Cape Hatteras News

HATTERAS, N.C. (AP) — The National Park Service is looking for a few good "nest watchers" for the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.Outer Banks Group Superintendent Mike Murray says a new program will allow volunteers to monitor sea turtle nests.

The National Park Service says the most popular off-road vehicle areas at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore on the North Carolina Outer Banks have reopened.

The National Park Service says it needs help from youth on the North Carolina Outer Banks as volunteers for this summer's visitor programs.

The National Park Service says seven nests of endangered sea turtles remain on beaches along the Outer Banks, where driving restrictions were imposed in the spring to protect birds and turtles. Park service officials said Thursday that no new restricted areas will be erected on Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. There still are restrictions around the remaining nests.

A popular beach on North Carolina's Outer Banks that has been closed to off-road vehicles has been reopened by the National Park Service in time for Labor Day weekend visitors.' The Cape Hatteras National Seashore said Thursday the area known as Bodie Island Spit is open to give fishermen access to Oregon Inlet.

While summer's steamy weather has encouraged a record number of sea turtle eggs to hatch in Cape Hatteras National Seashore this year, the bird nesting season is winding down. Beach areas that had been completely or partially closed to protect shorebirds are starting to reopen to off-road vehicles and pedestrians. On Wednesday, just as South Point, a popular Ocracoke Island beach for fishing, was about to be reopened, another least tern chick and adults were spotted about 1.5 miles south of Ramp 72, according to the National Park Service.

MANTEO, N.C. --A new brochure to help visitors to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore understand beach driving restrictions has been published by the National Park Service and several fishing associations. The new off-road vehicle brochure includes a map that gives visitors tips for beach driving and regulations that govern it. Park service officials worked with the North Carolina Beach Buggy Association, the Outer Banks Preservation Association and the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club to produce the brochures.

Apparently, Cape Hatteras National Seashore is a better tourist attraction than the tallest brick lighthouse in the US. North Carolina's Outer Banks is home to both, but the area earned the nickname "The Graveyard of the Atlantic" thanks to all the ships that have been lost off the shore.

Sometime before or on Thursday morning, a shorebird called a least tern laid a single egg in Cape Hatteras National Seashore. A National Park Service ranger spotted it at the end of Ramp 45 to Cape Point, a corner of the Outer Banks well known for surf fishing. Buffers were quickly installed around the nest, making the road behind the dunes inaccessible to off-road-vehicle traffic. Even though much of Cape Point technically remains open, there is no way to get to it anymore.

The National Park Service has answered seven questions posed by a federal judge, but he still is demanding more details about new beach driving rules proposed for Cape Hatteras National Seashore. In a series of filings Tuesday, the Park Service submitted a 15-page response to U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle's April 18 order directing the agency to answer questions about off-road vehicle use at the seashore.