For the fifth straight year, a winter storm has damaged the stairway that leads down to Nauset Light Beach at Cape Cod National Seashore in Massachusetts.

Whereas the stairs not too long ago had to be replaced every three or four years due to storm damage, the arrival of potent winter storms has turned it into an annual event, according to seashore Superintendent George Price. The recent storms also knocked down the stairs at Marconi Beach, and caused substantial damage to the Herring Cove Beach north parking lot in Provincetown.

That said, the Salt Pond Visitor Center in Eastham, seashore headquarters in Wellfleet, and all other offices throughout the park are open for business.

“I am grateful to all the park staff who worked during these storms,” said Superintendent Price, “as well as to all the state and town employees who worked on clearing all the public roads to and from seashore facilities.”

Visitors are invited to explore the trails and beaches this winter by foot, cross country skis, or snowshoe, depending on the snow conditions. Leashed pets are welcome. However, all are cautioned from getting too close to the edge of dunes or cliffs. There has been significant erosion to coastal bluffs and it is not possible to determine from above whether the cliff edge is undercut below, so what appears to be solid footing could easily give way; cliff slides are possible, and would cause great personal harm.

National Park Service staff will continue to consider how to make shoreline facilities resilient and sustainable. A path down to Nauset Light Beach that doesn’t require a large stair structure is being developed.

Yearly repairs to the Herring Cove Beach north parking lot have demonstrated that this 1950s-era lot is no longer a practical visitor facility. Working with the Cape Cod National Seashore Advisory Commission, seashore staff have prepared a new design for the parking lot, which will be sited 125 feet farther back from the shoreline, far enough to provide beach access for a projected 50-year period, seashore officials said. Funds have been requested for the parking lot relocation in 2018.