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Evolution and the Oceano Dunes

July 2, 2026

OPINION by GARY KIRKLAND

I read that a new group has teamed up with a Chumash tribe to sue the state to close the Oceano Dunes to off-road vehicles. This group is claiming they are saving endangered species and biodiversity.

When I took biology classes in college, the professors taught us evolution as major tenet of the biological sciences. One primary precept of evolution is “survival of the fit.”

Species not fit for the environment either adapts or becomes extinct. The fossil evidence shows that over 99% of all species that have ever lived on earth are extinct.

When one looks for biodiversity, one should study Antarctica. People have found fossils of palm trees and dinosaurs. Antarctica used to be on the equator according to plate tectonic theory.

Humans are part of nature. The evidence is overwhelming. What humans do is natural. Again, the evidence is overwhelming. Snowy plovers fly for short distances and lay their eggs on the sand at the beach.

If an off-road vehicle wipes out a snowy plover that is evolution at work. Snowy plovers should become extinct if they cannot adapt to a vehicle.

People should not waste valuable resources on species that have little chance of survival. Life is just fine without biodiversity.

 


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3 Comments

I’m not even going to address his position because the logic is just so…awful. First he fails to mention that another primary piece of an evolutionary puzzle is time. Not generally measured in centuries but in thousands and tens of thousands and millions of years.


Second is his assertion that because humans are a part of nature, anything we do is therefore natural. Its just idiotic. Leave nature alone and yeah, you might get a human. But your not going to get an iPhone, a laptop, a local newspaper, labubu, Dubai pistachio chocolate bullshit, whatever.


If you’re going to argue that we should let a species go extinct due to human behavior, I’d certainly hope you’d be able to make a better argument than Mr. Kirkland. It also makes me question the editorial “standards” of CCN. Like, you guys read this logically deficient drivel and really went, “yeah, the Five Cities community is really going to benefit from hearing about how Antarctica used to be on the equator so f*** the birds.”


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While I agree that Gary’s piece might be a bit taunting and inviting of a negative response, you might want take time to consider the points you argue: Evolutionary and extinction events can happen over long … as well a short time periods.

There is no “ rule” there, right?

Secondly- That humans and ‘ human creations’ are somehow outside of the Natural World – is purely conceptual. The obvious truth is that everything is “ happening’ in the same Unified Field – whether it is a bee hive or a stop sign. Terms like natural or unnatural are arbitrary separations – mental and verbal constructs only .

Thirdly , you can disagree with an editorial like this one, but I don’t see the point in attacking the publisher. A diversity of perspectives allows us an opportunity to check our own beliefs – maybe change them or mount a counter-argument. It’s all good.

I think you’d agree – nobody owns ‘ the truth’ and I haven’t met anybody- myself included, who gets it right all the time.


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I have houses in Grover Beach and Morro Bay. I love driving my Jeep Gladiator on the Oceano dunes and oppose shutting down that longtime use. I also love “running” (jogging at about the same speed as that lady in the walker) on the beach in North Morro Bay, surrounded by teaming wildlife, and am glad i have to leave the Jeep parked in the lot. Despite my strong bias against regulation as a libertarian conservative, i think we do best with political diversity.


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