National Park Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Outer Banks Group:
· Cape Hatteras National Seashore
· Fort Raleigh National
Historic Site
· Wright Brothers National Memorial
1401 National Park RoadManteo, NC 27954
252-473-2111 phone252-473-2595 fax
National Park Service News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: DATE: November 5, 2008
CONTACT: 252-473-2111 ext. 148

Information Available on NPS ORV Management Alternatives

Superintendent Mike Murray announces that information about off-road vehicle (ORV) management alternatives being considered by the National Park Service (NPS) for Cape Hatteras National Seashore has been provided to the Seashore’s ORV management negotiated rulemaking advisory committee. The information is also available to the public and has been uploaded to the PEPC website, under ORV Management Plan project, entitled 2008 11Nov 05 – ORV EIS Alternatives:

http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=358&projectId=10641&documentID=25051

“For clarification, NPS is not seeking or considering public comment on these materials at this time. We are sharing this information with the negotiated rulemaking advisory committee now solely for members' use in negotiating a consensus alternative for recommendation to the NPS,” said Superintendent Mike Murray. “NPS highly values public input in the planning process and will actively seek public comment on the draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) when it is released for public review in the early fall of 2009.”

If you have further questions, call 252-473-2111 ext. 148.

-NPS-

Here's an opinion from a resident.


The announcement regarding the moving of the negotiated rulemaking committee meetings farther away from the people it most affects is most disturbing to me. Local citizens, especially those from Hatteras Village and Ocracoke, must travel many additional miles to learn about possible decisions that may adversely affect their livelihood. This will add between 11/2 - 2 hours driving time from the previously scheduled meeting place: this will require those from Ocracoke village to travel 3 or more hours, if they catch the ferry just right. This is happening at a time of $4 dollar a gallon gasoline costs.

The currently designated meeting place and the decision to prohibit video taping violates the requirement that all such meetings be publicly accessible and allow public participation. There are no officially recorded minutes. Those summaries that are written are approved several months after they take place.

An extremely unjust plan that appears to be extremely economically damaging to the residents of the eight small villages is being developed. I urge you to reconsider this move. NO one has been threatened. There has been no property damage. Those who have attended the meetings have conducted themselves properly, even though they have lost money and jobs this summer because of the Consent Decree.

As evidenced by the submissions at the September meeting the public, residents and merchants who were asked to work with the NPS are not only being shut out of the proceedings but are not being informed of the decision making proposals or the related discussions. It appears there is strong support for even greater limitations on the beach and greater lose of freedom on a publicly owned National Park.

I urge you to reconsider this move.

Barbara Ackley

A couple of informative articles.

http://www.islandfreepress.org/2008Archives/08.18.2008-CatchingUpWithSeashoreIssuesWithTheParkSuperintendent.html

http://www.islandfreepress.org/2008Archives/08.13.2008-NegotiatedRulemakingResumesOnSept8.html

It's good to see that the NPS is not buying into the spin of the environmental groups that they found the solution, in one easy stroke of a judges pen.

What has us worried is the idea of turning a part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area into a "Wilderness Study Area". What would be the focus of the "Study".

To say that the area would be open to "Pedestrians" is false. The best science shows that pedestrians are at least, or even more, disturbing to the birds.

Lets not even get into whether CHNSRA remotely qualifies under the Wilderness Act.