Cape Hatteras National Seashore Negotiated Rulemaking

Date: November 20, 2006
Contact: Outer Banks Group, [phone]

Superintendent Mike Murray announced plans for Cape Hatteras National Seashore to host a two-day training workshop on "Participating in the Negotiated Rulemaking Process" scheduled for February 8 and 9, 2007. The workshop will be held on the Outer Banks, exact location to be determined, and will be open to the public as well as to the proposed candidates for Members and Alternates serving on the off-road vehicle (ORV) negotiated rulemaking committee. The National Park Service (NPS) is working with a team of professional mediators from the Consensus Building Institute / Resolve to develop the workshop agenda. The workshop will be open to the public and will involve no committee work or decision-making. More information about the workshop agenda, meeting location and time, and other logistics will be forthcoming as the dates for the workshop approach.

NPS has prepared a draft Notice of Intent to Proceed with Negotiated Rulemaking in the Federal Register, which is expected to be published some time after the New Year begins. The Notice of Intent will provide a final opportunity for public comment on the proposed rulemaking process, committee members, and the committee’s purpose. NPS has also prepared a draft Notice of Intent to begin the Off-Road Vehicle (ORV) Management Plan and Environmental Impact Statement process. This Notice will also likely be published after the New Year begins and will be followed by a round of public scoping meetings.

"The February workshop and the Federal Register notices are important preliminary steps to proceeding with initiating the long range ORV management plan and the negotiated rulemaking process," said Superintendent Murray. "The Park Service and stakeholders alike are eager to move forward with finding long term solutions to our ORV management and related resources protection issues. These steps represent tangible progress toward that goal."

After the February negotiated rulemaking workshop, the National Park Service intends to hold a second workshop later in the spring at which time the stakeholders can share information with each other on the many aspects of off-road driving in the Park, from socio-economic to ecological to regulatory and statutory frameworks. The second workshop will be scheduled after the February event.