Back in July I predicted that the managers of Cape Hatteras National Seashore would be sued for allowing off-road vehicles to navigate the seashore without a valid ORV management plan in place.
Well, that lawsuit has arrived in court.
Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society have joined forces to bring the lawsuit, arguing that the seashore is not adequately protecting the nests of sea turtles and shorebirds. The lawsuit contends the National 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.
"No one wants to deny the rights of fishermen and families to enjoy beaches along the National Seashore, but our beaches are turning into highways," said Derb Carter, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center that brought the lawsuit. "In the meantime, the Park Service has stood idly by, shirking its responsibility" to institute rules.
What's disturbing about this turn of events is that Interior officials were well aware this past summer that they were treading on dangerous legal ground by continuing to allow ORVs to cruise along the seashore even though Cape Hatteras did not have a management plan in place. Even Mike Murray, the seashore's superintendent, realized the ORV use was illegal.
"It's a clear statement that there's no authority to allow off-road vehicle driving on the beach," Mr. Murray said after a federal judge noted, in a case of reckless driving on the seashore, that the seashore didn't have regulations in place to govern ORV travel. "Under federal regulations and executive orders, the Park Service needs to develop an ORV management plan and regulations."
It would seem that the Park Service and Interior Department prefer to spend tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, on legal costs while jeopardizing nesting sea birds and turtles rather than offending a special interest group.
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Comments
Exactly how many times have you been to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore? As a Dare County native, I find it amusing that people who do not live here or visit our beaches very seldom are so quick to judge. We have had many miles of our beaches closed and protected for nesting purposes annually over the past 10 years. People who are born and raised here have an extraordinary sense of environmental issues and how everything we do has some type of effect. The number of birds that are actually nesting here are very few (high teens – low twenties is high estimate). They are more than adequately protected by a professional competent national parks staff. As for the sea turtles, we have one of the best programs to protect them and their nesting sites on the east coast. Most of the people who drive on our beaches are respectful of our environment. The NCDOT has posted signs at every beach access ramp. These signs describe beach driving etiquette. Does everyone always take the time to read them or follow the rules? No. The national park service responds quickly to complaints. These complaints result in written citations to those who are in violation.
How many of you use chemically engineered fertilizer for your lawn? We get your run off. Your run off lowers the amount of oxygen in our waters killing many species of fish in our estuaries. Many people here are commercial fisherman who rely on these species of fish and their governmentally regulated stocks to make a living. Do you enjoy eating seafood? People living inland in North Carolina have a direct effect on our fish stocks and other environmental issues here in Dare County. The county with the highest cancer rates in the entire state of North Carolina. We don’t tell you how to run your business, farm, or what ever it is you do, so do not tell the residents of Dare County what we should and should not do.
It is amazing that these people are allowed to waste such resources on something they have never seen. I personally challenge any of these yahoos to show me video of what they claim. If in fact these accusations were true don't you think they would have a picture of donut marks with hundreds of oil puddles on their website? I have been staying if Frisco for over ten years and I have abided by every sign designating a habitat or nesting area. These idiots lose sight that when they eliminate all the traffic (ORV and Pedestrian) from the beach there will be no reason to rebuild it from the next hurricane.
Anonymous (from 10/21),
You have clearly never stepped foot on Hatteras or Ocracoke Island. If you had, you would understand how utterly asinine and inaccurate your characterization of ORV activity there is.
Now to your "get your fat butts out of your toy ORVs" comment (you are quite the gifted and creative writer by the way). What would you have me tell my disabled daughter who can only dream of traversing the thick sand of Outer Banks beaches on foot?
I chased a plastic bag that had been picked up and carried by the wind about a half mile down the beach (the wind was quite fierce on the the shore that day) because I care so deeply about my favorite vacation spot. Chances are, I wouldn't put that much effort into it in my own apartment complex.
My group of travelers and I were completely bummed out when we cruised down there this past weekend, with the intent of doing some fishing at The Point, only to find out that we couldn't get anywhere near it. We assumed that it had to do with wildlife preservation but never once thought that it would pertain to ORVers in particular. We always do a a good once-over before we head out onto the sand to make that everything is in proper running order (moreso because getting stranded in the sand, I imagine is not fun) so it can't be because of car fluids. Exhausts perhaps? No. If that was the case they'd have to shut down The Highway To Swell (NC 12) because that would be a contributor to greenhouse gasses as well. Erosion? Unline agricultural soil, ocean sand is in a constant state of regeneration. If the ocean shore is erroding, I would think it's because of rising tide lines and not because of 25 mph vehicles. Dune Erosion? I have yet to see an ORV attempt one (it's blatantly forboden) but have certainly seen pedestrians hurdle them with disregard for the flood-preventing hills.
Of course all of these statements are open to criticism but I find it hard to believe that the well-meaning drivers on the beaches (who, by the way are probablly some of the most courteous, cautious drivers one could encounter) are responsible for the decline in bird and turtle nesting and the destruction of the beach.
P.S. Things change. Nothing stays the same and that includes wildlife habitats and their numbers in population.