Testimony: S. 3113, to reinstate the Interim Mgmt Strategy governing off-road vehicle use in the Cape Hatteras NS

TESTIMONY

Before the National Parks Subcommittee
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
United States Senate

on

S. 3113, to reinstate the Interim Management Strategy governing off-road vehicle use in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina, pending the issuance of a final rule for off-road vehicle use by the National Park Service

Submitted By

J. W. “Bill” Wade
Chair, Executive Council
Coalition of National Park Service Retirees

July 30, 2008

Mr. Chairman and other distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, we ask that you accept this statement for the record, reflecting the views of the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees on the important topic of protecting resources and providing for visitor enjoyment at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina.

The Coalition now consists of 660 individuals, all former employees of the National Park Service, with more joining us almost daily. Together we bring to this hearing over 19,500 years of accumulated experience. Many of us were senior leaders and many received awards for stewardship of our country’s natural and cultural resources. As rangers, executives, park managers, biologists, historians, interpreters, planners and specialists in other disciplines, we devoted our professional lives to maintaining and protecting the national parks for the benefit of all Americans – those now living and those yet to be born. In our personal lives we come from a broad spectrum of political affiliations and we count among our members six former Directors or Deputy Directors of the National Park Service, twenty-three former Regional Directors or Deputy Regional Directors, twenty-eight former Associate or Assistant Directors and over one hundred and fifty former Park Superintendents or Assistant Superintendents.

We are strongly opposed to S. 3113, which would reinstate the Interim Management Strategy governing off-road vehicle use in Cape Hatteras National Seashore, pending the issuance of a final rule by the National Park Service (NPS).

This proposed legislation, evidently promoted by very narrow special interests, would inappropriately and unnecessarily rescind a consent-decree agreed to by Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society; and Dare and Hyde Counties and the Cape Hatteras Access Preservation Alliance (an off-road vehicle group). The decree safeguards wildlife, while still allowing visitors to fish, surf, drive on certain portions of the beach and enjoy other activities at the Seashore.

This proposed Bill is partisan legislative interference at its worst, and not only would overrule a legitimate judicial process, agreed to by both sides of the issue; but could negatively influence the established negotiated rulemaking process currently underway that has brought together many parties with interests in how the NPS ultimately manages off-highway vehicles and, at the same time, protects wildlife at the Seashore.

The National Park Service has been out of compliance with its legislated responsibilities for a number of years and is now making a determined effort to meet those requirements.

What is critically important here is that a final solution must be reached that will provide for the protection of several threatened species of birds and sea turtles for the enjoyment of Americans now and in the future; while still allowing for appropriate levels of other visitor uses in the Seashore. We believe that the legally derived consent decree ought to be allowed to stand and that the legitimate negotiated rulemaking process ought to be allowed to run its course, both without interference from legislation that represents only a very narrow set of interests. We believe this is the best process to meet the mission of the National Park Service at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.