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Terns on the Tarmac

Least terns living on the tarmac at the former Alameda Naval Air Station may find military downsizing rough going. Now that the Navy is no longer using the base, public access is already becoming a problem, says Laura Collins, who monitored the endangered terns for years for the Navy. The temporary 4' chainlink fence installed by the Navy is easily hopped by sightseers who seem to be made more curious by the "do not enter" sign, says the Navy's Nancy Hardin. According to Hardin, kids with bikes and adults on foot so disturbed breeding terns this past season that many of them abandoned their nests. The fledglings starved to death or were eaten by predators. "People don't realize what they're doing," says Hardin. "Once you talk to them, they're more willing to try to help."

Hardin and many others hope the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will take over management of the portion of the station set aside for a wildlife refuge - and the sooner the better. Fish and Wildlife's Joelle Buffa says the agency is still in the planning process and that several issues remain to be worked out with the Navy - particularly clean-up of a former dump at the western end of the site, which contains a potpourri of toxic substances, including PAHs, PCBs, radium, TCE and vinyl chloride. "It's our policy not to take over land until it's cleaned up," say Buffa. "We've been burned before." Meanwhile, Collins questions whether or not the EIR/EIS for the reuse plan accurately reflects the terns' needs, citing a lack of buffer zones, roosting opportunities and attention to their foraging ecology. "I don't know if the colony will make it through the transition process," says Collins. "The Endangered Species Act isn't running the show here."

Contact: Joelle Buffa (510) 792-0222; Laura Collins (510) 843-3263

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