This is a recent e-mail from an Island Free Press reader:
What type of comments do you think would have the greatest impact? Maybe stories of what Hatteras Island and the beach mean to people, or more along the lines of numbers and stats?
This question from Jessie McAninch has been typical of inquiries from readers since the National Park Service released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement on off-road vehicle rulemaking on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
The public comment period on the DEIS opened March 12 and will remain open until May 11.
But for the average islander, off-island property owner, or lover of the seashore who vacations here every year, making sense of the intimidating 810-page report crammed full of charts and graphs and alternatives for access is intimidating.
And well it should be.
Just getting through the report even for those of us who have followed this issue for a decade or more is no small undertaking.
However, it is absolutely imperative that every single person who values our access to the seashore comments on this document that will determine where we can drive and walk on the beach for the next 10 or 15 years.
That means everyone. No excuses. Don?t put it off. No matter what your view, submit your comment to the Park Service.
No one is going to hand you a form letter or petition to sign because that will not be effective.
And make no mistake that well-funded environmental groups, such as National Audubon Society and Defenders of Wildlife, will pull out all the stops to get their members, contributors, and supporters to send in their comments to the Park Service.
The Coalition for Beach Access is ready to help you. But this small band of volunteers cannot compare with the big guys on the national scene in these conservation groups, which have already made it clear that if they don?t get what they want, they are willing to shut down the seashore beaches.
The coalition is hosting a series of workshops on the Outer Banks on April 12- 15 to help the public make sense of the DEIS, understand what it is about, and make constructive and appropriate comments.
There are more details on the workshops on the Beach Access and Park Issues Page, and much of the information that will be presented at the workshops will be available online soon for those of you who live here but cannot attend the meetings and those who do not live here but want to comment.
Now on to to the question Jessie McAninch and other readers have asked.
What should you say in your comments?
Do not dwell on what Hatteras and Ocracoke beaches mean to you.
?This is not a walk down memory lane,? says Anne Bowers, an OBPA board member who has been involved with planning the meetings.
?We are encouraging people to keep emotions out of it,? she added.
Natalie Kavanagh, another OBPA board member and a coalition organizer, emphasizes that point.
?Some bureaucrats in an office cubicle will be reading these comments,? she says, ?and they don?t really care that we like to go to the beach.?
Kavanagh also notes that form letters and mass e-mails just won?t cut it. Folks must make individual comments.
She and Bowers suggested focusing on the issues that matter most to you ? the economic impact on the islands, the fact that the Park Service is killing other mammals ? also called predators ? to protect the nesting birds. Or maybe you care about the increased restrictions on pets on the beach ? even on a leash. Then there is the science behind the DEIS, which has been questioned by some, including me on this blog. Check out the blogs on ?Keep asking them to show us the science? and ?They are showing us the science?? that were posted in March.
The Coalition for Beach Access workshops will give you an overview of the DEIS and help you figure out how you want to respond.
Coalition members will go over points in the DEIS and preferred alternative that its members agree with and don?t agree with and why. You don?t have to agree with all of these points, but they will help you form the manner in which want to make your comments.
And, finally, there will be a session at the workshop about making your comments effective.
The most effective way to have input is to stay focused on the science and the issues and keep the emotional rhetoric out of it ? or at least to a minimum.
I cannot emphasize enough that all of us who have a stake in pedestrian and ORV access to the beaches at the seashore must make comments to the Park Service.
You cannot figure that someone else will do it for you or that what you say doesn?t matter.
The off-island environmental groups are going to solicit plenty of comment.
We need to speak up for ourselves.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
An electronic copy of Coalition for Beach Access position paper on the DEIS can be downloaded at www.obpa-nc.org/position/statement.pdf
Electronic Copy of NPS DEIS can be downloaded at: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=358&projectId=10641&documentID=32596
For information on making public comments:
http://islandfreepress.org/2010Archives/03.24.2010-ParkServiceSetsScheduleForPublicMeetingsOnDEIS.html
Thank you Irene for your valuable input. I have found myself overwhelmed with emotions since all this began. Do I plan on commenting on the DEIS? Of course I do. I must admit to wanting to voice a very emotional appeal, but realized that my passionate pleas would fall on deaf ears. For the last several months I have gone back through past articles on IFP and taken copious notes in anticipation of making said comments. I can only hope that what I and others write will even be considered. If the past is any indication, what the majority of people want will NOT be considered?..but I will write/comment none the less. I?m sorry to sound so morose and negative. I truly do hope that I will be able to ride the beach that I love so much for a few more years. Please try to attend the upcoming meetings. I?m going to make every effort to attend the one in my area. To all who have yet to make any comments on the DEIS, please do so. Thanks Irene.
I will be commenting, but will wait until I have attended the Deis Meeting in Buxton before I fianlize. As of now, I am going to focus on the Enabling Legislation, Traditional and Cultural Uses, Best available “science”, the killing of the other animals and the economic affect on the Islands and the counties?.from my point of view the comments should be short and to the point. I don?t think there will be any major revelations from any one person?I think the comments will have more impact if they are focused in the areas like the ones I am considering above. Perhaps it would be a good idea for the information given out at the workshops, to be put into a document and sent out to memebers of the pro-access organizations. I think it is safe to say what the areas of focus will be for the “enviromentalists”?just look at their press releases?our comments should highlight the facts that expose the AS, DOW and SELC?s half truths /spin etc for what they really are?.
Remember, just saying you don?t agree with a particular feature of a DEIS Alt is not nearly as effective as adding why you don?t agree with that feature. And to be really effective you need to say how you would change the feature and why you think the change is better.
Look at the coalition statement and see how they have tried to justify their alt for examples of how this can be done.
Comments that offer another way to do something with justification will be the most effective.
This is quoted from the NPS press release.
[quote]
The NPS will accept comments on the DEIS until midnight (Mountain Daylight
Time) May 11, 2010. Electronic comments may be submitted online at the NPS
Planning, Environment and Public Comment (PEPC) web site by visiting
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/caha,, clicking on *Open for Comment, clicking
on the Off-Road Vehicle Management Plan /EIS, and then clicking on Comment
on Document. NPS encourages commenting electronically through PEPC. If
you wish to submit your written comments in hard copy (e.g. in a letter),
you may send them by U.S. Postal Service or other mail delivery service or
hand-deliver them to: Mike Murray, Superintendent, Cape Hatteras National
Seashore, 1401 National Park Drive, Manteo, NC 27954. Oral statements and
written comments will also be accepted during the hearing-style public
meetings. Comments will not be accepted by fax, email, or in any other way
than those specified above. Bulk comments in any format (hard copy or
electronic) submitted on behalf of others will not be accepted. Dates,
times, and locations of the hearing style public meetings will be announced
in a press release, email announcements, and
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/caha..
[unquote]
Note only 4 ways to comment and all have to be from an individual; no bulk comments like petition, mass mailing form ltr, etc..
1. On line at NPS site
2. Letter to Seashore Hdqtrs
3. Orally at a public mtg
4. Written handed in at a publuc mtg.
Frank (Frank & Frans) is trying to set up workshops in Hampton and Raleigh the evening before the NPS public meetings in those places. If you can help with a meeting place contact him at recommend you contact him at the shop 252 995 4171.
I live in Gilbertsville PA. My family has vacationed on the OBX both North, South, and in between for the past 20 years. My wife and I hope to retire there. It is very plain to see to anyone who takes the time to look and listen, that the local folks who live there, some for generations, have a great respect and love for all that makes up this wonderful place. I?m talking about stewardship here. The flora, fauna, everything. The people that live here need to put all these things together in order to make a living here. Tourism and recreation are the main drivers of the OBX economy. I truly wonder, if the tourism trade is eliminated, where the tax revenues will come from to replenish the local, state, and federal coffers. I have only read summaries of the DEIS and am appalled at the lack of concern for the folks who live there. The eventual destruction of their lives and livelihoods seem more important to Washington and the environmental special interest groups than recognizing the same folks for the lifetime of stewardship that they have undertaken to maintain a life style that is being pressured out of existence in the name of progress. Who do the environmental special interest groups think have been safe guarding the environment on the OBX since it was declared a National Recreational Area all those decades ago? Long before there was a Federal Environmental Protection Agency or state environmental agencies. Tell me who maintained the local ecology during all those years? The answer is easy, the folks that these same groups are trying to force out of their livelihoods and eventually their homes so that the OBX can be rescued from their care. After all, after all these decades of stewardship what could the locals possibly know about that? After all they surely have no idea what makes for a good environment for local flora and fauna, let alone fishing. The National Seashore is not a test tube for environmentalists. It is a National Recreation Area that was meant to be shared and enjoyed by all our country?s citizens. In this regard I have, as a member of the Outer Banks Preservation Association, contacted my state senators and representatives and expressed my concern over what is taking place on the OBX and the need to stop these environmental special interest groups from turning the OBX into a Discovery Channel experiment in isolation. The removal of man from his environment in favor of turtles, birds and environmental studies. Not a peaceful co-existance but a big brother takeover. Let?s do all that we can to preserve this place and its people and way of life for generations to come!
To Ed O?Brien,
Thank you, Ed, for your compassion, support and clear understanding of the trouncing of human rights that is being attempted here under the guise of “environmentalism” by greedy special interest groups that raise enormous sums of money from their unsuspecting membership by trying to dupe them into believing that the good stewards of these islands (who have fiercely protected this ecosystem for centuries) are no longer competent and can no longer be trusted.
You clearly understand what is really happening here. Hopefully many more folks like you who enjoy these islands year after year will comment on the DEIS in a factual, rational and simple common sense manner (in the face of tortured, legalistic comments by hired-gun special interest lawyers from the other side) and will do so in such numbers that the government will be forced to listen to the will of the people instead of the well-fund special-interest groups.
Thanks again for caring about the future of our Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area and please, please solicit the help of all your friends to submit comments as well.
Best regards,
Jim Boyd
Does anyone know what the comment time limit will be at the public meetings?
And, do we know who from NPS will attend the public meetings?
Roninstia,
You?ll more than likely have 3-5mins to speak, which is the norm at NPS open comment sessions.
Now, the single best comment I?ve heard in recent weeks was from my friend Ruddy.
?The public will only be given a few minutes to comment on a document that is 3 inches thick, weighs over 8lbs, took a year to write and 3 weeks too read..?
True about the oral comment length but remember there is no limit on the amount of written comment you can submit. You can submit written comments on line at the NPS site, send it to NPS Manteo Hdqtrs or hand it in at a public meeting.
Thank you so much, Irene, for responding to my email. Now I need to hunker down and start composing my public comments.
jessie
Dennis when you say the “ugly” behavior is what started the divide you couldn?t be more wrong.
What got things headed in an “ugly” direction was when the environmentalist side, in full knowledge that Reg/Neg was being set up, and that Reg/Neg disallows any party from litigation; filed litigation that led to the consent. I and many others said at the time once they filed the die was cast and this would be decided in court.
Judge Boyle added to this problem when he demonstrated he doesn?t have the wisdom of Solomon. The judge not only ruled on the case, but added much commentary (anyone who has attended a proceeding with him will note this seems a trait of his). The whole reason Reg/Neg discourages (in fact bans except in this case) litigation is if one sides gets a victory out of litigation, open negotiation will not happen since one side feels it already has an upper hand. And that is what happened. What would Solomon have done? Heard arguments from both sides in the case, then without showing a leaning toward one side or the other, point out they have Reg/Neg coming up. He would say he is putting off making a ruling so that such negotiations may take place. He would admonish both sides that it is in their best interest to quickly and openly solve this, lest he would issue a judgment, telling the filers of the suit, if he should judge they would be out of the negotiations, the the access side, should he judge they may not like the results. Basically, “threaten to split the baby”. Under that scenario we might have seen success at Reg/Neg and peace in the park.
Crotalus is correct when saying if some of the stated threats were true (like a bomb threat) that would have and should have been reported to Dare County or other agency other than NPS. Additionally, I?m sick of the attitude in this country of people being so easily offended. It is because we reward “victims” and people are poorly educated. English is a contextual language. That is the meaning of a word can only be derived by the other words or context within which it is placed. Yet more and more we see singular words “black listed” as offensive. People need to grow up.
Just because someone is easily offended, does NOT make the other person offensive.