The Chappaquiddick superintendent for The Trustees of Reservations has resigned and Trustees are taking full responsibility for an incident late last month where an unfledged nest of least tern chicks was nearly run over by a Trustees-owned four-wheel-drive truck that was on the barrier beach conducting a natural history tour.
The incident occurred on July 28 at Leland Beach on Chappaquiddick, which is owned by the state and managed by the Trustees. Chappaquiddick superintendent David Babson has since resigned and Leland Beach is now closed to over-sand vehicles from the Dike Bridge to Wasque Point, Chris Kennedy, southeast regional director for the Trustees, confirmed yesterday.
“The trails should have been closed to vehicles to protect nesting shorebirds and we failed to do that. This is a serious violation and we take full responsibility,” Mr. Kennedy said, speaking from his office in Vineyard Haven.
Mr. Kennedy said the incident occurred when a natural history tour truck carrying visitors out onto the barrier beach found itself parked directly over a nest of unfledged least terns. He said a visitor in the back of the open truck leaned over the side, saw one of the chicks beneath the truck and inquired what kind of bird it was.
The driver of the tour truck radioed back to the office for instructions immediately. “I happened to be on the radio and I heard what was going on,” Mr. Kennedy said. He said the beach was ordered closed and the truck was taken off the beach without harm to the unfledged chicks.
But that was not the end of it.
Mr. Babson, who has been on the job for 15 months, resigned his post on August 6 under pressure, and an uproar followed in the Chappaquiddick community, especially among fishermen and members of the local Trustees committee. “People on Chappaquiddick are angry, including the committee members, and I can understand that,” Mr. Kennedy said. “This has been very emotional for Chappy. Dave Babson is a great guy and everybody likes him and I like him too. And I wish him well,” Mr. Kennedy said. But he said given the seriousness of the incident, there was no choice but to ask for Mr. Babson’s resignation.
He said Sarah Trudel, head of the Trustees’ education program, has been appointed interim superintendent, and a search will begin immediately for a new superintendent.
Beyond personnel problems, the Trustees are facing possibly far more serious consequences as a result of the incident. Mr. Kennedy said he had been informed by Dr. Scott Melvin, a zoologist who heads the rare species shorebird section of the state Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, that the state would be conducting a full investigation. “Dr. Melvin has told me that the state considers this a serious violation and an incident that may warrant action,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Mr. Kennedy said his primary concern is that the incident not jeopardize the Trustees’ contract with the state to manage the beach.
“We could lose Leland Beach because of this,” he said. “And that would be a terrible outcome.”
Least terns are listed as a species of special concern under the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act. Mr. Kennedy said Leland Beach has also been the site of nesting piping plovers this summer; plovers are listed as a threatened species under both state and federal law. Destruction of a plover nest is punishable by possible fines and imprisonment.
Mr. Kennedy said Mr. Babson had allowed the interior trails at Leland Beach along the Poucha Pond side to remain open during the plover nesting season, but he said once the chicks had hatched the trails should have been closed. “We, the Trustees, failed to do that, endangering the chicks,” Mr. Kennedy said, adding:
“It’s a failure of the Trustees from the very bottom to the very top and we can’t shirk that. We made a grievous error.” He continued:
“I know there are people who disagree with the law, but we do not and we do not play around with this. You either follow the state guidelines for vehicles or you will not be allowed on the beach. And that in itself could have very serious repercussions for the Trustees.”
Under state guidelines, vehicles are prohibited within 200 yards of least tern nests with unfledged chicks. Least terns are colonial nesters; the exclusion zone applies to an area around the outermost nest, explained Carolyn Mostello, a coastal waterbird biologist for the Natural Heritage Program.
Ms. Mostello said she has no knowledge of the details of the incident and had no comment on it, but she did say: “The Trustees clearly take their responsibility very seriously and we know that they understand the guidelines well.”
Least tern chicks are considered semi-precocial; unlike piping plovers which are born precocious, least terns are born unable to feed themselves. The chicks are fed fish by their parents until they learn to fly; once the chicks fledge the parents teach them how to fish. “It’s a complicated process,” Ms. Mostello said, speaking from her office in Westborough.
Leland Beach was bought by the state in 1993 from the family of the late Oliver and Edmund Leland. The Trustees have managed the beach since then. The 108-acre barrier beach runs from the Dike Bridge to Wasque Point spanning Poucha Pond and the Atlantic Ocean. It links Wasque Reservation and Cape Pogue Wildlife Refuge, some 600 acres of windswept barrier beach owned by the Trustees at the extreme eastern edges of Chappaquiddick.
This article appears in August 13, 2010.
What am I missing here? A Ranger giving a tour didnt see a nest…the birds are fine,and a respected, well liked superintendent is pressured to leave? WTF? Time for tern/plover omlette-fest out on Chappy!
Chris Kennedy is quite a spin doctor! Chris, you left a couple of words out of your statement to the Gazette. Allow me to help you out. “People on Chappaquiddick are angry,[at Chris Kennedy for his distorted version of the truth and intolerable lack of humility] including the committee members, [whom I reminded on Wednesday were only volunteers and didn’t hold any weight with the organization] and I can understand that,” Mr. Kennedy said. “This has been very emotional for Chappy [people all over the Vineyard, because the TTOR only wants donations, we do not value the opinions of the citizens]. Dave Babson is a great guy and everybody likes him and I like him too. And I wish him well,” Mr. Kennedy said. But he said given the seriousness of the incident, there was no choice but to ask [force] Mr. Babson’s resignation. Now it is accurate. The question the State should be asking is: Why did the management of TTOR not train their employees properly, since this is such an important issue? The thought of the week should be: We have only known David Babson for 15 months and we have been familiar with TTOR and Chris Kennedy for 20+ years – so then why is there an overwhelming consensus to advocate for David and rebut TTOR? I think most people are a good judge of character, are you suggesting that all those people are having a lapse in judgment? This is not about Chappaquiddick and it is not about the shore birds, it is about an injustice done to a young man and his family that moved here from 300 miles away in order to dedicate themselves to an organization that in one day put a man out of his job, a family out of their home, his kids out of their school and then spins a story to defend themselves from the angry community. p.s. Don’t ever speak for me again – it is not only Chappy that is angry but many individuals of the community and we can speak for ourselves.
Chris Kennedy says “We, the Trustees, failed to do that, endangering the chicks … It’s a failure of the Trustees from the very bottom to the very top and we can’t shirk that. We made a grievous error.”
I agree, but the “royal we'” does have its responsibilities. Since the Trustees clearly considers forced resignation to be the ONLY means of admonishment of an employee, and since Mr. Kennedy — another Trustees employee — has readily admitted the failure was part his, I am anxiously waiting news of his resignation (as well as that of the tour truck driver and the gatekeepers who did not verbally alert visiting OSV drivers to avoid the trail that should have been closed).
This reeks of stupidity. A mistake was made, no harm. We lose half of South Beach for most of the season so one or two piping plovers lay eggs, mostly to feed skunks. Now someone loses a job, hard to find these days in case no one has noticed, over this? The height or depth of absurdity.
Just another fine example of the right guy losing his job and the wrong guy keeping his job. Not to mention Sarah …part 2.
We fired someone from their livelihood for the ALMOST cost of a baby bird chick. I have not heard anyone on Chappy scream anything about the ALMOST incident. So what is really going on here – TTOR needs an adjustment – they charge full fares for the summer OSV and then close 70% of the beaches and it is now August 14th. TTOR should be ashamed – this guy did not deserve to be fired because of one bird ALMOST – We have lost our balance in society if we think one bird is worth the ruin of a mans job and his family future.
Eneough about the birds please…. We close our beaches for miles for the BIRDS give me a break.. Open the beaches and let the birds be.