Jockey’s Ridge State Park is a place where kids learn about yucca plants and pennywort, blue crabs and croaker and all about the watery world around them.
Archives
Bill Guts Safeguards for Terminal Groins
Small jetties, called terminal groins, could be built at all the inlets along the N.C. coast, under a bill that a state Senate committee passed yesterday, and state taxpayers could be asked to pay for all of them.
Ruling Favors Putting Septic Tanks on Beach
A new state ruling will make it easier for the owners of houses like this one to replace septic systems lost to storms on the beach as long as they are 50 feet from the water at low tide.
Busy Week Ahead at Legislature
Legislators are considering many environmental bills as the so-called “crossover” deadline approaches this week in the N.C. General Assembly. We offer a summary of important bills to help you keep up.
Hike the Green Swamp
The 17,000-acre preserve in Brunswick County is home to numerous species of rare birds, alligators and carnivorous plants, such as the Venus flytrap.
Roaming Ocracoke Inlet
A trip through the inlet feature sites of Civil War forts, Blackbeard’s lair, the deserted village of Portsmouth and baby pelicans on Beacon’s Island.
Hoop Pole Gives Kids a Taste of the Coast
Students from the N.C. School for the Deaf spent some time at the federation’s Hoop Pole Creek Preserve to learn about the coastal environment. Some of the kids had never been to the beach before.
Looking for Answers to Help Terrapins
Diamondback terrapins were once abundant in our coast’s marshes, creeks and sounds. Their population has declined, and researchers at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington hope to find some answers.
Take Climb Up a Lighthouse
Bodie Island Lighthouse is said to offer “one of most commanding views from an Outer Banks lighthouse.” Now, you can go up and take a look for yourself for the first time in the structure’s 141-year history.
Look for Revamped Magazine Soon
Ours is a breathtaking, water-loving land, and the glories one finds in these wild redoubts are many. The federation’s new travel guide beckons you to ramble afoot, afloat, afield to coastal spots both accessible and off the trodden track.
Hydrilla: ‘The Kudzu of the Water’
A little plant from Korea showed up in lakes around Raleigh 30 years ago. It now plagues the Roanoke, Chowan and Pasquotank rivers and has been spotted in Albemarle Sound. Biologists fear that pristine Lake Mattamuskeet and Lake Phelps could be next.
‘Reform’ Bill Could Have Sweeping Effects
The N.C. Senate is considering yet another “regulatory reform” bill that follows similarly named bills of the previous two sessions. The bill would make an array of changes to environmental policy and regulations that could have far-reaching implications.
Our Coast’s Food: Chicken of the Sea
The spring arrival of northern puffers is the first sign of a new fishing season. Many throw the ugly “blow toads” back in the water. No, they’re not poisonous and, yes, they are delicious.
Some Hammerheads to Get Protection
Federal fisheries managers have proposed adding four populations of hammerhead sharks to the Endangered Species List. Those off the Southeast coast aren’t included despite dramatic declines in their population.
Compromise on Committees Bill Goes Up in Flames
In a rare show of unanimity, the N.C. House yesterday voted down a compromise on a controversial bill that would have remade the state’s major regulatory commissions. The vote: 116-0.
Hoop Pole Creek Preserve
The “central park” of Atlantic Beach, the 31-acre preserve and nature trail was once threatened by development and is now about all that’s left of the town’s natural environment.
