A group of people illegally drove along a protected beach in California that’s home to a threatened bird species, park officials said.

“A rough start to the New Year out at North Beach,” the Point Reyes National Seashore posted to Facebook on Friday, Jan. 12, including a photo showing the shoreline chiseled by vehicle tread marks.

The western snowy plovers that live and nest on the sandy shoreline are “very sensitive to disturbances like vehicles and off-leash dogs,” officials said in the post.

In addition to illegally driving on the beach, the group also violated camping and fire permits, officials said.

Rangers cited them, and one vehicle was towed.

Point Reyes National Seashore is in Northern California, about 60 miles northwest of San Francisco.

What to know about the western snowy plover

The small shorebird was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 1993, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

They have “gray legs, short black beak, and pale gray-brown upperparts, and snowy white underparts.”

The birds lay eggs in the sand, which are vulnerable to predators and being stepped on, park officials said.

There are fewer than 2,500 of these protected birds along the Pacific Coast.

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