Whatever happened to feet?  You know, those things at the lower end of our legs.  Why must park visitors ride four-wheel motocycles across the beach dunes instead of slowly walking and observing the wonders of the beach and near shore waters?  Yes, I understand that some may not be able to walk, but they can be accommodated without throwing open the doors to ATVs.  I will soon be 80 yrs. old.  I am slowing down - but I try to compensate and get more from less.  it works.

Thanks for the background information, Kurt.  It helps to clarify the access issues specific to Cape Hatteras.  However, my concern re: ATV/ORV access on conservation lands, particularly national parks, goes far beyond the cape.  Off-road vehicles are spreading like mechanical fire ants across the country invading parks and other conservation units wreaking havoc with fragile lands from Florida to Alaska - including designated wilderness areas.  The Sierra Club and Alaska Conservation Foundation jointly commissioned a study of ORV concerns in Alaska in 2000.  The resulting report, "Shredded Wildlands", revealed varying degrees of ORV damage, some severe and widespread, taking place in virtually every federal and state concervation unit in the Alaska.  This included long-established national parks (Glacier Bay, Denali, Katmai, etc.) as well as wildlife refuges and national forests.  In virtually all affected areas damage to lands and resources, including archeological sites, is on-going and expanding.  Indeed, it seemed that responsible managing agencies, including the NPS, had literally gone into retreat before the pressures of ATV forces, including in areas where there is no legal justification for the use of ATVs on conservation lands.  ATV/ORV technology is constantly evolving producing increasingly powerful and versitile machines able to claw their way over and across lands once considered too difficult for mechanical vehicles.  Once the use of these machines is allowed within conservation units it is increasingly difficult to limit their impacts.