Two environmental groups asked a federal judge last week to throw out parts of an interim off-road vehicle management plan in Cape Hatteras National Seashore and replace them with more restrictive measures.

The Southern Environmental Law Center, representing the Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society, filed a request for a preliminary injunction against beach driving at the most sensitive bird nesting areas on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands.

The parties filed a lawsuit in October contending that the National Park Service had failed to protect vulnerable species in the seashore, but until now there had been no action to try to limit off-road vehicle access to the seashore.

In the past 10 years, the environmental groups said, gull-billed terns and common terns have virtually disappeared from the seashore.

Populations of black skimmers, least terns, American oystercatchers and piping plovers have dramatically declined. The use of ORVs harms the species' breeding and nesting habitat, the groups said.

Geoff Gisler, the law center's associate attorney, said if the Park Service had addressed their concerns about the interim plan, an injunction might not have been necessary. But now time is running out.

"The breeding season for most of these species will start in late March," he said "We can't risk any more of these species not coming back to the seashore right now."

The request is asking the judge to restrict ORV access to the portion of the seashore identified by Park Service scientists as the area's most critical to nesting shorebirds: South Ocracoke, Hatteras Spit, North Ocracoke, Cape Point, South Beach and Bodie Island Spit. The groups want the areas to stay closed to all but essential vehicles until the lawsuit is concluded or until the long-term management plan is in effect.

The hope is, Gisler said, that the restrictions would allow the bird species to maintain or improve their population levels.

Pedestrian access to the areas would not be limited, according to the groups.

Cyndy Holda, a spokeswoman for the park service's Outer Banks Group, said the superintendent had not seen the request and that lawyers would be reviewing it.

A hearing will be held in Raleigh on April 3.

In addition to the Park Service, defendants include Dare County, Hyde County and the Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance, a coalition of beach driving proponents.

Boyle issued a ruling in July that beach driving in the seashore was prohibited because the seashore lacked ORV regulations.

An interim beach driving management plan is in place, and work is being done to establish a long-term plan.

The second meeting of a team negotiating to develop a plan through consensus was held this week. Concurrently, the Park Service is working on an environmental impact statement that will be incorporated into the final plan.

"If a judge were to grant an injunction, that in effect would ban ORVs in the most popular spots on the seashore for several years," said Larry Hardham, president of the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club.

Supporters of beach driving said the activity is vital to tourism and fishing and is also a tradition of the islands.

Hardham, who represents the anglers club on the negotiating committee, said it is unrealistic to think that people will be able to carry their beach and fishing gear the distance it takes to get to the beach.

"In practice, it is going to make these places just barren of humanity," he said. "Nobody's going to go there."