How is life at Cape Hatteras National Seashore in the wake of travel restrictions aimed at protecting shorebirds and sea turtles that nest along the coast? As with many matters, it depends on whom you ask.
During a Senate subcommittee hearing last week, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole, a Republican from North Carolina, testified in support of legislation she sponsored that would overturn the management guidelines adopted earlier this year in a consent decree the National Park Service agreed to with Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society. She claimed her constituents are suffering undue economic hardships as a result of the consent decree.
A lawsuit filed by the conservation groups sought to limit access to South Ocracoke, Hatteras Spit, North Ocracoke, Cape Point, South Beach and Bodie Island Spit for up to three years because of the presence of piping plovers, which have been considered a "threatened" species under the Endangered Species Act since January 1986.
The lawsuit claimed the Park Service had 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.
Under that consent decree, the seashore's staff has greatly restricted off-road vehicle travel and limited pedestrian travel to protect nesting shorebirds and sea turtles. Opponents of the decree, though, have claimed it is over-reaching what reasonably is needed and that the economy that depends on Cape Hatteras is tanking.
But according to the Virginian-Pilot, that's not necessarily the case.
Even with the closures, ORV users and pedestrians have had broad access to the beach. On Thursday, Park Service figures showed 26.4 miles of the park's roughly 67 miles were open to ORVs and 58.5 miles were open to pedestrians. The majority of the prohibited area is due to normal seasonal or safety closures. About eight miles were closed because of wildlife.
It's too soon to gauge the economic impact of the closures, but the effect doesn't appear to be as dramatic as feared. Retail sales tax figures for May and June aren't yet available; bait and tackle shops and other businesses are reporting a sharp drop in sales. Other economic indicators are generally positive, however.
Carolyn McCormick, director of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, said in an interview that "the closures did not help us in any way, shape or form." But, she said, key tourism figures in Dare County were good in spite of closures, gas prices, a weak economy and wildfire smoke.
Comparisons of 2007 and 2008 figures show occupancy taxes on hotels and rental houses in Dare were up 6.3 percent in May and 2.85 percent in June. Year-over-year, gross revenues from the meals tax were up 5.12 percent in May but down 1.09 percent in June. (Numbers for July aren't ready yet.)
Comments
If you look to the Virginian-Pilot for "facts" then you'd do well to look to China for religious freedom...Phil G.,you don't know bird doo-doo about "facts",otherwise you would side with the truth.Piping plovers DO taste like chicken.That's why we like 'em!
[That's not true.] Plovers weren't observed in Cape Hatteras until the 80s. Cape Hatteras isn't part of their natural range. Storms and predators make it extremely hostile to plovers as they account for the lions share of plover deaths. There are also only 21 documented cases of a piping plover being run over by a vehicle. 20 were by government officials (AKA Park Services).
You guys are trying to play God and establish a migratory bird in a region outside it's natural range. Stop ruining our beaches.
Some points that are illuding those that don't know about beach sand, trollys, and mother nature.
1. Just making a point with this analogy. The Air force could bomb that sand with 10,000 pound bombs and next week you would not see where the craters were. Army trucks could ride for a month on the same sand and overnight you would never know the army trucks were there. What I am trying to say is that heavy trucks are not a problem heavy trucks on the beach are no problem. In fact, heavy trucks with heavy duty transmissions usually pull the subarus, small SUV's, and crossovers out of the sand when they venture out on the beach. Those small vehicles that do make it off the beach usually stop by the transmission shop on the way home for a rebuild.
2. Trollys have been tried by the NPS on other seashore parks. It did not work. Already proven.
3. Mother Nature will prevail no matter what any group does to change her. She will take and she will give on her terms not ours.
More later,
Stephen C
Stephen C: Your comment that "trolleys have been tried by the NPS on other seashore parks and didn't work". Can you tell us what seashore parks the trolley's were tried and when. Like to know more of facts why the trolley system failed...was it the lack of money or not a feasible plan due to logistics?
The trollys were tried a few years ago on one of the NE beaches. I can not recall but a google search should find it. I have also seen where the same enviro-groups have played the same game on Assateague. They just changed the bird from plover to something else.
Here's what I see. The NPS has not improved CHNRP since the 70's as far as access for pedestrians and ORV's. The two groups trying to do what both thinks is right have proposed very different solutions. The pro-access group has proposed more parking lots/boardwalks/bathrooms to help with the beach traffic. This would eliminate most of the overcrowding during the summer months and give a great deal of the visitors somewhere to go. Pro-access has also proposed actively providing habitat for the birds and deterring the preditors.
Although claims of only a few miles of beach were closed this summer, miles upon miles of beaches were landlocked so to speak because of closures on both ends of the open areas. No way to get to the open beaches.
I would like to see more parking lots with bathrooms and boardwalks so people will a place to go. I would also like to see access sand roads behind the dunes to bypass the bird areas without disturbing them. They are already built just locked. I would also like to see areas made more hospitable for the birds and less hospitable for preditors. Along with this needs to be an unlimited permit system for ORV's with the proceeds used to keep the parking lots and public areas maintained and a written test to get a permit.
The park service needs to get in the 21st century! There are over 300 million people in the US and the park has not been significantly improved to provide sufficient service to the citizens of the US.
Finally, there is a place just inside the hatteras inlet that is not on the maps. It is a set of dredge islands created by dredging the inlets to keep them open. These islands are un-official NPS property and off limits during bird breeding season. That where 1000's of the birds are. They have there own island. The kicker here is that Audobon and the bird counters will not include these birds. That's right. The birds are here- don't be fooled. Look hard enough there are published pictures that they do not want you to know about so they can plead their case on the unknowing public.
Don't be fooled. Find out the truth. Put the park back in the hands of the NPS not a judge and a paid lawyer.
Clearly, as you are in Salvo for vacation, you have no frame of reference for what is going on in Hatteras. Walking the beach...looking for birds and seashells no doubt. If that's what floats your boat, I'm sure Salvo is glad to have your money, since Nags Head and Myrtle Beach were out of the budget this year.
If you were there to fish, you may have a better grasp of the issue. Further south. In Hatteras. Home of the best surf fishing in the world.