The National Park Service has just finished another round of public scoping meetings on possible changes to its off-road-vehicle management plan for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Legislation passed by Congress last December as part of the 2015 National Defense Authorization Bill instructed the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a public process to consider the modifications.
Under the leadership of a new seashore superintendent, David Hallac, who arrived here the first of the year, the Park Service has already accomplished some of what Congress mandated.
Last spring, NPS began an Environmental Assessment of modifications to the plan’s buffers to protect nesting birds and turtles. The EA was completed in June, and seashore officials are in the process of implementing them.
The legislation also instructed the Park Service to construct new ORV access ramps, roads, and parking lots as expeditiously as possible. Earlier this year, Hallac announced a reprioritized list of projects, most of which are already underway.
The most recent round of meetings was to address the final portion of the legislation, which instructs the seashore to conduct a public process to consider changes to hours that the beaches open in the morning, dates for seasonal ORV routes, and locations of vehicle-free areas (VFAs).
In addition, seashore officials decided to consider changes to the length of time that ORV permits are valid and access improvements.
A total of 175 people attended five meetings — in Buxton, Ocracoke, Kitty Hawk, Raleigh, and Hampton. That’s almost exactly the same number who attended the public scoping meetings on the buffer modifications last May.
Hallac gave an overview of the scoping process. He explained that changes to such things as permits, VFAs, times and seasonal closures of ORV routes involve changes to the ORV final regulation — as opposed to buffer modifications that are not spelled out in the final rule.
Changing the final rule, he has said, is a more time consuming and somewhat more complicated process.
The beginning of the process for the Park Service is the public comment process, during which seashore officials are soliciting ideas and input from seashore users for changing the parts of the rule covered by the legislation.
At the meetings, Hallac reviewed the parts of the regulation under consideration and took questions for a while to clarify the process. Then the audience had an opportunity to go around to several “stations,” where they could talk to seashore officials and offer their ideas, which were being compiled on large sheets of paper on easels.
The Buxton meeting on Monday evening, Aug. 10, was the largest of the five with 79 people attending, as it was in May. Among them were Gordon Myers, director of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, and Dare County commissioners Warren Judge, Wally Overman, and Margarette Umphlett.
The questions Monday were somewhat edgier than they had been when the wildlife buffers were up for review at the May meeting.
Hallac struggled to keep the questioners on topic — on the parts of the rule up for review. They kept returning to the need for the plan to start with and the need specifically for parts of it, such as vehicle-free areas and night driving prohibitions.
It’s clear that the Buxton crowd was almost entirely in favor of less stringent rules and more ORV access, while audiences at some other meeting places were more evenly divided.
It’s also likely that the folks at the Buxton meetings were weary and even fed-up after a long summer of resource closures for bird and turtle nesting, especially at what is the most popular seashore spot for fishing and just hanging out at the beach — Cape Point.
Currently, about 25 miles of seashore beaches are open to ORVs with only 4 miles closed for resource protection. However, what’s open and what’s closed doesn’t matter much to many seashore users if what’s closed includes the Point.
Also, there are 35 miles of beach open to pedestrians only. If you include the ORV routes that are also open to folks on foot, 60 of the seashore’s 64 miles of shoreline are open to pedestrians.
Cape Point remains closed because of one oystercatcher chick that isn’t quite flying on its own yet. Interestingly, it’s not the same one that had the access to the Point closed last week. That bird fledged, and then another bird from the interior area of the Point moved into the area, which was closer to the ocean shoreline, to forage. Seashore natural resources manager Randy Swilling estimated earlier this week that the newest chick blocking access is about a week from fledging.
After the presentation and questions, the audience scattered to give comments to park staff and consultants at the three stations, while Hallac and other officials milled around, talking and answering questions for any and all who wanted to ask. It was close to 8 o’clock before the meeting, which began at 6, began to wind down.
Here are some of the comments from audience members, culled from meetings in Buxton, Raleigh, and Ocracoke:
Permits garnered much of the interest, and they are one of the parts of the rule that the seashore can probably change with the least resistance. Currently only annual and one-week permits are issued.
Comments ranged from permits for everyone, including pedestrians, to no permits required for soundside access. (Along some areas of Highway 12, people park on the highway instead of using the ORV trails to avoid having to pay, but they then cause safety problems.) Many favored issuing one year permits from date of purchase, instead for one year beginning Jan. 1. And many more favored permits for 3 days, or 10 days, or two weeks.
Vehicle-free areas also received a lot of comment. Some folks oppose having any VFAs. Others agree with comments published recently by the Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance, stating that the size and number of the VFAs are excessive and detrimental to the visitor experience.
In response to a question, Hallac said the Park Service had never measured pedestrian use at the VFAs, and someone suggested doing that. Also, some commenters think the VFAs are too far from parking lots for easy access, especially for the handicapped. Another person suggested opening VFAs only in the winter.
The Rodanthe-Waves-Salvo Civic Association made a specific request that the Park Service change the designation from the Salvo village line to Ramp 23 and for a half mile south of Ramp 23 to a year-round driving route. The area between Salvo and Ramp 23 is now closed to vehicle access seven months a year as a seasonal closure and the half mile south of Ramp 23 is a VFA.
Quite a few comments were about soundside access, especially on Ocracoke, where one person noted that there was very little of it on the island.
And there were many comments, especially at the Buxton meeting, about more access for ORVs in the area from Ramp 43 down to 49, which includes Cape Point, a vehicle-free area south of the Point in the very popular area of “The Hook,” and South Beach at Frisco, which is popular with fishermen and families. Many commenters, it seems, want more access there.
In response to questions at Buxton, Hallac also offered this information:
- The Park Service still plans to do a five-year review of the 2012 ORV management plan and final rule in 2017.
- “This is a public scoping process,” Hallac said. “We are looking for ideas…This is not a vote.” One group’s campaign to solicit comments will not be weighted any more than any others’.
- NPS Regional Director Stan Austin plans to visit the seashore in the fall and Hallac said he intends to bring him to Buxton “to meet you guys.”
- The Park Service will be considering the habitat in the area of the Salt Pond near Cape Point. Many beach users have noted over the years of formulating an ORV plan that the area has been closed to vehicle access and has been allowed to become so overgrown with vegetation that it no longer provides suitable nesting for shorebirds and provides cover for predators. The result is to push many of the shorebirds closer to the ocean shoreline during nesting, which results in less ORV and pedestrian access. It may also be contributing to lower rates of nesting success for the birds.
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“We are not thinking about bulldozing everything,” Hallac said after the meeting. “But we are looking at some kind of habitat enhancement project.”
Hallac said this week after the meetings ended that he was “very pleased” with the public engagement. “There was good attendance and spirited involvement.”
“We want to hear ideas anytime,” he said, but he reminds those who didn’t attend meetings or haven’t made comments on the changes to the ORV regulation that they can still do so through Friday, Aug. 21.
Hallac says the Park Service will review public comments and refine alternatives this fall and release an Environmental Assessment, beginning a public review period, in December — the same month it is also to report back to Congress on measures it has taken to implement the legislation.
Comments on the EA will be reviewed over the winter, with a decision document issued in the spring of next year. Modifying the ORV final rule and implementing the selected alternative is not expected to happen until next summer or fall.
SUBMITTING COMMENT
You can be involved in several ways:
- Attend a public scoping meeting.
- Submit comments electronically to: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/caha-orv-ea
- Submit written comments by mail to: Superintendent, Outer Banks Group/Cape Hatteras National Seashore, 1401 National Park Drive, Manteo, NC 27954.
The Park Service asks that comments be submitted electronically or by mail. Faxed comments and e-mails will not be accepted. Please be sure to include your full name and e-mail address, if available, with the comments, so you can be added to the mailing list for information about the planning process. For your comments to be the most useful in developing the EA, please submit comments by Aug. 21.
You should be aware that your entire comment ? including personal identifying information such as your address, phone number, and e-mail address ? may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so. Comments submitted by individuals or organizations on behalf of other individuals or organizations will not be accepted.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Click here to see the five-page newsletter on public scoping and to view a map of designated ORV routes.
Click here to read the comments of the Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance on the proposed changes and its suggestions to members for commenting. CHAPA is comprised of groups advocating for more reasonable public access — the Outer Banks Preservation Association, the North Carolina Beach Buggy Association, and the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club.
Click here to read a story on the buffer modifications announced in June.
ANOTHER PLEA FOR CIVILITY
I invite all readers to comment on this — and other blogs — and to share your ideas freely.
However, please keep your comments focused on issues and ideas and refrain from personally attacking other commenters. Some readers, I know, don’t feel comfortable commenting because they don’t want to invite the wrath of folks who disagree with them. And I don’t blame them.
Comments on the past few blogs on Park Service issues have wound down to a few commenters in a war of words with each other. All sides have been guilty of really snarky comments about others, personal attacks, and name calling. One commenter is the master of biting sarcasm, masked as civility.
Let’s keep it really civil, please.
