Beach Access and Park Issues
Seashore Map With Numbered Ramps Click Here
NPS/Google Earth map of resource closures  
Click Here
Frequently Asked Questions:  Beach Access   Click Here
Cape Hatteras National Seashore Weekly Reports

Cape Hatteras National Seashore Weekly Beach Access Report

The National Park Service issues a weekly beach access report during the nesting season for shorebirds and turtles.  The report is a narrative of what is open and what is closed and why on seashore beaches. It notes areas closed to ORVs and ORVs and pedestrians.
The report can be used along with the NPS Google Earth maps that also detail what’s open to vehicles and people on the seashore.  You can see the Google Earth maps by clicking on the red bar at the top of the Beach Access and Park Issues Page.

For the weekly report, click here

For previous reports, click here


Cape Hatteras National Seashore Resource Management Summary

The National Park Service issues a weekly report on rexource management on the seashore that details nesting and other activity by protected shorebirds and sea turtles.  It includes a chart on number of piping plovers on the seashore and information about other sensitive species, such as American oystercatchers.  And it details nests and locations for birds and turtles.  Also available is other information on the seashore’s mammals, such as sea turtle strandings.

For the weekly report, click here

For previous reports, click here



Two vandalism incidents result in buffer expansion and another ramp closure


Two new vandalism incidents have resulted in expanded buffers at shorebird protection areas in Cape Hatteras National Seashore – and the closure of another ramp on Hatteras Island. 
 ....Read more









NPS launches ‘beach watch’ Program


The National Park Service has introduced  a new volunteer “beach watch” program for the 2009 summer season.  
....Read more









Seashore has volunteer opportunities for Hatteras teens

The National Park Service invites all Hatteras Island uprising seventh through 12th graders to join in some exciting summer volunteer experiences.  
....Read more








Judge agrees to minor modifications of consent decree


In a hearing today in U.S. District Court in Raleigh, federal Judge Terrence W. Boyle signed off on three modifications to a consent decree, which has dictated beach access and resource protection on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore since April of last year.  
....Read more







Seasonal beach closures will start May 15


The annual seasonal closures of village beaches to off-road vehicle (ORV) use within the Cape Hatteras National Seashore will go into effect on Friday, May 15.  
....Read more








Night driving restrictions on beaches begin May 1


Night driving will be banned on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore from 10 p.m. until 6 a.m., beginning Friday, May 1. Enforcement of the restriction will be at midnight on Thursday, April 30.  
....Read more








Park Service will crack down on unleashed dogs on beaches


Park Service officials announced in a recent press release that there will be a focused effort this season to improve compliance with leash laws on Cape Hatteras National Seashore to protect wildlife.
 ....Read more








UPDATED….Park Service releases final report on negotiated rulemaking committee

The National Park Service has released the final report of the Negotiated Rulemaking Advisory Committee for Off-Road Vehicle Management for Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The 1,654-page report provides diverse stakeholder input on a full spectrum of ORV management issues for the seashore. 
....Read more

Environmental Groups submit their response to negotiated rulemaking


The environmental caucus, which includes four members of the negotiated rulemaking committee and one alternate, submitted its response to the process and suggestions to Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials on off-road vehicle rulemaking.  
....Read more


UPDATED….Beach Access groups submit their response to negotiated rulemaking


The beach access caucus, which includes 16 members of the negotiated rulemaking committee, submitted its response to the process and their suggestions to Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials on off-road vehicle rulemaking.  
....Read more

Committee members weigh in on the successes and failures of negotiated rulemaking


The negotiated rulemaking process, which was to assist the National Park Service in writing a long-term off-road vehicle regulation for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, ended after 14 months of meetings on Thursday evening, Feb. 26.  ....Read more





UPDATED…Two more vandalism incidents result in expanded buffers.


Two new vandalism incidents have resulted in expanded buffers at shorebird protection areas in Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  The incidents, discovered over the weekend, were at Hatteras Inlet spit and the South Beach in Frisco.  
....Read more

First resource closure violation reported on Ocracoke

On Monday morning, March 23, National Park Service staff discovered vandalism of symbolic fencing marking a shorebird pre-nesting closure at the South Point area on Ocracoke Island.  Five “Area Closed” signs on 2-by-2 inch wooden posts were broken off at the sand line.  As required by the court-ordered consent decree, a deliberate act of vandalism to fencing results in a mandatory 50 meter expansion of the closure area.  Because of the narrow width of the beach at this location, the expanded buffer has closed some of the beach at South Point to off-road vehicles.
....Read more




UPDATE….Wellfleet, Mass., rejects seashore request to ban kitesurfing in town waters

Kitesurfers scored a big victory in Wellfleet, Mass., on Tuesday, March 24, when the town’s Board of Selectmen unanimously rejected a nearly five-month ban on the sport in the town’s bayside waters that the Cape Cod National Seashore had asked it to adopt.  
....Read more

Could Cape Cod’s kitesurfing ban make its way to Cape Hatteras?

Cape Cod National Seashore recently enacted a ban on kitesurfing in the park’s bay waters, and that has some people worried about whether that could happen here. Kitesurfing advocates say there is no science to back up the ban, and there is good reason to think it won’t happen at Cape Hatteras.  
....Read more

Cape Cod National Seashore asks for kitesurfing ban

Locals in Wellfleet, Mass., asked the selectmen last week to "educate themselves" with the facts about kitesurfing before they agree to a request from the Cape Cod National Seashore to join with them in banning kitesurfing on its beaches to protect piping plovers.

From The Provincetown Banner.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/wellfleet/town_info/government/x1658749155/
Kitesurfers-urge-Wellfleet-not-to-ban-sport






Is Bodie Island spit owned by the Park Service – or not?

Who owns Bodie Island spit? Most people would answer that the National Park Service owns the spit of land on the north side of Oregon Inlet. But that is not the answer according to Dare County records.  
 ....Read more








Park Service installs traffic counters at five ramps

On Wednesday, March 11, National Park Service staff members began installing new traffic counters at five ramps on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  The traffic counters are the result of recommendations to track off-road vehicle usage within seashore.  
....Read more












Judge Boyle gets an update on seashore management at low-key conference

The parties to a consent decree that settled a lawsuit last year against the National Park Service over its management of resources on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore were summoned to a federal court in Elizabeth City on Thursday, March 5. U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle scheduled a status conference in the court case that resulted in a consent decree that is regulating off-road vehicle use and management of natural resources in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore until there is a long-term ORV rule.

All parties in the case said before the conference that they had not asked for the court appearance and that they didn’t know what Boyle wanted. Well, it was as simple as Boyle wanted to know how the past summer had gone on the seashore – the nesting success of birds and turtles and the progress of negotiated rulemaking.    
 ....Read more





This year’s beach access outlook: There will be beaches open, but not all of them will be open all of the time

Many regular visitors want to know if the beaches will be open to off-road vehicles, which beaches will be open to ORVs, and exactly when they will be open. The good news is that there will be beaches open to ORVs this spring and summer.  In fact, there will probably be quite a few miles of beach open. The not-so-good news is that they may not be the beaches you want to go to. And you will not know ahead of time which beaches are open and which are not, since it all depends on where the birds go.  
....Read more




Negotiated rulemaking ends with no consensus

The 29-member negotiated rulemaking committee, appointed to help the National Park Service write a long-term rule for off-road vehicles on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, ended its work on Thursday, Feb. 26, without having reached a consensus on access to the beaches.  
 ....Read more





Dare County launches Web site to preserve beach access

An informative and interactive Web site has been launched by the grassroots campaign to preserve access to America’s beaches.  The Web site address is http://www.PreserveBeachAccess.org . It features comprehensive coverage about the issue of beach access in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area (CHNSRA).  The campaign is supported by the Dare County Board of Commissioners in partnership with the Dare County Tourism Board.  
....Read more




NPS issues 2008 reports on birds and turtles and status of ORV rulemaking

Cape Hatteras National Seashore’s 2008 annual reports for protected species and a report on the status of off-road vehicle management plan and negotiated rulemaking have been released and are available to the public on the park’s planning Web site under the Interim Protected Species Management Strategy.  
   ....Read more




Jones re-introduces bill to set aside consent decree on ORV access

U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., re-introduced legislation in the House of Representatives yesterday that would set aside a consent decree and reinstate the National Park Service’s interim strategy to govern ORV use on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore until there is a long-term rule.

   ....Read more








Jimmy Buffett likes driving the seashore beaches for surfing, fishing, and solitude

You might be surprised who you could run into driving the beaches of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.


The man who has been called the “world’s richest beach bum,” Jimmy Buffett, spent four days on the Outer Banks this fall – from Nov. 10-13.  
 ....Read more





Beach access group and Dare and Hyde counties plan to sue over piping plover habitat designation

Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance (CHAPA) and Dare and Hyde counties have notified the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that they intend to file yet another lawsuit over the issue of the designation of critical habitat for the piping plover. In their Dec. 2 notice of their intent to sue, the parties claim that the designation violates the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and other federal environmental laws.  
 ....Read more






Park Service releases its management alternatives for ORV use on the seashore

The National Park Service has released its management alternatives for off-road vehicle use on the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.  Park officials hope that the negotiated rulemaking committee will add one more alternative.  The Park Service’s management alternatives would normally not be released to the public until next fall when the Draft Environmental Impact Statement will be ready for public review. However, the seashore superintendent said that he thinks releasing the alternatives almost a year early will benefit the negotiators. 
Read more....




Beach-driving advocates wary of new rule on critical habitat for wintering plovers

After seven years of court fights and compromise, more than 2,000 acres of seashore along the Outer Banks were deemed critical wintering habitat for piping plovers, a rare shorebird.

Beach drivers now wonder how the designation will affect them, and groups that oppose it want federal regulators to reconsider the move.

Article by Catherine Kozak in The Virginian-Pilot.

http://hamptonroads.com/2008/10/outer-banks-beach-driving-advocates-wary-rule


FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CRITICAL HABITAT:

Guest column: A critical look at designating critical habitat for wintering piping plovers

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has given notice that it intends to designate four popular areas of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore as critical habitat for the wintering piping plover.  Dr. Mike Berry writes that this designation has some significant implications for the national park, the public, and the villages on the Outer Banks.   ....Read more

http://islandfreepress.org/2008Archives/06.02.2008-GuestColumnMikeBerryCriticalHabitat.html

 



Background information on establishment of the national seashore

Several readers have asked The Island Free Press to publish information online about the establishment of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and what exactly was promised by the U.S. Congress in the 1937 enabling legislation and later by Conrad Wirth, who was director of the National Park Service when the seashore was established in 1953. The PDF file below contains the enabling legislation, the 1940 legislation changing the name from “national seashore” to “national seashore recreational area,” and the famous “Open Letter to the People of the Outer Banks,” by NPS director Wirth that was published in a 1952 issue of The Coastland Times.  There are also other interesting bits of information.

All of this information is from an exhibit in the litigation on beach driving that was compiled by law firms representing the defendant-intervenors – Dare and Hyde counties and the Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance.

Information on the establishment of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore





What Island Free Press readers say about beach access issues

Scores of Island Free Press readers have shared their views on the ongoing issue of ORV access to our beaches.  They are sometimes thoughtful and sometimes nostalgic but always interesting and emotional. 
....Read Letters to the editor





Click Here To View Archived Beach Access Information
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