The Debate on Off Road Vehicle Access at the Fort Fisher Recreational Area Roey Rosenblith

1
The Debate on Off Road Vehicle Access at the Fort
Fisher Recreational AreaRoey Rosenblith
2
Background on Fort Fisher

• just under 1 million visitors ever year
• crepe myrtles, marsh, and dune grass
• variety of seabirds, nesting for loggerhead sea
  turtles
• Fort Built in 1861, Fort Fisher as a defense to
  keep the southern port open and protected from
  Union war ships.
• It held down the first northern assault in 1864,
  but fell to the second in early 1865, breaking
  the Confederate supply line the Civil War would
  end just three months later.

3
Off Road Vehicle Access

• In the past, visitors and their vehicles have
  been allowed unfettered 24-hour access to the
  area
• Many local fishermen took advantage of the
  extended hours by going on night fishing trips
• But according to park rangers, who presently lack
  the fund for night patrols, this also allowed
  some visitors to get away with hundred of acts of
  vandalism and endangered the local wildlife

4
June 2003 Correspondence

• Between Mike Seigh, Fort Fisher Park
  Superintendent and National Park Service (an
  Agency of DENR)
• current use of off road vehiclesresults in
  loggerhead hatchlings becoming trapped in the
  incised vehicle tracks on their way to the ocean.
  Consequently, the young turtles move within the
  track, parallel to the ocean and eventually die
  from dehydration.

5
Correspondence Cont.

• largest threat to the resources of Smith Island
  aka Fort Fisher Recreational Area is related to
  the use of recreational 4WD 4-wheel driveThis
  causes significant impacts to the natural
  resources of the site, specifically survival of
  loggerhead sea turtle young and nesting
  shorebirds.
• The park has submitted a proposal to the
  Director of the North Carolina Division of Parks
  and Recreation to restrict vehicular access to
  the shoreline during hours of darkness by setting
  gate hours for 4WD use.

6
February 1, 2004 Two Major Changes

• charging of fees for what had previously been
  free access
• 10 for a one-day permit
• 40 for an annual permit
• estimated to generate 36,000 annual revenue
  60,000 has been brought in
• all of it goes to the State Park Service
• State government agency (DENR) took visitors
  ability to drive on the beach between dusk and
  dawn

7
Friends of the South End www.friendsofthesouthend.
com -Opposing

• Organized by two local businessmen and longtime
  residents
• Mike Robertson, owner of the Kure Beach Fishing
  Pier
• Donald Red Lewis, owner of the Fort Fisher
  Trading Post

8
Audubon Society, Sierra Club, and NH Dem.
Party-Supported

• Major Players are Andy Wood, Audubon Education
  Director
• Lenwood Bo Dean- Vice Chair of New Hanover
  County Democratic Party

9
February 12 when the Park Advisory Committee
Meeting

• Significant number of dissenting citizens and
  public officials were present
• Including the mayors of Kure and Carolina Beach
• Appointed State Senator Woody White
• None allowed to speak
• Mike Siegh claims no one asked to be put on the
  agenda before hand

10
Friends of the South End (FOTSE)

• launched a petition drive that brought in more
  than 5,000 signatures
• Held Protests nearly every Saturday at the Fort
  Fisher Gate

11
Supporting Groups

• letter to State Senator Woody White, Andy Wood,
  the education director of Audubon, North
  Carolina, wrote that he had often found
• vehicle killed species such as ghost crabs,
  marsh rabbits and various lizards. I also found
  several hatchling loggerhead sea turtles (a
  federally threatened species), least terns (also
  federally threatened), and other uncommon beach
  nesting water birds.

12
FOTSE Counters

• since 1999, park records show that park visitors
  have destroyed only 3 turtle nests.
• This claim was substantiated by park
  superintendent Mike Seigh who said
• One nest was obviously poached. We found a
  plastic bag full of turtle eggs. One appears to
  have been dug up by a dog, and the other came
  before my time so Im unsure what destroyed it.

13
But. Effects are Difficult to Measure

• Female loggerheads tend to lay eggs between May
  and September and nearly always at night the
  presence of vehicles may prevent them from
  landing on the shore. Once on the shore they can
  easily be scared off.
• Park ranger Katherine Kellon reported that she
  once found
• female turtle tracks all up and down the beach,
  and close after her tracks where the treads of a
  truck.

14
FOTSE Says Move the Eggs!

• Moving turtle eggs not only can disrupt the
  growth of baby turtles, it decreases the hatch
  rate
•  Most migratory birds like the least tern and
  oystercatcher like to lay their eggs on flat
  sandy areas away from the dune vegetation which
  gives cover to predators.
• Unfortunately this is usually right where the
  trucks like to drive

15
FOTSE Says Trucks are Good for Environment

• Trucks Scare off Predators, good for Birds and
  Turtles
• In Santa Barbara, on a beach that closed visitor
  access they had so many predators that the
  population of turtles actually decreased every
  year until the public was allowed back in.

16
Compromise

• Superintendent Seigh decided to open the park 24
  hours during the peak fall fishing season
• September 15 to November 30
• Most of the sea turtles have hatched and
  migratory birds have moved on
• Satisfied some detractors of the policy, it has
  not satisfied everyone

17
House Bill 1414

• Republican State Representatives Bonner Stiller
  and Danny McComas
• Introduced House Appropriations Bill 1414 which
  stated that individuals who pay the access fee
  may have 24-hour access to For Fisher State
  Recreation Area.
• extra 25,000 for the park for increasing
  surveillance hours

18
Mike Seigh Responds

• costs 30-40,000 for one commissioned park ranger
  a year
• extending patrol hours into the night would take
  6-7 rangers
• At present there are only three park rangers

19
Anti-24 Hour Access Protest

• Supported by State Senator Woody White
• lively anti-24 hour access protest ensued at a
  fundraising event he held at a Kure Beach
  residence on June 23
• White stated to a reporter that
• The state delegates authority to governmental
  agencies, but reserves the right to reclaim that
  authority when they act in the wrong.

20
Clause Fails to Pass

• Clauses passage was bitterly contested
• eventually was withdrawn by Senator Basnight and
  Garrou of Forsyth, Hagan of Guildford, and Dalton
  of Cleavland/Rutherford

21
Latest Action

• N.C. General Assembly the State Parks
  commissioned a 25,000 UNCW study that will look
  at five factors
• the impact of vehicle access on sea turtles and
  nesting birds
• the extent of sea turtle and shorebird nesting
  activity at the park compared with that at nearby
  coastal areas
• the demand for vehicle access
• the economic impact of restricting access and,
  public comment.
• Study began in October 2004
•  

22
UNCW Faculty Involved

• Faculty in four university departments will be
  involved in conducting the study
• Dr. David Webster, biological sciences
• Dr. Chris Dumas, economics and finance
• Dr. Jim Herstine, health and applied human
  sciences
• and Drs. Robert Buerger and Jeffery Hill,
  environmental studies