Sent: Tuesday, November 07, 2006 5:24 PM
Subject: Piping Plover Update
I met with George Price, Supt. of the National Seashore, this past Thursday to discuss what was happening on the issue of ORV beach closures due to nesting piping plovers. His staff, specifically Craig Thatcher, North District Ranger, has been reviewing different options which are used at other National Parks and in other states. They have also been reviewing the ideas generated at the public meeting held this past summer at the Province Lands Center. Craig has taken a lot of this information and provided it to the ORV sub-committee of the Cape Cod National Park Advisory Committee.
Their seems to be three segments of this issue – access to Race Pt Lighthouse as a lodging establishment, the whole self-contained recreational vehicle areas, and the general ORV “four wheel drive” vehicle situation. All have been affected, and each one of them have their own set of different situations. The Seashores game plan is this. Their will be an open meeting to the public on Sat., Dec 9, from 10 to noon, at the Province Lands Visitor Center on Race Pt Rd. The Seashore will present some of the options they have looked at as possible actions to minimize or lessen the impact of required closures due to where the birds nest/hatch/fledge. They will also take additional input from the public. The ORV sub-committee will then meet on Dec 12, at 6 pm, at Park Headquarters in Wellfleet. They will review all the input with the goal to form solid recommendations and provide them to the Cape Cod National Park Advisory Committee at its meeting on December 15.
With all of this, the Seashore will then continue to interface with the Fish and Wildlife agency to ensure they are on board with any recommendations.
It is critically important that the Seashore receive a lot of input via phone, letters and e-mail throughout this process, and above all, that people show up at the December meetings. Based upon some of the discussions I have had, I truly believe viable options are being looked at and seriously considered.
Please send your comments to the following:
Supt Price – 508-349-3785, ext 203,
George_Price@nps.gov
Butch Francis, Chair of the ORV Sub-committee,
highlandbutch@aol.com
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