The Outer Banks

A Peaceful Way to the Old North State

By Justin T. Carreño
[Writers Clearinghouse News Service]

On a hot weekend earlier this month, I set out to reach North Carolina’s northernmost border of its outer banks. By land, the only way is through some of Virginia’s most remote littoral wilderness, and one of the most pristine and natural areas on the eastern seaboard -- False Cape State Park. This is a one-mile- by-10 mile barrier spit of land in southern Virginia Beach, Virginia, sandwiched between the Atlantic Ocean and the back bay of Currituck Sound.

False Cape is the least visited of Virginia’s state parks. It’s isolated, located on the other side of the Back Bay Wildlife Refuge with access only by hiking 4.5 miles down the beach from the town of Sandbridge; by the Back Bay interior trails; or by paddling the bay in a canoe, kayak, or other non-motorized watercraft. This is to protect the seclusion of the wildlife refuge, where shorebirds nest, and all kinds of animals find their homes.

Live free... break your chains of confinement.... go forth and embrace nature and cherish the moment.... dive into your life with no fear....don't hold back, have fun and see everything you can when you're exploring in the great outdoors. ~ Unknown. 

Habitats in Back Bay include beach, dunes, woodland, farm fields, and marsh. The majority of refuge marshlands are on islands contained within the waters of Back Bay. Thousands of geese, swans, and ducks visit the refuge during the migration in late Fall. Other wildlife live here too like loggerhead sea turtles, fox, white-tailed deer, feral hogs, peregrine falcons, egrets, bald eagles, and, at one point, wild horses.

A park ranger told me that the horse herd, now numbering about 120 horses, originally was limited to an area near Carolla, North Carolina, the town just south of the Virginia/North Carolina state line. However, the herd outgrew its range and, increasingly, became determined to become Virginians. The horses migrated northward to False Cape further into the town of Sandbridge. Finally, they became a nuisance to the residents, grazing in yards, galloping down roads, foaling in public parks, and even some lethaly colliding with vehicles. The state couldn’t ignore the problem any longer, and had the Virginia Wild Horse Rescue round up half the herd where it's now protected on farms. The other half of the herd largely keeps to itself, south of the border in North Carolina.

Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it. ~ Russell Baker.

I arrived at about 8:30 am, entering the wildlife refuge by making my way to the park entrance. I brought hiking gear, biking gear, and plenty of food and water for the day, and a bit extra in the case of an unplanned overnight.All I had was my road bike, and I was unsure if it would be suitable for the trail, but I thought I would attempt riding the trail to avoid hiking the twenty miles out-and-back. I packed my backpack to include food, water, bug spray, extra clothes, swimsuit, literature about the park, and hiking shoes. I tightened the strap on my GPS watch, mounted my bike, and took off down the gravelly trail in what were now temperatures already in the mid-to-high 80’s. I knew this was going to be tough going with those temps, but with the ocean as my destination, it gave me great incentive to keep going so I could dive in, cool down, and enjoy a hard day’s work.

Gulf Crisis: Who's to Blame?

Pelican A, or Pelican B

The following is from a recent thread at Facebook.com/Writers.Clearinghouse

Hey Boycott bp peeps one of the big 3 networks wants an interview of me next week. I can't saw which one till this weekend. When it happens you will be the first to know and, unlike bp I will tell all. Sound off and, tell me what you want to tell them about us. Ask friends to Join! Just hit "suggest to friends" BP bran...ds to boycott include Castrol, Arco, Aral, am/pm, Amoco, Wild Bean Cafe and, Safeway gasSee more

Not ME! Boycott BP folks.

 

Writers Clearinghouse

Lov yr moderation, Suzanne. Wonder what you're like when you're outraged. Best, Richard.

Patty Quinn

I sold my car a few years back, so I started boycotting some time ago. I wouldn't know where to begin with what I'd want to tell them about us--or me. I've been living in a state of helpless rage since this happened. I'm heartsick beyond words at the deaths and maimings at the time of the blast; the killed workers and their loved ones; the ... See moredestroyed livelihoods and lives of the people who made their living in the area; and the horrific suffering of the wildlife. The images of pelicans frying alive in hot oil are traumatic to see. And this didn't have to happen. BP didn't take the precautions it should have been taking to prevent a catastrophe like this, and they failed to do so out of galloping, insatiable greed. They got away with it because of lax enforcement of the regulations in place, and because of deregulation. I want the BP top officials, and those in our government who were responsible for enforcing US regulations governing BP, to suffer steep consequences for this.

Does this give you something to work with, Richard? :-)

Patty Quinn

And P.S., you can use my name.

Justin Carreno

Now let's just make sure we're angry for the right reasons. Sure, we can be upset at the oil leak, but any oil company could have done that. If anything its the reaction and deception of BP that we should really be upset with, which is unfortunate because this is the one thing they did have control over. Let's keep in mind that if this happened ... See moreunder the most benign of circumstances human nature is such that we find someone to focus a blame on and our anger at...remember Hurricane Katrina? People worked hard and long to find someone to blame for the hurricane. Finally we found at anger at the response. Its always the response whether justified or not that we find fault with.

In addition to BP, we also have their contractors who owned and operated the rig, the news companies, government oversight organizations, and politicians who all play a part in our perception because none of us REALLY know what is going on.

Understand that news companies exacerbate the situation because they must have an element of blame and anger in order to sell this story. It was joked that they found birds that didn't look sickly enough and quickly dipped them in oil before the cameras were turned on.... Who's not going to be consumed by anger when they see cute little birds covered in oil. When that was released for all the public knew, they could have been the only 3 birds effected. We didn't know. News companies are by nature manipulative and play into peoples emotions and subconscious. People commonly are blind to this aspect of news...otherwise they wouldn't let themselves be so manipulated I suppose.

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), the oversight agency on offshore oil drilling, is being accused of corruption, negligence, and incompetence in their responsibilites. Should some fault be on the lack of oversight on safety and security compliance?

If we're angry at the lack of ethics of those involved are exhibiting, then let's be angry at that. But, ultimately, no government official, politician, or BP executive wants or wanted this to happen. You could argue that BP didn't want this to happen for selfish reasons...because it would destroy their reputation and potentially the entire company. But I cannot believe that anyone goes to bed at night saying 'Oh well...I only care about my reputation...who cares about the oil leaking....' If there is a person that thinks like that, let's focus our anger on that person.

Writers Clearinghouse

Well stated and on the mark. Now, let's address deep drilling,off-shore drilling, government subsidies to Big Oil, Big Oil payoffs to pols, obscene oil profits, manipulation of market forces for greed, national security undermined by Mid-East oil, our war in Iraq over oil, future envronmental hazards. Well, you get the idea.

A few seconds ago