Please send email to National Park Service to Protect Nesting Birds & Sea Turtles in Cape Hattaras

[amborin]

Threatened species like piping plovers rely on lands along Cape Hatteras
National Seashore to survive.
But if off road vehicles are permitted to use huge portions of the Seashore,
their nests and chicks could be disturbed.


"Cape Hatteras National Seashore is a national treasure visited by millions of people each year taking
in the natural beauty, the wildlife diversity and 67 miles of shoreline. But the impacts of unrestricted
off-road vehicle (ORV) use has taken its toll on the threatened and endangered shorebirds and sea turtles
that nest on the seashore’s beaches.

Speak out for wildlife. Visit regulations.gov to oppose unrestricted off road vehicle use that threatens
sea turtles, shorebirds and other wildlife.


Finally, after years of advocacy and litigation by Defenders and our partners, the National Park Service
is poised to adopt regulations for beach driving on Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Yet the proposed regulation does little to protect wildlife nesting areas.

The proposal only sets aside areas for ORVs and does not mandate any specific measures to protect
wildlife from beach drivers. And it reserves just 26 of the Seashore’s 67 miles of beach for
pedestrians and wildlife year-round, setting aside the rest for year-round and seasonal beach driving.

In recent years, a temporary plan that limits ORV use near protected wildlife nesting areas has
been working to protect wildlife.


In 2007, protected sea turtles created just 82 nests on the shore. And in 2010, after 3 years of
temporary protections, that number rose to 153. If wildlife is not explicitly protected under
the Park Service’s plan, these numbers could easily decline.

All it takes is one wrong step by a piping plover into an area that is not protected, and it
could be run over.

We have made great progress in winning important protections for Hatteras’ wildlife , and
we can’t lose traction now. ORV advocates want the entire seashore open to beach driving.
Tell the Park Service instead that you support specific, enforceable, science-based protections
for wildlife and additional vehicle-free a
reas for nesting.

The Park Service is accepting comments until Tuesday, (September 6th) so we need you to
make your voice heard now.



Sample letter to cut and paste into the comment box on the right-hand side of the form:

Dear Superintendent Murray,

I am very concerned about the National Park Service’s proposed regulation for managing ORV use on
Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Under the current interim plan, protected wildlife has seen huge gains in the area. Sea turtles that
only created 82 nests in 2007, made 153 in 2010. Piping plovers and other shorebirds are rebounding.
If you expand ORV use across the Seashore, threatened and endangered wildlife could be impacted.

I strongly support regulation of ORVs at the Seashore, but the Park Service plan protects beach drivers
more than it does wildlife. The proposed plan sets aside currently only 26 of the 67 total miles of
the Seashore for year-round wildlife and pedestrian use with open to year-round or seasonal beach
driving. More vehicle-free areas are needed for wildlife and pedestrians.

As it is currently written, the proposed regulations treat wildlife protection as optional,
which is unacceptable. Please revise this plan to include current buffers and other explicit
protections for wildlife like piping plovers and sea turtles that rely on the Hatteras Seashore.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,



website where you can click the link and send the message to the National Park Service:

please click on this link:

http://www.regulations.gov/#!searchResults;dct=PR;rpp=10;po=0;s=NPS-2011-0005-0001


then on that page, click on the "submit comment" link, on the right hand side

[amborin]

1. kick

[taterguy]

2. It's gonna be a while before anyone drives on the beaches of Cape Hatteras

Thank Irene