Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. Photo from U.S. Forest Service.

A coalition of Oregon and Western environmental groups is suing to block the construction of a new road for OHVs in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area. Called the Riley Ranch Access Project, this new route would allow off road vehicles into an area of the dunes where they’ve never been allowed before.

“The Oregon Dunes already contain thousands of acres open to ORVs,” says Noah Greenwald, with the Center for Biological Diversity.  “Creating a new road in the roadless area is not necessary or in the public interest.”

The coalition is concerned that giving off road vehicles even more access will threaten some of the unusual plant and animals species that call the dunes their home. The area contains several “globally significant plant communities,” five sensitive plant species, and habitat for the snowy plover, a shorebird that’s listed as threatened.

It would also mean fewer quiet places in the dunes for hikers, bird watchers and anyone else who wants solitude. “It’s becoming rare,” says Francis Eatherington of Umpqua Watersheds, “to experience this incredible place without hearing the constant buzz of engines and seeing tire-tracks driven through sensitive and protected areas.  Things have gotten out of hand, and the Forest Service isn’t doing anything about it.”

Today’s announcement was made by Oregon Wild, other groups joining the lawsuit are Cascadia Wildlands and Wildlands CPR.

The Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area stretches roughly 40 miles from Florence to Coos Bay on the Oregon Coast. It is the largest area of coastal sand dunes in North America.