New limits on beach driving will take effect Feb. 15 at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the National Park Service said today. Off-road drivers will be required to buy permits that would add up to $50 to the cost of a week at the beach. [1/21/12 update: see today's story with reader comments.]
The park service had promised to develop new rules for off-road vehicle use along the seashore when it settled a lawsuit filed by environmental groups seeking protections for endangered turtles and shorebirds that nest on the beach. Seashore visitors who take their cars onto the beach to fish, watch birds or get away from the crowds will be required to watch an instructional video and buy a permit.
A park service spokeswoman said the fees, to be announced in the next week or two, will be set somewhere between $90 and $150 for a one-year permit and between $30 and $50 for a seven-day permit. The park service will update online and printed maps to with new information about times and locations were beach driving will be allowed.
The new rules were praised by officials with three environmental groups that sued the National Park Service in 2007.
"The park service's rules are a compromise that provides protections for both pedestrians and wildlife while still allowing responsible beach driving," Julie Youngman, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, said in a news release. Other parties in the lawsuit were Audubon North Carolina and Defenders of Wildlife.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore stretches for about 70 miles along the Outer Banks from south of Nag's Head to Ocracoke. The rules will be published Monday in the Federal Register (and are attached to this blog post, below, in a PDF file).
Bruce Siceloff reports on traffic and transportation. A News & Observer reporter, editor and blogger since 1976, he took over the
Comments
There are 1000's of miles of
Fri, 01/20/2012 - 19:40 — George_SThere are 1000's of miles of beaches in the United States, and you can drive on very few of them. People from all over the east coast come to drive onto and fish at North Carolina's beaches, an activity that pumped millions of dollars into the poorest section of our state. It's a recreational activity that people enjoy, that way you can go to a section of beach where there very few to no other people. It's much easier to drive directly onto the beach and fish, and there are no areas to park other than directly on the beach (you can't park alongside highway 12.) This is another major blow to the offroading community in NC, with the Tellico OHV area being shut down within the past couple of years (this was an area in the mountains where people could go offroading, it was considered by many to be the premier spot for offroading east of the Mississippi River.)
Beach Improvement
Fri, 01/20/2012 - 17:49 — keihinI never did understand the need to drive on the beaches. Hopefully these permitting rules will cut down on this behavior and allow these areas to recover.