A break for birds

The waves have been rolling in forever along the beaches of the Outer Banks. Disputes over driving on the beaches have gone on about as long. Reasonable rules to protect the shoreline's essential nature are overdue.

At least three decades overdue, by one measure (President Nixon ordered the National Park Service to institute an off-road-vehicle management plan in the 1970s). There's still no final plan. Since last July an interim version has been in place, but it's toothless. Some areas are fenced off, but nesting shorebirds and sea turtles still remain at risk from the hundreds of trucks and SUVs that carry anglers along Hatteras Island and elsewhere.

Despite environmentalists' urgings and a kick in the pants last year from U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle, the Park Service continues on its meandering path toward a beach-protection plan. A final version is at least three years away, as the Park Service defers to motorists who claim, by tradition, the right to park right in front of their favorite surf-fishing spots.

Meantime, shorebirds are taking it on the beak.

According to figures provided by Defenders of Wildlife and the National Audubon Society, there was an 86 percent decline in "colonial" waterbirds (those that build nests close together in colonies) nesting on Cape Hatteras National Seashore beaches from 1997 to 2007. Two imperiled species, gull-billed terns and black skimmers, were nowhere to be found last year. Common terns have all but vanished, and the number of American oystercatchers has been cut by almost half since 1999.

And on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend last year, Judge Boyle noted, some 1,200 vehicles were flocking at Cape Hatteras, in a "narrow, fragile, environmentally sensitive area."

Recently, environmental groups asked in court for a temporary ban on driving on 12 percent of the shore, in advance of spring nesting. The Park Service last week signaled a willingness to cooperate. If new restrictions result, they may pain off-road motorists, but wildlife has suffered worse. There's no call for an outright ban on beach driving -- just reasonable limits, and an end to unreasonable delay. And if the rules work well, make them permanent, because shorebirds should be a permanent presence on our magnificent beaches.