OBX Access

[Fishwagon]

I hate to say it, but it doesnt look good, folks. Essentially the judge want the Park Service and the Audobon Society to come to an agreement. The Park Service could really care less if there are ORV 's on the beach, so all they are really going to do is get together and see how far they can take it, and it will only be the beginning

probably the eventual goal will be:
no driving at night after 10PM because of sea turtles.
very restricted number of permits issued on a daily basis.

In Assatigue/Chicotigue, this means something like a few dozen vehicles for about 30 miles of beach.

[ncfish]

In my opinion- NPS and DOI don't want to fight the suit, because as mentioned they don't care if trucks or there or not, but equally important they don't want the negative publicity of going against the greenies. It's amazing how these groups manipulate the corporations and general public to get $.

Oh well, I haven't given up, but I did just add a 'yak to my fleet. More than one way to skin a cat...

[ncfish]

Our wonderful Judge accepted the consent decree, so...
BIG portions of the 6 most popular areas will be seasonally closed for birds.
Violations of the closures result in BIGGER closures.
No driving on the beach between 10 pm and 6 am March- Sept (you can from Sept to Oct w/ a permit)
NPS will check the closures each morning and if the birdies have moved the closure will move.
Oh yeah, and the closure size for a nest is 1000 meters, EACH WAY!! That's over 20 football fields, FOR ONE NEST. Hell, you get three nests on Ocracoke and the whole beach is off limits!!

And, this will impact CALO and other national seashores on the east coast- the idiots now have a precedent.

Thanks to a judge that can't find has a$$ with both hands and wants so bad to get promoted to the court of appeals, he's willing to hop in bed with the environmentalists to cozy up to the democrats that have blocked him FOUR times.

Sucks...

[Captain Jay Kavanagh]

The good news is we can STILL drive on the beach. The judge could have legally shut it totally down.

While not the best outcome, it is not the worst, we have been dealing with the bird and turtle closures for years, it is just a little worse.

Many places will be largely unaffected.

I think this is good news.

Call your congressman and senator and tell them what you think.

[Fishwagon]

The NPS and the defenders of wildlife/audobon are like two foxes dividing up the henhouse.

I suspect this is only the beginning. If you look at beaches around the country, this is still the least restricted. Im guessing they just did this because they knew the hostility was going to be trouble. I'd bet any amount of money that there will be another lawsuit in 5-7 years, after things cool off a little. Most park Service Workers are biologists or environmental science majors. This will give them more reign over the beaches, and they can ask for more money to rewrite their resumes.

[ncfish]

I have called, and called, and written and everything else.
And yes it's good that we can still drive on the beach, but if you read the access reports posted weekly by the NPS, there are between 10-20 closure violations per week. Every one of those will result in additional closure, etc.

While I understand that my livelihood was not affected by the outcome either way, it's pitiful that the groups I belong to, the counties, etc, had to bend over and kiss a@@ because a judge is trying to get nominated to the court of appeals, which is essentially what this boils down to.
How can America sit back and let a judge, enviros, NPS and the intervenor lawyer dictate park policy that totally ignores ESA guidelines for species protection, etc. with zero public input. Those groups don't own that park, hell, they're not even elected officials. Why do they get to make the rules? I could go on and on, but personally I wish we had fought in court, then could have appealed. Now we just take what the enviros and the good judge decide to give us with no recourse.

Again, I don't have a financial dog in this fight, and I understand that the businesses down there are getting the best outcome they could given the circumstances, but the more we compromise, the worse it gets imo.

[ncfish]

What's it been, two weeks since the agreement?
Oregon Inlet, the Point and Ocracoke South Beach will be closed today for birds, from now until the two weeks after the last nest fails or chicks fledge (mid-summer).

And these closures are based on the Consent Decree. In other words under the old Interim Mgmt Plan, the areas would still be open.

Although I'm kind of suprised it took them this long. Thanks NPS and DOI for giving away the keys to the park to Audobon/DOW.