As mentioned in a previous blog, there is a turf war underway between the US Navy and residents of Eastern North Carolina sparked by the proposal of a new Outlying Landing Field that would eliminate a wildlife sanctuary and endanger the community.  This issue finally gained significant front page recognition in the News & Observer yesterday.

 

Wildlife Service talks tough on OLF
Navy plan for airfield near bird sanctuary is in conflict with purpose of refuge, director says 

Wade Rawlins,

Staff Writer

PLYMOUTH – With a panorama of Pungo Lake at his back, the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Monday that his agency is in direct conflict with the U.S. Navy over a planned airstrip near a refuge that attracts thousands of migratory birds. “We have a national wildlife refuge whose purpose is to pull birds in,” said Dale Hall, director of the agency, which manages over 500 refuges nationwide. “The mission of the outlying landing field would be to push birds away.”  

To read the rest of this article, please click here. 

(Staff writer Barbara Barrett contributed to this report.)  Staff writer Wade Rawlins can be reached at 829-4528 or wrawlins@newsobserver.com.