LAST SUMMER was no breeze for the Outer Banks. But a number of obstacles to a healthy tourism season - record-high gas prices, persistent wildfire smoke, an economic downturn and unpopular limits on beach driving - didn't prevent motels, rental houses and restaurants from posting modest gains during three of the four biggest months for out-of-town visitors.
The economy is decidedly grimmer today, of course, presenting even bigger challenges to tourism-related businesses as this summer approaches. The situation will only worsen, however, if conflicts over wildlife protection at Cape Hatteras National Seashore escalate.
This week, just days after the National Park Service established pre-nesting closures for shorebirds, somebody vandalized signs posted at South Point on Ocracoke. Under the consent decree signed by an off-road vehicle group, environmentalists and others last April, the vandalism automatically expands the area closed to beach driving.
Park officials, as well as everyone involved in the beach driving debate, need to remain vigilant against acts of vandalism. No one - ORV advocates, conservationists and certainly not tourism-dependent businesses - is served by such actions.
In the meantime, it's important that Outer Banks officials and residents present an accurate image to potential visitors. Exaggerating the extent of court-ordered beach closures, or ridiculing the value of protecting shorebirds and turtles, is not in the short-term or long-term interests of the business community or residents.
Last summer, the vast majority of the park's beachfront was open to pedestrians despite the wildlife protection measures. About one-third of the park's roughly 67 miles was consistently accessible to off-road vehicles.
Those two facts should be highlighted by tourism officials, business and residents in the weeks ahead. The community's economic interests are hurt by false claims - angrily repeated last summer by opponents of ORV limits - that the Outer Banks is no longer open to recreational fishing or even to people who simply enjoy a walk on the beach.
Like it or not, the Outer Banks is in a period of transition. It's finally on its way toward an off-road vehicle management plan ordered decades ago by the Nixon administration.
The goal of the plan is to balance the interests of the many people who are drawn to Hatteras, including those whose chief reason for visiting is wildlife. If cooler heads prevail and participants in this contentious debate remember that they're all in this together, the Outer Banks can ride out the current recession - and tourism can thrive.
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Closures
What an extraordinary commentary. Modest gains? Lets see, most business's here were down 45% and only after the draconian restrictions of the Consent Decree did business's begin to pick up..in spite of high gas prices. So please explain to me how when I've lost 45% of my business, a small influx puts me ahead?? We've lost 15 businesses here already because of the CD, more will fail because of the loss of promised access.
It shocks me that an editor of a local paper will defend the actions taking place here when not one single piece of scientific, peer reviewed evidence suggests that ORV traffic has had ill effects on the wildlife at this seashore. In fact, the Collazo study(CHNSRA), submitted by Walker Golder, Audubon biologist, states that its not ORVs, pedestrians or low flying aircraft that bother plovers, but plovers themselves. The '08 NPS reports reflect this. And you wont find definitive proof that ORVs harm turtles either. Fact is, and the records back me up, 100% of ALL Plover and Turtle deaths that have occurred at CHNSRA have been directly attributable to either storms or predation.
Please, at least take the time to learn the facts before you throw our jobs and the ab
Only a Gov agency and the
Only a Gov agency and the Pravda... er, uh... Pilot can tell people thier businesses are being bankrupted "for thier own good" and really expect them to believe it...
But Here is Some of "The Rest of the Story" you don't mention
While a lot of beach was open, it was sort of like going to Yellowstone and not being able to get to Old Faithful.
Many of the most desirable locations for recreating (eg. the inlet spits and Cape Point) were in fact effectively closed to both pedestrians as well as vehicles much of the time. Partly because of the distances one would have had to walk and/or closures to the waterline making "open" areas only accessible by boat or dangerously wading long distances in the surf.
Thus many "open" areas were not easily accessible, particularly by families with young children, the elderly and the disabled.
A reasonable solution
Thanks for this thoughtful review of the issue. It's a reasonable solution that allows vehicles on most of the beach, but protects the areas most critical for wildlife.
I can agree with the overall
I can agree with the overall tone and message of this piece. Clarifications:
The term "ORV-advocates" is a misnomer. It is more accurate to say "beach access-advocates", since we work to preserve access rights for ALL persons. Again, this is not solely a beach driving issue.
The frustration felt by beach access advocates is the unwillingness of the corporate environmental axis to work with us. Sometimes this frustration takes the form of strongly worded opinions, which is natural.
Beach access advocates have always been the least likely to vandalize any part of the Recreational Area. We take the time to educate visitors on access issues, laws and personal conduct. We ask that the Park Service aggressively investigate this most recent act on Ocracoke to determine the cause and punish the perpetrator(s). To date, we have seen no indication of a willingness to do so.