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| National Park Service technician Mary Chris Harrison takes an early shift watching over piping plovers at the Cape Point area of the Outer Banks. L. TODD SPENCER | THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT |
By CATHERINE KOZAK, The Virginian-Pilot © July 15, 2007 | Last updated 9:11 PM Jul. 14
The fragile piping plover is once again the subject of controversy over a proposed habitat designation that recreational beach drivers contend is superfluous and wildlife managers see as inconsequential.
The 6-inch, buff-colored shorebird is protected under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has oversight of protected species within Cape Hatteras National Seashore, but the National Park Service manages the programs.
The proposed new rule for critical habitat designation for the wintering piping plover was first published last summer. Officials will take comments on the proposal through the end of July.
 This piping plover was roosting on the beach earlier this year. COURTESY PHOTO |
Jeffrey Golding, who works at Red Drum Tackle Shop in Buxton, said he's worried that the proposed designation "will essentially shut down Oregon Inlet, Hatteras Inlet and Cape Point to beach drivers."
David Rabon, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service endangered species biologist in the Raleigh field office, countered that "the designation does not equate to a beach closure."
"The Fish and Wildlife Service doesn't assume some additional power from that," he said. "It's just another component in the consultation process that we must evaluate."
Under court order, the wildlife service must establish critical habitat boundaries on the shorebird's wintering grounds. In 2001, 3,600 acres were designated in Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
Two years later, a consortium of recreational beach-user groups and Hyde and Dare counties sued. In 2004, the designation was thrown out by a federal judge and sent back to the wildlife agency.
The designated area in the new proposal has been reduced to 1,827 acres in four units: Oregon Inlet, Cape Point, Hatteras Inlet and Ocracoke Island. All of Pea Island and state-owned islands are exempt.
The amended rule is not much different than the one the judge rejected, said John Couch, the president of the Outer Banks Preservation Association, a beach-driving advocacy group that was one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the first rule.
"Again, we still have another attempt at establishing critical habitat where it doesn't satisfy the criteria for critical habitat," he said. "We have strong doubts that this satisfies the judge's concerns with the economic end of this."
Larry Hardham, president of the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club, said he thinks the report doesn't accurately reflect the potential impact of beach closures on businesses or recreational beach drivers.
Hardham said his group and the preservation association want the wildlife service to make Cape Hatteras National Seashore exempt from the critical habitat designation. The law allows areas that have existing management to conserve the species to be exempt.
They also want the public comment period to be extended because, Hardham said, notification for a public hearing in June was inadequate.
So far, Rabon said, there have been about 450 comments, including those at the hearing, submitted to the wildlife service, the majority in opposition. But he said there is a great deal of misunderstanding and fear about the proposal.
"The National Park Service has the authority to close the beach regardless of critical habitat designation," Rabon said. "That's not to say that they will do it. That's part of one of the fears - that we would force the park service to do that."
The park service closes sections of beach when nests or birds are evident, but some access is usually still available.
The park service employs 15 biological technicians, most of them seasonal, to monitor protected species, including the plovers, said Thayer Broili, the agency's Outer Banks Group chief of resource management.
"It would have very little impact on us," he said about the designation. "We're already subject to all the review cycles for the endangered and threatened species."
The summer season for nesting piping plovers begins in April and ends in mid-August, he said. Then the wintering and migratory plovers start moving through areas that are mostly closed year-round.
"But we don't manage for them at the same level of intensity," he said. "The critical habitat designation is for the wintering population. People are confused about who's doing what."
Catherine Kozak, (252) 441-1711, cate.kozak@pilotonline.com
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