Thursday, October 29, 2009

Open Our Beaches!

Things have started to slow here on Hatteras Island. I had the chance to get out and explore several times. The only interpretive staff that we have here are Laura, Rachelle, myself, Mark and a couple of volunteers. Mark will leave in about 2 weeks which is sad because we get along quite well and have had fun. We will be getting another seasonal in on the 9th and I have heard that she will be a good addition.

My exploring has been limited to Rodanthe, Hatteras Village, and I am hoping to get to Ockracoke soon enough. The towns up and down the chain look very similar in that the houses are tall and the boundary between the villages and park land obvious. "Since we cant build out we will build up!" most of the locals don't want anything to do with park service employees but I have found that if you let them know that you have nothing to do with the decisions to close the beaches they will tollerate your presence. There are signs everywhere in town stating things like "open our beaches" or "RIP federal government promises." Needless to say my uniform comes off rather quickly after work before going into town. There are some places that really support the park and welcome employees without a second thought. It is just knowing which ones to avoid is the trick.

This is Mark's brillant idea for Halloween night. " So....I think that one of us should dress up like a sea turtle, another like a piping plover (endangered bird) , and the other can be a park service employee holding a beach closed sign. We then go out for drinks and start closing down sections of the bar and if people get too close we expand the closure. It would either be really funny or end really badly depending on who was in the bar that night!" Hmmmm...I dont think so!

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