PUBLIC LANDS
anel weighs dispute over allowing OHVs on national seashore in N.C.
Jessica Estepa, E&E reporter
Published: Thursday, June 28, 2012
Local officials and the Obama administration clashed yesterday over a measure that would allow off-highway vehicles on a national seashore in North Carolina's Outer Banks during a Senate Energy and Natural Resources subcommittee hearing.
S. 2372, sponsored by Sens. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Kay Hagan (D-N.C.), would reinstate an interim management strategy for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area, overturning the final management plan that went into effect in February. Supporters of the legislation contend that the area, the first national seashore in the United States, no longer serves the public despite having been created by the federal government as a recreational area.
Off-roading on the seashore was first banned in 2008 after Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society sought an injunction to stop the activity while the National Park Service developed its final management plan.
Warren Judge, chairman of the Dare County (N.C.) Board of Commissioners, testified before the Subcommittee on National Parks that the people he represents have been actively involved with the federal government's plan ever since, participating in public hearings and giving feedback on the draft environmental impact statements.
But NPS's final rule, which established permits for off-highway vehicle use in order to better protect wildlife in the area, left much to be desired for many locals, Judge noted, leading them to call for the reimplementation of the 2007 interim strategy.
The interim strategy -- a management plan that allows for off-highway vehicle use -- better fits the needs of those who live in the area, Warren said. Limiting access under current rules has hurt tourism, he said, causing locally owned businesses to struggle as fewer people chose to come to an area they couldn't access.
Judge also spoke harshly of the environmental groups that said tourism was up in the area, saying they were "cherry-picking economic indicators."
"This bill represents a practical and proven solution for providing access to the seashore, while assuring science-based protection for shorebirds and turtles," Judge said.
But the Obama administration came out against the measure. Herbert Frost, assistant director for natural resource stewardship and science at the National Park Service, said the interim plan was meant as only a temporary solution for managing the area. The final management plan for off-highway vehicles incorporates a long-term outlook for the seashore and would better adapt for changing conditions, he said.
"We strongly believe that the final ORV management plan and special regulation will accomplish these objectives far better than the defunct interim strategy," he testified.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) pointed out that the legislation has the bipartisan support of both senators from the state.
"It's where West Virginians have been going for generations," he said. "That's their vacation. That's where they've been migrating to for many, many years. They're very concerned about the rule and stopped them from doing the things they've done for so long."
Derb Carter, the director of the Carolinas office for the Southern Environmental Law Center, testified against the legislation. Growing up in North Carolina, he said, he had watched as off-highway vehicles overwhelmed the beaches. Returning to the interim strategy, he said, would harm wildlife.
The subcommittee also heard testimony about S. 3300, which would create the Manhattan Project National Historical Park in Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Los Alamos, N.M.; and Hanford, Wash. The bill was praised by witnesses at the hearing, as well as subcommittee members Sens. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.).
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who also serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, asked Frost about the costs of creating new national parks at a time when the agency has a maintenance backlog totaling about $11 billion. She noted that many of the bills before the subcommittee would expand existing parks or create new ones.
"At a time when the Park Service is having a difficult time keeping up with what it currently owns, do you think it's a sound investment for the Park Service to acquire more land?" she asked. "Many make the case that it's pretty common sense that we don't buy property when we can't maintain what we already have."
Frost said she was "absolutely right," but that for the agency, the concern was protecting areas that have national significance.
