Daily News

ALEXANDRIA, VA. - Members of Congress from North Carolina have been criticized for intervening in the fight for public beach access on the Outer Banks. But Congress is exactly the place for this issue, because its role is to assure fundamental fairness and democracy.

U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole and Rep. Walter Jones should be applauded for standing up for constituents who are being victimized by the National Park Service, the environmental community and the judicial system.

For years, the Park Service has failed to comply with federal law by not drafting and implementing an off-road vehicle (ORV) plan for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area. Last year, under federal direction, all concerned parties, including the National Audubon Society and Defenders of Wildlife, agreed that the best course of action was to engage in a negotiated rule-making process to develop a long-term ORV plan, and to determine the appropriate balance between protection of federally listed and non-listed species and access to the Seashore.

To ensure that the shorebirds in question were protected while the long-term plan was being developed, the Park Service developed an Interim Protected Species Management Strategy (known as the interim strategy) to govern the use of ORVs.

This was developed through an open process that allowed for public participation and comment. Despite the implementation of the interim strategy, which included further restricted access to the beaches, Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society filed suit in U.S. District Court to force their solution on all the parties. They then sought and got an injunction that resulted in a consent decree that is much more restrictive than the interim strategy.

What Burr, Dole and Jones are doing is simply restoring the original agreement, in which all parties will participate in a discussion that will ultimately create both long-term protection for threatened piping plovers and other shorebirds, and reasonable beach access. The key point about the negotiated process is that it assures all parties have a voice in the decision-making process. (more…)

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 27th, 2008 at 5:41 am and is filed under Daily News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.