Now that the dredge Miss Katie has improved conditions in Hatteras Inlet’s Connector Channel, the Dare County Waterways Commission is looking ahead to long-discussed projects in Avon Harbor and the Stumpy Point emergency ferry harbor.
Commission approves septic rule changes, flood disclosure
The state Coastal Resources Commission took separate actions last week to clarify two persistent issues: septic systems on the public beach, and residential flooding.
Survey looks deeper for signs of Algonquian ‘First Contact’
Archaeologists are using ground-penetrating radar and GPS to survey part of the Elizabethan Gardens on Roanoke Island, an erosion-threatened area that could hold artifacts from the Algonquian village where English explorers first made contact in 1584.
Women mark STEM milestone at Corps research facility
Women comprise half the science and engineering staff at the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory at the Army Corps of Engineers’ Field Research Facility, or Duck Pier, which now features a lactation room.
‘Morass’ no more: Great Dismal could get new designation
The Great Dismal Swamp, already a national wildlife refuge, is being considered for designation as a National Heritage Area with new conservation, preservation and economic programs.
Solutions are few for imperiled oceanfront homes: Panel
Officials at the first public meeting of an interagency work group said that while prevention could be far less costly than cleanup, limited programs or funding options are available to deal with erosion-threatened oceanfront homes before they collapse.
Landowners find Black lifesaving hero’s forgotten grave
Retired Coast Guard Cmdr. Gavin Wente and his wife Renee didn’t know when they bought their property last year that it included the unrecorded gravesite of Capt. Lewis Wescott, who participated in one of the most daring ocean rescues in Outer Banks history.
NC peat holds carbon market promise, but process complex
North Carolina’s 250,000 acres of privately owned peatland could be the ticket to tapping into the $2 billion voluntary carbon trading market, but the steps ahead are rigorous and expensive.
Rodanthe sand project unlikely, but new study to begin
Beachfront property owners in Rodanthe want beach nourishment to protect their erosion-threatened houses, but the questions of how much sand and how to pay for it are unanswered.
Rewetted drained pocosin can do a lot, like store tons of CO2
An ecosystem project in an NC peat bog could yield jobs, help with stormwater management and suppress wildfires and is part of an ambitious plan to create a carbon credit market to offset millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions.
Miss Katie dredge on track to work in Hatteras Inlet
The new state dredge Miss Katie is on track to be able to work in the Connector Channel by early February.
Inlet channel maintenance made simpler: Go with the flow
The Corps of Engineers now says it has authority to follow the deepest natural water, or best water, in the Rollinson Channel Navigation Project linking Hatteras and Ocracoke islands.
1898 Oregon Inlet Life-Saving Station must go, but where?
The N.C. Aquariums system, which owns the historic structure at the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, is looking to move and preserve it.
Myriad problems led to Rodanthe’s doomed beach houses
Some blame the owners of erosion-threatened or destroyed beachfront houses, but there is plenty of blame to go around, including policy, regulatory and enforcement shortcomings, climate change and government inaction.
Carbon capture project proposed for ocean waters off Duck
Vesta North Carolina has applied for permits to place about 20,000 cubic yards of ground olivine 1,500 feet from the Outer Banks town’s shoreline.
Submerged power lines further delay ferry channel realignment
Underwater power lines crossing Hatteras Inlet’s Connector Channel have created another delay in finalizing the realignment of the Hatteras ferry channel.
