And WHAT were they implying with the "BEEFY FISHERMEN" 
Off-roaders assail rules
By CONOR BERRY
STAFF WRITER
PROVINCETOWN - More than 50 people, from beefy fishermen to white-haired ladies, filled the auditorium of the Province Lands Visitor Center last night to offer their prescriptions on how to fix the Cape Cod National Seashore's annual distribution system for off-road vehicle permits.
The crowd, which hailed from Provincetown and Centerville to as far away as Key West, Fla., wasted no time offering its opinions. Suggestions ranged from giving first dibs to current permit holders to increasing the cost and availability of the finite number of stickers.
On April 10, the first day of ORV sticker sales, an estimated 2,000 motorists queued up outside the Race Point Beach Oversand Station, forming a 2-mile traffic jam down Route 6.
Ten days later, the permits that allow four-wheel drive vehicles, campers and mobile homes to operate on Seashore beaches were sold out, spurring complaints from those who couldn't obtain one.
The 10-day sellout of all 3,400 ORV permits was a Seashore record.
The first-come, first-served distribution system came under fire by some last night, particularly out-of-staters citing the difficulty of getting to the Seashore in person to get a sticker.
Acting Seashore Superintendent Michael Murray, Chief Ranger Steve Prokop, North District Ranger Craig Thatcher, the Seashore Advisory Commission's ORV subcommittee and other park officials listened for more than an hour, as audience members made suggestions, debated the finer points, applauded and hissed at various proposals.
Two more meetings are planned - one for mid-August and another for after Labor Day, Seashore officials said.
The Seashore will use public input from last night's meeting, the upcoming sessions, e-mail messages and letters to determine whether it should change its ORV permit policy. But one thing that's not likely to change soon, according to Murray, is the 3,400 permit limit. The cap is an established Seashore regulation, and it would take at least two years to amend the process, he said.
Don Nelson of Manchester, N.H., described many seasonal ORV permit holders as a "nucleus" of repeat customers who know each other.
In return for their many years of patronage, "There's no reason why we shouldn't get something back," said Nelson, who has used a pickup truck to go fishing on Seashore beaches for 31 years.
A seasonal ORV permit, good from April 15 through Nov. 15, costs $100. A self-contained vehicle permit, for campers or mobile homes, costs $150. Weekly beach-driving permits are available throughout the six-month season for $45.
One person suggested raising the price of seasonal permits, while making the cost of weekly permits "more reasonable," a proposal that received hearty applause from most in the audience.
A number of other options were discussed, from changing the start date for distributing permits to setting a cap on the daily distribution amount to allowing people to sign up for permits in advance.
(Published: July 8, 2004)
_____________
Threaded Mode