| Of the 700 people surveyed, 68 percent said they were unaware of the law prohibiting off-road driving. |
The cultural tradition of families picnicking on the beach in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is clashing with the environment. As the number of vehicles on the islands has increased over the past decade, the illegal but accepted practice of driving to a favorite picnic spot is now destroying vegetation and sea turtle habitat, and is contributing to pollution. A collaborative education campaign has been put into gear by the islands' coastal resource managers to begin the challenging process of changing beachgoer behavior.
"This was never a great concern until about 10 years ago when the number of cars on island drastically increased," says Kathy Yuknavage, environmental health specialist with the Northern Marianas College Cooperative Research, Extension, and Education Service.
"Most people are unaware that there is a law making it illegal to drive on the beach," explains Erica Cochrane, Northern Marianas Coastal Resource Management Office coral reef coordinator. "We needed an educational campaign because most of the island residents aren't aware of the impacts."
Yuknavage notes that while driving on the beach is illegal, authorities believe it to be a minor infraction, and with a limited workforce, citations are rarely written. The islands' law enforcement agency, however, participated in the education campaign.
The "Walk it, Don't drive it" campaign includes slide public service announcements (PSAs) shown before each movie at the only movie theatre on the islands, multiagency presentations at schools, student field trips, and the involvement of the islands' elders, or Man am'ko.
The program began last spring when Yuknavage, who calls beach driving one of her pet peeves, surveyed drivers at gas stations. She also took aerial photos of the beach and completed a beach count to determine the pervasiveness of the problem.
Of the 700 people surveyed, 68 percent said they were unaware of the law prohibiting off-road driving. Of the 32 percent that knew about the law, only four percent admitted driving on the beach, but 15 percent responded to a question asking if they had ever gotten stuck in the sand. A count of cars at a popular beach showed that 70 percent of beachgoers drive on the beach.
Yuknavage says the survey shows that many people didn't consider driving to their favorite spot to drop off a picnic basket actually driving on the beach. "Our biggest problem was that we needed to get our message across about the law and why it was written."
After convincing the movie theatre to cut the cost by 25 percent, Yuknavage created six slide PSAs that run in rotation before each movie. The slides feature striking images, such as an exaggerated photo of a truck running over a sea turtle, with tag lines about why driving on the beach is harmful or unwise. The islands' Man am'ko are featured in one slide because they are so culturally respected and remember when few cars were on the beaches.
Yuknavage worked with Cochrane and staff at other agencies to create PowerPoint presentations on the topic, which they presented to students, along with business-size cards with information on the environmental impacts for the children to pass out to friends and family. With the help of the tourism association, students went on field trips to beaches where the police volunteered to direct traffic to appropriate parking areas. Two college students took the presentation to high school students.
While awareness of the law appears to have increased, both Cochrane and Yuknavage agree that change will come slowly to the islands.
"It's a great approach that we'd like to duplicate many times over," Cochrane emphasizes. "Just because it's slow doesn't mean we shouldn't do it."
For more information on the "Walk it, Don't drive it" campaign, contact Erica Cochrane at (670) 664-8302, or crm.coralreef@saipan.com.
