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Protect Outer Banks Bird Habitat - Cape Hatteras NS and Pea Island NWR



Protect Outer Banks Bird Habitat

Please call, fax or e-mail Senator John Edwards, and urge him to oppose the 
Oregon Inlet jetties rider. Senator Jessie Helms recently attached a rider to 
the Agricultural Appropriations Bill that would transfer land from the 
National Park Service (Cape Hatteras National Seashore) and Fish and Wildlife 
Service (Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge) to the Army Corps of Engineers 
to construct two massive jetties at Oregon Inlet, NC. The north jetty will be 
almost two miles long; the south jetty will extend the terminal groin to be 
over one mile long. 

Department of Interior (FWS and NPS), EPA, National Marine Fisheries Service, 
numerous national environmental groups, distinguished coastal geologists, and 
even a taxpayer advocacy group (Taxpayers for Common Sense) have strongly 
opposed the jetties proposal as environmentally destructive and a waste of 
money. The jetties would destroy shorebird and wading bird habitat, result in 
the loss of up to 93 acres of National Seashore land and 33 acres of National 
Wildlife Refuge land, reduce the number of larval and juvenile fish entering 
the inlet, thereby reducing fish production, destroy wetlands, and reduce the 
sand entering the inlet from the ocean, which is used in the formation and 
maintenance of tidal flats, coastal wetlands, and submerged aquatic 
vegetation beds. 

Calls and faxes are urgently needed to Senator John Edward's office (phone: 
202.224.3154; fax: 202.228.1374; e-mail: senator@edwards.senate.gov; mail 
address: United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510). Please urge him to 
oppose the rider. Points to consider making:  

1) the jetties will be very harmful to the ecology of Outer Banks, including 
National Seashore and National Wildlife Refuge lands
2) the jetties could cause severe erosion, and threaten Highway 12
3) the $108 million dollar cost is a waste of taxpayer money
4) boating use of the inlet can be adequately supported by dredging
5) People visiting Dare County come here because of the natural beauty of 
this area - jetties are the antithesis of a dynamic, barrier island 
ecosystem. 


For additional information, contact:

Sidney Maddock
Environmental Analyst
Biodiversity Legal Foundation
P. O. Box 1359
Buxton, NC 27920
252.995.3312