This Land, Your Land

North Carolina's national forests are proposing new limits on geocaching and metal detectors on forest lands as a means to protect special areas and historical artifacts from damage.

Geocaches, hidden containers that game participants try to find by using GPS coordinates or other navigational techniques, would be prohibited in wildernesses, experimental forests (such as the Bent Creek Experimental Forest near Asheville) or Wild and Scenic River corridors.

The second rule would limit possession or use of metal detectors to approved areas, primarily swimming beaches like those at Lake Powhatan in the Pisgah National Forest, Jackrabbit Mountain in the Nantahala, Flanners Beach in the Croatan, and Kings Mountain Point in the Uwharrie. Forest visitors could still get permission to use metal detectors to find lost personal property in other areas.

“Many archaeological sites on the forest have been significantly damaged from treasure hunting, by those who loot sites to sell artifacts, and by others just unaware that it’s illegal to disturb and remove artifacts from federal land without a research permit. Existing laws protect historical sites like early farms and logging camps as well as Native American artifacts,” Mary Noel, the forest lands and planning staff officer, said in a news release.

Comments on the proposed rule changes can be mailed before March 15 to the National Forests in North Carolina, 160A Zillicoa Street, Asheville, 28801, or sent to comments-southern-north-carolina@fs.fed.us.

Pilot Mountain State Park has closed indefinitely because of a large number of trees that have fallen on park roads and trails during recent snow and ice, the state Division of Parks and Recreation has announced.

The park will remain closed to all use, including hiking, until the roadways and trails can be cleared of ice and fallen trees, the state says. Notice of the park's reopening will be placed on the Pilot Mountain State Park page and on the state parks alert page, which over the past several weeks has carried notice of several state park and recreation area closings due to inclement weather.

Pilot Mountain, in Pinnacle north of Winston-Salem, features its namesake peak, which was named a National Natural Landmark in 1976, and is popular for hiking, camping, canoeing, horseback riding, rock climbing and rappelling.

Pilot Mountain closed February 5, when Surry County was hit by a winter storm that brought snow as well as freezing rain, the Mount Airy News said Sunday. "After the snow and ice, high winds arrived Wednesday and blew down trees across the area, causing damage at the park as well. (Ranger Keith) Martin said roads there were blocked by trees, broken branches and limbs, mostly from pines as well as birches."

A five-member state park fire crew from the Raleigh area was assisting Pilot Mountain’s six permanent staff members and some volunteers with clean-up work, the Mount Airy paper said.

The Smoky Mountains Information blog has a long piece about possessing guns in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which we would think is more or less applicable to North Carolina's other national parks and national wildlife refuges.

As of February 22, federal law will allow people to legally possess firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges under whatever federal, state and local laws apply to the geographic location. The change in rules was approved last May as an amendment to a bill imposing new restrictions on credit card companies.

Smoky Mountains Information provides a statement from Great Smoky Mountains National Park about what will be allowable in the park, and links to firearms laws in North Carolina and Tennessee.

The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees calls the new regulation "a significant departure from long-established, common-sense gun regulations that allowed visitors to possess guns in parks only if they were stowed out of reach and unloaded."

In their statement, the Retirees write about 11 national parks that show "the range of likely harms." This includes Great Smokies, which the statement says provides "an example of one of the problems visitors will face with the new law. In North Carolina, there are few gun restrictions and visitors could be seen openly carrying guns. However, if you happen to be a gun-carrying visitor, you will need a 'carry permit' when you cross into the part of the park located in Tennessee." (How did it come to pass that Tennessee has stricter gun control than North Carolina?)

The Retirees also see specific system-wide problems:

"1) More guns in national parks increase the likelihood of shooting at wildlife and some historic resources, such as prehistoric petroglyphs.

"2) More guns in parks increases the risk to rangers.

"3) More guns in parks increases the risk to visitors in places like campgrounds where disagreements, often fueled by alcohol, sometimes occur.

"4) National parks have always been hospitable to visitors from around the world and are seen as 'sanctuaries' where people could get away from the routines, threats and risks they face in their daily lives. But more guns will change those perceptions.

"5) Until now, one regulation pertaining to firearms applied to all 392 areas in the National Park System. But now each of those areas will be subject to the laws of the state in which it lies. This is likely to lead to significant confusion by visitors traveling though parks in a number of states.

"6) Federal buildings in parks will now have to be signed to prohibit firearms and conceivably security devices will need to be used."

The Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and the Red Wolf Coalition have released their Howling Safari schedule for summer 2010. The two-hour programs give participants the opportunity to hear the harmonious howls of the endangered red wolves, which are found only in the wilds of northeastern North Carolina.

The 7 p.m. guided trips via car into the refuge are set for Wednesdays from June 9 to August 4, and again on August 24 and September 1. They cost $7 per person, with children younger than 5 admitted for free.

The refuge and Coalition will also offer the program for free on four special "Howl-O-Days" - April 24 (Earth Day), October 16 (Wolf Awareness Week), October 30 (Howl-O-Ween) and December 11 (Holiday Howl). Times for these vary.

Each program has a limit of 70 people, so reservations are suggested. The group meets at Creef Cut Wildlife Trail at the intersection of Milltail Road and U.S. 64, approximately 15 minutes east of Manteo.

Register by telephone at (252) 796-5600. More details and a map are at the link above.

We read about it first at Refuge Watch, news and events from America's National Wildlife Refuges.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore has set the 2010 season for its four campgrounds, maintaining fees at 2009 levels but changing a couple of phone numbers.

Oregon Inlet, Frisco, and Ocracoke campgrounds will open to the public on Friday, April 2. Cape Point Campground will open Friday, May 28, for Memorial Day weekend.

Oregon Inlet and Frisco will close after Columbus Day, October 11; Ocracoke will remain open through October 25, Cape Point will close on September 6.

The campgrounds accommodate tents and RVs up to 35 feet long. Each campground provides rest rooms, potable water, unheated showers, grills, and picnic tables.

Camping fees at Oregon Inlet, Frisco and Cape Point are $20 per night. The camping fee at Ocracoke is $23 per night. Group camping at Oregon Inlet requires a reservation two weeks in advance and costs $4 per person for seven to 30 people. Holders of the Interagency Senior or Access passes and the Golden Age or Golden Access passes can get a 50 percent discount on campsites.

No more than 6 persons and two vehicles may occupy a single campsite.

Reservations for Ocracoke can be made by calling 877-444-6777 or through www.recreation.gov and can be made up to six months in advance. The group camping reservation number is 252-441-0882.

The federal government has agreed to pay $52 million to Swain County in lieu of building a road along the northern shore of Fontana Lake through Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Rep. Heath Shuler, D-N.C., announced the deal today, ending a decades-old controversy. Swain County commissioners are expected to approve the agreement on Friday, according to The Charlotte Observer. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Gov. Bev Perdue will appear at a signing ceremony in Bryson City on Saturday.

When the government moved families off their land and flooded the land with the Fontana Lake hydroelectric project during World War II, it vowed to replace one of the roads covered by the reservoir's waters to re-establish access to family cemeteries. The government started then stopped construction of a road that would have gone through the wildest parts of Great Smoky Mountains National Park when environmentalists fought its completion.

The North Shore Road, which became known as the "Road to Nowhere," would have sliced through the unbroken mountains north of Fontana Lake in the national park and crossed the Appalachian Trail near Fontana Dam, according to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, which has a map and a re-cap of the controversy at the link.

Though affected families continued to fight for the road, the county saw the benefit of a monetary settlement, and a government environmental analysis recommended taking the money.

"Four million dollars has already been authorized, and another $8.8 million will be paid after the agreement is signed, said Shuler, a Swain native," according to The Observer. "President Obama’s 2011 budget includes the first of 10 annual payments for the remainder."

"The President’s Fiscal Year 2011 budget for the National Park Service requests $2.7 billion and makes investments of $35.3 million in park operations increases. The budget underscores cost containment, program consolidation and management efficiencies to meet federal fiscal realities, yet provides the resources necessary to effectively carry out the National Park Service’s mission," says a news release from the National Park Service.

The request of $1.6 billion for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "will focus funding on the agency's highest priority conservation initiatives, while containing costs through management efficiencies and other savings to address government fiscal realities. Among the top strategic investments are increases of $18.8 million for Climate Change Adaptation and $4 million for work to review planned renewable energy development to ensure they do not place threatened or endangered species at risk, as well as an additional $15.8 million for ecosystem restoration and $20 million for Federal land acquisition.

Elsewhere, "the National Wildlife Refuge Association expressed disappointment over President Obama's proposed $499.5 million operations and maintenance budget for the National Wildlife Refuge System (part of the Fish and Wildlife Service) for next year ... . Because refuges need at least $15 million annually to cover fixed costs, the proposed $3.3 million reduction represents an $18.3 million cut," says a release from the NWRA. "“If enacted, this budget will mean a loss of jobs and economic opportunity in communities across the country," said Evan Hirsche, president of the NWRA.

The budget also includes includes $4.939 billion in gross discretionary funding for the Civil Works program of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, offset in part by a proposal to cancel $52 million of prior year funding. It designates $64.3 million for projects in the Corps' Wilmington District. Among the projects funded are a major, multiyear rehabilitation project at John H. Kerr Dam and Reservoir in North Carolina and Virginia, several environmental restoration projects, a preconstruction engineering and design study for coastal storm damage repair at Surf City and North Topsail Beach, and money to continue studying the N.C. International Terminal in Brunswick County.