A Thank You From Hatteras

[Surf.Caster]

Good morning all, I just received an email through the website feedback form thanking the MBBA for their support so I thought I would pass it on to all the board members:

MBBA subject = Beach Access
comments = Thank you so much for soliciting support for our cause. I am a member of the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club. I am also the author of the instructions for contacting congress that you posted. Reports from DC are that the offices are getting enough calls to get their attention. I sincerely hope that a win here will help all of us who have drawn the attention of the environmental groups legal staff.
Ginny Luizer
email = [e-mail]

[NB Ilsander]

This was on the AP wire. Interesting comments about difficulties working with Audobon:

Panel gives up on Cape Hatteras beach access plan
Posted: Today at 10:34 a.m.
Updated: Today at 12:32 p.m.HATTERAS, N.C. —A committee that included environmentalists and beach access advocates has abandoned its efforts to agree on an off-road vehicle plan for Cape Hatteras National Seashore after more than a year of meetings.

So a federal official will make the plan instead.

The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk reports the 29-member committee gave up last week. Members included representatives of environmental groups that want to protect endangered turtles and birds, as well as groups that want to ensure beaches remain open for public use.

A court-sanctioned agreement closed some beaches to pedestrians and vehicles during the animals' nesting months, beginning last year. The agreement calls for a long-term off-road vehicle plan by Dec. 31, 2010.

Mike Murray, the National Park Service seashore superintendent who was part of the committee that called it quits last week, now will be in charge of developing those regulations.

Murray said he didn't know how many hours the members had invested in the negotiations.

"I would guess an unbelievable amount," he said. "I know everybody went way beyond the call of duty. For me, it's part of my job. For some people, it's their passion."

John Couch, president of the Outer Banks Preservation Association - which advocates for beach access - said the Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society seemed to demand more beach closures and bird protections as the negotiations continued. By the end, the groups had proposed closing large portions of the Bodie Island spit, Hatteras Inlet spit, South Beach and Cape Point and the north and south points of Ocracoke Island.

"It was an impasse," Couch said. "We tried ... to bring the process to the middle. We felt that we had gone as far as we could without compromising our values of access to the seashore."

The environmental groups said in a statement that they "consistently offered balanced proposals that made reasonable concessions based on science, were consistent with the park's legal requirements and tried to accommodate the interests of other stakeholders."

The statement said both sides benefited because bird populations rebounded and a record number of sea turtle nests were documented, while hotel occupancy rates also increased.

The Park Service will hold public hearings on the proposed regulation that Murray develops. And both sides are scheduled to provide an update on their work Thursday in federal court.