THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 6, 1995 TAG: 9505060325
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
A small, stocky, sand-colored bird has ruffled the feathers of Dare County's Board of Commissioners.
Earlier this week, the panel voted to support a letter critical of a plan drafted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designed to boost the population of the piping plover on the Atlantic Coast.
The plover is a shore bird considered a threatened species by the federal government. The proposed recovery plan contends that a variety of tourism activities has a negative impact on the species.
The proposal does not sit well with Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robert V. ``Bobby'' Owens Jr. At his urging, the board endorsed a letter critical of the recovery plan. Owens said the plan will hurt the county's bread and butter - the tourist industry.
However, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the plan is not calling for a ban on activities like kite-flying, the use of off-road vehicles and other beach activities - just for greater care on the part of tourists and developers.
Owens said that while he supports protecting the environment, environmental officials have gone too far.
``I'm all for protecting the environment,'' said Owens. ``But this is just like the (red cocaded) woodpecker in Bertie County. They kept a power plant from going in that would have saved people in our area money, because of the woodpecker.
``Enough is enough.''
In his letter to the Fish and Wildlife Service, Owens said the recovery plan will curtail tourism activities in Dare County, including oceanfront development, shoreline access ramps, beach nourishment, channel access and jetty construction.
The plan, Owens said, also would restrict the use of off-road vehicles on the beach, and the ability of visitors to shoot fireworks and to bring their pets to the beach.
Owens charged that the federal agency is indifferent to the impact its regulatory programs have on humans.
``If we lived in the Garden of Eden, none of this would be a problem,'' Owens said. ``But we do not live in the Garden of Eden, and the piping plover does not pay taxes, rent rooms, pay taxes or buy T-shirts. And so it is that people too must be part of the environment, and their activities must not be displaced by birds no matter how much we love them.''
Owens invited agency personnel to Dare County to hold a series of public hearings.
The director of the study defended the report's recommendations and said the recovery program is not a mandate from the government.
``The Fish and Wildlife Service is not saying that these things are going to have to cease,'' said Anne Hecht, a biologist with the agency. ``This is simply a list of the factors that impact the species and make it threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Just because these activities are listed as having a negative impact does not make it force of law.''
In response to Owens' concern that the recovery plan would severely hurt the tourism industry, Hecht pointed to the successful rebuilding of the piping plover population in New England at such popular tourist spots as Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard and the coast of Maine.
``The New England population has made a spectacular recovery,'' Hecht said.
``The population has doubled since 1989, largely because of some very tight restrictions. But people are continuing to come to the beaches and resorts in those areas by the millions.''
She added: ``The Fish and Wildlife Service is not trying to get people to stop going to the beach. We're not as draconian as people make us out to be.''
A 1994 study revealed that there are 54 pairs of piping plovers on the North Carolina coast.
Eleven pairs live in the confines of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Some 39 pairs live at the Cape Lookout National Seashore, 32 of those on Portsmouth Island.
Piping plovers were common along the Atlantic Coast during much of the 19th century but nearly disappeared because of excessive hunting for feathers to use in the hat trade.
After the passage of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918, numbers increased to a peak in the 1940s.
After World War II, biologists say, the increased development of recreational beaches has caused a decline in the species.
Based on recent surveys, the Atlantic population is fewer than 1,000 pairs.
The piping plover was granted Endangered Species Act protection in 1986. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
The piping plover
by CNB