The National Park Service closed Ramp 43 in Buxton this morning to protect a nest of piping plover chicks that has started hatching.
As of late this afternoon, three chicks in the four-egg nest had hatched, according to Randy Swilling, the Park Service’s natural resource program manager.
Ramps 44 and 45 are already closed to ORVs, so effectively now there is no ORV access from Ramp 38 south of Avon to Ramp 49 in south Frisco. ...
Some business owners in Buxton are especially unhappy with the latest ramp closure, since all of Buxton is now inaccessible to ORVs at a time when fishing at Ramp 43 has been good.
“It is no longer a national seashore but a gated, closed beach being patrolled by armed guards…,” Bob Eakes, owner of the Red Drum tackle shop in Buxton, said in an e-mail today.
Here is a previous post with an estimate of the cost of closing the point at Cape Hatteras. Buxton is north of Cape Hatteras and is a less popular fishing spot so the cost would be lower, unless its closure is in addition to closing the point.
*Are piping plover chicks called a clutch?
