Visitors to Cape Hatteras National Seashore soon will have 29 new access points for exploring the seashore's beaches under a plan stemming from its off-road vehicle management plan.
The projects, ranging from parking lots and off-road vehicle ramps to handicap accessible boardwalks, were outlined in the seashore's Construction of New Development that Facilities Public Access Environment Assessment. After nearly two years of planning, the project list was approved in mid-November by the National Park Service's Southeast Region office.
The new access areas will create or improve 15 parking areas, 1 paved and 2 unpaved roads, 5 off-road vehicle ramps, 5 foot paths, 11 accessible boardwalks, and the elevation of an existing flood-prone road section. These access improvements will facilitate ORV and pedestrian access to areas of the Seashore and increase access for visitors with disabilities while minimizing conflicts between a wide variety of recreational users in the seashore, park officials said in a release.
The improved access points will protect the seashore's natural, cultural, scenic and aesthetic aspects as well as address mutual concerns with local communities and governments who expressed concerns about potential safety issues with road shoulder parking along NC Hwy 12.
Map of new access points to be developed. NPS graphic.
The projects:
* A 10-car parking at the former site of the U.S. Coast Guard Station on Bodie Island
* A handicap accessible boardwalk at Coquina Beach on Bodie Island
* Additional access road from NC-12 to fee station at Coquina Beach
* An ORV ramp and 10-car parking area 0.5 miles south of Coquina Beach (New Ramp 2.5)
* A 10-car parking area with foot trail to Bodie Island Spit at Ramp 4
* A 20-car parking area and handicap accessible boardwalk at Ramp 23 (Salvo)
* A 10-car parking area about 1.0 mile south of Ramp 23 with foot trail to the beach
* An ORV Ramp 25.5 with foot trail or boardwalk to the beach
* A 5-car parking area and foot trail to beach (beachside) at soundside Ramp 48
* An ORV Ramp 32.5 (Little Kinnakeet) with a 10-car parking area and foot trail to the beach
* A handicap accessible boardwalk at Ramp 34
* A handicap accessible boardwalk to sound at Haulover Beach Parking Area
* A 15-car parking area west side of highway at/near Kite Point
* A 15-car parking area at soundside access #59 with foot trail from highway to beach
* A 5-car parking area west side of highway at/near soundside access 60
* A 50-car parking area at the former Buxton Coast Guard Station with handicap accessible boardwalk
* A handicap accessible boardwalk at Lighthouse Beach
* A 3-car parking area at Loran Road w/ new handicap accessible boardwalk to the beach
* An elevated section of Lighthouse Rd to address flooding at ramps 43 and 44
* An unpaved IDR between Ramp 45 and 49 w/new ORV Ramp 48 to the beach (Ramp has been moved from 47.5 to 48)
* Widen Ramp 49 and add connector road and 5 car parking area to Billy Mitchell Rd. near Frisco Campground
* A handicap accessible boardwalk at the Ramp 55 parking area on Hatteras Island
* An unimproved 20-car parking area near the Pole Road/Spur Road intersection
* A handicap accessible boardwalk at/near north ferry terminal parking area on Ocracoke * An ORV Ramp 59.5 at north Ocracoke
* A 5-car parking area at the west side of highway entrance of Borrow Pit Road
* An ORV Ramp 63 across from Scrag Cedar Road
* A handicap accessible boardwalk at the Ocracoke Pony Pens
* A handicap accessible boardwalk at the Ocracoke Day Use Area
Comments
My time at Hatteras ended just as the ORV issue was heating up. So while there seemed to be plenty of access points back then, I can see how with the way the park is being managed today (because a federal judge forced the NPS to start enforcing the law) it is a different situation. After giving this a little more thought it looks like they are trying to do is open more paths to beach acces to compensate for those that might be unusable because of shorebird or turtle closure. For example right now you might have miles of beach either north or south of a closure that is technicaly open but is difficult to access because the parking lot/ boardwalk or ORV ramp that would normally get you there is shutdown because of a nest closure. It is like trying to get into a house where the only door is blocked and you can't open it. What do you do to acces the other parts of the house? Cut open some more doors.
It is a long list but most of these are really penny ante type projects. Some of them are nothing more than putting some stipes down and formally calling something a parking lot that had been a pull off point anyway.
Perpetual Seasonal, the park agreed to this under the ORV management plan adopted early in 2012.
I have lived on Hatteras Island for 40 years.
One reason for the vehicle free areas (VFA) in CHNS that is seldom mentioned has to do with the Enabling Legislation for the park. Anyone who visited the park in the 60's would have seen all the Park opened to ORV use but could access miles of beach by parking and walking and never see a vehicle. Lots of us came to CHNS to enjoy recreating in a "primitive wilderness".
Cape Hatteras National Seashore Parking Lot
Latter on so many of us came with ORVs that by early 2000's you could not find a section of beach that was not full of tire ruts and parked vehicles or have vehicle driving by. On ORV accessible beaches all the beach, dune to tideline, with no separation from pedestrians is an ORV trail! Is this anyone's (other than ORV special interest) idea of a National Park?
What is the problem establishing some VFAs (with equitable amounts of ORV accessible areas) where access requires walks on a flat sand beach for a couple of miles? Not everyone has the ability or desire to walk that far and it preserves small parts of the Seashore as somewhat remote and "primitive". The problem is that the local ORV/ fishing orgs (bet Beachbumb is a member of all 3 of them) have become very politically powerful. They continue to poke a stick in the eye of any individual or organization that deviates from their goal of ORV access. The way these orgs members slander all conservation groups and the NPS is the height of hypocrisy. They never miss an opportunity to poke a stick in your eye.
You would think that visitors with ORVs would be happy to have better access to the areas that can't be accessed by vehicles. The truth is they are lobbying to reverse the VFAs and don't want any improvement to these areas for that reason. The park has been maintaining ORV infrastructure for years with no ORV fees.
The Park should promote their role in maintaining the intent of this Seashore and delineate and promote the VFAs while providing appropriate infrastructure for visitors to these areas.
CHNS enabling legislation
"Except for certain portions of the area, deemed to be especially adaptable for recreational uses, particularly swimming, boating, sailing, fishing, and other recreational activities of similar nature, which shall be developed for such uses as needed, the said area shall be permanently reserved as a primitive wilderness and no development of the project or plan for the convenience of visitors shall be undertaken which would be incompatible with the preservation of the unique flora and fauna or the physiographic conditions now prevailing in this area."
ORV access is not mentioned or guaranteed anywhere in the EL.
Thank you, Buxton.
Dittos Lee, I also agree with Buxton. Here in California, we have a great State Park, Pismo Beach, that is open to all types of ORVs. Every time any mention of some restrictions on said ORVs are brought up, the resulting furor is something to witness. I have camped there many times, as you can drive on beach and find a spot that is so designated. It is quite an experience, my little pickup camper has been the subject of all kinds of late night activities including being circled by ORVs just like the old western movies, This at one or two o'clock in the morning, Watching the dirt bikes, dune buggies, etc. chasing the shore birds at all hours of the day and night is disconcerting. Do not go there on a weekend. I am not opposed to some sharing of the beach with these users, I know they are having a great time. But, Buxton is right, in my own opinion, ecological considerations, etc are also part of the mission of these areas.
Good post, Buxton and you are no doubt right about beachdumb. He may be a charter member of at least two of the groups.
Rick
The Anglers club would say what difference does more parking lots and boardwalks mean if the beach they are there to help you access is closed?
I sympathize with the locals but I just don't think things could continue as they had in this day and time.
Ron, your experiences, and Buxton's mirror experiences in wild place here in Utah where ORVs are permitted -- and some places where they are not. Perhaps the behavior of so many of their owners is a result of inhaling too much exhaust gas -- and other intoxicants.
Heaven help anyone foolish enough to speak out in favor of limits on ORV use. You automatically become one who is in favor of locking every older and disabled citizen out of any possible enjoyment of the outdoors.