Plover sighting closes more OBX Beaches

Sightings of piping plovers at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore continue to close beaches popular with surf anglers.

BUXTON — A ramp used by off-road vehicles to drive onto the beach at Cape Hatteras has been closed because of the presence of endangered seabirds.

The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Va., reported June 6 the National Park Service closed Ramp 44 at a popular surf fishing area called The Point on June 4.

The closure came after a piping plover was seen, said Park Aervice spokeswoman Cyndy Holda.

In April, U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle approved a legal agreement between the Park Service and environmental groups Audubon Society and Defenders of Wildlife, who had filed suit through the Southern Environmental Law Center and argued the Service wasn’t moving fast enough to protect several endangered species of seabirds and turtles.

The agreement required closing some areas of beach while the birds were nesting. It also banned night driving after 10 p.m. from spring through fall to protect turtles.

As of June 4, 10 piping plover had been seen at three beaches between Oregon Inlet and Ocracoke. The Park Service also said there were 10 active American oystercatcher nests holding a total of 15 chicks.

The Point at Cape Hatteras, which, even after the ORV closure, had been open to pedestrians who walked no closer to shore than the mean low-tide mark (they waded in the water) and to kayak fishermen, now has been closed totally to all access, pedestrian and by boat, because of the sighting of three piping plover nests.

Holda said other sections of beach at Hatteras and Ocracoke islands that had been closed for birds had been reopened because of lack of bird activity.

A resource-protection area was removed June 3, 2008, at Hatteras Island that had been established 10 meters north of Ramp 27 for a least tern colony that later moved into an adjacent closure. This removal opened approximately 1 mile of ORV and pedestrian access north of Ramp 27. A similar resource-protection area was removed June 4, 2008, that had been established 0.1 mile north of Ramp 44 for American Oystercatchers. There had been bird breeding behavior observed in this closure as recently as June 3, 2008.

At Ocracoke Island a resource-protection area was removed June 3, 2008, that had previously been established 4.5 miles south of Ramp 59 and 3.1 miles north of Ramp 67 for American Oystercatchers. Also at Ocracoke a resource-protection area was removed June 3, 2008, that had been established 0.3 of a mile south of Ramp 68 for American Oystercatchers.

Bodie Island contains 5.6 miles of ocean beaches and 2.5 are open to ORV access while 4.5 miles are open to pedestrians.

Hatteras Island has 42.8 miles of ocean shoreline. Approximately 35.2 miles of that shoreline are open to pedestrian access although some areas (approximately 5.8 miles total) that are open, such as Cape Point south of the resource closures, are not readily accessible by pedestrians. Approximately 14 miles of beaches are open for ORV access at Hatteras Island.

Of 18.3 miles of beach at Ocracoke Island, 5.8 miles are open to ORV access while 15 miles are open to pedestrians.

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