This Land, Your Land

We've tried to round up Hurricane Irene damage reports to coastal parks and recreation areas, but reporting is sparse so far.

The biggest problem is the several breaches to N.C. 12, the main highway on Hatteras Island, the largest of which is shown in the DOT photo below. This leaves the island south of Rodanthe, including Cape Hatteras National Seashore, cut off from cars.

At Cape Lookout National Seashore, "The Cape Lookout lighthouse is standing," a National Park Service news release says. "All docks appear impacted with varying amounts of damage and should be considered dangerous. Structures have roof and siding damage. Infrastructures, including the back roads, have also sustained damage."

The Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kitty Hawk remained closed Tuesday morning. Just down the road, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site has the same report.

Several Croatan National Forest day use sites and campgrounds are near New Bern, one of the areas hit hardest by the hurricane, but the Forest Service has not reported damages yet.

At Carolina Beach State Park, the staff was clearing debris and working to reopen trails and camping areas by Tuesday afternoon, the Wilmington Star-News said Monday. Nearby, Fort Fisher State Recreation Area reopened Sunday.

In addition to Carolina Beach, the state Division of Parks and Recreation said Tuesday morning that eight other state parks remained closed to all visitors: Cliffs of the Neuse, Dismal Swamp, Goose Creek, Hammocks Beach, Jockey's Ridge, Merchants Millpond, Pettigrew and Medoc Mountain. In reopened parks, the state said, some trails and facilities may remain closed until assessment and cleanup is complete.

Nineteen state parks were closed in eastern and central North Carolina late last week prior to the storm.

Like other organizations, the state's Coastal Reserves reported the closing of five sites in anticipation of the storm, but have no followup so far.

The State Parks system is reporting success in the first full season of its camping reservations system, with more than 250,000 campers using the system.

The reservation system, which is available for the state parks' 3,000 campsites, 106 picnic shelters and community buildings, vacation cabins and visitor center auditoriums, was instituted in July 2009.

The Division of Parks and Recreation news release doesn't give figures comparing 2010 to 2009, but says state park campgrounds reported a 20 percent jump in use during the first few months that the reservations system was in place.

In total, the parks' online and call center-based system placed 61,484 reservations for campsites, picnic shelters and other amenities this year. While 47.6 percent of people making reservation still made them in person at the park, 52.4 percent of all reservations - 35.9 percent made online and 16.5 percent through a call center - went through the new system, the release says.

For campers, Jordan Lake State Recreation Area, which logged 14,124 reservations during the year ending July 30, was the most popular destination. It was followed by Kerr Lake State Recreation Area (6,162) and Hanging Rock (5,256), Stone Mountain (5,062) and Carolina Beach (4,410) state parks.

Most state park campgrounds are used by people from nearby towns, although there were exceptions. For instance, Hammocks Beach and Pilot Mountain state parks most often had campers from the Triangle. Visitors from Charlotte most often filled Lake James, Morrow Mountain, New River and Stone Mountain state parks.

Reservations can be made up to 48 hours in advance, online through individual parks' pages on the main state parks site at www.ncparks.gov, or by calling toll-free 877-7 CAMP NC (722-6762).

Several state parks and forests could close next year to save the state money toward the $3.5 billion budget shortfall projected for the 2011-12 fiscal year, The News & Observer said today. Other parks could be closed three days of the week.

The proposal calls for closing Mount Jefferson State Natural Area in Ashe County, Singletary Lake State Park in Bladen County, Rendezvous Mountain Educational State Forest in Wilkes County, and Turnbull Creek Educational State Forest in Bladen County.

Other state parks would close on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, except for Carolina Beach, Chimney Rock, Fort Macon, Haw River, Jockey's Ridge and Mount Mitchell, which have contracts requiring them to remain open, according to The N&O, and Hammocks Beach and Umstead, which are impractical to close.

"The proposals are just the first step in what is likely to be a long and winding political path as the Democratic governor considers her options and then the new Republican legislature enacts a budget, probably some time next summer," Rob Christensen writes for The N&O. "But the options are the clearest indications yet that the lives of millions of North Carolinians will likely be touched by a new wave of austerity in state government that has not been seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s."

Singletary Lake State Park, which is set up as a camp for recognized nonprofit groups, has had 22,670 visitors this year through September, a 12 percent increase from last year, according to The Steward, the state parks' employee newsletter. Mount Jefferson State Natural Area's attendance figures, which are reported lumped with figures from New River State Park, show 291,012 visitors this year through September, up 30 percent from last year.

The Educational State Forests program is designed to teach the public - especially school children - about the forest environment with seven forests across the state that feature self-guided trails, exhibits, tree identification signs, a forest education center and a talking tree trail.

State park rangers and volunteers are monitoring more than twice as many sea turtle nests on Bear Island at Hammocks Beach State Park this season than last, a news release says.

One of the 19 sea turtle nests was created by the relatively rare green sea turtle, the release says, while the rest are by loggerhead turtles, which while also endangered are more common. The green sea turtle nest is among only nine known on the North Carolina coast this season.

There were eight sea turtle nests recorded on Bear Island in 2009.

There are three species of sea turtles that nest within Cape Hatteras National Seashore: the loggerhead, green and leatherback. All are federally listed as either threatened or endangered.

Programs at Hammocks Beach and Cape Hatteras enlist volunteers to monitor sea turtle nests and to ensure the success of hatchlings as they emerge and make their way to the ocean.

At Hatteras, volunteers are needed and will be trained to assist National Park Service biologists with monitoring nest sites, educating the general public about sea turtle management, installing and maintaining closures, handling hatchlings, and assisting with excavations.

Loggerhead and green sea turtles dig nests above the high tide line along beaches, and lay eggs that incubate for roughly 60-90 days before producing hatchlings from September to November. Hatchlings emerge from the nests at night and make their way toward the brightest horizon, which on an undeveloped beach is always toward the sea. Bright, artificial lights can confuse the hatchlings. Officials and volunteers re-orient confused hatchlings.

Each nest could produce more than 100 sea turtle hatchlings.

A loggerhead that was tagged at Bear Island with a GPS satellite tracking device and later nested at Brown Island can be tracked at the website www.seaturtle.org.

If you're interested in volunteering at Cape Hatteras and can commit to a specific number of hours, leave your contact information for Katy McCurdy at 252-995-6968 or 252-216-7829.