Trustees and Foundation ban water taxi drop-offs on their beach properties
BY PETER B. BRACE
Both the Trustees of Reservations and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation are prohibiting water taxis from dropping off customers on their beaches.

In a two-page June 29 letter to the island's three commercial boating operations that offer water taxi service in Nantucket waters, these organizations tell the operators to enlighten their customers on the private nature of the beaches they want to go to.

"We urge that prospective water taxi customers be informed that all land above the high-tide mark is privately owned and that they are not permitted to be dropped off at these refuges via commercial conveyance," reads the letter. "Our rangers will be enforcing this should they encounter anyone who has been dropped off and left by any commercial "water-taxi" service or non-commercial private boat owner."

The properties in question, the Haulover, Great Point, the Galls, Coskata pond and woods and Coatue, are privately owned by the Foundation, the Trustees and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, but they have always allowed the public onto their properties either as walkers, private boaters or beach drivers.

What the letter does not stipulate is whether this use ban applies to kayak and powerboat renters. Though the Foundation and the Trustees are concerned for the safety of beach users who have no way to get off their beaches during emergency situations, this directive does not account for what may befall kayak renters and other boaters.

Foundation Executive Director Jim Lentowski said that even the most inexperienced kayak and boat renters have the ability to leave their beaches during an emergency, but people dropped off on a beach cannot leave until the water taxi returns at a chosen time.

"It's always been a Foundation policy that we wish to avoid commercial activity on Foundation property," said Lentowski. "I should point out the many measures [we've taken] including closing beaches to dogs and shorebird protection programs have all underscored the extraordinary beauty of the area as a real wildlife refuge."

Trustees Regional Director Chris Kennedy, who is stationed in Vineyard Haven and whose job it is to supervise the Trustees' holdings on Nantucket, including Great Point and the Galls, could not be reached for comment.

Captain Mark Scharwenka, owner of Nantucket Adventures, said this latest restriction on where he can take his customers does not really impact his business as he takes a majority of his clients out to see the seals off of Muskeget Island.

"For us, it's no big deal because we don't have a problem staying with our clients while we're out there," said Scharwenka. "The only problem I would foresee is some people like to go to the beach and don't want you sitting there. [But], it's a really a minor, minor portion of our business."

Although the water taxis' customers are likely a small percentage of the people who use these beaches during the year, neither organization needs the liability risk of beach users potentially stranded on their properties during hurricanes, accidents they may incur and other emergency situations beyond their control.

"We all understand the consequences of medical emergencies, unforeseen consequences and dramatic weather changes, which can affect users of isolated sites," the Foundation and the Trustees said in their letter. "For people stranded on Coatue, Great Point or Coskata, these situations can be frustrating and sometimes even life-threatening. We regard people being dropped off and left on our properties without a readily accessible means of leaving in the event of an emergency to be a public safety issue for which we cannot accept responsibility."

Four-wheel-drive vehicle owners who purchase beach-driving permits from the Trustees are welcomed onto their beaches as are renters of such vehicles, hikers, kayakers and boaters of all types. But Lentowski stressed that the three organizations run their property based on their users being able to get there and back on their own, which he believes is the difference between someone getting vital medical attention if needed.

"We're managed differently than a recreational destination, not that we're not in the recreation business, but even in these areas low impact human activity has got to be considered," said Lentowski. "The real issue here is the Foundation has never encouraged commercial use of its property."

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