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Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Boomer with Attitude / News Great. More beach driving at Hatteras.
Posted By John Grooms on Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 11:29 AM
This morning’s news that U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan has signed on to Sen. Richard Burr’s bill to lift beach closures at Cape Hatteras National Seashore comes as a rude surprise to North Carolinians who value Hatteras’ special status as a beautiful, natural place. Some beaches there are closed to off-road vehicles by the National Park Service from April to early August in order to protect the habitats and/or nesting areas of sea turtles, plovers, nesting terns and other wildlife.
If you’ve been to Hatteras, you know how expansive the beaches are — and how much beach-area fishers can still reach in their ORVs despite the closures. The restrictions, which have been in place for two years, have helped increase the number of protected wildlife in the park, but local business owners say the closures hurt their bottom line.
Hagan’s spokeswoman, Stephanie Allen, told Observer reporter Barbara Barrett that “a lot of the local community has talked to the senator about how their business is suffering.” To which this lover of the Outer Banks’ natural wildness (or what’s left of it), says, “Join the club.” Perhaps the Hatteras business owners haven’t noticed, but, as they said during the Great Depression, “things are tough all over”; you hate to say it, but it is doubtful that opening up the restricted areas of Hatteras to ORVs will help that situation very much.
Allen also called Hagan’s support of opening up the closed areas “an effort to balance the needs of both the wildlife and the local tourism economy.” Well, no it’s not. It’s an effort to un-balance the needs of wildlife and business. The decision to close certain beaches to ORV traffic during four months is what balanced wildlife and business, and even then, just barely enough to keep from killing off creatures that make Hatteras such an exceptional place. Burr’s bill got nowhere during the last session of Congress. It’s not clear whether having a Democrat signed on to the bill will make a difference this time around.
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