The threatened piping plovers of Cape Hatteras National Seashore already face lots of obstacles to breeding and survival. Now add three more: North Carolina's two U.S. senators, Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole, plus U.S. Rep. Walter Jones.

The congressional trio has ridden to the rescue of beach-driving surf fishermen at the National Seashore. The anglers are irked at the recent court settlement between environmental groups and the U.S. Park Service. That pact has closed off their access to several miles of beach, some of it prime fishing territory.

Fishermen vote, shorebirds don't. Dole, Burr and Jones introduced bills Wednesday to reinstate what's called the Interim Management Strategy governing off-road vehicle use. If enacted, their bills would nullify the consent decree presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle (a fellow Republican).

This is serious stuff, asking Congress to circumvent a court settlement that was concurred in by pro-beach-access organizations. And reverting to the interim strategy is unlikely to nurture healthy colonies of plovers and other imperiled birds. They don't stand a chance against the hundreds of vehicles that flocked to the shore under that plan.

In fairness, beach closures, which affect walkers as well as drivers, have been more extensive than some environmentalists predicted. Time and patience could resolve that, as nesting season ebbs and the Park Service reopens areas. The right course, supported by law and science, is to protect nature while allowing as much access as is reasonably possible. The Dole-Burr-Jones plan fails to do so.

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