For years folks have used off-road vehicles to negotiate some of the farther reaches of Cape Hatteras National Seashore. And for years the National Park Service failed to develop a management plan for those ORVers. And now it's time to pay the piper.
On April 3 a federal judge will consider a request by Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society to restrict ORV access to South Ocracoke, Hatteras Spit, North Ocracoke, Cape Point, South Beach and Bodie Island Spit for up to three years because of the presence of piping plovers, which have been considered a "threatened" species under the Endangered Species Act since January 1986.
The lawsuit contends the Park Service has run afoul of the National Park Organic Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, the enabling legislation for the seashore, and the Park Service's own Management Policies by implementing an interim ORV management plan and failing to produce a long-term management plan.
The National Park Service’s Interim Plan and the ORV use it allows are substantially harming – and will continue to harm – important populations of endangered and threatened sea turtle species, threatened, special concern, or significantly rare bird species, and a threatened plant species, as well as other natural resources, serenity, and other recreational uses of the Seashore generally, reads one of the claims.
On Saturday, in a protest against the conservation groups, an estimated 200 ORV supporters showed up in a gale at Cape Point on the seashore to attend a rally.
In Sunday's editions of the Charlotte Observer, meanwhile, outdoors writer Tim Higgins satirized the situation by looking into the future to listen to a conversation between a young boy and his grandfather over why they no longer fish at Cape Point.
What's unfortunate is that the Park Service might have avoided this situation by acting sooner on developing a management plan for ORVs.
Comments
Anonymous,
I'm not for more ORV driving on the beaches but I am for informed, controlled ORV driving as dictated by the ever changing seasons and habitat need of the affected areas.
Now you mentioned Bonner Bridge!
I've been waiting for someone to do that, kind off like the little kid that can't read sitting outside waiting for the candy store to open. He knows it's gonna happen he just don't know when.
You don't realize it but you actually hit the proverbial nail dead on the head.
In the replacement proposal for the Bonner Bridge there have been two major ideas that received attention.
One is the short bridge proposal over Oregon Inlet that would actually parallel the present location and drop all traffic back onto Pea Island at the south end of the bridge for their continued journey to the promised land. Unfortunately the road to the promised land goes smack dab through the middle of a Wilderness Area slightly more than one quarter mile wide at it's widest point.
Now the plot thickens. Option two as they call it is still a bridge over Oregon inlet but it is also a total bypass of the Pea Island National Wilderness area. This would be accomplished by the installation of either a bridge or causeway that would run South out in the sound at least one eighth of a mile from the island and return to the highway and follow it's original path just above the village of Rodanthe.
The advantages are as follows:
1. You actually could as you put it bulldoze the dunes and also the road in an area that constitutes almost one fourth of the total area of the CHNSRA.
2. Approximately six thousand acres of actual wilderness area would suddenly appear in it's true form and provide undisturbed habitat for a myriad of species. ( I suspect that with the dunes and man gone the Plovers would love the area and would finally have a true suitable habitat instead of having to settle for a man made substitute)
3. Road maintenance cost would fall dramatically as this stretch of road bed is subject to far more wash over than any other on Hatteras Island which results in astronomical upkeep and replacement cost.
4. A new man made inlet could indeed be opened above Rodanthe where mother nature is presently and constantly trying to do so.
5. With the return to true wilderness and the new inlet in place all truly non native species could be relocated and I mean actually relocated!
6. It would create one of the best and largest fishing habitats on the central east coast for a myriad of species. (A bit selfish on my part but I just had to throw that in.)
7. Even though it would be the more expensive of the two options it would actually over time be far cheaper when one considers all of the ongoing cost associated with the short bridge option!
8. The naturally occurring rise in sea level which will put most of this areas roadbed either underwater or on a causeway over the next fifty year period could be avoided for this area.
Alas though the advantages of the second option are so great that it doesn't stand a proverbial snowballs chance in hell of happening when one considers and applies the inevitable 360 degree rule of governmental decision making as is surely applied to all decisions that both the state and federal government become involved in!
Tight Lines
Big Red
Big Red
According to all the scientific literature (found in scientific journals) I can find, fox have pups mid-March in the South and mid-April in the North - on average.
Even if they began breeding in early December as your source suggests, they wouldn't have pups until the end of January, or the first of February at the earliest. I even called some professional trappers I know and none I spoke to said they have ever caught a nursing female in December or January, or even heard of one being caught.
Try using Google Scholar.
But we all know if that fox had been female (hasn't been verified) and had pups, it wouldn't have been hanging out on the beach for hours, it would have been nursing the pups.
Anonymous,
The said animal was not hanging out on the beach but had been jumped by the park service along with several other species that were caught up in a sweep of the dune line back. The said fox was lucky enough that it escaped the removal process that occurred behind the dunes. It's luck though ran out when it was trapped between the rangers and the ocean on the beach.
As far as breeding and birth periods what you said in your area may well be true, but in our unique ecosystem it isn't. As stated it may occur as early as mid October / mid November in our system and as late as may I add mid February as I was just corrected by a friend from NC State University.
Now in North Carolina proper (mainland / middle of state the periods fall more into the late Jan, early March / April mold, unfortunately there is never an early fall mating season as you stated that you have in your area. In our area and most of the rest of the us that would be highly improbable but who's to say as I am convinced it varies widely by region.
Of course I personally feel that if one looked hard enough due to unexpected habitat and species occurrences a fall mating could be possible.
One must take into consideration the dramatic changes in habitat that occur from region to region and realize that not every species follows the accepted pattern as put forth in reference material for areas other than those forced to do so in certain areas as dictated by severe and well defined seasonal climate changes that occur.
The plover is a prime example of this. I use to place them in a predefine time line for courtship, mating, nesting and fledgling because the book said so and if the book said it it had to be!
Wrong!
I pointed out "The Book" to a fishing challenged individual once when he made mention that he had seen a pair of Plovers in courtship at Hatteras inlet split. Well the next day I was there fishing and guess what.
There were two pairs not one exhibiting this behavior. I went home and thre away the book!
One thing that has always intrigued me about many of the animal species located here on the island is the often diminutive size that they still posses at full maturity. This includes both the Deer and Fox.
Tight Lines
Big Red
Red
You're making up stuff now, so it does no good to even discuss this issue. There was no sweep of the dunes for anything that day. According to fishermen who were there, the fox had been there since before sun-up and was still there when the reg-neg group showed up at the Point. Bob E./John C. would tell you the same thing I just did.
Good fishin'
anon,
red showed me your message on this board. i only got one thing to say. bull****. what bigred said covers it right well. exctep for one thing i just pointed out to him. thats isnt one of the fox shots i took that day. the shots i took were flashed pointin north above 44 and the one he showed us on this site is lookin south and their wasnt a grey truck parked below us anywhere in sight.
ed
For the fishermen who complain that it would be inconvenient to lug some tackle gear to the beach, over the sand:
You driving right up to the water's edge to fish is as lame as bubba parking on the roadside to shoot deer from his truck.
It's too bad Apophis is predicted to miss.
Ya'll are simply mistaken. I learned about it the day it happened from a reg-neg member who was out there that day when it was shot, as part of a group meeting with representatives of the park. I don't know if they were on the Point, or simply at "the Point."
I suggest you check your facts (and dates).
i ain't mistaken. after talking to several folks after getting back down this mornin if the shot red posted up was the time yousaid and what you say is right and i dont have no reason to doubt it then there were two diffrent times and foxs cause the shot red posted werent shot by me.
ed