Bill in Congress aims to ease N.C. beach-driving strictures

Legislation intended to supersede the consent decree that controls beach driving in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore was introduced in the U.S. House and Senate Wednesday.

The proposed legislation would reinstate the National Park Service's Interim Management Strategy as the governing plan for beach driving and set aside the court-approved agreement that critics say has crimped public access to the beach.

Dare County officials and residents had asked U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole and U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, all North Carolina Republicans, for assistance.

"This has always been our contention, that this is not an off-road vehicle issue - this is an access issue," said Dare County Board of Commissioners

Chairman Warren Judge.

"The commission has been unanimous and steadfast in our belief that access should be open and free to everyone."

Dare County was a defendant-intervenor in a lawsuit against the Park Service that was settled when a federal judge signed the consent decree on April 30. Filed in October by the Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society, the legal action contended that the interim plan did not provide enough protection for vulnerable shorebirds.

Hyde County and a coalition of ORV groups had also joined Dare in the suit.

The environmental groups said the proposed legislation would undo an agreement between all interested parties that provides the protection needed for the nesting birds and turtles.

"This attack on the laws that safeguard our parks and seashores could set a dangerous precedent," Jason Rylander, attorney with Defenders of Wildlife, said in a prepared statement.

"Basing the management of Cape Hatteras on the desires of a handful of special interests would do a disservice not only to the wildlife and natural resources the seashore was created to protect, but also to thousands of visitors who travel to the seashore to enjoy those same resources each year."

Within days after the agreement was implemented, swaths of the best fishing spots in the seashore were inaccessible because mandated pre-nesting areas and buffers were put in place. Closed areas since then have been continually changing as birds move, and closures have been difficult for the public to follow.

John Couch, president of the Outer Banks Preservation Association, a pro-beach-driving group, said that the consent decree has been a "mess" compared with the interim plan, which was implemented in July.

"That had public participation," he said. "The public was aware of that. We had accepted that. The closures were considerably bigger but we had agreed in principle that we could put up with that.

"It wasn't forced down our throats like the consent decree."

Offices of the two senators and the congressman have been inundated with phone calls from constituents upset about the closures, according to the lawmakers' staff.

"The consent decree has once again shown that managing the Seashore through the courts - without public input - is always a bad idea," Jones said in a statement.

The proposed legislation - House and Senate versions are essentially the same - would reinstate the interim protected species management strategy issued by the Park Service on June 13, 2007, until a special regulation and long-term management plan are completed. It would also make the consent decree inapplicable.

A federally appointed panel of stakeholders, including all the parties in the beach driving lawsuit, known informally as the "reg-neg" committee, has been meeting to negotiate a long-term plan.

Allen Burrus, vice chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, declined to predict whether the legislation will be enacted in Congress.

"I certainly think we have a 50 percent chance," he said. "We certainly have a better chance of making sure all sides are equally interested in reaching an agreement with reg-neg with the legislation."

Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com