Good compromise on Hatteras driving

An interim plan for management of beach driving at Cape Hatteras National Seashore hasn't brought calamity and ruin to the Outer Banks. The National Park Service's proposed long-term rules for off-road vehicles won't, either.

What the new rules would bring is a greater degree of predictability for recreational fishermen and other park visitors. For the past three summers, they've been forced to navigate an often-confusing set of beach closures as part of a court-approved consent agreement signed by conservationists, a coalition of ORV users and officials from Dare and Hyde counties.

The Park Service's proposal is fairly straightforward: About 28 miles of the 67-mile seashore will be open to beach driving year-round. Roughly 13 additional miles would be open from Nov. 1 to March 31. And 26 miles would be off-limits to off-road driving all year.

The plan also calls for new parking lots and ramps to provide more direct access to hard-to-reach stretches of the beach.

Not surprisingly, some off-road enthusiasts think the restrictions go too far. And, as expected, environmental groups argue the guidelines aren't adequate to achieve the intended goal - protecting vulnerable species of shorebirds and turtles.

That's the nature of compromise. Not everyone is going to get exactly what they want.

It's clear, though, that instituting stricter rules for ORV use hasn't been as disastrous as critics contend. During the first summer the interim rules were in effect, tourism on the Outer Banks suffered - from smoke from nearby wildfires, from high gas prices, from a lousy economy and from wildly exaggerated claims that the seashore had been closed to fishing.

Since then, tourism has rebounded. So, too, have the number of shorebirds and turtles. Economic interests and environmental stewardship can co-exist.

Further adjustments to the ORV plan may be warranted. A few specific stretches of the seashore may need additional protections. And park officials should continue looking for ways to open access to popular fishing spots like Bodie Island Spit and Ocracoke's South Point.

But it's well past time to move forward. Almost 40 years ago, President Richard Nixon signed an executive order calling for ORV rules that honor "wise land and resource management practices, environmental values and other types of recreational activity."

This plan is a solid step toward that. It's not perfect. And it's not likely to end the bickering over how much regulation is too much or too little.

But this plan is a good-faith effort to do what should have been done long ago - balance the Outer Banks tradition of beach driving with the need to protect natural resources. Roll it out.