My first visit to Cape Hatteras National Seashore on the Outer Banks of North Carolina came quite a few years ago, when I was in college and a friend and I drove down from New Jersey in his tiny and cramped Chevy Vega to do some fishing. It was a wonderful trip, and the seashore a great destination if you love surfcasting.

But after that trip it was quite a few decades until I was able to return to Cape Hatteras. That was in 2010 when the burning issue of the day was the Park Service’s work to craft an off-road vehicle plan that would suit ORV enthusiasts and surfcasters who reached their favorite spots by driving on the beaches, and wildlife such as sea turtles, piping plovers, and other shorebird species that rely on the beaches.

Since those days, controversy over beach access for the most part has settled down. To find out how life is on the national seashore these days, we’ve sat down with Superintendent Dave Hallac for a wide-ranging conversation about the national seashore.