can’t have nice things.”
Interrupting nesting season. Of about how many seagulls? 20? 30? 50?
Seagulls are not exactly an endangered species. This wouldn’t have even been a blip on the radar of the breeding population.
No. Seagulls did not play a factor. Idiot enviroweenie policies did.
tru dat.
They must have had some fat seagulls.
Exactly.
Did you read the article? State law says that nesting birds must be protected. That required maintenance to be done only in wintertime when the biggest and most powerful storms hit. Do you want to do maintenance work when the pier is being ravaged by 15 foot waves?
Are seagulls like pandas?
So blame the seagulls because of government policy?
I am pretty sure seagulls were nesting and mating long before that wharf was built in 1914. What’s next Viagra for the seagulls?
Seagulls are not in short supply...why do they need special protections?
The seagulls were not a factor in that case. The bone-heads who postponed repairs on account of seagulls were.
Seagulls weren’t.... Democrats were.
It’s never the fault of people.
It’s just another case of pass the beak.
If this were Massachusetts, the pier would be completely gone.
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