ACTION NEEDED Re: Cape Hatteras National Recreational Seashore ORV/Beach Access

[C.Salp]

Fellow beach users:

You are likely aware of the NPS process that has started relative to beach driving and access on the Outer Banks, and many of you have likely already submitted comments with your concerns about current and future potential restrictions.

Comments on “scoping” of the impending CHNS ORV management plan are due by Friday, March 16.

The link to submit your comments online is here:

http://parkplanning.nps.gov/commentF...cumentId=17542

Information about the NPS “notice of intent” to prepare an Off-Road Vehicle Management Plan (ORV Management Plan) and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is here:

http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document...cumentId=17542

[I believe there is also a printable form on this NPS site on which you can submit your comments in hard copy.]

Those of us on these forums have a passion for surf fishing and for our beaches, and for enjoying them responsibly. I implore all of us who enjoy, have enjoyed, or want to be able to enjoy in the future, vehicular access on CHNS beaches, to please take the time to submit your comments before the Friday, March 16 deadline.

It will only take a few minutes to write a comment letter -- probably far less than it will take to plan that next trip. I can assure you that individuals and well-funded organizations with the agenda of further restricting or even shutting out our beach access altogether are writing, organizing and making their voices heard. ORV access has already shrunk significantly in recent years, as chronicled more capably than I could, by a snippet from an e-mail a good friend of mine sent on this topic:

"My first trip to the outer banks was in 1971 with a bunch of guys I worked with at C&P Telephone. We camped in tents in the park service campground at the point. By today's standards, the conditions then were primitive. [One friend of mine] had the only 4 wheel drive. He had to make multiple trips to ferry everyone to and from the point. I was hooked. I purchased my first Blazer in 1974. At that time you could still drive on the beach at the south side of Oregon Inlet. That privilege was lost some time ago. You could drive on the beach from Pea Island all the way to Hatteras Inlet if you didn't get stuck, which back in those days, we did frequently. My worst incident was just south of ramp 38. We traveled in groups and there were always two or three "big boys" there to help push us out. You could also drive from one end of Ocracoke to the other. Now there are closures in Rodanthe, south of ramp 38, north of 43, south of 55, and most of Ocracoke."


Comment on why vehicular access to the beaches is important to you -- and necessary. Just think of the devastating economic impact to the Hatteras Island economy and its small family businesses if the beaches are closed or even more severely restricted.

Feel free use your own words to describe:
- why and how you enjoy Cape Hatteras National Recreational Seashore, and
- why you go there, or
- why you moved there.
Further, describe any comments and concerns you have about what ORV access (and beach access and facilities generally) should look like under the new ORV plan being developed.


On behalf of me, my nephews, and future generations, Thank you in advance!

- Chris

[derf]

thanks chris

[Warden]

Please, take the time to send in a comment. It's absolutely painless. You just need to fill in the boxes with name, address etc. add your comment that you're in favor of beach access and then click submit. It's that easy!

The organizations that are against us on this issue have large, nationwide memberships so we are going into this fight very much outnumbered. We need everyone who has an interest in accessing the beach to send in a comment! Please, it'll only take five minutes! Do it!

[Catch This]

Chris,
Thanks for doing this and I dont mind your quoting me at all. I hope it inspirese someone else to write.

Steve C.
That was your brother Mike that got me hooked on surf fishing. Tell him the guy with with the hidden "mad money" said Hello. He will know who it is. Also tell him we still laugh about the "Chapstick Incident" with the Midget.

[John M]

sent off a letter a couple weeks ago about this. the NCBBA had a thing about it in thier newsletter.

[anglermgt]

Letter sent this morning.

[Chowder]

Here is my submission

I am 52 year old male retired from a career in law enforcement. Most of my leisure time is spent fishing the east coast of these great United states from Brigantine New Jersey to Key West Florida. My earliest childhood memories are of fishing for Striped Bass from the beach in LBI New Jersey early 1960s. I have always had a great respect for all things in nature and I have shared this love with my parents, siblings, children, and friends. I spend up to 50 hours a week on the beaches spring and fall during the migration, while I fish, the sights and sounds of the shore birds along with the breaking surf bring me back day after day. My ORV is a part of this passion and with out it I would not be able to fully enjoy the coastal waters to the extent I am now able to.
I first discovered Cape Hatteras National Seashore & Recreational area while stationed at camp LeJune in the early 1970s. I have returned there most years since and choose this jewel on earth for my honeymoon. My entire extended family has vacationed there together on numerous occasions and without the ORV the experience would surely have been diminished. It is my hope my children will continue to share this wonderful place with their children for generations to come.
I have never seen a fellow fisherman harass, molest or otherwise harm any shorebird or any other part of this eco system in all my time on the beach. I would also state that it has been my observation fisherman are among the most respectful of this eco system of any of the user groups. I feel ORVs on the beach are like boats on the water, they expand, enhance, and enable us to enjoy our experience at a level which is consistent with that of previous generations of American fisherman. We must preserve this experience for future generations or we will become extinct.
Currently those who would ban ORV use on the Outerbanks CHNS rally around the piping plover. It seems Nature has chosen this wonderful bird for extinction. I feel that any of our efforts to save this creature will end in its fate being determined by Nature. Locally, the powers to be trap out natural predators and place cages around eggs to protect them. They also restrict ORV access. Then Nature Decides to have a North Easter (storm) and all is lost. Like the beaches they nest on these creatures are in the hands of nature not man. Those with deep pockets think throwing money at it is going to fix the problem while those of us who are part of it see it as common sense, it is naive to think we can control any force in nature.
There are others who use ORVs for beach access besides fisherman and birders. Not everyone shares the same respect for the eco system. There will always be 10 percent who would harm these birds and other living things through total disregard for anyones concerns, this is where law enforcement plays a role. This is why we have enforcement. NPS must come up with a compromise acceptable by all and enforce it. To ban ORV use at CHNS would serve no purpose, in another generation give or take a few years the plover will have become extinct or have adapted to the dynamic eco system in which it now struggles and our great American pass time will be extinct