As it turns out, ORVs with their headlights on the beach at night are not the only problem for threatened and endangered sea turtles that want to nest on the beaches of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
So are the people who stay in oceanfront houses in the Hatteras Island villages ? in areas that are closed to ORVs during the summer nesting season.
Some visitors in these oceanfront cottages plant their gear on the beach when they arrive and leave it there all week.
We?re talking here about the tents, cabanas, volleyball nets, boogie and surf boards, coolers, toys, kiddy pools, beach chairs, kayaks, fire pits, and more. Lots of them.
And, according to Michelle Bogardus, lead sea turtle biologist for the seashore, all of these items are potential obstacles to sea turtles coming ashore to nest.
?There?s just a lot of gear on the beach,? Bogardus says.
And it?s all there illegally.
As of Saturday, Aug. 8, there were 95 turtle nest in the seashore, and 14 of them were in the villages in front of oceanfront houses. That includes one that is slightly outside the village on the south end of Hatteras near Ramp 55. But it is close enough to be affected by activity from the rentals.
That means almost 15 percent of turtle nests are in island villages that are closed to ORVs in the summer.
Although the consent decree prohibits driving on the beach from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m. during the nesting season, nothing prohibits these oceanfront cottages from leaving their spotlights on all night ? notice the house in the slide show with this blog that still has lights blazing after daylight.
These are lights that might discourage turtles from coming onshore to nest or might disorient hatchlings on their trip back to the sea.
Furthermore, all of the gear ? and trash ? left on the beach in the villages is an obstacle to any turtle that wants to lay a nest or any hatchling.
For turtles, says Bogardus, the biggest issues are the lines that anchor such things as volleyball nets or tents.
?In general,? she says, ?the turtles can very easily be injured by running into the lines.?
And deep holes or trenches that are dug on the beach for various reasons ? maybe fire pits, maybe child?s play, or maybe to put chairs in (see slide show) are traps for turtles coming ashore to lay nests.
?When the turtles get stuck in these trenches,? Bogardus said, ?it?s hard for them to climb out.?
Island Free Press writer Jordan Tomberlin volunteers once a week with Bogardus on the turtle patrol.
Here is a dispatch from her on the condition of the beaches first thing in the morning:
With turtle patrol, you get to ride on the beach from ramp 43 to Hatteras Inlet, first thing in the morning, so you get see all kinds of beaches, exactly the way they were left by the people who use them.
In terms of the amount of trash and junk left on the beaches, the village closures, right in front of the houses, are by far the worst.
Riding through an ORV access area between Buxton and Frisco, I saw a few aluminum beer cans (all of them Coors Light), a couple of baseball caps, a handful of plastic bottles, and the occasional shoe or flip-flop.
Riding through the area just north of the Frisco pier down to Ramp 55, it?s like you?re trespassing on someone?s privately owned beach?canopy tents, volleyball nets, beach chairs, boogie boards, umbrellas, coolers, cardboard boxes full of trash, a kiddy pool, and so many holes you would think you were in a minefield.
Aside from the fact that leaving your stuff on the beach is illegal?and very inconsiderate of the other patrons attempting to use a public beach?it poses a danger to nesting sea turtles and their hatchlings.
Tents and volleyball nets with extra strings used to secure them are some of the most dangerous, as turtles can get tangled in them.
And digging super-massive holes may seem like a fun beach activity, but when you don?t fill them in, they become a danger to nesting turtles, as they are pretty awkward on land and can get stuck in holes fairly easily.
Holes are also a terrible annoyance to those doing the turtle patrol. When you have to be on the lookout for holes, you can?t focus all your attention on looking for nests, thus raising the likelihood of missing a nest on high traffic beaches, where turtle tracks are already harder to spot.
Bogardus said leaving gear on the beach all night is illegal and anything left there is tagged in the early morning by the turtle patrol.
The tags instruct the owners to remove their gear or have it confiscated by the National Park Service.
The Park Service, Bogardus says, tries to work with the visitors and gives them a day or two to remove their belongings from the beach. Most folks, she says, comply.
This year, Bogardus says, the Park Service has not confiscated any of the beach gear, sometimes because of time constraints. Last year, she said, rangers several times removed items left on the beach for too many nights.
The problem, Bogardus says, is compounded by the fact that a new set of renters appears each week. The park rangers try to educate one group about their gear on the beach, and by the time they catch on, there is a new group, and the process begins again.
In addition to gear that renters set up in front of cottages, there is the problem of the trash that visitors leave on the beach, especially in the villages.
The Avon Property Owners Association pays to clean up the beaches in that village. The group also puts out trash cans.
Between June 12 and July 6, less than one month, 452 bags of trash were hauled off the beach in Avon.
That included 66 beach chairs, 37 umbrellas, 37 boogie boards, and assorted other items, including poles from canopies, one suitcase, and two boxes of fireworks. Most of the items were broken and just left on the beach.
All of this ? gear left out by renters all night and trash abandoned by beachgoers ? are a threat to sea turtles that nest on our beaches.
It is not just a problem with ORVs threatening sea turtles. Pedestrians in non-ORV areas are making their contribution.
The slide show of photos by Jordon Tomberlin, taken on Thursday morning, Aug. 6, shows that there are many obstacles to turtles that are not ORV-related.
I hope the Park Service takes note as it develops its long-range plan for ORV operation on the beach.
To see the slide show of what visitors leave on the beach, click here.
Thanks for this blog.
Hopefully, it will help remind beach-goers that the beach is indeed home for the wildlife. We people are just visitors.
Respect the needs of the turtles, and clean up after your day of recreation. Turn off the lights that will shine out on the beach at night. Not hard to do a few simple things to help the turtles in a big way.
AMR
Great turtle article?photos add much. This is fundamental/practical environmental management education. So what?s so hard about cleaning up the beach after we use it? As related to turtles moving at night, there is an apparent resource protection benefit.
Question: Are false crawls proportionally higher in the these cluttered, well lighted buildup areas compared to false crawls in the ORV access areas and closure areas?? Do any of our turtle experts have any long term data or insights based on field experience?
And much appreciation and thanks to our fellow citizens who care enough to take part in turtle patrol.
During 3 weeks in July, Park Service consistently told me they were too busy to confiscate items left on the beach overnite. The warning tag needs to be changed to show the date attached, and if still in place unattended after 24 hours the items should be confiscated ? period. Park Service and turtle preservation group complaints of renter/homeowner non-compliance, w/o park Service taking action will get nothing done to protect the turtles.
I wish I had a dollar every time I read someone call an active ORV user lazy, because I?d be rich..But, seeing this slideshow lets you know who the real lazy people are. They can?t haul their stuff a 150ft back and forth each day.
Well how about all the beach closure and bird protection barriers that festoon our beaches. Are they not also a deterrent to sea turtles? Can a sea turtle somehow sense the difference between a cabana pole or volleyball net pole and a beach closure/bird buffer signpost? After viewing the slide show, I am having trouble deciding which I find the most unsightly and annoying, all the junk lazy people leave on the beach over night or the ever-growing forest of beach closure/bird buffer posts and signage.
When the ?turtle lady? was quizzed at REG–NEG about lights and why the lighthouse did not seem to be indicated as a problem, the answer indicated that moving lights were much less a problem than stationary lights.
So again folks it ain?t all about ORVs where the lights are generally on moving vehicles. It?s about getting people off the beach. ORVs are just easier to attack right now. The rest will come. The justification used will be something like: ?Getting the ORVs off really didn?t help that much. We need to go further.?
I agree with helping to protect the turtles nesting area?s and the turtles themselves. We as humans need to learn to coexist with the wild life of the outer banks. Animals and sealife don?t litter, humans do. I understand why some people are upset with the beach closer?s but it?s for the best at times. I?m not a local but I have been vacationing and fishing on Hatteras Island my whole life and have always respected the island and it?s inhabitants, both human and animal. It?s sad to see litter on the beach, it?s disrespectful and harmful, not only to the turtles but to the environment. I feel it?s mostly out of towner?s who litter and don?t respect the beach?s. I mean, how hard is it to throw away your trash or to clean up after yourself? If we all could just do are part to keep the beaches clean and safe mabye there wouldn?t be as many beach closer?s. People need to realize how important the wild life is to the outer banks, it?s ecological impact and it?s beauty. If the people want to keep the ramps and beach?s open then we need to all cooporate and live among the wild life, bird?s, turtle?s, all creature?s. I?m a fisherman and catch and release my fish and I too would like to have beach access to my favorite spot?s. In order to keep these ramps open, at time?s we as fisherman will have to realize that there are other factor?s that play into this. Let?s all do our part in keeping these beach?s clean and the wild life safe and mabye someday we?ll all realize that we can live together, both human?s and animals and respect each other. Remember, these creature?s were here long before we were, so let?s give them their space so they too can live a healthy and productive existance.
Kurt. You need to catch up, it isnt about the wildlife. We the rightful users of the beach have always been good stewards, protecting wildlife and picking up trash. It is the very closures that have led to polluted unused beachs and the killing of wildlife in the name of protecting selected birds. As for the villages, this is what happens when people feel they have a private beach.
The only time the beaches at Avon have to have trash pickup is during the months that no ORV?s are allowed due to heavy pedestrian traffic in the summer. This is done at a cost of over $6,000.00 per year tothe local Property Owners Assoc. During this time ofr trash cans being placed on the beach most do keep the trash in and around the cans, but every year some yoyo will burn a can or two to tghe ground. Avon is proud to be the only village within the seashore that offers this service and will be a continued force to protect the free and open access to our seashore that the visitors and locals alike deserve.
The people who stay in those houses, clearly, need to be reminded that the beach is not their private property and if they leave their stuff on the beach it will be confiscated!
Wouldnt ya think that our property management folks would have some significant responsibility to empart these principles to their renters? Respect the dunes, dont pick the sea oats, etc?
It?s always easist to pick the low hanging fruit first and ORV?s are an easy target. They can be concentrated into smaller and smaller areas. It?s a self fulfiling prophecy.
The ORV user knows that they come and go, leaving tire tracks, which will disapear with the weather, and nothing else.
The real test of our future will be Sept. 16th. Will the seasonal village closures of Frisco and Hatteras be opened or closed? The NPS has acknowledged that they have no factual reason to continue the closures. It was supposed to be left up to the failed REGNEG negotiations.
What?s it going to be Mike? A yes or no will certainly give us a peek into our future.
I had a call from one of our vistors the other day and she was really mad about a tag left on her beach gear. ” How dare they threaten to confiscate my property”.
Welcome to the world of the first group to be denied use of the National Recreational Seashore.
The environmentalist groups scream bloody murder when the nasty ORV’s leave tire tracks on the beach to trap and kill innocent little birds and turtles! I would think they would be first to bring a lawsuit against leaving objects on the beaches like this!!! How about it SELC, going to court over this abuse of the park beaches today?
I think these pictures bring a clear point to the ORV user organizations claims that pedestrian access only corridors to remote beaches are unusable by the general public. These areas should be considered closed in the park service access reports. We have said over and over that it is impossible to carry all the gear needed for a family day at the beach. These pictures clearly show that even a short walk is too far to carry all the supplies needed for an enjoyable day the beach. Open access means more than carrying binoculars and a bottle of water to spend an hour on the beach. Some of us actually enjoy spending the entire day enjoying Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreation Area and need more than one bottle of water and binoculars to do it.
In all our years driving to the end of Hatteras Island, anything left behind seems to be accidental, and is cleaned up by nearby beach go-ers (AKA “evil ORV drivers”). We did wonder, however, how often Park Service personnel patrolled the area, as there were people parking in and walking through restricted dune areas (we had no cell-phone coverage and could not report them).
This issue of leaving gear on the beach needs to be addressed by the Real Estate companies making the money of the rental property. It should be their responsibility to inform their renters that if they leave their gear on the beach after dark that in will be confiscated. There does not need to be a warning or a grace period if you choose to leave your gear on the beach it will not be there when you return. This would get their attention I?m sure. Confiscating this gear could also provide jobs and possibly fund the trash service by being sold. I am confident that the Park Service has more important things to do than run around putting warning labels on gear left on the beach. Not to mention the cost of printing the labels. Can you imagine if every ORV person that visited the beach just decided to leave their gear there for the week. REMEMBER PEOPLE YOU RENTED THE HOUSE NOT THE BEACH. RESPECT THE BEACH!
Up until this ridculous consent decree was enacted, my family and I were regular visitors at the Outer Banks for 30+ years. I never heard of anyone having issues with trashed up beaches, junk left overnight, or other issues such as the ones discussed in this blog. Oh sure, there were the idiots who didn?t clean up after themselves, but they were few and far between. What happened is that the true lovers of the Outer Banks who brought their ORV?s to the beach and cleaned up after themselves, have been traded for rich, disrespectful renters who could care less about preserving what the Outer Banks is (or should I say was) all about. This whole fiasco is not, and never has been, about saving the birds, the turtles, or anything else. It?s simply about removing humans from the beaches, PERIOD. I will never return to the beaches I enjoyed as a young child until the egotistical judge?s decision is overturned and the tree-huggers are run out of town on a rail. From the sound of things, the beach is in worse shape now than it was before the tree-huggers stuck their nose someplace it didn?t belong. Genesis 1:26 ?Then God said ?Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground?. I think it?s wrong that we are being removed from a beautiful area of the United States in order to protect animals that aren?t even endangered. Bottom line for me, it?s MY beach and I want it back.