BUXTON. (AP) — A popular surf-fishing spot near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is open to fishing and four-wheel drive vehicles earlier than usual this summer.

The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk, Virginia, reports that Cape Point, a 100-acre spit of land near the lighthouse, has opened a month early because smaller buffer areas are in place around sea turtle and shorebird nests.

The resource management chief for the Outer Banks Group of National Park Service sites says access points to the cape were closed in May and reopened this week.

In the past, access points closed in April and didn’t reopen until late August because of nesting season.

Fishing groups sued two years ago for smaller buffer areas and won. The previous buffers blocked the shoreline from the dunes to the ocean.