There is a reader who has started posting frequently and anonymously on my recent blogs and who is very fond of referring to a poll that, he ? or she ? says proves that Hatteras and Ocracoke islanders who are not happy with the National Park Service?s new off-road vehicle plan are a small minority of folks who are out-of-touch with the country?s view of national parks.
This, he says, proves that islanders should accept the new plan, quit complaining, get with it, and get over it.
This poster has mentioned this poll over and over in posts such as this one:
?Just google ?in support of national parks? or the same with the word ?polls.? There are way to many to list and research. The latest 2012 poll shows 95 percent in support of the existing work of NPS and its important role in our government. Ninety percent of Americans believe the reason they want the National Park is because of their activities related to strong environmentalism and wildlife protection. Anybody that doesn?t get this naturally is living in a truly insulated world with a total misunderstanding of the vast majority of the American people. I know, only the few enlightened ones really get it and the 95 percent doesn?t. Don?t kid yourself. They get it 100 percent and they will have their way in closely safeguarding Hatteras and every other national park from everything from its endangered species responsibilities to vehicular driving regulations on their land. No political view in America could ever be so one sided as support of our National Park Service and its activities and successes.?
I take issue with the way this reader is interpreting the poll and applying it to opposition to the ORV plan.
The poll was commissioned by the National Parks Conservation Association and the National Park Hospitality Association.
It is from an online survey conducted from June 12 through June 17 of this year by Hart Research Associates and North Star Opinion Research. It is a survey of a national sample of 1,004 registered voters.
The poll is titled ?Strong Bipartisan Support for National Parks.?
If you look closely at the poll, it was obviously commissioned to show support for funding for the national park and addressing the crumbling infrastructure in many of them.
The overview of the poll states that ?National Parks represent a powerful symbol for voters. In their minds, National Parks embody the American experience, and voters want to see National Parks honored, cherished, and cared for, not left to crumble into disrepair.?
Anyway, the reader who is posting about this poll is fixated on the question that he says shows that 300 million people have a different view than islanders and visitors who dislike the ORV plan.
It?s not quite that simple, though.
Here is the question that our reader is posting about:
?There has been a lot of discussion lately about what the appropriate role of the federal government should be. Do you think protecting and supporting the national parks is an appropriate role or not an appropriate role for the federal government today?
And, indeed, 95 percent of respondents feel that protecting and supporting the parks is an appropriate role.
This is no big surprise.
I think that, despite the bitterness and disappointment islanders have about the Park Service and its plan, that close to 95 percent would say that they are in favor of protecting and supporting our national parks and that it an appropriate role for the government.
As this survey shows, most people support the idea of the national parks. Who can oppose conserving our beautiful and pristine lands, such as the barrier islands?
Most reasonable islanders realize that the preservation of Hatteras and Ocracoke as national park land is a good thing, a valuable thing. They?re glad we don?t look like Virginia Beach or Myrtle Beach.
But what many reasonable islanders want is more reasonable access to the beaches ? by vehicles and pedestrians.
What they don?t like is the process of the ORV rulemaking and the results, such as the extensive buffers for nesting shorebirds, especially the piping plover.
Islanders and regular visitors have always been stewards of the environment and have always appreciated the natural beauty of the national seashore. There have been protections for nesting birds for as far back as I can remember ? symbolic fencing around the nesting areas.
Islanders knew that an ORV rule and such things as permits were inevitable. And I think most of us can accept and live with much of the rule.
However, the rule we have is not based on peer-reviewed science and was forced on the park by outside environmental groups, who were allowed to be part of the negotiated rulemaking process despite the fact that before it even began, they sued the Park Service.
We can all support the idea of national parks, but when the Park Service gets right in your face about it by drastically changing a cultural and historical way of life on the islands and negatively affecting our economy, we don?t like that.
And we?re not alone. Just ask the folks at Point Reyes in California or Biscayne Bay in Florida. When it gets up close and personal, it?s different.
It?s somewhat akin to support for alternative energy sources. Most people like the idea of wind-produced energy, but they have a different view when plans are announced to put big wind farms on their mountain or in their ocean.
Despite the contentiousness of the last few years, most folks wouldn?t want the Park Service to go away. We?d just like the federal government to listen to us. We don?t need the huge closures we have to protect birds and turtles.
The anonymous poster would seem to be a somewhat recent transplant to the island and he has very strong opinions ? especially about those who don?t agree with him.
Most of us hate to see the feelings about the Park Service and the ORV plan become such a divisive issue on the island.
We have folks who feel strongly about both sides of the issue and a lot more in between.
And we ought to be able to discuss it reasonably.
My fervent wish for the new year would be that folks use their names when they post on this blog and that those on both sides of the issue would stop being so snarky.
Share information on the blog. Question information posted by others ? or even dispute it.
But don?t portray islanders, many of whom have lived here all their lives, as ignorant for wishing we had a kinder, friendlier, more reasonable National Park Service.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To read the poll on public support for the national parks, go to http://www.npca.org/assets/pdf/Suvey_Findings_Memo_Final.pdf
