This Land, Your Land

Cape Hatteras National Seashore has published a draft plan for allowing off-road vehicles to drive on about 40 percent of the beach, according to a review of the document by the Associated Press.

About 16 miles of the seashore would be permanently closed to vehicles.

The proposal is the latest move forward in a dispute between folks who want access to the seashore for recreation, and environmentalists who want to protect threatened or endangered shorebirds and sea turtles that nest there.

"[T]he seashore's lack of an official ORV management plan led conservation groups a few years back to sue the National Park Service to protect bird and turtle nesting from ORV traffic," Kurt Repanshek writes at National Parks Traveler.

"That lack of a formal management plan has 'led over time to inconsistent management of ORV use, user conflicts, and safety concerns,' as the (draft environmental impact statement) notes, and nearly prompted a federal judge to ban ORV traffic entirely."

The DEIS contains proposals for improved access for vehicles and pedestrians, better parking, and vehicle capacity limits, according to Repanshek.

The AP report says "the 700-page plan said drivers would be able to use 29 miles of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, with some limits during the breeding periods of sea birds. Off-road vehicles would be able to access another 23 miles of the 68-mile seashore during some parts of the year."

The National Park Service is accepting comments on the DEIS for 60 days from Friday.

Electronic copies of the proposal are available at the bottom of the page here. A limited number of hard copies of the DEIS will be available for distribution at the seashore headquarters or a copy may be requested, as long as supplies last, from Mike Murray, Superintendent, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, 1401 National Park Drive, Manteo, NC 27954. Copies will be provided to local libraries in Manteo, Kill Devil Hills, Hatteras Village, and Ocracoke.

The newly refurbished Ocracoke Lighthouse will resume shining its beacon across the waters of Ocracoke and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore this evening, park officials said Tuesday.

The lighthouse, below, originally constructed in 1823, received significant restoration work during the past four months, including repairs to historic metalwork, new glass in the lens room, and lightning protection measures to the structure.

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."

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 National Park Service has announced a 25 percent discount on Cape Lookout National Seashore's rental cabins this summer.

The discount will be offered from June 1 through August 30 on rates for the Great Island Cabin Camp (on South Core Banks across from Davis) and Long Point Cabin Camp (on North Core Banks across from Atlantic), a news release says.

Grand Island rates run from $54 to $168 per night, depending on the cabin. Long Point rates run from $84 to $145.

The discount applies automatically reservations already made for the time period.

Each cabin has bunk beds, a bathroom with shower, hot and cold running water, and a gas stove. Visitors must furnish their own cooking and eating utensils, linens, and ice chests. (There are no refrigerators.) Some cabins have electricity; at others visitors may bring their own generator or other light source.

Pets are not permitted in the cabins.

Phone numbers for reservations are at either link above. The NPS page has ferry information.

Congressmen from North Carolina and Virginia are joining to sponsor legislation that would authorize $75 million over five years to buy up to 50,000 acres along the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Protection Act would mark the 75th anniversary of completion of the 469-mile scenic drive between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Virginia's Shenandoah National Park.

Companion bills were introduced and referred to the respective committees in the House and Senate on January 26.

The Conservation Trust for North Carolina, a nonprofit group that has worked to protect the parkway's corridor, proposed the legislation.

"The Parkway generates $20 billion per year to the economy of the region through which it passes," says the CTNC. "But its spectacular scenery, streams, forests and farms are under constant threat."

Cape Lookout National Seashore has announced 2010 dates for its 41 rental cabins at South Core Banks and North Core Banks. They open March 26, and there are new phone numbers, which must be used for reservations.

Great Island Cabins on South Core Banks is a group of 21 "rustic cabins that vary in age and condition," according to the National Park Service, and that each sleep from four to 12 people. Long Point Cabins on North Core Banks are 20 cabins that are each about 500 square feet and sleep six in bunk beds. Cabins at both sites have private bathrooms, hot water and other amenities

Cape Lookout camping options also include primitive camping on Core Banks and Shackleford Banks.

Rehabilitation work at Ocracoke Lighthouse, the state's oldest continuously operating beacon, will allow people in wheelchairs into its base for the first time, a Cape Hatteras National Seashore official told the The Virginian-Pilot.

Work being done to the interior of the 185-year-old tower (right), which began recently, will include replacing cast iron railings on the balcony, repointing the brick mortar, replacing rotting window frames and repainting, Doug Stover, National Park Service Outer Banks Group historian, told the newspaper. "The work, Stover said, will also involve construction of a ramp, which, for the first time, will allow people with disabilities to get a peek inside.

"In the summer, and occasionally throughout the year, the Park Service opens the base of the tower so visitors can see the unpainted brick interior and look up the spiral staircase."

The 65-foot tower, which gets narrower as it ascends, is not suitable for climbing.

Most sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway are closed because of heavy snowfall along the entire length of the 469-mile scenic roadway, park officials said Monday.

The Park Info Line at 828-298-0398 provides updated road closure information for specific areas.