Most of this information comes from flyers that can be picked up at local gift and tackle shops… while other information is just different stuff i compiled from talking to locals and reading information sites. If any information is correct, please tell me. Remember, I live a couple hours away and cannot always be informed right away about the latest happenings so please report any so I can add to this list! The more evidence we have, the more people will join the cause.
1) FLYER I PICKED UP FROM RED DRUM TACKLE, BUXTON. (Cannot scan this because my scanner is broken so I retyped the key points).
- Beach access is in the process of being denied to EVERYONE, not just off road vehicles.
- Closures have become larger and will be in effect for longer durations.
- Closures can change daily bringing confusing to locals and visitors alike.
- Based on shorebird activity and vandalism, closures are being increased daily.
- ORV night-time access is severely restricted all summer and fall (NO DRIVING ACCESS 10PM – 6AM).
- Jobs and businesses are being lost. Thousands of local families depend on access to the beaches and their normal lives are all in danger.
- Special interest groups filing lawsuits resulted in a a closed-door settlement that replaced an Interim Plan approved with extensive public input in 2007. The new settlement asked for FULL BEACH CLOSURES and has been forced on the public with no public input.
- There is NO SCIENTIFIC BASIS for these closures as there is NO peer-reviewed science to support claims of species loss resulting from beach users or from ORV traffic.
- The shorebirds included in the agreement are NOT ENDANGERED and the Piping Plover is in fact, NOT endangered, only threatened.
- North Carolina Senators Dole & Burr have introduced Senate Bill S.3113 and NC US Rep. Walter B Jones, Jr. has introduced House Bill HR 6233 superceding the judges consent decree and allowing NPS to properly run Cape Hatteras National Recreational Seashore by the Interim Plan until the Negotiating Rulemaking Committee and NPS can put the finalized off road vehicle plan into effect.
Important/Interesting Facts
- Do NOT drive on the beach between 10PM & 6AM.
- Do NOT vandalize beach closure signs… it only results in more beach closures and can result in $5,000 fines & 6 months in jail. $1,000 rewards have been offered for information leading to an arrest.
- Piping Plovers are NOT endangered. I repeat, PIPING PLOVERS ARE THREATENED, NOT ENDANGERED.
- Piping Plovers nest on other areas along the East Coast, not JUST the Outer Banks! The OBX is but a small nesting population and there has been driving access for years, yet the population still continues to nest.
- Apparently, there have been traps set to catch Piping Plover predators and the traps have killed (2) Ospreys, a natural predator of the plover, and an ENDANGERED species, where as the plovers are not.
- Local businesses are being threatened financially and may not even be around next year due to many families depending on summer tourism which has lessened to not only the growing economy troubles, but the overall beach closures.
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