A North Carolina newspaper has, figuratively, tossed some gasoline on the simmering dispute over the National Park Service's failure to produce an off-road vehicle management plan for Cape Hatteras National Seashore. In an editorial the Raleigh News and Observer says the Park Service is deferring to ORVers to the detriment of wildlife.
Since last July an interim version has been in place, but it's toothless. Some areas are fenced off, but nesting shorebirds and sea turtles still remain at risk from the hundreds of trucks and SUVs that carry anglers along Hatteras Island and elsewhere, writes the paper's editorial board.
Despite environmentalists' urgings and a kick in the pants last year from U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle, the Park Service continues on its meandering path toward a beach-protection plan. A final version is at least three years away, as the Park Service defers to motorists who claim, by tradition, the right to park right in front of their favorite surf-fishing spots. Meantime, shorebirds are taking it on the beak.
You can read the entire editorial here.
Paper Calls For Park Service To Protect Wildlife From ORVs on Cape Hatteras National Seashore
By Kurt Repanshek - March 19th, 2008
Are these American Oystercatchers being harmed by ORV use on Cape Hatteras National Seashore? NPS photo by Andy Danneker.
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Comments
Snowbird06
Where's all the fire and fury for this article. Looks like the "Raleigh News and Observer" has put some strong emphasis on the need for a good comprehensive plan to resolve the massive beach front traffic at the Cape. Three years to wait for such a plan seems like it's still in mothballs on the drawing boards...so the bickering goes on!
Snowbird,you still casting stones from the left coast?C'mon over,let's take a ride.We can show you the "fire and fury" that's encompassing the outer banks secondary to the human devastation that will be caused by the loss of revenue from the recreating public.These people do not deserve to be broken by off island special interest groups who wish to dictate how they live...or don't...for the sake of a very few nesting birds for which NO scientific evidence has shone to be endangered by beach access vehicular use.The "bickering" you refer to is the ongoing nps "reg/neg"process attempting to please the world and cry for help from the native islanders who only want to be able to stay on THEIR island home,feed their families,fish and pursue happiness.