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From: Houchie
Date: 6/25/2017
Time: 5:54:09 PM
Because of NPS’s latest regulations, a group of four families (20 individuals) cancel a weeklong fishing vacation to the Core Banks area.
For the first time in many years my family and I missed Portsmouth Island last year due to multiple deaths in the family and weather. We had high hopes for this year. My little girl especially loves our trips to Portsmouth Island and I must say this is one of my most cherished events with her. She is just about a teenager and it won’t be long before she has other things to do than fish with dad.
We had a big outing and celebration scheduled for Portsmouth Island this past spring. There were three families going with a total of 15 people. We all were looking forward to this trip and had started planning back in November last year. I was just about to book a last minute forth cabin for a fourth family when I learned of the new rules our local NPS enacted. No night driving. No driving along the beach at any time in front of the cabins. ORV Education Certificate required. More beach closings and larger in size. Now I understand the need for some general rules to keep the few rogue outliers in check. But these ever increasing new regulations are becoming way overreaching and unnecessary. There are no justifications for this. Even the NPS’s own data shows there has never been a problem to justify increase regulations. It simply appears another government organization infested with the need to apply unreasonable control over the citizen.
I have visited the costal regions of NC for more than 50 years. For the past 16 years, my family and friends have made annual visits to Portsmouth Island (PI). We love and cherish this little island. The education, respect, and experiences we all have gained from visiting PI are tremendous. We know how important it is to protect this region. It is the people like us that insure this region is properly protected through self enforcement, education, and reporting. It wasn’t long ago while on Portsmouth Island, we came upon a family that was unintentionally causing damage to wildlife habitat. They simply did not realize what they were doing by standing so close to a nesting area. We stopped, showed them what they were doing wrong and educated them on what should be done. They were appreciative and had a better respect for the island. Like in most cases, their actions would have never been seen by a park ranger, only the aftermath if it had occurred and it would have. As more regulations, limitations and special fees are imposed, the more NPS hurts and discourages the people whom love and protect this island. As these people are run off, the most valuable asset to protect this wonderful island is lost. The occasional tourist and those that have no regard for this island will be impacted the least. And they will have more unbridle opportunities to destroy this precious place. And this hurts the region even more financially. My family is so saddened by this.
When the state of NC gave the NPS control of the costal region, there were stipulations that use and access would remain uninhibited to the public. Over the decades and particularly during these past 8 or so years, this has been forgotten. More and more access is being shut down, restricted, and over regulated to discourage use by the general public. Where are all the elected officials that represent NC? Where is the citizen outrage?