Comment on FR Doc # 2011-23127

I appreciate the opportunity to comment on the National Park Service's proposed regulation for managing ORV use of Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Under the current management plan at the Seashore, sea turtles and beach-nesting birds have made a tremendous comeback. I am very concerned that the proposed regulation treats wildlife protection as optional, provides few areas for families to safely enjoy vehicle-free beaches, and favors the rights of ORV users to drive on extensive areas of the beach to the exclusion of pedestrians and wildlife. I support regulations to manage ORVs within the Seashore that include specific, enforceable, science-based protections for wildlife and for pedestrians who wish to visit the National Seashore in a natural, vehicle-free state. The management plan should also set aside additional areas for those uses. The regulation will only protect the species that depend on the Seashore if it mandates specific, science-based protections, such as non-driving buffers around nests. Please add buffers and other wildlife protections to the regulation so that ORVs will not continue to dominate and degrade the Seashore. Thank you for the opportunity to provide these comments.