Balancing act drives N.C. beach-driving plan

The much-anticipated Cape Hatteras National Seashore off-road vehicle management plan proposal includes closing large sections of beach - including the most popular recreational areas - to humans in order to preserve birds, turtles and beach plants.

A 60-day comment period opened last week, but even usually opinionated bloggers are not sure how to respond to the 2-inch-thick, 810-page tome, which includes one preferred plan out of six alternatives.

It's a balancing act for the Park Service between providing access to the beach for ORVs, beachcombers, surfers, swimmers, anglers and birdwatchers, and providing protected habitat for vulnerable birds and turtles as required by law.

Two weeks after it was published online, Dare County, which advocates "free and open" beach access, is still combing through the document to determine the potential impacts of the alternative

the National Park Service prefers, county manager Bobby Outten said Thursday.

"There's just so many variables to it," he said of the plan. "It's really time-consuming."

Of the seashore's 68 miles of beach, the proposal would keep open year-round about 29 miles of shoreline for ORV and close about 16 miles to off-road vehicles. From Aug. 1 to March 14, about 23 miles would be open to ORVs.

Two favorite ORV shorelines - Hatteras Inlet and the north point of Ocracoke - would be closed to vehicles year-round, with interdunal roads allowing access to an area away from the ocean shoreline. Beaches in front of Hatteras Island's seven villages would be closed seasonally to ORVs; Buxton would be closed year-round.

The agency's proposed plan, known as "action alternative F," would also construct parking or trails to allow walkers access to areas where vehicles are prohibited; where vehicles are allowed, typically pedestrians and most other beach activities are also allowed. Pedestrian or ORV corridors would be created during the shorebird breeding season to areas at Bodie Island Spit, Cape Point and South Point, although they'd still be subject to resource buffers and closures as needed.

One dramatic - but so far uncontrover sial - change the plan proposes is a fee-based permit program to drive on the beach, with no limit on the number of permits issued. Fees would be tied to the cost of ORV management.

Warren Judge, chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, said a significant concern he has is the requirement to put 1,000-meter buffers in every direction around piping plover nests with hatchlings. A football field, in comparison, is 109 meters long.

"We understand that species need to have protection," he said. "It needs to be managed and with good peer-reviewed science applied equitably. I don't know where the science is where it says you need to have 1,000 meters."

Mandated by executive orders signed by then-President Richard Nixon, an ORV management plan is long overdue in Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Over the years, beach driving had been managed piece-meal until current park Superintendent Mike Murray hammered out an interim ORV management plan.

Since April 2008, ORV and pedestrian access to the seashore has been regulated by a court-sanctioned consent decree. The agreement settled a lawsuit brought by the National Audubon Society and the Defenders of Wildlife in 2007 against the Park Service that contended that threatened and endangered birds and turtles were not protected adequately by the interim plan. Dare and Hyde counties and a coalition of ORV groups had joined the Park Service in the lawsuit.

A statement issued on March 5 by the environmental groups criticized the proposal for setting aside just 16 miles as non-ORV areas. The groups also contend the proposal falls short on recommendations by scientists to protect wildlife in the seashore.

"We look forward to working with the Park Service to ensure compliance with legal and scientific requirements to guarantee adequate space and protections for pedestrians and wildlife while still allowing responsible beach driving in some areas, so that all visitors can fully enjoy this national treasure," Southern Environmental Law Center senior attorney Julie Youngman wrote in the statement.

Youngman declined requests for further comment.

According to the statement, the environmental groups were also looking closely at the fine print in the document.

"We will be examining the alternatives closely and will urge the Park Service to choose a management plan that protects the wildlife resources of Cape Hatteras for generations to come," said Jason Rylander, staff attorney for Defenders of Wildlife.

"The park service has avoided its legal responsibilities for too long."

Park Service policy forbids staff members from making comments on the draft environmental impact statement until the close of the comment period, said National Park Service Outer Banks Group spokeswoman Cyndy Holda.

Larry Hardham, president of the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club, a recreational group that promotes responsible beach driving, said he was unhappy the Park Service didn't design more of the "floating" resource closures beach user groups had suggested. Such closures would move along with the range of the birds, he said, providing both better protection and more public access.

"I don't like the concept of permanent resource closures," he said. With a management plan that, when finalized, can be expected to be in place for a decade or more, he said, flexibility is necessary to address the seashore's mutable conditions.

"I don't know anybody who knows what this place is going to look like in 10 years," Hardham said.

"This is about multi-uses of the park. There's common-sense solutions here."

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