Budget constraints dictated by Congress mean you'll be swimming at your own risk next year at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, where officials will not be hiring lifeguards for three beaches that in the past have had the guards.
Outer Banks Group Superintendent Barclay Trimble said that cut, and others, were made necessary by the parks' current budget. In October, to re-open the government, Congress provided funds at Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 levels through January 15, 2014. Final funding for FY 2014 may not be resolved before then.
"Given our current budget realities and the uncertainty for the future, the National Park Service is exercising extreme caution in spending to ensure that available funding is directed towards the highest priorities," Superintendent Trimble said in a prepared statement.
The following operational changes will occur this fiscal year:
* Cape Hatteras National Seashore Visitor Centers located on Ocracoke Island and the Fort Raleigh Visitor Center will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays from December 2, 2013, through mid-March to early April 2014.
* Lifeguard operations on all three lifeguarded beaches in the Seashore will be discontinued for FY 2014.
* Eight garbage dumpsters located adjacent to beach access ramps along NC Highway 12 will be replaced with smaller trash/recycling containers.
* Temporary structures at Wright Brothers National Memorial will be removed, providing substantial savings on utility and maintenance costs.
Other measures include reducing purchases of supplies and equipment, decreasing staff travel and training, and postponing vehicle procurement. There is also a likelihood of delaying the hiring of vacant positions.
"We wish we did not have to reduce our visitor services, and we know a lot of people will be disappointed, but we had to make some difficult decisions regarding park operations and priorities," said Superintendent Trimble. "The current budget situation does not allow us to have sufficient staff to keep the same number of hours and the degree of services as we have done in the past. We hope the situation changes and we will be able to return our visitor services to their former operating schedules in the future."
Comments
Dumb, you mean sort of like the conservative econo wackos who judge and dictate without ever having experienced life outside their tight little comfort zones. It might be a fine idea if everyone had to first visit and experience before judging and dictating. Let the enviro wackos live for a year at Hatteras before they speak about plovers and the Tea Party wackos experience a poverty stricken life because of a physical or mental handicap or loss of a promised pension before they can cut food stamps to provide greater subsidies to giant agri-businesses.
An excellent idea.
How do you propose that we do it?
The villages in CHNSRA are a small part of Dare County but you know that. Show me the numbers for Buxton over the past decade...
Lee, I rest my case.
Good.
About time.
Lame excuse and another example of too many regulations.
Could you please document where a tea party candidate has called for taking food stamps away from someone with "poverty stricken life because of a physical or mental handicap"?
The news about the Bonner Bridge may well make this discussion about life guards on Hatteras and Ocracoke a moot point. If that bridge isn't open visitation will be much less. Also it means there will be a lot more people on the beach at Bodie Island. Maybe the park could redirect efforts to at least providing LGs there --there will certainly be a lot more folks in the water there if that bridge remains closed.
I recall at one point about ten years ago when divers inspecting the bridge were surprised to find that some of the pilings rested on nothing and were just hovering there above the bottom of Oregon Inlet.
This news about Bonner Bridge I think also gives insight into why the renovation of the Bodie Island light station and its opening for tours. I"m sure it was a consideration for NPS managers that if the bridge is out or the road cut by storms they wanted to still have that revenue stream from those who pay to climb the Bodie Lighthouse if getting to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse isn't possible.
Hatteras cut lifeguards from 2 of 3 beaches in 1993. That second link is for a July 4, 1993 NY Times article entitled "U.S. Parks Retrench After Budget Cuts" that details the service cuts at parks during the 1993 summer season.
http://articles.latimes.com/1993-06-06/travel/tr-125_1_national-park-service
http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/04/travel/us-parks-retrench-after-budget-...