WESTPORT — Out of concern for endangered piping plovers, the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife “strongly encourages” Westport to reconsider its Beach Avenue plans in a way that would “prohibit vehicular access to the extreme eastern end” of the roadway that leads to the Knubble.

In a May 10 letter to the town Conservation Commission dated May 10, Thomas W. French, assistant director of the division’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program, cautioned the town to tread lightly around the birds’ nesting and feeding area, “at least on a seasonal basis during the Piping Plover breeding season.” State regulations, he added, prohibit vehicular access within 50 yards of piping plover and tern nests.

After reviewing town plans for the roadway and beach, the division said it “has determined that additional information is required … The Division notes that some of the information provided is inconsistent with DEP’s Administrative Consent Order.”

The town recently cleared and graded the roadway out to the Knubble but that work was quickly washed over again by waves and sand. The town had intended to repair that damage but has held off given concerns expressed by the state (the matter was listed on Monday night’s Board of Selectmen agenda).

“The Town of Westport proposes to improve and maintain an access way that will facilitate vehicular access through a section of beach that provides important breeding, feeding, and sheltering habitat for the Piping Plover,” the letter states.

“As you are aware, Piping Plovers have nested and produced chicks at the site of the proposed vehicular access way in past years … There is important feeding habitat both to the north and south of the proposed vehicular access, exposing flightless chicks to significant risk of mortality and disturbance as they move back and forth between the Buzzards Bay and Westport River sides of the beach.”

Among other things, Mr. French wrote that the division is “concerned with the unapproved increase of the graded width/travelled way from plus or minus18 feet to plus or minus 25 feet.” The town was directed to return that width to 18 feet and to find a “means (e.g. permanent markers that do not impede chick movement) to prevent adverse effects to Barrier Beach habitat associated with vehicles and access way maintenance.”

Also, Westport must come up with a plan to deal with potential harm to nesting birds from unleashed pets on the beach.

“As improved vehicular access could compound the problem of unleashed pets, the Town’s management plan should address this issue.”

The letter concludes, “No work or other activities related to your filing may be conducted anywhere on the project site until the Division completes its review.”