The National Park Service said today that the final off-road vehicle regulation and management will still be effective on Wednesday, Feb. 15, despite a lawsuit that beach access groups filed yesterday to stop it. The Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance (CHAPA) filed the complaint yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia […]
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FOR MORE INFORMATION To read the complaint in the CHAPA lawsuit again NPS and others go to http://www.obpa-nc.org/Rule/CHAPA-complaint.pdf
Access groups sue to stop Park Service’s ORV plan and final rule By IRENE NOLAN By IRENE NOLAN By IRENE NOLAN The Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance (CHAPA) today filed a lawsuit against the federal government agencies in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in an effort to stop the Park Service […]
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Park Service issues annual resource, law enforcement reports
The National Park Service has issued its annual reports on protected species and law enforcement. The reports, posted on the NPS park planning website detail how threatened and endangered species –piping plovers, sea turtles, and seabeach amaranth – fared this year on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Also included are reports on two other protected […]
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Pea Island: An Inlet on the Move
The inlet created at mid-Pea Island by Hurricane Irene has been on the move since the storm hit Hatteras Island on Aug. 27, almost six months ago. The changes at the inlet have been documented by Island Free Press photographer Don Bowers in a series of aerial photos that he has taken since two days […]
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The new normal: Where we can drive and where we cannot
My son was here this past weekend to help me with cataract surgery. On Saturday, the day after the surgery, the day was sunny and unseasonably warm, so we took a late afternoon drive on the beach. We made our last trip by vehicle from Ramp 49 in Frisco to Cape Point. It?s a favorite […]
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The seashore’s off-road vehicle rule is now final
The National Park Service today released to the public the final off-road vehicle rule for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The rule will be published Monday, Jan. 23, in the Federal Register and will become effective on Wednesday, Feb. 15. The long-awaited, much anticipated, and hotly debated final ORV rule had no surprises or significant […]
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We are not alone
Last month, Kurt Repanshek, founder and editor of the National Parks Traveler website, posted a column that was titled, ?Reader Participation Day: Why Are National Parks So Controversial?? ?When I first started the Traveler back in ’05,? he wrote, ?I never expected some stories about the National Park System to be so controversial.? ?Who thought […]
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Happy New Year – we hope
Island Free Press photographer Don Bowers did a great job of looking back on 2011 in his photos. You can find his essay and slide show, ?2011: The photos of the year,? on the Features Page. He is correct that 2011 will be defined by Hurricane Irene, which came ashore south of Hatteras and […]
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Merry Christmas from the Island Free Press
Never a Christmas morning,Never an old year ends, But somebody thinks of someone;Old days, old times, old friends–Author Unknown This was one of my mother?s favorite Christmas sayings, and it was printed on several of our family Christmas cards when I was growing up. It came back to me as I was contemplating the topic […]
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Come the new year, we will pay to drive on the beach
Anyone who has followed the National Park Service?s efforts to formulate an off-road vehicle plan for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore knows that far-reaching changes to the traditional use of our beaches are coming. They are changes that will affect the culture and the economy of Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. It?s also been apparent for […]
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