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The beaches of Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras are popular places for beach driving. The annual average number of vehicles driving beaches at Cape Lookout is 4,246 (National Park Service 2006a), while Cape Hatteras is visited by as many as 2,200 vehicles during daytime hours on busy summer weekends (National Park Service 2006b). Night counts of vehicles on the beaches were made during the 2005 nesting season on selected weekend nights. There were considerably fewer cars (than available daytime counts) present on Cape Hatteras beaches at night with an average of 57 vehicles. Cape Lookout allows “car camping” during nighttime hours; therefore, their vehicle count did not greatly differ from daytime counts with a mean of 41 vehicles a night (Nester 2006).

Within the Cape Hatteras National Seashore any area with a width of 170 ft (about 51 m) between dune and high tide line is open to beach driving. There are a few exceptions to this policy. Areas directly in front of three villages and one swimming area are closed to vehicles between Memorial Day (late May) and Labor Day (early September). Conversely, within the Cape Lookout Park System some islands are open to beach driving and other islands are not open to beach driving. The importance of these islands not being open to beach driving for sea turtle nesting is unknown, as only the islands open to beach driving are monitored daily for sea turtle activity. The islands of Cape Lookout that have beach driving allow driving along the entire stretch of shoreline with a few exceptions. There is an area about 1/4 of a mile (0.4 km) long located in front of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse that is closed to beach driving. The beaches that are open to beach driving allow unrestricted beach driving below the primary dune line. Within both National Seashores beach drivers are allowed to drive the beach 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. These beaches are patrolled by law enforcement officials, but not every day and not 24 hours a day. Beach drivers must have a legal driver’s license and obey the 25 miles per hour speed limit, but a permit is not required. Temporary beach closures (which vary in size and location) are erected seasonally for beach nesting birds. However due to differing habitat requirements these closed areas are rarely used by sea turtles.

There are a few studies that have looked at the direct effects of beach driving on sea turtles, and those studies support our contention that unrestricted beach driving will hinder sea turtle conservation efforts in North Carolina. Mann (1977) showed that sand compaction from driving above a nest can decrease nesting success and kill hatchlings. Hosier (1981) and Lamont et al. (2002) found that tire tracks could significantly impede a hatchling’s ability to reach the surf. A study conducted at Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout concluded that driven beaches have higher percentages of false crawls and lower incubation temperatures, possibly resulting in a lower percentage of female hatchlings. The relationship between incubation period and sex ratio was determined using models for the southeastern United States (Nester 2006).

There are numerous possibilities for indirect and direct effects of beach driving on sea turtle populations. The Loggerhead Recovery Plan lists several of these effects including: disturbing nesting females, aborting nesting attempts, and disorienting hatchlings. In addition, beach driving contributes to erosion, which will eventually deteriorate the quality and quantity of nesting habitats (National Marine Fisheries Service and U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1991). Increased human use and the resulting increase in sand compaction have been shown to decrease hatching success (Kudo et al. 2003).

In an effort to comply with Presidential Orders 11644 and 11989, the National Park Service made a number of attempts at drafting a beach driving management plan. None has been finalized. At this time, the Park Service plans to continue the status quo for beach driving in the final draft of the management plan. The Park Service staff at Cape Hatteras has written an Interim Protected Species Management Plan. Until beach driving management plans are finalized, the interim plans will guide policies for sea turtles and other species listed under the Endangered Species Act. The strategy of the Cape Hatteras Plan for sea turtle management is to “improve access past or around protected nests.” If permitted by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the Park Service plans to relocate nests that completely block beach driving access. The proposed action in the Interim Plan “has the potential for both positive and negative impacts to nesting and hatching sea turtles.” (National Park Service 2006b). Cape Lookout’s Interim Protected Species Management Plan provides that four alternatives be considered. Alternative A calls for maintaining current management polices. Alternative B calls for increased surveying of beaches beyond May 1 through August 31, year round closure of some areas currently open to driving, closure of 3 miles of beach to nighttime driving during nesting season, increased closure size for nests, and prohibiting beach fires to 600 ft (180 m)from turtle nests. Alternative C is similar to B with the addition of increased public outreach. Alternative D is the same as Alternative C in relation to sea turtles. Alternative D is the preferred plan of Cape Lookout (National Park Service 2006a).

We believe that the current beach driving management plans of Cape Hatteras National Seashore will not contribute to the recovery of sea turtles. We are specifically concerned about the possibilities that continued unrestricted driving on the great majority of available nesting beaches will decrease egg and hatchling survival (Mann 1977, Hosier 1981, Lamont et al. 2002), skew hatchling sex ratios, and cause adult females to expend additional energy on false crawls (Nester 2006). We also believe that Cape Lookout National Seashore’s Alternative C or D management plans with increased surveying, beach driving closures, and public outreach are the best alternatives among those proposed by the National Park Service for sea turtle conservation.

Cape Lookout’s alternative plans and Cape Hatteras unrestricted access could be improved to promote sea turtle conservation by increasing areas closed to nighttime beach driving beyond three miles for Cape Lookout, and adding in nighttime driving restrictions for Cape Hatteras. With the majority of beach vehicular use occurring during daytime hours at Cape Hatteras, beaches could be closed nightly during nesting season without hindering most park visitors. Cape Lookout could reduce nesting disturbance by beach drivers while still maintaining their car camping policy by instituting a “Park Before Dark” policy. If vehicles are parked with headlights off, disturbance to turtles would be greatly reduced. In addition to nighttime closures, the Park Service could increase areas closed to beach driving year round or seasonally by looking at past nesting trends to select areas with the greatest nesting densities and hatching success. Current closures for alternatives B and C of Cape Lookout’s Plan, with a few exceptions, are primarily mud flats, areas surrounding inlets and interior island areas that are poor sea turtle nesting habitat. Cape Hatteras takes into consideration human use only when planning seasonal beach closures. Areas in front of villages and areas too narrow to be safely driven are not suitable turtle nesting habitat. Narrow areas closed to beach driving were shown to have significantly higher occurrences of tidal overwash of nests and lower hatching success (Nester 2006). For unknown reasons, nests located within narrower areas closed to beach driving at Cape Hatteras had lower relocation percentages (Nester 2006). A permitting system could also be instituted for beach drivers. Permitting systems for beach driving are already in place at other federally owned coastlines, for example Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and Cape Cod National Seashore. To further aid in outreach, permit holders could be required to participate in a natural resource education program. Furthermore, there is a great need for additional data on the effects of beach driving within North Carolina before important management decisions are made.

Currently, Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout National Seashore have the goal of completing their finalized beach driving management plans by 2009. There are several stages to the planning process and many involve public comment periods. At this time, the Park Service is not requesting comment, but unsolicited comments may help to insure that beach driving plans are based on the best science currently available. Cape Hatteras can be emailed through their website <http://www.nps.gov/caha/contacts.htm>, called at (252) 473-2111, or written to at 1401 National Park Drive, Manteo, NC 27954. Cape Lookout can be emailed through their website at <http://www.nps.gov/calo/contacts.htm>, called at (252) 728-2250, or written to at 131 Charles St., Harkers Island, NC, 28531.

HOSIER, P.E. 1981. Off-road vehicles and pedestrian track effect on the sea-approach of hatchling loggerhead turtles. Environmental Conservation 8: 58-160.

KUDO, H., A. MURAKAMI & S. WATANABE. 2003. Effects of sand hardness and human beach use on emergence success of loggerhead sea turtles on Yakushima Island, Japan. Chelonian Conservation & Biology 4: 695-696.

LAMONT, M., H.F. PERCIVAL & H.F. COLEWELL. 2002. Influence of vehicle tracks on loggerhead hatchling seaward movement along a Northwest FL Beach. Florida Field Naturalist 30: 77-82.

MANN, T. M., 1977. Impact of developed coastline on nesting and hatchling sea turtles in Southeastern Florida. M.S. Thesis. Florida. Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA.

NMFS & USFWS. 1991. Recovery Plan for U. S. Population of Loggerhead Turtle. National Marine Fisheries Service, Washington D.C.

NPS. 2006. Cape Hatteras National Seashore Off-Road Vehicle Negotiated Rulemaking and Management Plan/EIS: Press Release, April 2006 <http://parkplanning.nps.gov/projectHome.cfm?parkId=358&projectId=10641>

NPS. 2006a . Interim Protect Species Management Plan/ Environmental Assessment. Cape Lookout National Seashore <http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkID=359&projectId=13838&documented=14254>

NPS, 2006b. Biological assessment of the interim protected management strategy. Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Manteo, North Carolina

NESTER, L.R. 2006. M.S. Thesis. School of Natural Resource and the Environment. University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA. <http://etd.fcla.edu/UF/UFE0014963/nester_l.pdf>