Wednesday, May 28, 2008
No day at the beach
From the RoundTable blog
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Don Chappelear
Chappelear, of Roanoke, is an amateur bird watcher and has been surf fishing the Cape Hatteras area for more than 40 years.
At last, the family vacation is here and you're heading to Cape Hatteras. Everyone has had input on the to-do list:
Day 1: The kids want to play in the calm water pools of Bodie Island Spit while Dad catches trout and Mom sunbathes.
Day 2: The family goes to Hatteras Point so the kids can search for seashells while Mom and Dad fish.
Day 3: The family goes clamming at the south end of Ocracoke Island. Then, after dark, you drive out to a secluded section of the beach to stargaze with a telescope and chase ghost crabs with flashlights.
Sounds like the beginning of a perfect week in Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreation Area. However, there's just one problem. All of these activities are no longer possible in the Cape Hatteras area because of a decree that arose from a lawsuit filed by The National Audubon Society and Defenders of Wildlife against the National Park Service. Bird nesting closures with buffer zones ranging from 164 feet to 3,281 feet (the approximate length of 11 football fields) on all sides of a nest have closed some of the most popular areas for sunbathers, fishermen and shell collectors.
These special-interest groups were invited to assist with the long-term planning of regulations for off-road vehicle use in the park. But instead of working to find a reasonable compromise for the benefit of both wildlife inhabiting the seashore and beach enthusiasts, the groups chose to file a suit against the National Park Service, which had the option of accepting all of their demands in the decree or closing all beaches to off-road vehicle use.
The outcome is that all beaches are off-limits to vehicles between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., May 1 until Nov. 15. Many buffer zones extend to the waterline and cannot be crossed, and driving or walking out a ramp to the beach is more like entering a cul-de-sac. You can't get from one ramp to the next. Any vandalism or trespassing and harassment of birds in a closed area results in immediate expansion of the closure by 50 meters for a first offense, 100 meters for a second offense and 500 meters for a third. These closures are constantly changing and are actually allowed to move with the movement of fledgling birds.
These regulations are having a devastating effect on the livelihoods of the business and property owners of the Outer Banks. These are the people who have cared for the seashore for generations and have welcomed visitors with open arms. The businesses need our tourist dollars to continue, but beach closures are turning vacationers away and rental cancellations continue to climb every week.
Why is our government letting two special-interest groups dictate where the public can go in a national recreation area? And to add insult to injury, we (the taxpayers) are paying the legal fees of the groups to sue the government (us).
Please voice your opinions on this matter to President Bush and members of Congress representing both North Carolina and Virginia. Let's put control of our parks back in the hands of the National Park Service. For more information, visit islandfreepress.org and capehatterasapa.org
