Sometime this afternoon, a judge in Raleigh, N.C. will take the first step in settling a long-simmering dispute between environmentalists and recreational users of parts of North Carolina's Outer Banks.

At issue is the right of off-road vehicle (ORV) users to drive on the beach at some of the most popular sections of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore - sections that also are home to a number of threatened or endangered shorebirds.

Conservationists are suing to stop the plummeting numbers of these birds, which they say is caused by habitat loss from ORV use. Those who drive the beach - fishermen, sunbathers, etc. - say they drive only below the high-tide line, where birds don't nest, and never on or between the dunes. Local business owners fear the loss of beach access will force people (and their money) elsewhere to fish and recreate.

The stakes and rhetoric are high on both sides.

"The first and most important mission of the National Park Service is to be the steward of some of the country's most treasured natural areas," said Chris Canfield, executive director of N.C. Audubon, in a statement in October. "Cape Hatteras is one of those treasured natural areas. . . . Unfortunately, the Park Service at Cape Hatteras is not living up to that primary mission."

Tom Jordan lives in the area. His blog, carolinaregion.com, voices sentiments typical of the pro-ORV use side.

"First, we don't drive on the dunes. It's illegal, and you can't easily do it anyway even if it were legal. Secondly, we locals aggressively watch out for the endangered species that are marked out on the beaches. Just because we like to drive on the beach doesn't mean we don't enjoy nature, too.

"Third: 90 percent of the beach driving is done at the tide line. Absolutely none is done intra-dune. You can't get between the dunes, and if you did try it, some locals would make much worse of you than any law would. You do not destroy our beaches!"

Here's the background: On Oct. 18, 2007, the Southern Environmental Law Center, representing the Audubon Society and the Defenders of Wildlife, filed suit in U.S. District Court against the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for its "failure to adopt regulations to manage beach driving at Cape Hatteras National Seashore in ways that safeguard visitors and natural resources."

In February, the SELC filed a preliminary injunction seeking to replace the interim plan, which the NPS currently manages the area under, with more restrictive measures until after the lawsuit is settled. The plaintiffs essentially want to cut off ORV use at the most environmentally sensitive areas of the seashore - Hatteras Inlet, the north and south beaches of Ocracoke Island, the Bodie Island spit, Cape Point and part of the South Beach of Hatteras Island.

The Park Service estimates a long-term plan, which was being negotiated with Audubon and DOW before they filed the injunction, would take at least three years to complete. The beaches would remain closed during that time if the judge rules in favor of the SELC.

Locals and out-of-town recreational users disagree with the environmental groups on many grounds, but the one that seems to be generating the most heat on message boards is a little noticed provision of the act of Congress that set up Cape Hatteras National Seashore in 1937.

The code states that the designated area " . . . shall be, and is, established, dedicated, and set apart as a national seashore recreational area for the benefit and enjoyment of the people and shall be known as the Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area."

People such as Jordan note that nowhere in the provision is preservation or conservation a stated goal. They say it was set aside strictly for human use. The SELC counters that as federal land administered by the National Park Service, it is the government's job to protect federally endangered and threatened species such as the piping plover, a variety of terns, as well as leatherback and loggerhead turtles.

Caught in the middle of this could be those who rely on off-road vehicle users for their livelihood. Bait and tackle shops, restaurants, gas stations and sport and commercial fishing operations are among the many businesses that could be threatened by the loss of beach drivers, many of whom come from as far away as Richmond, Virginia Beach and Charlotte, N.C., to enjoy North Carolina's distinctive coastline.

As Irene Nolan wrote in an article in the (Hatteras) Island Free Press, "not being able to drive to Cape Point or South Point on Ocracoke at any time to fish, watch the clashing waves on the shoals, or look for birds or shells is unimaginable for any of us who live here or visit - and even more unimaginable for island natives who have enjoyed beach access all of their lives."

Depending on what happens today in a Raleigh courtroom, the unimaginable could soon become a fact of life.