Beach Driving to be Terminated at Fort Matanzas National Monument
(October, 2009)
The National Park Service (NPS) has announced that driving on the beach at Fort Matanzas National Monument will no longer be allowed, effective January 1, 2010. Fort Matanzas Superintendent Gordie Wilson said, “We understand this announcement will be disappointing to many people in the community who are used to being able to drive on the beach. This change, however, is in keeping with Executive Order 11644, as amended, and National Park Service regulations. These Federal requirements do not permit vehicles to travel outside designated roads or parking lots in a National Monument.
“Although the park has permitted beach driving since this property was donated to the NPS in the 1960s, Executive Order 11644 and associated regulations later restricted our authority to do so,” Wilson said. Executive Order 11644, issued by President Nixon on February 8, 1972 directly governs the use of off-road vehicles (ORVs), including vehicles driven on beaches, in units of the National Park System. This Executive Order and the NPS regulations established under it, prohibit the use of ORVs in National Park System units, except those areas specifically designated for such use in national recreation areas, national seashores, national lakeshores, and national preserves. Fort Matanzas, a National Monument, does not fall into one of those categories.
“In the past, we have closed environmentally sensitive areas to driving on a seasonal basis to fulfill our resource protection obligations,” Wilson said. “After consulting with legal counsel and many stakeholders about this important issue we determined that, to be in conformance with the law, we can no longer permit driving on the beach. The Fort Matanzas ramp, however, will remain open, since it is a designated road.
The NPS was given a dual mission by Congress when the agency was established in 1916; to conserve resources and to provide for enjoyment of those resources by such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. NPS management decisions seek to balance use and preservation.
“If at some point in the future the National Monument receives legislative or regulatory authority to permit vehicle access that does not impair resources, vehicles could return to the beach,” Wilson said. “That process could take several years, as it would require a formal rulemaking and analysis of environmental impacts.”
The NPS plans to ensure that the public is notified well in advance of the closure by posting signs, putting notices in newspapers, and posting information on its web site. Details about the public notice plan will be forthcoming,” Wilson said.
For more information contact Superintendent Gordie Wilson at 904-829-6506 ext 221 or Matanzas District Ranger Andrew Rich at 904-471-0116.