North Carolina’s Coastal Resources Commission is moving through the steps to update rules for building along high-hazard coastlines that are particularly vulnerable to erosion and flooding.

When the commission met April 16 in Ocean Isle Beach’s town hall, members voted unanimously to advance the rulemaking process to draft language amendments for ocean erodible areas and inlet hazard areas. Proposed changes include using the most recent data for erosion rates and maps for the two zones, which are classified as areas of environmental concern.

If approved, this will be the first time new inlet hazard boundaries have been updated since they were initiated in the late 1970s. The commission has been discussing revisions for decades, but the complicated process and public blowback have pushed talks of updates year to year.

Both inlet hazard and ocean erodible areas fall under the ocean hazard areas category of areas of environmental concern, which are the foundation for the Coastal Area Management Act permitting program. CAMA was enacted in 1974, along with the commission to adopt rules for legislation that protects the state’s coastal resources. The Division of Coastal Management, under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, acts as staff to the commission.

Inlet hazard areas, or IHAs, encompass land along the narrow body of water that allows for tidal exchange between the ocean and inland waters. These swaths of shoreline are susceptible to inlet migration, rapid and severe erosion, and flooding. Land within the boundaries is subject to the commission’s development rules.

Ken Richardson, the division’s shoreline management specialist, told Coastal Review that in addition to the proposed updates to inlet hazard area boundaries, one of the primary changes under consideration is that erosion rate setbacks within inlet hazard areas will be based on inlet-specific erosion rates detailed in a 2025 report rather than the adjacent ocean erodible area, or oceanfront, rates, which is currently the case.

Because of limited data and resources, erosion rate setback factors within inlet hazard areas have been based on the rates of adjacent ocean erodible areas, essentially treating the inlet shoreline as an extension of the oceanfront.

“Given the rapid changes that can occur at inlets, this method has often resulted in setback factors that underestimate the true erosion dynamics of these areas,” according to the division. Erosion rates are used to determine how far back new construction must be from the shoreline.

Richardson said that, “Additionally, the rules would effectively ‘hold the line’ of existing development by preventing seaward expansion of new development in inlet areas that have experienced natural accretion.”

He referenced the “Inlet Hazard Area Boundaries, 2025 Update: Science Panel Recommendations to the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission,” presented in August 2025 to the commission that explains “any accretion at most inlets is temporary and likely to reverse over time; maintaining this line helps reduce future exposure to erosion hazards.”

The commission’s Science Panel on Coastal Hazards was directed in 2016 to update IHA boundaries. Rules were in the process of being updated in 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic paused draft rules from moving forward.

The “Science Panel recommended updating IHAs on a five-year cycle alongside oceanfront erosion rates, by the time work resumed after the pandemic, the next oceanfront study (2025) was already approaching.  As a result, some stakeholders asked the CRC to proceed with a coordinated update,” leading to the directive in 2023 to provide another five-year review, Richardson told Coastal Review.

Richardson explained during the meeting last week that the science panel analyzed for the 2025 update the state’s developed inlets, which are Bogue, New River, New Topsail, Rich, Mason, Masonboro, Carolina Beach, Lockwood Folly, Shallotte and Tubbs.

Panel Chair Dr. Laura Moore, professor of coastal geomorphology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, presented the findings in the inlet hazard area boundaries report during the August 2025 meeting.

Last February, the Coastal Resources Advisory Council and a subcommittee reviewed the report and suggested deviating from the panel’s recommendation to measure setbacks from the hybrid-vegetation line because of concerns that existing structures would be nonconforming, and therefore harder to replace if something happened to the structure.

They decided to base the language on existing rules and continue to measure setbacks within inlet hazard areas from the actual vegetation line or pre-project line but not extend farther oceanward than the footprint of an existing structure, or, in the case with vacant lots, the landward-most adjacent neighboring structure, according to the division.

Richardson told the commission that another recommendation included amending the language for ocean erodible areas language citing the 2019 report to the “North Carolina 2025 Oceanfront Setback Factors & Long-Term Average Annual Erosion Rate Update Study: Methods Report report.”

Richardson noted that there are no boundary maps for ocean erodible areas because boundaries are measured from the vegetation line, which are dynamic and could change overnight, so the landward boundary is determined in the field.

Staff also proposes eliminating the distinction of residential or nonresidential for the type of structure, because “It doesn’t matter to erosion what the structure is being used for,” Richardson said.

Now, the proposed rule changes will go through the fiscal analysis. This step in the rulemaking process determines the financial impact of the proposed amendments. After the analysis is presented and voted on, the commission will decide to move on to the public comment period, then to final approval before sending it to the Rules Review Commission.

Septic tank update

Cameron Luck, a policy analyst for the division, briefed the commission on the work to develop rules for septic system siting, repair and replacement within ocean hazard areas.

He began by sharing what took place during a meeting March 30 in Buxton coordinated by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, with representatives from the North Carolina Home Builders Association, North Carolina Septic Tank Association, Outer Bank Association of Realtors, National Park Service, and from county health departments.

Attendees were brought up to speed on some of the issues surrounding failed septic tanks on the oceanfront, heard from Cape Hatteras National Seashore representatives about their policies and ongoing struggles and efforts to address both the threatened oceanfront structures and the failed septic tank systems and systems out on the beach

Department of Health and Human Services provided a quick synopsis of their process, focusing on the role within and alongside local health departments, with a discussion on how the department permits and cites septic tanks and how and failure enforcement.

Luck said that he and other division staff presented the most recently proposed rule language for discussion.

“We spent a good amount of time talking through the proposed language and some areas that could be improved,” Luck said.

Main points in the discussion focused on defining what type of repair would qualify for a permit.

“In other words,” Luck explained, would property owners be required to secure a permit if a filter or a section of pipe needs to be replaced, or does the rule need to be more focused on extreme failures.

Discussion also focused on whether the proposed rule changes should be applied coastwide or be more targeted to specific situations or locations.

“Perhaps, key takeaway from that meeting was a clear consensus among those attendees that some form of action is needed to limit the repair of failed septic systems on the ocean beach and to prevent them from remaining on the beach once they failed,” he said, adding that staff is working on those rule language updates.

Despite the utility poles connecting the network of overhead cables along the paved, two-lane road and other obvious signs of the 21^st century, Historic Halifax State Historic Site transported visitors to April 12, 1776, during “Halifax Resolves Days,” a weekend commemoration of North Carolina taking the first step toward freedom.

“Today is a huge day for North Carolina. Two hundred and fifty years ago today, the Fourth Provincial Congress of North Carolina met here in Halifax and adopted the Halifax Resolves, the first official action by any colony to declare independence from the king,” Gov. Josh Stein said Sunday afternoon to the more than 300 gathered for the Halifax Resolves Ceremony.

Held under a sizable party tent near the Colonial Courthouse Site, where the 1760s wooden building once stood, the 250^th anniversary ceremony wrapped up the April 10-12 event. Visitors were able to watch living history reenactments, colonial life demonstrations, musical performances, and a ceremony led by the state-recognized Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe based in Halifax and Warren counties.

North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Pamela Brewington Cashwell introduced Stein before he took the podium.

During her brief comments, she explained that the department is responsible for organizing America 250 NC, the state’s celebration of the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and Halifax Resolves Days is a signature event of that celebration.

“We will also have a major event at the capitol in Raleigh this Fourth of July titled ‘Capitol 250: North Carolina Freedom Fest.’ We hope that if you don’t have something going on in your local community, that you will join us in Raleigh for another massive event,” she said, then directed the audience to visit the A250 website that details 700 events taking place this year as part of the celebration, from dramatic presentations, festivals, murals that have been painted in various communities.

When Stein welcomed the audience, he encouraged them to see the Halifax Resolves document on display in the new visitor center that officially opened that week. The governor and other state officials made a trip to Halifax April 7 for a ceremonial ribbon-cutting and to view the document that will be on loan from the National Archives until October.

Stein explained that leading up to the delegates meeting in Halifax, there was tension in the colonies between those who wanted to reconcile with the crown and those who wanted to rebel.

Even after the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 9, 1775, a large portion of the colonial population wanted to make accommodation with England. When the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in July of that year, they did not declare independence. Instead, they petitioned the king for more favorable terms. From 1775 to 1776, “the tide began to turn in favor of rebellion, but that path was by no means a certainty,” stein continued.

Then, Thomas Paine published “Common Sense” in January 1776, the pamphlet that Stein said made a “powerful argument for an independent, democratic nation founded on equality. Truly a radical notion.”

Then on Feb. 27, 1776, “a militia of patriots skirmished with loyalist troops at the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge,” located just west of Wilmington. “The Patriots soundly defeated the Loyalists, putting an end to English rule in North Carolina, blocking an English invasion of the south and lighting a flame of liberty within North Carolinians,” Stein continued.

As these events were taking place, North Carolina’s provincial delegates met with residents across the colony, and brought all those perspectives to Halifax in April 1776 when the fourth North Carolina provincial Congress gathered.

The delegates in the Halifax Resolves detailed their neighbors’ grievances, “or in their words, the ‘usurpations and violences’ committed by the king. They wrote that the ‘king and Parliament of Great Britain have usurped the power over the persons and property of the people, unlimited and uncontrolled and disregarding their humble petitions for peace, liberty, and safety. They made diverse legislative acts denouncing war, famine and every species of calamity daily employed in destroying the people and committing the most horrid devastations in the country.’”

By adopting these resolves, Stein said that these 83 delegates “did something radical, something revolutionary, something patriotic. They unanimously empowered North Carolina’s representatives at the Second Continental Congress up in Philadelphia to vote to declare our nation’s independence from the crown,” he said. “With these Halifax Resolves, North Carolina became the first colony to take any action declaring our nation’s independence.”

Though the document set the colonies on a path of expanding freedom in this nation, Stein acknowledged that the resolves were “far from perfect,” but still encouraged reading the text, even though parts will make the reader “feel very uncomfortable.”

“It’s easy, when you look back at history, to assume some sort of inevitability, like of course, it happened, but this historic action and the fact that it was unanimous was by no means a foregone conclusion,” Stein said, noting that rebuking the world’s greatest superpower “would have been considered treason, a crime punishable by death.”

The colonists depended on England for military protection and economic security. “Failure objectively was likely, and failure could have been fatal,” Stein said. “With these stakes and these odds, this vote for independence was brave and truly incredible.”

The British Empire could have easily subdued a “ragtag militia or a single colony, but a united force at least stood a chance.” With every single delegate voting in favor of the Halifax Resolves, “it was a precursor of the unity that the revolution would require.”

Less than three months later, at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, “the 13 British colonies, so incredibly diverse and different from one another, declared that we were no longer 13 separate colonies. We are the United States of America,” Stein said.

And while “250 years ago, internal division was one of the greatest threats to our nation’s success. 250 years later, I would venture that that is still true,” Stein said. “There are so many forces seeking to divide us that profit from our distrust for one another. There are so many forces making the American Dream feel out of reach, telling us that our success requires others to fail, and too often, we hear crudeness, not civility and experience division, not decency. It does not have to be this way.”

Americans can chart a different course, lust like our forebears in Halifax, “After all, we are not red. We are not blue. We are red, white and blue,” Stein said.

“We have so much to gain from bridging our differences, not glossing over them, but having the confidence to find common ground and the patriotism to remember that we are all Americans, that we all love this place,” he concluded. “It is a revolutionary idea, and it is the North Carolina way.”

Rep. Don Davis, R-N.C., who represents the 1st District ecompassing 22 northeastern North Carolina counties, was among the handful of officials who spoke in addition to the governor.

Davis said that the day “shines a light on a true treasure from our great state and nation.”

“Right here in eastern North Carolina, 250 years ago, brave souls took courageous steps towards independence. Their actions remind us of our resilience and grit, illustrating what we can achieve together when we unite for common cause. The Halifax Resolves aren’t just a chapter in our history. They are evidence of hope for our future.”

Part of an ongoing series on North Carolina’s observance of America’s 250th.

As the United States recognizes the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776, Dare County is celebrating its unique role in American history Saturday with “Liberty, Legacy, and Lift Off in the Land of Beginnings.”

The Dare A250 Faire is a two-event celebration, with the first scheduled for 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in downtown Manteo. The Star Spangled Spectacular is scheduled for that afternoon from 3:30-7 p.m. at Roanoke Island Festival Park.

“Rooted in a place known as the ‘Land of Beginnings,’ this milestone event honors Dare County’s unique role in America’s story — from the earliest English settlement attempts to the birthplace of powered flight. With a spirit of innovation, discovery and freedom woven throughout, the Dare A250 Faire promises a vibrant and meaningful tribute to 250 years of American history,” according to the county.

Both celebrations are no charge for the public, though the evening program requires those who wish to attend to reserve a spot through the online portal. As of publication, the tickets were all claimed. Those who wish to attend can continue to check the online portal to see if a seat has come available due to a cancelation.

Dare County is the “Land of Beginnings” because it is the location of England’s first attempt to establish a colony in 1587, now known as the “Lost Colony” because more than 100 settlers vanished from the site between arriving and 1590, and the birthplace of Virginia Dare. Dare was the first English child born in the Americas in 1587. The county is also the site of the Wright Brothers’ flight in 1903, the first controlled and powered heavier-than-air flight.

Dorothy Hester, co-chair of the Dare County A250 Committee, explained to Coastal Review that visitors can expect a full day of family-friendly fun in a festive, patriotic atmosphere.

“Downtown Manteo will come alive with a street festival featuring live music, street performers, storytelling, arts and crafts vendors, nonprofit exhibits, and several food vendors,” Hester said. “The celebration continues into the evening at Roanoke Island Festival Park with the Star-Spangled Spectacular, which has officially sold out–an exciting reflection of the strong community interest and support for this event.”

Hester said that the committee has been meeting for more than a year “to thoughtfully plan how our community would mark this historic milestone.”

The Dare A250 Faire emerged as the cornerstone event of that effort, which she said was designed to bring residents and visitors together in a meaningful and memorable way.

“What began as an idea has grown into a true community-wide collaboration among Dare County, local partners, local organizations, businesses, volunteers and sponsors,” Hester said.

Related: Dare County begins America’s 250th commemoration

The Dare A250 Faire was originally scheduled at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, but was relocated to Manteo and Roanoke Island Festival Park “to allow all aspects of the planning committee’s vision to be included in the celebration,” organizers said in a press release in late February. The park “highlights the area’s rich history as the ‘Birthplace of America,’ with the historic Elizabeth II serving as a meaningful backdrop to the festivities.”

The Elizabeth II is a representational 16th-century English merchant ship from the 1585 Roanoke voyage berthed at the park, where a settlement site illustrates an English military colony from the era.

Hester urged those interested in attending the celebrations to visit DareA250.org/faire for full event details, as well as information about other A250 initiatives, including the interactive map, and additional events taking place throughout the year.

The Dare County committee organizes events under the umbrella of the state’s official celebration, America 250 NC, an initiative of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The celebration committee launched earlier this year a passport program and an interactive online map to share the county’s history.

Musical performances

Entertainment begins at 11:10 a.m. Saturday at the All-American Stage in downtown Manteo with Cypress Society Singers & Dancers, representing the Lumbee and Kahtehnuaka Tuscarora Eastern Woodland Native nations.

An opening ceremony follows at 11:45 a.m., then attendees can listen to live music throughout the afternoon, including a jazz performance by Connected, Ruth Wyand to perform roots Americana and the Daniel Jordan Band to play Southern country-rock.

The Dare County All-American Award Ceremony starts at 3 p.m. The ceremony will recognize participants in a variety of categories, including patriotic attire, patriotic pet, most decorated business and boat displays, as well as Dare A250 Scholarship Awards. Participants should report behind the stage at 2:30 p.m. for judging.

Performances scheduled for the Magnolia Freedom Stage feature Ascension Music Academy, Shiloh and Enrique with the Mustang Music Outreach Program, and the OBX Jazzmen.

Street entertainment

Roving patriotic performers will wander throughout downtown Manteo from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., including stilt walkers, a bubble artist, a juggler and a hula hooper.

Historical interpreters from The Lost Colony, Roanoke Island Festival Park and Chicamacomico Lifesaving Station and more than 60 local artisans and community organizations will be on-site. Several local businesses and restaurants will offer special events and discounts. A list of visitors is available on the event website.

Student musicians from First Flight Middle School and Manteo Middle School will perform on Sir Walter Raleigh Street at noon.

Storytelling stage

The historic Pioneer Theater, 109 Budleigh St., Manteo, is hosting a storytelling series highlighting the people, traditions and defining moments of the Outer Banks.

Moderated by Miles Daniels, the program organizers are billing as “a marquee element of the Dare A250 Faire,” will feature the following four distinguished speakers sharing personal insights and historical perspectives:

• 11:30 a.m. Clark Twiddy: “Vision, Risk, and Reinvention: How the Outer Banks Became a Destination.”
• 12:30 p.m. Robin Daniels Holt: “The Families Who Stayed: Generational Memory and Cultural Continuity.”
• 1:30 p.m. Nancy Gray: “Water, Work, and Survival: The Working Coast of the Outer Banks.”
• 2:30 p.m. Ken Mann: “Stories of the Outer Banks: Voices, Characters, and Coastal Memory.”

Archival film and video presentations will be shown between speakers.

For young artists

Children can add their own touch from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. to a large patriotic painting. Local painter Brad Price is to enhance the artwork before going on permanent display at the Outer Banks Community Foundation. 

Families can also enjoy coloring a rendering of the first governor of an English colony in America, called a “Flat John White,” and festive tablecloths. Placemats that can be colored will be available at participating businesses throughout Manteo. 

Star-Spangled Spectacular Finale

The Star-Spangled Spectacular performances at Roanoke Island Festival Park will begin at 3:30 p.m. with Just Playing Dixieland, followed by an opening ceremony at 4:15 p.m. and an Earth, Wind & Fire tribute by the Ray Howard Band at 4:30 p.m.

The day will conclude with the Dare A250 Grand Finale at 6:15 p.m. with a multimedia patriotic production with a community choir and tribute.

Volunteers needed

With the committee expecting thousands to visit downtown Manteo and Roanoke Island Festival Park for the two events Saturday, there’s a need for volunteers to help oversee parking areas, serve as a friendly point of contact for guests, and to ensure everything runs smoothly in each designated lot, according to the county.

“No special experience is required, just a welcoming attitude and a willingness to help,” and volunteering is a way to “be part of a once-in-a-generation community celebration,” organizers said.

Volunteers can register online for any of the multiple shifts and activities or contact contact Patty O’Sullivan at patricia.o’sullivan@darenc.gov.

Dare County, Manteo, Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, Southern Bank, The Don & Catharine Bryan Cultural Series and Roanoke Island Festival Park are sponsors of the celebration.

Being able to watch a mother sperm whale give birth to her calf in the eastern Caribbean Sea a couple of summers ago “felt like an encounter with something both impossibly rare and profoundly ancient,” marine biologist David Gruber told Coastal Review.

Gruber, a National Geographic Explorer and City University of New York distinguished professor of biology, is president of Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative). He founded the nonprofit based in the U.S. and Dominica in 2020. It’s made up of artificial intelligence and natural language processing specialists, cryptographers, linguists, marine biologists, roboticists and underwater acousticians from a network of universities and other partners, per the website.

He was aboard the organization’s sailing research vessel on July 8, 2023, off the coast of Dominica, where scientists have been observing whales for decades, when the team noticed that all 11 members of a known sperm whale unit had gathered at the water’s surface.

The team soon realized that they were witnessing the exceedingly rare 34-minutelong birth of a sperm whale in the wild and the coordinated care efforts for the newborn by the other adult females.

Project CETI published two reports detailing what the team observed, calling the work in a March 26 press release “the most comprehensive documentation of a sperm whale birth ever recorded and the first quantitative evidence of cooperative birth assistance among non-primates.”

The two studies analyze more than six hours of underwater audio and aerial drone footage recorded during the birth event.

Gruber, in the March 26 release, stated that these findings fundamentally reshape how we understand whale society. “What we’re seeing is deeply coordinated social care during one of the most vulnerable moments of life.”

Researchers said that understanding of labor, birth, postnatal and neonatal behavior is lacking for most cetaceans, with observations of these births in the wild recorded for less than 10% of species. Cetaceans are marine mammals such as whales, dolphins and porpoises.

“Of the described 93 species of cetaceans only nine species have reported birth observations collected in the wild,” the study states. “And reports of birth events of pelagic, deep-diving cetacean species, such as sperm whales, are exceptionally rare.”

Published in Nature’s Scientific Reports, “Description of a collaborative sperm whale birth and shifts in coda vocal styles during key events,” gives a chronological timeline of the birth framed within the context of known whale behavior, communication and evolution.

“Audio data revealed distinct shifts in vocal styles during key moments of the birth, including the presence of vowel-like structures, adding a new dimension to Project CETI’s ongoing work decoding sperm whale communication,” according to the nonprofit.

The journal Science published “Cooperation by non-kin during birth underpins sperm whale social complexity.” The organization explained that the study quantified the behavior of the 11-member unit by using high-resolution drone footage, computer vision, and multiscale network analysis using software developed for the work, combined with previously made scientific observations, including reports of whale births.

“The findings show that female sperm whales from two unrelated matrilines come together during a birth to assist the labouring mother, and both kin and non-kin taking turns assisting the newborn. This provides the first quantitative evidence of birth attendance outside of humans and a few other primates,” researchers state in the press release, adding that the birth attracted the attention of short-finned pilot whales and Fraser’s dolphins.

Gruber told Coastal Review what it was like to witness the live birth.

“To be on CETI’s sailing research vessel, in that moment, felt like an encounter with something both impossibly rare and profoundly ancient,” he noted.

“In marine biology, so much of a career is impacted by luck — being present when ocean life decides to reveal itself,” Gruber continued. “I’ve been fortunate enough to witness things like the first biofluorescent turtle seen to humans, but nothing compares to witnessing a sperm whale come into the world.”

Gruber went on to say that very few such births have been seen by humans, and the last scientifically recorded observation after the birth was decades ago.

“It makes you wonder what Herman Melville would have written had he glimpsed this: not the violence of whaling, but the circle of care and a society revealing itself through cooperation,” he explained about the author of the 1851 American novel, “Moby Dick,” that tells the tale of a whaling vessel’s captain and his quest for vengeance against the whale that took his leg.

“We witnessed culture in action,” when the 11 whales, across family lines, “coordinated to keep a newborn alive, communicating in ways we’re only beginning to understand.”

Gruber said it took more than 50 scientists 2.5 years “to begin to interpret even a fraction of that moment, because Project CETI sits at the intersection of marine biology, artificial intelligence, and network science — fields that must come together if we are to decode these lives,” he said. ”And, in some sense, this is why Project CETI exists: We are one of the few teams in the world continuously embedded with these whales, with the tools, the longitudinal data, and the interdisciplinary lens to not only witness something this rare, but to begin to understand it.” 

Shane Gero, National Geographic Explorer, Project CETI biology lead, and founder of The Dominica Sperm Whale Project, leads the research.

Researchers, who have been tracking since 2005, the mother that gave birth, observed her that day with both her mother and her daughter.

“This is the most detailed window we’ve ever had into one of the most important moments in a whale’s life,” Gero said in the release. “Because this family unit has been studied for decades, we could see what the grandmother was doing, how the new big sister acted, and how each helped mom and newborn, placing this rare birth within a deep social and behavioral context.”

The two studies point to cooperative caregiving during birth being ancient evolutionary behavior.

The behaviors documented in the research “suggest that cooperation during births functions to reinforce social bonds between sperm whales, which underpin their large-scale society. Helping unrelated companions drives them to help in return later. In this way, a foundation of trust and collective success builds their social world,” researchers said.

Part of an ongoing series on North Carolina’s observance of America’s 250th.

When Halifax was founded in 1760 on the south bank of the Roanoke River, the town became a thriving commercial and social hub, largely because of its access to the Albemarle Sound, but as the American Revolution took hold in the 1770s, the town found itself at the epicenter of North Carolina’s move from British rule to independence.

North Carolina’s Fourth Provincial Congress met in Halifax in the spring of 1776, when delegates from across the colony unanimously adopted a document recommending freedom from England that was later called the “Halifax Resolves,” according to state historians.

“North Carolina played a significant role in winning America’s independence,” Gov. Josh Stein said in a statement. “The creation and adoption of the Halifax Resolves on April 12, 1776 was the first official action by any colony calling for independence from Great Britain, forever cementing North Carolina’s place in history as ‘First in Freedom.’”

The state will commemorate the 250th anniversary of the document with “Prelude to Revolution: Halifax Resolves Days,” at the Historic Halifax State Historic Site in Halifax County.

Scheduled for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday, there will be living history vignettes, lectures, live colonial music, Tryon Palace Fife and Drum Corps performances, historic trades and weapons demonstrations, a military parade, food trucks, vendors, exhibits, tours and themed photo booths.

The site, which holds a smaller-scale observation each year in April, features several authentically restored and furnished buildings including the 1838 Jail, the 1790 Eagle Tavern and the Underground Railroad Trail. 

Halifax Resolves Days is a signature event for America 250 NC, the state’s official initiative led by the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and celebrate the state’s role in the American Revolution.

Signature events like this “honor our state’s pivotal role in shaping the American story. From historic reenactments to cultural festivals, these events will inspire, educate, and unite communities across the state.”

N.C. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources Assistant Communications Director Michele Walker told Coastal Review that some event highlights include a ceremony with the state-recognized Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe, a living history reenactment of the Provincial delegates debating independence, the annual Halifax Resolves Day Ceremony April 12 at the colonial courthouse site, and live music and a drone show at dark on King Street.

A full schedule is available on the event website.

As part of “Halifax Resolves Days,” the state will officially open Historic Halifax State Historic Site’s newly renovated visitor center at 25 St. David St., “unveiling a modern facility and a new exhibit detailing Halifax’s significant role in the state’s history,” according to the release.

Starting Friday and continuing through Oct. 6, visitors to the center will have the unique opportunity to view the Halifax Resolves document on loan from the National Archives in Washington, D.C.

This is the first time the Resolves document – the only known copy to exist — is believed to be returning to Halifax since it was sent to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia in 1776. The State Archives of North Carolina holds the journal copy of the Resolves that will be displayed in Halifax this fall, the state said.

“The opportunity to view this 250-year-old document in the place where it was created is a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience,” N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Pamela B. Cashwell said in a statement. “The Halifax Resolves is one of the most important pieces of our state’s story — its date is emblazoned on our state flag — and we’re so excited for North Carolinians to see it in person.”

Halifax’s role in the American Revolution

The Roanoke River, which is one of the five largest rivers in the Southeast that flows from the foothills of the Appalachian into the Atlantic Ocean, begins in Montgomery County, Virginia, enters North Carolina in Warren County and flows through Halifax, Northampton, Bertie, Martin, Washington counties, before emptying into Batchelor’s Bay of Albemarle Sound, according to state documents.

English colonists from Virginia in the early 18^th century settled in the Roanoke River Valley and began farming the fertile land. In the following decades, a plantation system evolved that relied on slave labor to grow wheat, corn, peas, tobacco, and other staple crops for markets outside of the colony.

At the behest of the merchants, Halifax was founded in 1757 to use to their advantage the river’s access to the Albemarle Sound and its ports. Though a smallpox epidemic in 1758 stalled settlement, the town was settled in 1760 as the seat of Halifax County, which was designated Jan. 1, 1759. There were nearly 60 houses and public buildings at the time.

“This new town was at a major crossroads between North-South trading paths between the American colonies and West-East trading paths between the coast and the interior of the state. With this advantage, the small town quickly became a major trading center and river port for good moving between the backcountry, the plantations, and Virginia,” the state continues.

Not long after, the town became the backdrop for monumental political events during the American Revolution.

After the patriot victory Feb. 28, 1776, at Moores Creek Bridge in Pender County, the battle that effectively ended British rule in the colony, 83 delegates met in Halifax April 4, 1776, for the Fourth Provincial Congress of North Carolina.

Related: Rainy remembrance marks Revolution’s first decisive win

The delegates unanimously adopted on April 12, 1776, the document now called the “Halifax Resolves.”

“The Halifax Resolves were the first official action by any of the 13 colonies to call for independence from Great Britain. It is acknowledged as an important precursor to the Declaration of Independence,” Walker told Coastal Review.

The document gave William Hooper, Joseph Hewes and John Penn, the state’s representatives to the Second Continental Congress, authority to vote for independence. The Second Continental Congress was the governing body for the colonial governments that coordinated resistance to British rule during the American Revolution.

The Fourth Provincial Congress adjourned on May 15, 1776, after appointing a single Council of Safety to rule the entire colony. While the council was meeting in Halifax on July 22, 1776, the group learned that the Declaration of Independence had been signed in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776.

“The council adopted a resolution declaring North Carolinians ‘absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown’,” according to the historic site’s webpage.

Cornelius Harnett, a resident and Revolutionary patriot, was selected for the North Carolina’s first public reading of the Declaration of Independence to the town of Halifax Aug. 1, 1776.

The Fifth Provincial Congress assembled in Halifax that November, and by Dec. 18, the delegation had approved the new state’s first constitution. As its last official act Dec. 23, 1776, the congress appointed Richard Caswell as the first governor of the State of North Carolina.

“This one small town of Halifax saw the adoption for national independence, the first state constitution and the election of the first governor after colonial rule. Clearly Halifax was a front runner for the independence movement in not only North Carolina, but the entire nation as well,” according to the site.

Walker said that this was the state’s big moment in Revolutionary history, and Historic Halifax State Historic Site preserves this important action for all North Carolinians.

Visitor center renovation

Division of State Historic Sites Public Information Officer Terra Schramm told Coastal Review that in 1976, during the nation’s Bicentennial, this visitor center first opened its doors to welcome guests to Historic Halifax State Historic Site, which was established in 1965.

The North Carolina General Assembly appropriated $5.2 million to renovate the visitor center in 2022 and to complete the restoration of the William R. Davie House, a part of the historic site, in time for the nation’s 250th anniversary this year, she continued.

“The renovation of this building is now complete the interior has been thoroughly replaced, new climate control systems installed, the building foundation sealed, a clerestory added to light the lobby, and the conditioned interior space expanded from 4,900 square feet to just over 6,000 square feet,” Schramm said.

Of note, is a specially designed document display case that has been built to meet security and environmental control standards outlined by the National Archives and Records Administration.

“The case will be used to exhibit a rotation of significant historical documents, starting (appropriately) with the Halifax Resolves,” Schramm explained in her email response.

Clearscapes of Raleigh was hired to design and oversee the work, with Calvin Davinport Inc. of Rocky Mount serving as the general contractor. New historical exhibits for the building were designed by Design Dimensions of Raleigh, she said.

Part of an ongoing series on coastal North Carolina’s observance of America’s 250th.

Tensions began to brew between the colonists and Britain in the early 1760s after the Seven Years War, also called the French and Indian War, in North America. The British decided to impose new taxes on the colonies to recoup the funds that went to the war, but instead incited widespread protest.

Britain passed the Stamp Act March 22, 1765, and then in June 1767, the Townshend Act imposed duties on paint, paper, tea and other commodities. British troops attempted to enforce the Townshend duties in Boston October 1768, ultimately leading in March 1770 to the Boston Massacre that left five dead.

The British, to help the struggling United East India Co., passed the Tea Act in May 1773, allowing the company to import and sell tea to the colonies duty-free, undercutting the Dutch who had been smuggling tea in, and creating a monopoly.

Then, on Nov. 28, 1773, the Dartmouth sails into Boston Harbor, and three more ships were expected to arrive, all carrying chests of tea.

Over the next few weeks, colonists met to figure out a way to fight back. On the night of Dec. 16, 1773, around four dozen men impersonating Native Americans boarded the ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor.

Almost a year later, 51 women in Edenton took a more peaceful approach to protesting the tea tax by drafting a document explaining their boycott. The women committed to no longer drinking tea or wearing British cloth because of taxation without representation and sent the final copy to England.

“This action forms one of the earliest-known political actions written and organized by women in the American colonies,”  the Edenton Historical Commission explains. “The events of the ‘Edenton Tea Party’ today form an iconic moment in our nation’s history, when a community of women used their own voices to stand by their loved ones and risk the wrath of the Crown by protesting injustice.”

The women of Wilmington responded to British taxation with a similar protest in the spring of 1775, though little is known about the gathering to publicly burn tea.

Burgwin-Wright House and Gardens Assistant Museum Director Hunter Ingram told Coastal Review that the Wilmington Tea Party is an oft-overlooked event in the final days before the start of the American Revolution.

In the port city of Wilmington, the import of tea had ground to a halt by the spring of 1775.

The Continental Congress had forbidden tea from coming through the colonies’ ports, so it had become a scarce commodity, he said. That is why events like the Boston Tea Party and the Edenton Tea Party were so crucial to the cause of resistance.

“Tea was hard to come by and sacrificing it sent a message to those who were already hurting from the disruption of its trade,” Ingram continued.

The Wilmington Tea Party happened in the spring of 1775 and is only documented in one place: the writings of Janet Schaw, a Scottish woman who was traveling through Wilmington to visit her brother.

“She wrote a single line about her observations of the tea resistance in Wilmington, which she did not support. ‘The Ladies have burnt their tea in a solemn procession, but they had delayed however ’til the sacrifice was not very considerable, as I do not think anyone offered above a quarter of a pound,’” Ingram said. 

While the simple description doesn’t give many specifics, Schaw was clear in what the protestors did, Ingram said. “Burning the tea was unique, and it meant the women of Wilmington, even in the eleventh hour before the outbreak of war, were willing to set a precious privilege blaze in the name of revolution.”

The Burgwin-Wright House is the oldest and largest historic site in Wilmington, comprised of four of the eight remaining colonial structures in town, Ingram said of the house’s importance during the Revolution.

“We have three buildings from the city’s first jail, circa 1744, and the mansion home built in 1770 on top of the main jail building after the prisoners were relocated. It has sat at the corner of Third and Market streets for 256 years, and it has watched Wilmington grow from small-but-mighty port city into a thriving town that was, for a time, the most populous area in the state,” Ingram explained.

“The colonial era in Wilmington doesn’t always get its due, but the surviving home built for merchant and politician John Burgwin can tell that story –– and has been for generations,” said Ingram.

Ingram explained that that the Burgwin-Wright House had partnered with the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Wilmington Ladies Tea Walk Chapter to commemorate the 251st anniversary of the protest with the “Wilmington Ladies Tea Walk.”

The Wilmington Ladies Tea Walk event begins at 10 a.m. Thursday, March 26, at 224 Market St. the program will include remarks from a few historic organizations and officials and samples of a brand-new tea blend by Cape Fear Spice Merchants.

“Guests can walk through the gardens, enjoy a presentation about Janet Schaw and then join members of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Sons of the American Revolution as they walk, in a solemn procession, to river to burn tea in commemoration of this act of resistance on the eve of revolution,” he said.

The historic home is a good fit for the Wilmington Ladies Tea Walk because the site likely would have been “witness to that solemn procession into history, and the act of resistance that helped give Wilmington a reputation for rebellion even before the war.”

Schaw was also a Loyalist, as was Burgwin, and it’s “likely she would have visited the house during her time in Wilmington. This was a home built for a wealthy guest list, and Janet would have qualified,” he said.

Though the program is offered at no charge, registration is required. Call 910-762-0570 to register.

“If you can’t get in this year, we hope to make it a recurring event through multiyear A250 celebration,” Ingram said, referring to the state’s official celebration of 250 years of independence, America 250 NC, a program under the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Part of an ongoing series on coastal North Carolina’s observance of America’s 250th.

The patriot victory over loyalist forces at the Battle of Moores Creek in the early morning of Feb. 27, 1776, set North Carolina up to be one of the first colonies to vote for independence from British Rule.

That bloody battle in a Pender County swamp is considered the first decisive win of the American Revolution and is commemorated every year with a wreath-laying ceremony by the National Park Service and regional partners at Moores Creek National Battlefield.

This year, the commemoration was expanded to two days, Feb. 27-28, and anchored the weeklong inaugural First in Freedom Festival held Feb. 21-28. Taking place at historical sites, museums and other locations in Bladen, Brunswick, Columbus, Duplin, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender and Sampson counties, the festival was supported by the state’s official celebration of independence, America 250 NC, under the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The weekend was both somber and celebratory, with a wreath-laying ceremony that began the two-day commemoration, living history demonstrations with both loyalist and patriot reenactors who camped on the grounds near the earthworks built by patriots for the battle, a ribbon-cutting for two new exhibits in the visitor center, and special guest, Diana Gabaldon, creator of “Outlander.”

“Outlander,” both a series of books and a television show, is about a World War II nurse who travels through time to 18^th century Scotland, where she meets a young Highlander. The historical fiction series follows the couple from 1740s Scotland to the colony of North Carolina after the American Revolution.

While rainy conditions on the first day, Feb. 27, prevented a handful of the outdoor programs from taking place, including the weapons demonstrations. The weather, while still gloomy the next morning, allowed the sun to peek out later that day.

“Despite some challenges brought forward by the weather, the event was a great success, bringing over 17,500 visitors to Moores Creek National Battlefield during the event. The success was the result of a wonderful collaboration and partnership among the National Park Service, state and local partners, as well as volunteers, reenactors and living historians,” Battlefield Chief of Interpretation, Education and Volunteers Jason Collins told Coastal Review after the event.

With the steady pitter-patter of raindrops drummed on umbrellas and tents, leaves and puddles in the background, Michael Elston, president general of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, said from the podium during the wreath-laying ceremony that North Carolina was one of the earliest colonies to end royal rule and establish its freedom from Great Britain.

The last royal governor of the North Carolina Colony, Josiah Martin, fled to the safety of a royal naval ship in July 1775 and began plotting his return to power as head of an army of loyal colonists. “Unfortunately for Gov. Martin, he overestimated the support he had in North Carolina,” Elston said. About 1,600 loyalists answered met him in what is now Fayetteville and they began marching to the coast to join British forces.

Meanwhile, patriot forces maneuvered the loyalists toward Moores Creek Bridge, where they had established a strong position.

“The patriots fought on their terms and won an extremely short battle with only one man killed and another wounded in the aftermath,” Elston said, disrupting loyalist recruiting efforts in the state. “The battle put an end to loyalist organization in North Carolina, more than five months before the Declaration of Independence.”

Historic Halifax State Historic Site Assistant Site Manager Frank McMahon, also coordinator of the 3rd North Carolina reenacting group, took the podium as well, and filled in what happened next on the state’s road to freedom.

After the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge, the people of North Carolina elected a provincial congress to lead the colony. The fourth provincial Congress, made up of 83 delegates representing 29 counties and six of North Carolina’s most populated towns, met in Halifax to define a new direction for the American Revolution.

On April 12, 1776, the members unanimously adopted the Halifax Resolves, the date for which on the North Carolina flag acting as a direct reminder of the significance of the event, McMahon said.

The document known as the Halifax Resolves was first read to the members of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in June of 1776, and “would empower North Carolina’s members of the Continental Congress to collaborate with other united colonies to declare independence from Great Britain,” McMahon said.

McMahon took the opportunity to mention the next America 250 NC signature event, the “Halifax Resolves Days: Prelude to Revolution.” There will be living history activities, historic weapons demonstrations, guest speakers, food and live music at the site southeast just east of Interstate 95 near the Virginia line.

Special to the weekend is the original copy of the Halifax Resolves that was presented to the Continental Congress in 1776, on load from the National Archives. The document will be on display in the newly renovated historic Halifax State Historic Site visitor center.

Part of the afternoon activities was a ribbon-cutting ceremony to introduce two new exhibits in the visitor center.

Collins said from inside the building that the existing displays were installed in 2006 but only tell part of the story.

“A couple of the major parts of our history that we don’t get to tell are the stories of the naval stores and the story of music in this battle,” he said, which are the focus of the two new exhibits.

‘Outlander effect’

A “Weekend with Diana Gabaldon” featured three ticketed events, starting with “An Evening with Author Diana Gabaldon” Feb. 27 in Penderlea Auditorium in Willard, followed by a guided tour of the battlefield early Feb. 28, and concluded that afternoon with a book signing at a private venue. All events were sold out months ago.

During the evening program, Hunter Ingram, the assistant museum director for the colonial Burgwin-Wright House and Gardens, a 1770 structure open to the public, had a conversation with Gabaldon about how her path as a historical fiction writer brought her to Moores Creek and the influence her detailed accounts have had on tourism.

A lifelong and avid reader, Gabaldon said she knew at the age of 8 that she was supposed to write novels, “I just didn’t have any idea how.”

Before trying her hand at writing, Gabaldon pursued a career as a scientist, earning three degrees in the subject, including a master’s degree in marine biology and a doctorate in quantitative behavioral ecology. After she and her husband married, they just celebrated 54^th anniversary, they had three children in the space of four years.

“It was busy, and at this point in my life, and I’m not sure why, probably sleep deprivation, I decided that this was the time to start writing a novel,” Gabaldon said. “Two jobs and three small children and a husband who decided to quit his job and start his own business.”

The inspiration for “Outlander” came from a “really old rerun of ‘Doctor Who’ on public television,” she said. “Doctor Who” is British science fiction television series that began in 1963. 

“I was attracted, in this particular instance, to one of the doctor’s companions, who was a young Scotsman who appeared in his kilt, and I was thinking, ‘well, that’s kind of fetching’,” she explained, leading her to begin researching 18^th century Scotland.

“So that’s when I started writing ‘Outlander’,” she said, explaining that she opted for historical fiction because “it seemed easier to look things up than to make things up.”

She begins “Outlander,” the first book that was published in 1991, with “people disappear all the time.” The line came to her one day but wasn’t the first line she wrote.

“I was thinking, ‘Well, sure, they do, but why do they?’ and then the next couple of lines just sort of evolved. This is one reason. This is another reason. And it got more mysterious, and I was sitting there thinking, ‘Well, why do they disappear?’ And that’s why there’s time travel in these books.”

As for how the characters end up in North Carolina, it’s because she’s following history. After the Battle of Culloden April 1746 in the Scottish Highlands, she said there was no reason for her characters to go back to Scotland and brought them to the Americas. Culloden was the final conflict in the Jacobite Rising and is featured prominently in the series.

“I was following history,” she said and the Highlander migration across the state, which is how colonial historic sites became part of the “Outlander” story.

Ingram praises her detailed description of Moores Creek in “A Breath of Snow and Ashes,” which is set in 1770s North Carolina.

It is not often that there are examples of someone looking at the region’s history from the outside and making it part of something so globally beloved, he said, adding it’s an interesting way to look at not just Moores Creek, but local history in Wilmington, in the Cape Fear region, and across North Carolina.

“A lot of the historic sites have seen an impact from people being interested in ‘Outlander’,” Ingram said.

Gabaldon told the audience that she’s seen similar in Scotland and has been given honorary doctorate degrees for services to country by the University of Glasgow and the University of the Highlands, and the Scottish Government gave her a Thistle Award, which spotlights the tourism industry.

It is being called the “Outlander effect.”

She recounted that when the show first began filming, she was on set for about six weeks in a village near Glasgow. During lunch, she and another writer went to a café to buy sandwiches, but the shopkeeper didn’t have change. He then realized she is the creator of “Outlander,” and explained that she had had no idea what she had done for the economy there.  

Ingram said the effect has been noticeable at historic sites in the region and mentioned the discussion they when she was a special guest on the podcast he hosts for the Burgwin-Wright House called, “Outlander in the Cape Fear.”

He said that during the podcast, they discussed her impact and, “You said you felt it was a lovely side effect of the work that you’ve done, not just here in North Carolina — but we’re kind of biased that, you know, we want to see more people pay attention to our history — and so the fact that we’re all here on the 250th anniversary of Moores Creek today, I think, is a testament to what you’ve done.”

During the tour of the battlefield the next day with Historic Weapons Supervisor and Special Park Uses Coordinator Jason Howell and Gabaldon, Howell said something similar.

“She does a really good job of pulling you into the earthworks in the morning fog,” he said, adding how he remembered being captured by her writing. “And one thing Diana does is, she gets people like you interested in these sites. It’s from her viewpoint and it’s from an alternate viewpoint, but she captures your attention.”

And, as a result, he’s seen Outlander fans come to the site, who admit to not liking history that much but are interested in the battlefield.

More information on America 250 NC events, including details on the Halifax Resolves Days, can be found at america250.nc.gov.

As North Carolina’s population grows, local and state governments, elected officials, educators and nonprofit groups are bracing for the demands more residents will put on the state’s already taxed and aging water infrastructure.

The 2026 Emerging Issues Forum: Future Forward Water held Feb. 25 brought together these decision-makers and advocates to forums in Morehead City, Winston-Salem and Asheville, where they could share their challenges, ideas and solutions regarding the often-unnoticed necessity.

The forum featured several speakers, including Gov. Josh Stein, and group discussions that focused on four main challenges: aging infrastructure, resiliency, the water workforce crisis, and maintaining safe and reliable water systems.  

In a video message, Stein said that North Carolina’s water infrastructure faces serious challenges. The American Society of Civil Engineers recently graded the state, giving it a C-plus on drinking water, C-minus on stormwater, and a D-minus on dams and on wastewater.

“Storms like Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Matthew, Hurricane Florence and tropical Storm Chantal damaged wells and water systems across the state, leaving many communities without clean water,” he continued. “At the same time, continued population growth in some of our areas require expanded service and new infrastructure. Life sciences, companies, data centers coming to North Carolina also require large amounts of water to operate, further straining our infrastructure. Many rural communities struggle in aging systems and limited financial capacity. Contaminants such as PFAS further poison our water supply. We must take all of these challenges on as a clarion call.” 

Usually held in Raleigh, this year’s forum was hosted in the three locations to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Emerging Issues Forum, the idea of the late Gov. Jim Hunt, who died in December. Institute for Emerging Issues, established in 2002 at North Carolina State University, hosts the forum. The institute “is a nonpartisan connector, bringing North Carolinians together across sectors, regions and perspectives to address the state’s most significant challenges while advancing its economic competitiveness.”

Sandra Merkel DeJames, who is a member of the Institute for Emerging Issues National Advisory Board, explained to the more than 100 attending the Morehead City forum that the challenge being addressed that day is how to keep up with the unprecedented population growth facing the state. Population growth is the topic of the three-year Emerging Issues Forum series that kicked off in 2025, and focused on energy infrastructure. Next year the event will address housing.

“Last year, the state added an average of 400 new residents every day. That’s over 145,000 people by 2050. Some 14 million residents will call our state home, compared to the 11.2 million today,” said DeJames, who is president and CEO of Harmonize Strategy Group.

“People are moving to North Carolina for work, education, our climate and a host of other reasons,” she continued. All of these “new residents will need access to housing, energy and water that’s safe and affordable. They’ll need transportation and broadband and all of the other critical infrastructure needed to support a thriving economy, like childcare, healthcare, public safety and education.”

Companies are moving to the state as well, she continued.

“We’ve been named the best state for business in three of the past four years by CNBC. Once here, they too need infrastructure to support their operations,” DeJames said. “As to those businesses already here, this population and business growth will not be even across the state, or even within this region, but all areas have infrastructure needs, and we must now meet them.”

DeJames continued that forum organizers spent the last year learning more about the state’s water issues, “and we’ve learned the following: Water is a truly hidden infrastructure.” But, it is also the “most local form of infrastructure.”

The state is one of 10 with more than 5,000 public water systems – it is closer to 6,000 — and that number does not include the more than 2 million people who use privately owned wells and septic systems.

While water issues vary by region, there are common themes.

“First, our water infrastructure is aging,” DeJames said, despite some of the largest increases in water infrastructure spending in recent years.

“One conservative estimate is that we need $20 billion in new investments for drinking water and $21 billion in new investments for wastewater treatment and sanitary sewers in the coming decades, left unaddressed, our state’s economic vitality and public health are at risk.”

Next is the need to treat water for new contaminants.

“The emergence of new contaminants that can impact our health, such as PFAS, and the additional billions of dollars in cost to treat them will further compound financial pressures on our water systems and our customers,” DeJames said. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are long-lasting chemicals found in water, air and soil that are linked to harmful health effects.

Third, the state’s water infrastructure is too vulnerable.

“The damage done to wells and water systems from Hurricane Helene, Tropical Storm Chantal and other storms add to longer-term challenges to water and wastewater systems across the state. We need to increase our infrastructure’s resiliency,” she said.

“And finally, we need more workers in the water sector. There is significant shortage of qualified workers as the current workforce ages out, and not enough new workers to enter these fields.”

N.C. State’s Peter A. Pappas Real Estate Development Program Director Chuck Flink expressed similar points in a message delivered to all three forum locations via video.

The state’s population is expected to grow by between 3 and 3.5 million people in the next 25 years, and the growth is not going to hit North Carolina in a uniform manner. “A lot of it’s going to congregate in our two metro areas, which we expect to grow by more than a million people each in this 25-year period,” Flink said.

Wake County currently is the third fastest growing county in the country, averaging around 65 to 75 people moving there each day. It is the most populated county in the state. Charlotte is currently the sixth fastest growing city in America, averaging around 65 residents a day, and it’s the 15th most populated city in the country today, Flink continued.

By the year 2050, 75% of all residents will live in cities, and that’s a new phenomenon for the state, and at the same time, while we have this population growing, the state is experiencing population loss, with 41% of North Carolina’s municipalities in decline.

“We have vast swaths of our eastern part of our state and some portions of our western counties that are losing population,” Flink said. “In fact, we have a band of counties that stretches from the Virginia border to the South Carolina border, where we need more population, we need more economic opportunity. So it’s not a real simple picture there.”

He paused to say that he loves that the state is a collection of small communities, “and yet some of these small communities, especially in the eastern part of the state, are literally being abandoned due to population loss.”

“In North Carolina, 50% of us derive our drinking water from underground reservoirs, aquifers, and when we look at other elements of our water infrastructure, our water and wastewater systems are antiquated and they’re failing,” he said.

In some cases, there has been an overall decline in water quality across the state because of drought, overconsumption, and pollution, including forever chemicals.

The people that manage water infrastructure are aging as well. More education and training is needed for a new workforce to manage the infrastructure going forward.

However, Flink said he’s optimistic about where the state can go.

“It really begins with planning. Planning for growth. How do we want to grow? I think that’s the ace of spades that we control,” Flink said, adding that growth can be controlled and that’s how these challenges will be met.

There were four panel discussions throughout the day. The panels each had participants represented different sectors who shared the hurdles they’re facing, their frustrations and ways they’re navigating these challenges.

Martin Doyle, professor of River Systems Science and Policy at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, explained that water systems are not supported by general tax revenue, but are covered by the funds generated by billing its customers.

The UNC School of Government surveyed water systems around the state, and found that less than a quarter of those water systems actually collected sufficient revenue to be considered economically viable.

“They’re not collecting sufficient revenue to cover their costs as well as to cover the cost of preventative maintenance,” Doyle said. “The challenge for this is that we have a large number of water systems that are operating right at the financial threshold. They’re just getting by” and unable to keep up with preventative maintenance.

East Carolina University Water Resources Center Associate Director Samantha Mosier said that there are a number of ways to solve some of the state’s problems. She encouraged raising awareness about infrastructure needs, but the “real solution” is to help municipalities establish or join a regional authority.

“Most small local governments in North Carolina have their own water and wastewater system because that was part of becoming a town, years and years ago when we had lots of population,” Mosier said. “But in the eastern part of the state, we’re seeing that loss of the population.”

With the population dwindling, utilities are losing their customer base, making it no longer feasible for every small town to maintain a water system. Encouraging regionalization brings folks together to have those conversations. 

“To me is that next critical strategy we’ve got to embrace as a local, regional and state level,” she said.

Belhaven Town Manager Lynn Davis said that Beaufort County town’s obstacles are many, including a limited budget. “How do we not just look at the day to day, not just look at the infrastructure that we have, but how do we plan for if something breaks and that’s a challenge that faces us.”

She said staffing is another challenge. Half of the town’s staff could retire right now, and it won’t be easy to replace those workers. “You just don’t find people that have the knowledge and the skills.”

Cape Fear Public Utility Authority Security and Emergency Manager Craig Malone said when it comes to tackling these issues, “it’s not the plan itself that we need to focus on, it’s the process of planning. It helps us look at these contingencies, look at these risks, and our options to address these emergencies.”

He incorporates resiliency planning into his capital improvement plan. “Now you don’t have to stop and plan for emergency. Now you don’t have to stop and plan for that resiliency action or that upgrade to your facility.”

Nags Head Mayor Ben Cahoon said the town has 3,000 year-round residents, and around 45,000 in the summer time, and 80% of the properties have on-site septic systems. On a summer day, millions of gallons of water goes through the houses and into the septic systems.

“At the same time we have sea level rise, which is bringing the water table up under those wastewater systems, causing them to perhaps function less effectively. And then we get a storm, and you get a lot of water in those ditches and in the ground, and you can imagine the dynamics of what’s happening in the ground.”

Cahoon said the town has to plan for these issues.

“We do integrate drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, capacity into our zoning, development/redevelopment decisions. We do that by tying our infrastructure capacity directly to our long-range planning and adopted master plans and our resilience strategies, rather than treating any of these separately. So in Nags Head, our land use and development decisions are guided by the town’s comp plan.”

To address the retiring workforce that most local governments seem to be facing, some town leaders are changing how they recruit. For example, Maysville Town Manager Shcumata Brown said they’re looking for employees who have the aptitude to learn and not focus on certain certifications.

Perry Harker, vice president of Workforce Continuing Education at Carteret Community College, said that students aren’t hearing about this type of career, and the college is trying to introduce students to water and wastewater industry opportunities.

Compounding these issues is water quality.

Ben Farmer, planning and development services director for Upper Coastal Plain Council of Government, said raw water is pumped to a treatment plant, and that water has to fall within certain threshold or maximum containment levels. The systems, regardless of the town or city’s size, have to make sure that drinking water is up to that very extreme standard to keep the water safe.

Cape Fear Riverkeeper Kemp Burdette told the attendees that many residents get their drinking water from rivers — the Cape Fear River basin provides about one in five residents with the drinking water – and “protecting rivers is the single most effective way of protecting drinking water supply and reducing infrastructure costs for communities, period.”

Jacksonville Stormwater Manager Pat Donovan-Brandenburg said that we all need to be part of the solution.

“Each one of us impact stormwater. Meaning we have a home, we have a car, we have a road to get to and from work. I challenge all of us to look at our individual yards, our individual businesses,” she said.

“What can we do to disconnect our stormwater runoff from ever making it out to the storm drain in the road and out to a stream? Can we get it to infiltrate instead of making it to our surface waters? Making it to our surface waters does not recharge our aquifers, and we need to recharge aquifers in order to have the drinking water,” she said. “There’s the connection. So can you disconnect your storm drains or your gutters and put it into your landscape beds? Can you put in an infiltration trench? Can you put in a rain garden or rain barrel? Everybody’s yard, everybody’s business counts toward stormwater runoff, so we can all be part of the solution,” she reiterated.

There’s so much technology out there, so ask your engineer to think outside of the box. “Yes, it may cost a little bit more, but if you’re building there for the rest of your life, invest in your community. Because that’s what it is. We’ve got to invest in our neighborhoods, invest in our communities. So my message is very simple, reduce the storm water that you’re creating individually off your own property, and collectively, we will make a difference.”

Coastal Resources Commission members last week held off on addressing oceanfront septic tank system rules in order to give environmental and health officials the opportunity to collaborate on the process.

During the commission’s Feb. 26 meeting in Atlantic Beach, staff with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management, which implements the commission’s rules and policies, asked for extra time to work with the state’s Department of Health and Human Services. DHHS regulates permitting, design, installation, operation and maintenance for on-site septic systems.

The failed septic system issue had been forefront for the commission in the early 2020s, until the topic was sidelined in April 2023 when the Rules Review Commission rejected dozens of rules the Coastal Resources Commission submitted as part of the 10-year rule review process, including protections for Jockey’s Ridge, redirecting the CRC’s attention.

After the rules protecting the sand dune system on the Outer Banks were put back in place in 2025, the Coastal Resource Commission resumed the discussions on remedies for oceanfront septic system failures.

Division Coastal Policy Analyst Cameron Luck explained last Thursday that the commission directed the staff at its November 2025 meeting to find out how many septic system failures along the waterfront were caused by tidal inundation, how many coastal communities rely on septic systems, and the overlap of the commission’s rules with the DHHS’s permitting process.

Luck said that Initially the plan for the February meeting was for the proposed amendments to move forward. But, after the division, DHHS and the North Carolina Coastal Federation, met Feb. 18 to review the issue, the consensus was to pause the rulemaking process.

The plan as of last Thursday was to schedule a meeting in mid-March with the health department and other agencies and organizations. “We want everybody at the table,” to better understand how stakeholders feel about the issue and willingness to address septic tank failures through a collaborative effort, Luck said.

Under the current rules, septic tanks are grouped with houses, which precludes oceanfront septic systems from requiring a permit for repair. And, an oceanfront septic system must be relocated or dismantled within eight years of when a home becomes threatened.

Division staff proposed clarifying that new structures must meet the oceanfront setback, and if a home or septic system is relocated, all remaining debris, including the original septic system, must be removed as well.

Staff also proposed specifying that septic system repair and/or replacement is not evaluated under general statute. Instead, it requires a Coastal Area Management Act permit to replace any septic tank, pump tank, or ground absorption system component.

North Carolina Coastal Federation Executive Director Braxton Davis, who was previously director of the Division of Coastal Management, has been involved in the process for some time. The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

Davis explained to the commission that it already regulates new oceanfront septic tanks by requiring that those systems meet the oceanfront setback. However, the division currently doesn’t have rules regarding repairing oceanfront septic systems.

DHHS, Dare and septic systems

Two officials with the state health department explained to the commission the prevalence of on-site wastewater systems in the state and the role the division plays in managing them.

Deputy Environmental Health Section Chief Jon Fowlkes said that about 50% of the state relies on septic systems and that has remained consistent over the last 20 to 30 years.

“Every county in our state uses septic systems, some counties more, some counties less,” he said, with some ranging from 14% to 93%, “so it really varies on where you’re at, and we’ve had approximately 1 million septic systems installed since 1990.”

The state’s wastewater rules apply to residential and some commercial on-site septic systems.

On-Site Water Protection Branch Head Wilson Mize with DHHS told the commission that neither he nor Fowlkes worked on the coast before, and “it’s been a learning curve” for them while working with Dare, Currituck and Carteret counties.

He used Dare as an example for how the county is handling its oceanfront septic problems, particularly the scenario of when a tank that was once covered in sand is exposed during a weather event.

After every storm, environmental health staff coordinate with local building inspectors and walk the impacted beach areas, looking for damaged dwellings and determine which systems have been compromised, Mize said.

In many cases the health department’s hands are tied when it comes to not issuing permits. “Our rules don’t give the county much authority to deny that permit if it meets our rules,” Fowlkes said.

Dare County Manager Bobby Outten said the county has a similar situation, stating that they’re also required to issue a permit for septic tanks, even if they’re in the surf zone.

“If the owner can get access to his building, we have to give them the permits. And so now they’ve got a house sitting in the water, their septic tank’s on the wet sand beach, and their drain field is back in the dry sand beach and we have to permit it,” he continued.

“They do it. Two weeks later, we have a nor’easter. It knocks the top off, it dumps the septic in the ocean again, and we start the process again. The water subsides. They put a new top on it. It meets all the requirements. We permit it,” he explained. “And the cycle continues until they lose enough lot that they can’t have a drain field, or they’ve lost enough lot, or lose the tank, and they don’t have anywhere to put the tank, and we don’t have a remedy for that, and we don’t have a remedy for it once it’s all said and done.”

Outten said there are options to break the cycle, including the establishment of setbacks by the commission, or rules that the health department can enforce.

“So we’re stuck in this situation because none of the rules work together to solve what I think we all see as a problem,” he said. “If our goal is to get those tanks off of the beaches, then the rules don’t currently work to do that.”

Commission Chair Renee Cahoon recognized that there’s no easy solution, “but we know that we can’t continue to have all the septic tanks on the beach. It’s not environmentally healthy. It’s not even good business sense for the people in North Carolina, because it does impact our tourism industry and all the property owners that are invested here.”

The North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort welcomed visitors Saturday for the first time in over a year after closing to the public in late 2024 for a major overhaul of the heating and cooling system.

During the yearlong closure, staff worked to revamp existing displays and installed two new exhibits, Museum Site Manager Jamie McCargo explained during a ribbon-cutting last week.

“We have two brand-new exhibits. We are very proud to say one is called ‘North Carolina’s Road to Revolution,’” McCargo said, which celebrates America’s 250th anniversary, and “is wonderfully aligned with our division-wide initiative to celebrate the anniversary.”

The other new exhibit is “Swell Times,” which highlights coastal recreation, such surfing, fishing and boating, she said.

The maritime museums are under the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, which is leading America 250 NC, the state’s yearlong commemoration of the 250^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Programs, experiences, exhibits and more are scheduled throughout the year at sites across the state.

McCargo highlighted one panel from the “Road to Revolution” exhibit. During the winter of 1777-78, Gen. Washington’s army was camped Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and desperately in need of supplies.

“They were cut off and just really were in dire need, and North Carolina rose to the occasion. North Carolina was able to provide food and clothing. They came from Ocracoke Inlet and traveled up our rivers and sounds and were able to deliver items to both South Key, Virginia, and on up to Valley Forge,” McCargo said.

McCargo added that the extensive upgrades inside the facility required moving all of the artifacts, around 10,000, to a controlled-climate room, while the rest of the facility’s HVAC was replaced.

During the site closure, staff continued to work by planning new and updating existing exhibits, including adding new artifacts to the Queen Anne’s Revenge exhibit. The museum is the official repository for the ship, which Blackbeard the Pirate was captaining when it ran aground in Beaufort Inlet 1718, and are expecting more from the Queen Anne’s Revenge conservation laboratory in Greenville.

McCargo also thanked the Friends of the N.C. Maritime Museum, for the $80,000 gift the nonprofit made toward the updates before welcoming the president of the group that supports the museum, Tom Kies.

“The museum is important on many different levels. First and foremost, it safeguards our history. The stories preserved within these walls of boatbuilders, sailors, fishermen, families and communities — and pirates — are not just relics of the past. They are living reminders of who we are and how this region was shaped by the sea. The educational programs offered here ensure that these stories are not last or lost, but passed on to a new generation who will carry them forward. But this Museum’s impact extends far beyond education and preservation,” Kies said.

He added that places like the Maritime Museum are where visitors can connect with the state’s maritime heritage, experience something authentic and meaningful, and understand why this part of North Carolina is so special.

“When they do, they don’t just visit the museum, they support local businesses, stay in our hotels, dine in our restaurants, and leave with a deeper appreciation of our community. In that way, the Maritime Museum is both a cultural anchor and an economic engine, strengthening the region in ways that are sometimes unseen but always felt,” Kies said.

Division of Cultural and Natural Resources Secretary Pamela Brewington Cashwell opened her remarks by telling the room that, for the past year, she had been asking when the facility would reopen. 

“How long does it take to put in a new HVAC system?” she said, with a hint of humor. “To which my staff says, ‘It’s not a window unit, secretary, it’s different,’” and the museum underwent a facelift, which she said many state sites need.

She thanked legislators for help with the $1.8 million project and the supporters, who are “critical to allowing us to do what we do across all of our over 100 sites in North Carolina.” The total includes other sites in the nearby area, like Fort Macon State Park and the N.C. Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores.

The museum was initially scheduled to reopen Jan. 31 but the event was rescheduled for Feb. 21 because of inclement weather.

‘America 250 NC,’ ‘Swell Times’

The museum’s Information and Communications Specialist Cyndi Brown told Coastal Review that the “America 250 NC” exhibit is the first of three phases looking at North Carolina’s role in the American War for Independence.

“This first phase, which will remain on exhibit for about three years, looks at Revolutionary War commerce. The exhibit explores the state’s imports and exports, shares stories about some of its interesting figures and details the importance of the maritime routes in supplying war efforts to the north,” Brown said. “Phase 2 will focus on North Carolina’s privateers and the state’s navy. The final exhibit will look at the end of the war, focusing on coastal raids and the battle of Beaufort.”

Brown explained that creating these exhibits, as with all exhibits in the museum, starts with the history curator and collections staff.

“The historian will come up with a potential theme or concept and research it to be sure there are enough primary sources accessible to tell the history. He’ll then work with collections to be sure we can support those histories with artifacts that are either already in our collection or available for purchase or via loan from another institution,” she continued.

The other new exhibit, “Swell Times,” explores the history of recreation along the coast, specifically on the water.

“There’s info on surfing and sailing, boating, spearfishing, hunting and more. There’s a fun interactive with various historic postcards, front and back, to show some personal perspectives of being on the coast,” Brown said.

It has been almost two weeks since the Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to ax Obama-era carbon emission regulations for new motor vehicles and engines, arguing that the agency didn’t have the authority to impose the science-based standards on the greenhouse gas emissions that the current administration says have only a negligible effect on climate change.

While Republican lawmakers and leaders in the fossil fuel and automotive industries support the move, Democratic Party leaders, health care industry and environmental groups are saying the decision goes against decades of peer-reviewed research that the heat-trapping gases will amplify climate change, and are taking legal action.

President Donald Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced Feb. 12 that the administration was rescinding its own findings, and, consequently, eliminating the greenhouse gas emission standards, or the legal limits on the amount of pollutants a vehicle can emit, that have been in place for more than 15 years.

“We are officially terminating the so-called Endangerment Finding, a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and massively drove up prices for American consumers,” Trump said during a press conference Feb. 12 at the White House. “Effective immediately, we’re repealing the ridiculous endangerment finding and terminating all additional green emission standards imposed unnecessarily on vehicle models and engines between 2012 and 2027 and beyond.”

The agency stated in a release that week that the Obama-era EPA, via section 202 of the Clean Air Act, exceeded its “authority to combat ‘air pollution’ that harms public health and welfare.” The EPA said that a policy decision of this magnitude should be up to Congress, and “even if the U.S. were to eliminate all GHG emissions from all vehicles, there would be no material impact on global climate indicators through 2100. Therefore, maintaining GHG emission standards is not necessary for EPA to fulfill its core mission of protecting human health and the environment, but regardless, is not within the authority Congress entrusted to EPA.”

When the action was announced, there was a torrent of criticism.

“Today, the Trump administration repealed the endangerment finding: the ruling that served as the basis for limits on tailpipe emissions and power plant rules. Without it, we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money,” former President Barack Obama said on social media Feb. 12.

Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said that the EPA’s action to repeal the endangerment finding that greenhouse gases threaten the health of all communities undermines decades of science and rulings by federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court.

“Instead of protecting the public’s health from the dangerous and deadly effects of air pollution, including greenhouse gases emitted by new cars and trucks, this action will exacerbate the health threats we are already seeing from climate change, including increased heat waves, more air pollution and deadly wildfires,” Benjamin said in a statement.

Dr. Gretchen Goldman, president and CEO of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement that Zeldin “took a chainsaw to the Endangerment Finding, undoing this long-standing, science-based finding on bogus grounds at the expense of our health. Ramming through this unlawful, destructive action at the behest of polluters is an obvious example of what happens when a corrupt administration and fossil fuel interests are allowed to run amok.”

Goldman continued that the science establishing harm to human health and the environment from heat-trapping emissions was clear in 2009.

“More than fifteen years later, the evidence has only mounted as have human suffering and economic damages. Meanwhile, the continued burning of fossil fuels is causing global warming emissions to rise. The science, the facts and the law are unassailable: EPA has the obligation and the authority to regulate this pollution under the Clean Air Act, an act of Congress it’s now blatantly violating,” she said. “The transportation sector is the single largest source of U.S. global heat-trapping emissions. By scrapping vehicle global warming pollution standards today, the Trump administration has co-signed the release of more than 7 billion tons of planet-warming emissions nationally in the decades ahead.”

The “Rescission of the Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and Motor Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards Under the Clean Air Act” was published Feb. 18 in the Federal Register.

The same day more than a dozen groups filed a lawsuit in the D.C. circuit against the EPA, “over its illegal determination that it is not responsible for protecting us from climate pollution and its elimination of rules to cut the tailpipe pollution fueling the climate crisis and harming people’s health,” the Environmental Defense Fund announced last week.

“The finding supported commonsense safeguards to cut that pollution, including from cars and trucks. In addition, the agency eliminated the clean vehicle standards, which were set to deliver the single biggest cut to U.S. carbon pollution in history, save lives, and save Americans hard-earned money on gas,” continued the Environmental Defense Fund.

Clean Air Act

The Clean Air Act has given the EPA comprehensive authority to set standards for and regulate motor vehicle pollution since it was signed by President Richard Nixon Dec. 31, 1970.

Section 202(a), states that the administrator “shall by regulation prescribe (and from time to time revise) in accordance with the provisions of this section, standards applicable to the emission of any air pollutant from any class or classes of new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines, which in his judgment cause, or contribute to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.”

The act was amended in 1977 and 1990, expanding EPA authority.

In 2004, the agency initiated efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Then in 2007, in Massachusetts v. EPA, the Supreme Court found that greenhouse gases are air pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act.

By December 2009, the EPA had established the backbone for greenhouse gas emission rules with the final “Endangerment and Cause or Contribute Findings for Greenhouse Gases Under Section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act,” or the “endangerment finding.”

The EPA administrator had two conclusions: the “endangerment finding,” and the “cause or contribute finding.”

The endangerment finding that determined the current and projected concentrations of the six key well-mixed greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride — “in the atmosphere threaten the public health and welfare of current and future generations.”

The cause or contribute finding is that “the combined emissions of the six “well-mixed greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles and new motor vehicle engines contribute to the greenhouse gas pollution that threatens public health and welfare under CAA section 202(a).”

Rescission background

Rescinding the endangerment finding has been in the works for a year. Zeldin said in March 2025, that the agency was going to formally reconsider the 2009 endangerment finding and resulting regulations.

A fact sheet from the EPA explains that the agency was directed to review the legality and applicability of the endangerment finding.

“EPA carefully considered and reevaluated the legal foundation of the 2009 Endangerment Finding, the text of the CAA, and the Endangerment Finding’s legality in light of subsequent legal developments and court decisions,” the agency states. “The agency concludes that Section 202(a) of the CAA does not provide EPA statutory authority to prescribe motor vehicle emission standards for the purpose of addressing global climate change concerns. In the absence of such authority, the Endangerment Finding is not valid, and EPA cannot retain the regulations that resulted from it.”

Zeldin reiterated the argument during the Feb. 12 press conference, saying that Congress never voted for the climate mandates in section 202 of the Clean Air Act.

“If Congress wants EPA to regulate the heck out of greenhouse gasses emitted from motor vehicles, then Congress can clearly make that the law, which they haven’t done, for good reason,” Zeldin said at the press conference. “We have now realigned EPA rulemaking to reflect the Clean Air Act exactly as it is written and as Congress intended, not as others might wish it to be, where our predecessors focused on trying to make and please a few fear mongering climate alarmists.”

‘Exhaustive Precedent’

Around the time a public comment period opened on the findings, Dena Adler, senior attorney at the Institute for Policy Integrity out of the New York University School of Law, and legal fellow Kate Welty, issued a 19-page brief, “Exhaustive Precedent: EPA’s Requirement to Regulate Motor Vehicle Emissions that Contribute to Dangerous Air Pollution” in July 2025.

They explain that the current administration’s reasons for repealing the emission standards, stating that the “EPA’s suggestion that motor vehicle greenhouse gas emissions may not legally ‘contribute’ to climate change because they comprise a small share of global emissions rests on a flawed understanding of Section 202.”

They write that the Clean Air Act controls pollution from both stationary sources such as power plants and factories and mobile sources such as cars and trucks. Section 202 requires EPA to regulate emissions from new motor vehicles “if the Administrator finds that they ‘cause, or contribute to, air pollution which may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.’”

The provision “authorizes EPA to regulate a variety of air emissions from new ‘motor vehicles,’ which encompasses cars, light-duty trucks (pick-up trucks and SUVs), heavy-duty trucks, buses, and motorcycles. Under this authority, EPA has been regulating air pollution from motor vehicles since the 1970s,” they continue.

With the 1977 revisions to the Clean Air Act, “Congress wanted EPA to consider how each source of emissions contributed to public health dangers, not limit the agency to regulating only source categories that emitted enough pollution to independently cause health harms,” Adler and Welty explain. “Any effort by EPA to now require that greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles independently endanger public health and welfare would contradict the express Congressional intention described in the legislative history.”

Adler and Welty note that, in 2009, when the EPA concluded that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare and that the greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles contribute to climate change, “the agency found that new motor vehicles were responsible for over 23 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and approximately 4 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide and concluded that either comparison was sufficient to meet the contribution standard of Section 202(a).”

In the time since, nothing has meaningfully changed to disturb this finding, as motor vehicles remain responsible for more than 23% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles “still make a meaningful contribution to climate change and unquestionably cause substantial damages in and of themselves. They also far surpass the levels of contribution that EPA has consistently recognized as sufficient to justify regulation in the past,” they wrote.

“The scale of greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles, EPA’s regulatory precedents under Section 202, and its reasoning under analogous Clean Air Act provisions all demonstrate that emissions from motor vehicles contribute to dangerous air pollution.”

Coastal effects

Southern Environmental Law Center Climate Analyst Jenny Brennan told Coastal Review last week that the lift of the endangerment finding “will almost certainly result in the worsening of climate change impacts that North Carolina communities are already struggling with — meaning sea level rise at faster rates, more rainstorms that drop massive amounts of water in just a few hours, and heatwaves that make it difficult for people to stay safe and healthy.”

Brennan continued that all these impacts will add stress to the already taxed infrastructure, such as roads, drainage systems and housing.

“Extreme heatwaves with even more air pollution, which is likely in the absence of the air regulation policies based on the endangerment finding, pose an even greater health hazard; heat plus air pollution makes it harder for even healthy people to breathe and is especially dangerous to people with asthma, heart conditions, or other medical conditions,” Brennan said.

By all accounts, it was bitterly cold in the wee hours of Feb. 27, 1776, when loyalists, soaked to the bone from enduring days of rainfall, began a 6-mile march through swampy muck and dense brush in present-day Pender County to seize a patriot camp on the west bank of Moores Creek Bridge.

The move to confront the patriots at the Black River Road bridge that crosses Moores Creek was an unplanned step in a larger strategy for England to recapture North Carolina, a plan British Royal Governor Josiah Martin coordinated when he lost control of the colony and was exiled in the first half of 1775, according to the National Park Service.

After Martin convinced his superiors that his plan to raise an army of 10,000 and march to the coast to join with British forces would restore royal rule to the colony, he began recruiting at Cross Creek, now known as Fayetteville, in early 1776.

He ended up with 1,600 loyalists, mostly Scottish immigrants, marching east, but patriots thwarted their attempts to reach the coast.

By the end of February, the last direct route to Wilmington that the patriots hadn’t blocked was the sandy and narrow Black River Road.

Patriots knew that Moores Creek Bridge was the last defendable position and got the upper hand by arriving there first.

When the loyalists arrived Feb. 26, 1776, they offered the patriots a chance to forgo the battle and pledge allegiance to the crown, which the patriots declined. The loyalists had sent a scout to get a read on the patriots’ plans. The scout reported the troops were vulnerable, and loyalists decided to attack.

The loyalists left camp at 1 a.m. the next day to hike the 6 miles through backcountry to the patriot encampment, only to find it abandoned.

Unbeknownst to the loyalists, the patriots had moved camp the night before to the east side of Moores Creek Bridge, knowing that was the only way to cross the creek to continue along Black River Road to Wilmington.

The patriots were lying in wait, cannons and muskets ready, hidden behind earthworks they built on a ridge overlooking the creek.

Loyalist Lt. Col. Donald McLeod led about 50 loyalists to the bridge around 5 a.m., only to discover it partly dismantled. Planks had been removed and those that were left were slathered in soap and tallow.

Undeterred, McLeod was confident he had enough men to attack. The commander drew his weapon “and exclaimed, ‘King George and Broadswords.'”

The small group charged, not expecting around 1,000 patriots to be hidden behind the earthworks just 30 feet away until McLeod, and more than two dozen other loyalists, were fired upon and killed instantly.

“With McLeod, the Loyalist commander at the bridge, now dead, the attack stalled, and the remaining Loyalists gave up and retreated into the darkness,” the park service explains.

“This battle marked the last broadsword charge by Scottish Highlanders and the first significant victory for the Patriots in the American Revolution,” the park service website states.

“In the days that followed the battle, the resounding victory echoed though the colonies, and a new hope was born. On April 12, 1776 the Patriot leaders in North Carolina signed the Halifax Resolves, a document that gave the delegates of the colony sent to the Continental Congress the right to vote for Independence. North Carolina would become the first colony to take such action.”

Related: Battle of Moores Creek Bridge virtual program Feb. 19

Now preserved, the grounds are the centerpiece of the 88-acre Moores Creek National Battlefield, which is celebrating the 250 years that have elapsed since that significant battle.

“This year marks the 250th anniversary of the Battle at Moores Creek Bridge, the first decisive patriot victory in the American Revolution and the moment that has set North Carolina on the path to becoming the first colony to call for independence,” Superintendent Matthew Woods told a handful of journalists during a recent press conference.

Woods, along with other project partners, invited media to the site to explain details about the inaugural First in Freedom Festival taking place Feb. 21-28. The weeklong regional celebration is a coordinated effort of eight counties to commemorate the 250^th anniversary of the battle and the subsequent signing of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776. 

The anniversary is a “milestone, not only for this park, but for American history,” Woods continued, and the festival is a way of using this moment to shine a broader spotlight on the people, the places and the stories that define the state’s role in American history. 

“Over the course of the week of the North Carolina First in Freedom Festival, historic sites, art institutions and community partners across eight counties will come together to interpret more than 250 years of history through both heritage and the arts, culminating here at Moores Creek National Battlefield with a three-day commemorative event,” Woods said. 

Special to the inaugural celebration is a weekend with author Diana Gabaldon, creator of the “Outlander” series. Unfortunately for those who didn’t jump on the tickets when they went on sale in November, the three events with the author are sold out.

“Outlander” is a historical fantasy series about a World War II nurse, Claire, who travels through time, from 1945 Inverness to 1743 Scotland, where she meets Jamie. Both the novels and the show based on series follow their love story across time and then the ocean, when the characters immigrate from Scotland to North Carolina, making stops in New Bern, Wilmington, and Moores Creek, and take part in the American Revolution.

Gabaldon, in a virtual chat during the press conference, explained that she featured Moores Creek because of the importance of the battle for the American Revolution and the Scottish settlement in the colony. “That seemed a very logical place to set part of their story. Also, this is essentially where we began, so to speak. So if we’re going to work through the Revolution with them, it seemed like the just the normal place for them to be.”

More about the festival

Moores Creek Chief of Interpretation Jason Collins explained that the battlefield will welcome on Feb. 26 multiple school groups to experience living history demonstrations. Feb. 27 will begin with a traditional wreath-laying ceremony, followed by living history demonstrations and special speakers, and Feb. 28 is a celebration with music, games, “Freedom” Art Show, food trucks and living history displays.

“To pull back the curtain,” Collins said, there’s typically around 75 reenactors for an anniversary event. “Take that number and multiply it by about two and a half for the number of reenactors we’re expecting for this year’s event. Roughly around 200 — kind of — almost neatly split between loyalists and patrons, which is really exciting.”

Collins said First in Freedom is bigger than Moores Creek. From Feb. 21-28 and throughout the year, there will be activities in Onslow, Pender, New Hanover, Brunswick, Duplin, Sampson, Bladen and Columbus, the eight counties making up the region.

For example, on Feb. 21 is the Historical Society of Topsail Island’s Visit Colonial Topsail at the historic assembly building, living history events at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site, and a Black History Carnival in Wilmington. 

The following day, Feb. 22, Colonial Faire at Harmony Hall is to take place at 1615 River Road, White Oak, in Bladen County, as well as “North Carolina’s Black Patriots of the American Revolution” aboard the Battleship North Carolina and “Freedom’s Road: the refugee crisis of 1865 in the Lower Cape Fear,” at the Oak Island Library.

Collins continued that for this year’s celebration of the 250^th, First in Freedom Festival has released a companion passport, similar to the National Park Service’s passport program, for the festival.

“Folks are going to be able to visit different sites throughout the counties,” Collins said. At each site, they can have their passport stamped, and there will be different levels of prizes. Participants will need to turn their booklets in by Dec. 31 to receive a prize.

Flying Machine Brewery Sales Manager Allen Denning mentioned during the press conference that the taproom on Randall Parkway in Wilmington is featured on the passport, where the brewery will be serving its First in Freedom Battlefield Porter. The limited-edition beer was brewed using research-based colonial techniques for the 250th anniversary.

Denning explained that hops were hard to come by in the Americas at the time, so they got creative and used plants like spruce tips, he said, and the new beer is a nod to that ingenuity. 

Moores Creek National Battlefield Association President Jim Buell reiterated that Moores Creek was the first decisive patriot victory, and “North Carolina was the first colony to declare their independence.”

Buell said that Woods, the park superintendent, had the idea for the First in Freedom Festival that “has now sprouted and grown tremendously. And we’re here today to kick it off officially, and then we’re hoping that a lot of people come enjoy it.”

First in Freedom is taking place with the support of America 250 NC. The initiative coordinated under the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources helps the state’s communities commemorate 250 years of United States history.

Well before, and long after, the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, Dare County has been the site of pivotal moments in the country’s history.

The historic county on the Outer Banks has incorporated what it calls “the unique contributions of our region to the broader story of the United States” into its official America’s 250^th anniversary celebration, “Land of Beginnings.”

The phrase “Land of Beginnings” comes from the many nationally significant firsts that occurred there, “including the first English colony in the New World, the birth of Virginia Dare, the first Freedmen’s Colony during the Civil War, the first powered flight, and the first transatlantic wireless communication,” Dorothy Hester, co-chair of the Dare County A250 Committee, explained to Coastal Review.

Dare A250 is the county’s official planning committee for America 250 NC, the state’s commemoration effort under the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. The state-organized celebration is part of America 250, the national U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission that marks the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

“America 250 is about telling the full story of the nation’s origins, and Dare County represents several of the earliest and most consequential chapters in that story,” Hester said. “I am incredibly proud of the many organizations, volunteers, and community members who have come together to create meaningful and lasting ways for people in Dare County to connect with our local history during this celebration.”

The committee rolled out two activities associated with the anniversary earlier this month. The “Land of the Beginnings” interactive map that highlights 28 historic sites and the self-guided Dare A250 Passport Program.

The county is also preparing for the April 18 patriotic festival “Dare A250 Faire: Liberty, Legacy and Liftoff in the Land of Beginnings” at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. Arts and crafts vendors must submit their application to set up by Feb. 1, all other vendors have until Feb. 15. Applications for both can be downloaded from the website.

“As Dare County’s signature event commemorating the nation’s 250th anniversary, the A250 Faire will feature live music, food and beverage vendors, local artisans, historical demonstrations, educational programming, community exhibits and patriotic festivities that highlight Dare County’s enduring spirit of innovation and discovery,” according to the website.

Outer Banks History Center Director and Supervising Archivist Tammy Woodward said that for the past year, she has been the history subcommittee chair for Dare County’s A250 Committee. The center is the eastern branch of the State Archives of North Carolina.

The first project that they were charged with was to draft a timeline of the history of the county dating back to the 16th century, “or as far back as the written record can take us. From that timeline, we selected 28 sites to plot on an interactive digital map with short historical narratives and images for each site.”

The subcommittee members are Kristen Stilson, a GIS analyst for the county, Jockey’s Ridge State Park Ranger Austin Paul, Brian Edwards, associate history professor and chair of the Social Sciences Department at the College of The Albemarle, Meaghan Beasley from Dare County Libraries, and Ladd Bayliss, executive director of the Outer Banks Conservationists.

Stilson creates Dare-themed maps each year for National GIS Day in November, and was asked to tie this year’s annual map in with the A250 celebrations. She used the subcommittee’s timeline of Dare County’s history to design the interactive map that allows users to learn about the nearly 30 sites around the county.

“We chose historic events that highlight the role of Dare County in the formation of our country from the first voyages to the first flight. And also events that celebrate beginnings in Dare County, like our first lighthouses and lifesaving stations,” Stilson explained.

Woodward said that history subcommittee members and volunteers wrote and sourced the narratives and images on the interactive map. The names of the map’s contributors and their associated agencies can be found at the bottom of the map if you scroll all the way down.

“We had writers from many organizations across Dare County, this was huge collaboration,” Stilson said, adding that the sources vary for the write ups and the majority of the photos came from Outer Banks History Center. The history center is the eastern branch of the State Archives of North Carolina, under the N.C. Department of Natural & Cultural Resources.

“My favorite tidbit I discovered was the man that purchased Kitty Hawk Pier because they didn’t serve orange soda and then when he sold it later, he gave the profits to the employees,” Stilson added.

Stilson said that from there, she still needed a way to connect the map that launched in January with GIS Day in November.

“That is when we came up with the passport program” that culminates Nov. 18 on National GIS Day, she said.

The history subcommittee selected from the interactive map the 13 sites that are stops for the passport program, described in promotional materials as “an initiative designed to engage residents and visitors in commemorating America’s 250th anniversary by exploring the many places that have changed the course of history and define Dare County as the ‘Land of Beginnings.’”

At each passport site, participants can scan a QR code to collect a virtual stamp, gradually building a digital passport that reflects the participant’s voyage.

The 13 passport sites are marked on the interactive map and a hint of where the QR code signs are located on the property. Visitors can scan the code to log their visit to the site. 

“Users can explore the county and significant places from their computer or they can get out and explore the places these historical events occurred in person,” Stilson explained about the two tools.

Once the program wraps up on GIS Day, participants will earn certificates based on how many locations they visit.

The following are the 13 stops:

Flat Tops of Southern Shores are unique homes built in the 1950s that reflect the vision of Frank Stick and the early development of the community. “Their simple design and iconic flat roofs remain a symbol of Outer Banks history,” as described by the county in promotional materials.

Icarus Monument to a Century of Flight in Kitty Hawk is “an enduring sculptural legacy to the first century of aviation” according to the monument’s website.

Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills celebrates when Orville and Wilbur Wright made history in 1903 with the world’s first powered flight. “The memorial celebrates their innovation and the birth of modern aviation,” as county officials described it.

Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head was originally built in 1939 and now serves as both a fishing pier and an educational center for marine science.

Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head is home to the tallest living sand dunes on the East Coast and has been protected as a state park since the 1970s.

The black-and-white-striped Bodie Island Lighthouse in Nags Head has guided mariners since 1872 and its beacon continues to aid in navigation.

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site in Manteo “preserves the site of the first English settlement in the New World, established in 1587 it’s a place tied to the mystery of the Lost Colony and the roots of America’s story.”

Island Farm, also in Manteo, is a living history site depicting what daily life was like on Roanoke Island in the 1850s. Visitors can experience farming, cooking and traditions of early Outer Banks families.

Bethany Church in Wanchese, built in 1857, is one of the oldest churches on Roanoke Island.

The historic Chicamacomico Life-Saving Station in Rodanthe tells the story of the U.S. lifesaving service, the forerunner of what is now the U.S. Coast Guard.

Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum located at the edge of Hatteras Island highlights maritime history, legends and survival.

Pea Island Cookhouse in Manteo honors the legacy of the Pea Island Lifesaving Station, the only all-Black crew in the United States.

Now a ghost town, Buffalo City at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on the mainland was known for its logging and moonshine.

“Through the interactive historical map, passport program, the A250 Faire, special events, and youth-focused activities, we’ve worked to ensure there is truly something for everyone—whether you’re a lifelong resident, a student, or someone discovering Dare County’s story for the first time,” Hester said.

The National Park Service has approved a project to stabilize about a mile of rapidly eroding shoreline at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site.

The 513-acre site located on the northern end of Roanoke Island in the Albemarle Sound was established in 1941 to preserve where Sir Walter Raleigh established colonial settlements between 1581 and 1591.

National Park Service leadership signed on Jan. 14 a finding of no significant impact to install a combination of rock revetment and rock berm to sections of the shoreline. A finding of no significant impact confirms that a proposed action won’t significantly affect the environment.

When the National Park Service announced the project’s approval Jan. 15, officials also released the mandatory floodplain statement of findings, which explains why the project must take place in a floodplain, along with any associated risk, and flood mitigation strategies.

The announcement opened up a two-week comment period that ends Friday on the findings. Instructions on how to comment are on National Park Service’s website.

The floodplain statement of findings concludes that the proposed rock revetment and berm to prevent ongoing and future shoreline erosion at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site “is necessary and consistent” with federal rules on activities in floodplains.

On the same day, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management announced and opened up a public comment period for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-requested federal consistency determination for the proposed rock berm and revetment combination project.

The determination is to “ensure compliance” with the Coastal Zone Management Act, a national policy for managing coastal resources.

“Specifically, the National Park Service proposes installing rock berms and rock revetments along approximately 1,100 linear feet of shoreline on the western end of Roanoke Island to reduce erosion, protect infrastructure, and enhance long-term shoreline stability,” per the state. “The State’s review of the submitted federal consistency determination request will determine if the proposed project in Dare County is consistent with the enforceable policies of North Carolina’s Coastal Management Program.”

To read the shoreline stabilization federal consistency determination request and comment, visit NCDEQ’s website.

Since becoming a national historic site, erosion along the property’s shoreline has been a management challenge. The shoreline is estimated to have eroded a quarter-mile or more since the late 16th century, according to the National Park Service.

Previous efforts have been made to slow shoreline loss but erosion has continued at an estimated 1 to 5 feet per year, impacting both cultural and natural resources at the site as well as the adjacent, privately owned Elizabethan Gardens, documents explain.

Michael Flynn is the physical scientist and certified floodplain manager for the Outer Banks Group of National Parks, which consists of Fort Raleigh, Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Wright Brothers National Memorial.

Flynn told Coastal Review that wind, wave action and currents have eroded the shoreline over time and threaten facilities, infrastructure and cultural resources such as the Waterside Theater, where the “Lost Colony” out door drama is performed every summer, and a family cemetery on the property.

“This has caused loss of archeological resources and upland forested areas,” Flynn said. “In the 1980s, the park installed stabilization measures including rock berm and rock revetment. Erosion is especially prevalent at the edges of these stabilization measures in an effect known as flanking.”

In recent years, park staff have been developing the stabilization and erosion control plan approved earlier this month and the associated environmental assessment, which identifies any potential effects of the proposed project.

The plan and environmental assessment released in July 2025 detailed three possible projects: a rock revetment, a rock berm or a combination of the two. The environmental assessment that was out for public review July 21, 2025, to Aug. 20, 2025, identified as the preferred action the combination of the two.

“After evaluating the potential impacts of three action alternatives, NPS selected the preferred alternative: a combination of rock revetment and rock berm in areas of the shoreline that are the best fit due to existing topography, land use and constructability,” according to the press release.

Flynn said the combination was chosen because of the variable topography along the shoreline. The approach also offers flexibility for engineered designs for different environmental conditions.

For example, the rock revetment alternative will be placed in locations where existing steep and high embankments range from 5 to 15 feet or higher, he said.

“For areas with rock revetment, the application of appropriately sized rock will prevent the bluff from sloughing. The rock berm alternative will be placed in areas with no or minimal embankment heights. For areas with rock berm, the application of appropriately sized rock will protect the low-elevation sand beach areas from erosion caused by wave action,” he explained.

Flynn said that the environmental assessment for the proposed project was prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA, and Department of Interior NEPA regulations.

Because the National Park Service issuing earlier this month the finding of no significant impact, often referred to as a FONSI, officials determined that the preferred alternative identified in the environmental assessment, or EA, will not have a significant effect on the human environment. If the environmental assessment does not support a finding of no significant impact, then the park service must prepare an environmental impact statement and issue a Record of Decision before taking action on the proposed activity.

“In short, Fort Raleigh may now proceed with implementing the preferred alternative described within the EA. The park will stabilize the shoreline for erosion control once NPS officials finalize the accompanying Floodplain Statement of Findings,” Flynn said.

The floodplain statement of findings is necessary because of two executive orders that require the National Park Service to evaluate the likely impacts of actions in floodplains.

It is park service policy to preserve floodplain functions and values, minimize potentially hazardous conditions associated with flooding, including threats to human health and safety, risks to National Park Service capital investment, and impacts on natural and beneficial floodplain values, he said.

That means a floodplain statement of findings “is prepared when a proposed action is found to be in, or affecting a floodplain, and relocating the action to a non-floodplain site is considered not to be a viable alternative. This is the case with implementing shoreline stabilization measures for erosion control,” Flynn continued.

Flynn noted that the floodplain findings factor in climate change effects. When data are available, the climate-informed science approach detailed in one of the executive orders is the preferred way to develop the floodplain statement of findings.

The climate-informed science approach incorporates the use of best-available data on water movement and methods that integrate current and future changes in flooding due to the increasing severity and frequency of precipitation, sea level rise, tidal cycles, land use change, yielding the most accurate elevation and flood hazard area, Flynn said.

Once the public review and comment period closes Friday, park staff are to revise the document accordingly and send it to the National Park Service’s Water Resources Division for review and signature. After that, the plan goes to the regional office for review, signature and approval to move forward, he explained.

A powerhouse in the marine science and coastal management community, Dr. B.J. Copeland, 89, died Wednesday, Jan. 14.

Copeland left a lasting impact on the state as the director of North Carolina Sea Grant, a N.C. State University professor, and through his work with the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership. He served on the Marine Fisheries Commission, and was on the committee that drafted what is now the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997.

Copeland spent his childhood, along with his three siblings, on the family farm in rural Oklahoma. He earned his master’s and doctorate at Oklahoma State University, where he met his wife of more than 60 years, Jean Van Nortwick. They married Jan. 26, 1963.

He relocated to Texas in 1962 where he was a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the University of Texas Marine Science Laboratory at Port Aransas.

In a 2016 interview for the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center’s Coastal Voices Project, Copeland said his “Ph.D. degree is in Limnology, the study of fresh water. So, I went to the University of Texas to see if salt water was the same as fresh water and indeed it is, except for a little bit of salt!”

He moved to Raleigh in 1970 for an associate professor position at N.C. State. Copeland said in the Q&A that he moved to North Carolina mainly because of the beginning of a marine science program jointly between N.C. State, the universities of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Wilmington, and Duke University.

“We were trying to start a graduate program in Marine Science and so I was a researcher and a professor in the Zoology Department, Botany Department, and the new Marine Sciences program,” he said, adding that the new marine sciences program eventually became the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences at N.C. State. 

In 1973, he took on a new role as the director for what was then the North Carolina Sea Grant institutional program, explains an article on the 25^th anniversary of the program in the October 2001 issue of N.C. Sea Grant’s Coastwatch magazine.

Congress established the program in 1966, and began awarding grants in 1968. Sea Grant then became part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, that was formed in 1970. UNC Chapel Hill administered the Sea Grant institutional program from 1970 to when Copeland took over and relocated the program to Raleigh.

“In truth, if Sea Grant wasn’t invented in 1966, someone would invent it today. People depend on Sea Grant for good information and to help them survive,” Copeland said in the 2001 article. “You can’t argue with priorities when they are to improve the quality of life and enhance economic opportunities. That’s what Sea Grant is all about.”

Copeland said that in the early days of trying to gather input on research and extensions needs, he talked with a man who working his eel pots and crab pots. Copeland said he asked the waterman what the program could do for him and the man responded, “’Sounds like you guys are just looking for something to do.’”

Copeland got the message, though. For Sea Grant to be accepted, the program would need to be relevant and deliver good information, he said in the article.

He began hiring staff who brought in their own experiences, leading the program to marine advisory work, promoting shellfish culture, addressing seafood processing issues, developing seafood recipes, outreach efforts, and research.

When Copeland took over the program in 1973, his goal was to elevate N.C. Sea Grant from an institutional program to be designated a Sea Grant College Program, which happened in July 1976. The program also got a budget of $1 million.

The federal-state partnership was supported with $2 in federal funds for each $1 in state funding, but in 1980, Sea Grant was zeroed out of the federal budget, leading to Copeland spending many days in Washington getting the Sea Grant message out, according to the 2001 article.

He said at the time that it wasn’t a stretch to show that Sea Grant was worth something and worth keeping.

“The direct impact was evident in the growth of the extension program. Initial work in fisheries and marine education were soon joined by aquaculture and mariculture. Coastal processes work increased, as did coastal law and policy efforts,” the article explains.

Copeland left Sea Grant in 1996 and began serving as graduate administrator for the Zoology Department at N.C. State. He retired from the university in 2002.

Current N.C. Sea Grant Executive Director Susan White told Coastal Review that she was fortunate have had Copeland as an early and regular mentor when she joined the North Carolina Sea Grant program as director in 2012.

“We had great lunches together, sometimes here in Raleigh sometimes closer to his home, and his knowledge of the intricacies of a statewide program that evolves regularly with the pressing needs of the times was relevant and timely as I was still learning the many paths for NC Sea Grant,” White said.

“B.J. always had great stories to tell about his time with NC Sea Grant, the challenges of federal funding support ebbing and flowing, the great characters of each of the team members, and his enjoyment of his time with the program. B.J. joined us for retirement parties and program reviews throughout the past decade, keeping his finger on the pulse. His practical advice, and huge laughs, were wonderful to be on the receiving end of,” she continued.

Copeland’s work with what is now Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuarine Program predates his time with Sea Grant and, once he began directing Sea Grant, his partnership with APNEP grew.

Copeland said in a Q&A with the program that he “was involved with APNEP before it was APNEP – before it even existed, in fact.” APNEP is an effort to understand, protect, and restore natural resources of the Albemarle-Pamlico estuarine system in North Carolina and Virginia, its website explains.

The only National Estuary Program in the 1960s was the Chesapeake Bay. In the late 1960s, “somebody got the happy idea that Congress ought to have an annual or biannual report on the status of the nation’s estuaries, so they commissioned one,” Copeland explained.

He went to Chapel Hill in 1968 to work on a report on the nation’s estuaries. He and the late Dr. Howard Odom wrote “Coastal Ecological Systems of the United States.”

“To do research for it, we went to every state and gathered material that had been written up or stuck in a drawer, and we took that data on coastal systems and turned it into a book. It was the first work on the status of the nation’s estuaries,” Copeland said.

A handful of Congressmen in the 1970s, including Walter Jones from North Carolina, who was chair of the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, pointed out that there’s an estuary in North Carolina.

Copeland continued that the whole setup of the National Estuary Program was changed to include not only Chesapeake Bay, but also other estuarine systems. The Albemarle-Pamlico system “includes a lot of water and a lot of territory – we were known as the second-largest ecosystem on the East Coast.”

In the early 1980s, work began on establishing the Albemarle-Pamlico as a National Estuary Program, and he helped form the first technical committee. “In 1987, we got the first grant for the program – for the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine Study (APES). We were a part of the National Estuary Program, authorized by Congress earlier that same year,” he said.

At the time, there were water quality problems that he described as “astronomical,” with algal blooms in the Chowan River, Albemarle Sound and Pamlico River. The Neuse River had fish kills.

“We had a crisis. You couldn’t sell seafood for a year, so we had to solve this problem. You’ve got to turn this thing around or the seafood industry is going to go down the tubes – that’s the reason for the program. But what people sometimes forget is that you can’t do all this at once. You’ve got to prioritize, you’ve get something understood and you find out it’s really connected to something else over here – it’s not easy,” Copeland told APNEP. “And so, we began to work. We had technical committees and proposals for projects and for priority research, and things began to trickle into state policies and state government.”

After the technical committee completed the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine Study and produced the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for the region in 1994, the project was renamed as the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuarine Program. In 2012, program was changed to partnership.

Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Derb S. Carter Jr. told Coastal Review that Copeland was leading the state’s Sea Grant program when the Coastal Area Management Act was enacted in 1974 and when the Albemarle Pamlico Estuarine Program launched. 

“Effective environmental and natural resource programs must be based on sound science.  We are all fortunate that B.J. was passionate about ensuring programs to manage our coastal resources incorporate the best science,” Carter said.

It was also in the 1980s when Copeland was appointed the first time to the Marine Fisheries Commission, and eventually helped draft the Marine Fisheries Reform Act in the 1990s.

In the 2016 Q&A for Carolina Coastal Voices project, Copeland said he became involved with fisheries management because Sea Grant has programs on commercial fishery, recreational fishing, interactions, management of fisheries, how things worked, and could translate research into management.

“And I got into fisheries management for real when I was appointed to the Marine Fisheries Commission in the 1980s, under the so-called, ah, Egghead Commission,” he explained, adding he served on the commission for four or five years before it dissolved.

“I mean, the state government decided that commissions weren’t really the way to go, so the Marine Fisheries Commission was actually dissolved and they started over again. And so there was legislative action to create a new commission, which kept getting things added to, and added to, and added to until we have a 19-member Marine Fisheries Commission,” he explained. This was in the mid-1980s.

“And that was also a disaster, because 19 people can’t make any kind of decision,” Copeland said.

The committee argued a lot and “what happened with the Fisheries Moratorium Act, I mean–that was one of the factors, that we had an unwieldy commission — no way to get there — we had regulations right and left, none of which were related to others. People were kind of fed up with the whole idea,” Copeland said. The fisheries moratorium “came because they wanted to stop, look, consider, and really come up with something. And so, we had a three-year moratorium on anything; on any regulation, on any activity, any new activity. And that resulted in the Fisheries Reform Act.”

The North Carolina General Assembly approved in 1994 the moratorium on selling any new commercial fishing licenses and established the 19-member Fisheries Moratorium Steering Committee to study the state’s coastal fisheries management process and recommend improvements.

The committee issued a draft report in late summer 1996, held 19 public meetings statewide, and adopted a final report in October 1996 that formed the basis for the Fisheries Reform Act, which was signed into law Aug. 14, 1997, according to the oral history project, calling it the “most significant fisheries legislation in NC history.”

Copeland was on the moratorium steering committee and as director of Sea Grant, he said he represented the research and information side.

As part of the moratorium, Copeland said, funds were appropriated for research that was administered through N.C. Sea Grant college program, and “I think I knew about all of the players. So, communication and interaction amongst the players was also important, and Sea Grant played a role in that, as well.”

Another part of Sea Grant’s role was to get the information out broadly and quickly, Copeland said they did that through a network “and we traded on two very important elements: one of them was the truth. If you’re a bearer of the truth, you usually get along pretty well. And so we had a reputation for doing that. And secondly, we thought that information was a necessary ingredient for anything we did. And so, we were doing that, too. It was kind of a natural fit.”

The committee was tasked with creating parameters for a Marine Fisheries Commission that “could actually function,” Copeland said, trimming it down from 19 to nine. The commission has three people from the commercial interests, three people from recreational interests, and three at large, all appointed by the governor. He served on the newly structured commission for 12 years.

Copeland said in the Q&A that “we were purveyors of the truth. We had a reputation of, you know, you can come and ask Sea Grant a question, you were going to get an honest answer. And so we could be a player without taking a side. And that was really important, because most people take sides somewhere, sometime. And so we worked very hard at not taking a side.”

He lamented that fisheries is going to take a hit because of misinformation, in the 2016 interview.

“Some of these environmental issues, which are going to get scuttled because of some misinformed position, somebody who’s more powerful than somebody else will get their way and so on. I mean, they practice the Golden Rule, you know: them what’s got the gold, rules. So, you know, I think things are going to get worse before they get better. I keep thinking that, one of these days the general public’s going to wake up and say, ‘We need to get rid of this bunch!’ but that’s not happening,” he said.

After the Fisheries Reform Act, Copeland said in an interview that he went back to the academic department at N.C. State and taught a couple of courses, retiring in 2002.

North Carolina Coastal Federation founder Todd Miller told Coastal Review that Copeland influenced the direction of coastal science and management in North Carolina for more than half a century.

“After ‘retirement,’ he continued to shape coastal policy and practice as a member of the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission, an active participant in the Albemarle–Pamlico Estuarine Partnership, the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan process, and numerous other civic efforts,” Miller continued. “He built a Sea Grant program in North Carolina that earned international respect and, importantly, translated coastal research into practical solutions for real-world management challenges. Through his leadership and service, he profoundly influenced efforts to protect and restore the North Carolina coast and left it stronger for future generations.”

He and his wife owned a farm near Apex from 1978 until 2002 and later a farm near Pittsboro, according to his obituary, and he found joy in gardening and farming.

“For many who knew and loved him, B.J.’s deep voice and his loud belly laugh will always be remembered. His excellent memory and quick wit made him an entertaining teller of stories and jokes. We can only hope that some of us can tell them as well as he did. B.J. will long be remembered with gratitude, admiration, love and a big smile,” his obituary states.

His memorial is at 2 p.m. Friday at Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church in Siler City.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of B.J. Copeland to: Boys & Girls Homes of North Carolina, P.O. Box 127, Lake Waccamaw, NC 28450, or Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church at P.O. Box 1322, Pittsboro, NC 27312. Arrangements are by Donaldson Funeral Home and Crematory.

From shortly after the Civil War until the mid-2000s, when the last menhaden plant was shuttered, the town of Beaufort would “smell of money.”

“The menhaden industry made Beaufort prosperous. Local menhaden companies once provided hundreds of jobs in the local community and surrounding areas with numerous factories and vessels working this lucrative fishery,” according to information from the North Carolina Maritime Museum, which has held several programs on the industry.

“The fishery itself, processing plants ashore, and support infrastructure provided steady employment opportunities, especially for African-Americans. While many visitors remember the smell of the fish, locals call it the ‘smell of money,’” It was their livelihood. Local merchants all benefited from the influx of people and money during menhaden’s fishing season. Menhaden fishing was recognized throughout Carteret County as an important part of this county’s commercial fishing industry.”

In the early days of catching menhaden, the mother boat would deploy smaller purse boats to maneuver a large net around a school of fish. Once the string draws the net shut around the hundreds of pounds of menhaden, the fishermen would haul the net by hand.

To perform this physically demanding, dangerous work, the fishermen would sing work songs, or chanteys, to help rhythmically synchronize their movements.

Barbara Garrity-Blake, fisheries social scientist and adjunct at Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, told Coastal Review that the menhaden fishermen used to sing these songs before hydraulic net-lifting technology was introduced in the early 1960s.

“Each vessel carried a crew of about two-dozen men, mostly African Americans, who worked shoulder to shoulder in purse boats to pull in a giant seine net heavy with menhaden — sometimes a 100,000 or more fish. The men would coordinate their pulling by singing in a call-and-response style where the leader would sing out a line and the crew would answer in harmony,” she continued.

Their songs were a seafaring tradition known as chanteys.

After the menhaden industry became mechanized in the 1960s and 1970s, and the songs were no longer sung, some of the former and retired fishermen began to perform these traditional work songs for audiences, eventually becoming formally known as the Menhaden Chanteymen in 1988.

After the group began performing publicly, they sang for the North Carolina General Assembly, National Council on the Arts, at New York City’s Carnegie Hall and on national television, including for a segment on “CBS Sunday Morning” with Charles Kuralt. The group recorded the album “Won’t You Help Me to Raise ‘Em: Authentic Net Hauling Songs from an African-American Fishery,” for Global Village Music in 1990.

The remaining members made special appearances at events throughout the county, including a handful at Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island.

Beaufort Mayor Sharon Harker awarded in 2022 the two surviving Chanteymen, Ernest Davis and the Rev. Leroy Cox, the key to the city. Cox died in 2023, leaving Davis as the “last legacy-bearer of the Menhaden Chanteyman” until the final member, Davis, 86, died Jan. 3. His service and burial was Jan. 8 Mt. Tabor Missionary Baptist Church of North River. Noe Funeral Services of Beaufort handled the arrangements.

Garrity-Blake noted that Davis was the youngest of the Chanteymen and had “explained that singing generated a special power or strength, used for nets otherwise too heavy for human strength alone. So the chantey songs were used as a tool.”

In a recording, Davis explains that the fishermen would sing a chantey when they needed to raise up a net full of fish.

“If we couldn’t sing, we couldn’t get them raised up,” Davis said. The singing “would give you more spirit, and more power” and you could raise your fish better.

“At night you couldn’t sleep because you’d be hurting and cold so you just make up songs,” Davis said. And most of the captains would be singing right along with the crew. “Music could be heard all over the ocean … like music was on the water.”

Garrity-Blake said in an interview that she worked for many years with Davis and other menhaden workers on a project called “Raising the Story of Menhaden Fishing.”

The 2005 closure of Beaufort Fisheries, the last menhaden plant in the state, inspired North Carolina Humanities Council-funded project that Garrity-Blake helped launch in 2009 and 2010 with the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island.

Davis was among a group of menhaden workers, including captains, crewmen, cookhouse and factory workers, who met several times at the Beaufort train depot to plan the project, “which was hilarious because ‘planning’ took a backseat to telling tales,” Garrity-Blake said, adding that the meetings always turned into a big storytelling session and nobody wanted to leave when the meeting was over.

“I realized that the menhaden folks had a hunger for getting together to talk about fishing. They feared their experiences and the industry’s legacy as the economic backbone of Carteret County would be forgotten. So we decided to call it ‘Raising the Story’ — just as the men worked together to raise fish, we’d work together to raise the story of menhaden fishing,” Garrity-Blake continued.

Garrity-Blake conducted about a dozen oral history recordings of people representing different skills in the fishery, from ring-setter in the fishing process to factory owner, the late Jule Wheatly in December 2009. He died in October 2011.

Fine art photographer and Beaufort resident Scott Taylor took portraits of all the folks who were interviewed, and developed an exhibit for the waterfowl museum. The oral history interviews and photos are part of the Core Sound museum’s online collection, on a Facebook page also called “Raising the Story of Menhaden Fishing,” and on Carolina Coastal Voices YouTube channel.

As part of “Raising the Story,” the group wanted to involve young people who didn’t know anything about the industry, so they collaborated with Josie Boyette’s seventh grade class at Beaufort Middle School.

“Three of the men, including Ernest Davis, were invited into the classroom to share stories, and the kids asked questions and recorded them,” Garrity-Blake said. “Davis talked about his role as first mate, although he’d also served as fish boat captain on occasion. He was proud to have made a good living, putting his kids through college, menhaden fishing. He said, ‘A lot of people think fishing is a disgrace. But I made a good living. Didn’t look to get rich or nothing.’”

She added that Davis’ grandson Trevor was in the classroom. “It was wonderful to see the pride on that little boy’s face when his grandad shared a story about fending off a shark that had swum in the net.”

The project culminated in what Garrity-Blake called a “jam-packed event” at Core Sound, where the middle school students showcased their work, captains and crewmen told stories to the audience, and the Menhaden Chanteymen performed their songs.

“When they performed, it was powerful and otherworldly; everyone was mesmerized,” Garrity-Blake said.

Historian and author David Cecelski has written extensively about coastal North Carolina’s fisheries, including that of menhaden, many of which can be found on his personal website such as “Menhaden Fishing Days” and “It Was Like a Ballet’: Menhaden Fishermen at Work, 1947,” which he describes the process of hauling a net based on a photo from the North Carolina State Archives.

He was invited to speak at the “Raising the Story of Menhaden Fishing” event held in the fall of 2010. In 2017, Cecelski reflected on the “Raising the Story” project and shared his comments from that event in an essay he titled, “Music All Over the Ocean.”

In the essay, he calls the project a “commemoration of the central role that the menhaden industry played in Carteret County for generations.”

Cecelski, who grew up near Beaufort, writes that anybody listening to the oral histories Garrity-Blake recorded for the project would be impressed with what the menhaden fishery meant to Carteret County, particularly the stink that permeated the town when the fish were being processed.

“When the wind was right, the aroma of the fish covered those towns like a blanket. Coastal visitors sometimes complained, but my cousins in the industry used to call it ‘the smell of money,’” he wrote in 2021.

Cecelski explains in his 2017 piece that Davis’s story was typical of what the industry’s wages meant to local fishermen and fish factory workers.

Davis, who left school when he was 15 and went to work menhaden fishing at Beaufort Fisheries, said in his interview that it was hard work but it was what he had to do. He fished for 41 years and became one of the most respected first mates on the East Coast, sending all five of his own children to college and helping raise and educate nine younger brothers and sisters.

The oral histories also show how the men and women watched the menhaden industry change over their lifetimes, like motorizing the process to haul in the fish, business became more corporate, unions made headway and state and federal governments enacted environmental regulations, just to name a few.

“But through it all, I could hear two things in the men’s voices: a love for menhaden fishing — master net mender Lee Crumbacker said it well: ‘it grows on you like a barnacle on a pole’— and a fierce pride in their craftsmanship,” Cecelski writes.

Cecelski writes that as a child, the first thing he ever heard about the menhaden industry was his mother’s stories about those chanteys. His mother grew up in Harlowe in the 1920s and 1930s, when Highway 101 was still a dirt road.

“Many of Beaufort’s African American fishermen lived in Harlowe, particularly in a reclusive community just across the county line called Craven Corner. As they drove oxen and carts down the road on their way to Beaufort, the menhaden fishermen sang the same songs that they sung as they hoisted the nets onto their boats,” he writes.

“Early Monday mornings, long before first light, my mother would wake up in her bed at the sound of those beautiful, haunting songs and listen to them as the fishermen moved through the darkness and toward the sea.”

Cecelski observes that the fishermen in the interviews talk about the chanteys the same way his mother did.

Davis said in his “Rising the Story” interview they “would sing all night long just to keep their minds off the cold and hurt. It ‘just seemed like music was all over the ocean’,” Cecelski writes.

“The fishermen mostly stopped singing their legendary chanteys with the introduction of power blocks and hardening rigs in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but those songs have remained a powerful memory for all who ever heard them.”

And while the chanteys have not been heard on a menhaden boat in a long time, but older people from around Carteret County still remember them, and tell Cecelski “how, on cool autumn days, you could sometimes stand on shore and hear the songs coming across the water. They filled the air and stirred the heart and got deep inside your bones,” Cecelski describes.

“And if you heard those songs, like my mother did when she was a little girl, you never forgot them or the way that they made you feel. It is hard to put into words, but it was not just the beauty of the melodies or the men’s fine voices, but the appearance that the music was rising right out of the sea.”

The two agencies that enforce the Clean Water Act have proposed changes to the waterbodies considered jurisdictional, or under federal protection, and the deadline for the public to comment is here.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers published on Nov. 20 in the Federal Register the “Updated Definition of ‘Waters of the United States,’” opening the public comment period that ends 11:59 p.m. Monday, Jan. 5. Information on how to submit comments is on the EPA website.

The agencies said the proposed rule revises “the regulations defining the scope of waters federally covered under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, also known as the Clean Water Act, in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency.”

The agencies argue that their proposed amendments to the “waters of the United States” definition when finalized, will provide clarity and align with the Supreme Court’s opinion in the Sackett case that the “Clean Water Act extends to relatively permanent bodies of water connected to traditional navigable waters and wetlands with a continuous surface connection to those waters ‘so that there is no clear demarcation between “waters” and wetlands.’”

Environmental organizations argue that the proposed changes will gut basic water quality protections, which were already compromised by the 2023 Supreme Court decision on Sackett v. EPA that essentially left nontidal wetlands without protection. Nontidal wetlands are usually in floodplains along rivers and streams, in isolated depressions surrounded by dry land, along the margins of lakes and ponds, and in other low-lying areas where the groundwater intercepts the soil surface or where precipitation sufficiently saturates the soil, according to the EPA.

“When it comes to the definition of ‘waters of the United States,’ EPA has an important responsibility to protect water resources while setting clear and practical rules of the road that accelerate economic growth and opportunity,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a Nov. 17 press release. “EPA is delivering on President Trump’s promise to finalize a revised definition for WOTUS that protects the nation’s navigable waters from pollution, advances cooperative federalism by empowering states, and will result in economic growth across the country.”

Environmental Defense Fund Coasts and Watersheds Science Senior Manager Dr. Adam Gold told Coastal Review that the “proposed rule could increase the pace of wetlands loss and lead to more flooding impacts for communities. Wetlands loss increases downstream flooding impacts, and at the same time, any new infrastructure built in former wetlands is also at increased flood risk.”

Under the agencies’ proposed rule, the term “waters of the United States” would include “(1) traditional navigable waters and the territorial seas; (2) most impoundments of “waters of the United States;” (3) relatively permanent tributaries of traditional navigable waters, the territorial seas, and impoundments; (4) wetlands adjacent (i.e., having a continuous surface connection) to traditional navigable waters, impoundments, and tributaries; and (5) lakes and ponds that are relatively permanent and have a continuous surface connection to a traditional navigable water, the territorial seas, or a tributary.”

The difference between the existing rule and proposed is that the existing rule includes an interstate waters category and the word “interstate” is in front of the lakes and ponds category. The agencies propose deleting both.

The agencies also recommend revising the existing exclusions from the Clean Water Act permitting process for waste treatment systems, prior converted cropland and ditches, and adding an exclusion for groundwater, as well as definitions for “continuous surface connection,” “ditch,” “prior converted cropland,” “relatively permanent,” “tributary,” “and waste treatment system.”

Carolina Wetlands Association Executive Director Rick Savage also has concerns about the flooding that could be unleashed on communities if these proposed changes go through, and the damage to water quality.

He said communities are going to see developers take wetlands without a permit.

“These wetlands are often buffers against flood waters. if they are developed then guess what happens? The flood waters just go inland to the community,” Savage said, adding that water quality could suffer as well, because of the potential for more pollution to pass into streams.”

North Carolina Sierra Club Deputy Director Erin Carey told Coastal Review that ultimately, “the American public should be very concerned that the federal agency tasked with ensuring clean water, clean air, and the protection of our natural environment seems determined to undermine that responsibility. With this proposed change, the EPA claims to seek clarity in regulation, but this rule would serve only to allow industry to profit from environmental destruction, and the ruination of our natural resources.”

Gold said that according to the fund’s analysis published September 2024 in Science that modeled different interpretations of the Sackett decision, the modeled scenario that best aligns with the proposed rule open for public comment now would result in 82 million acres, or 91%, of nontidal wetlands in the contiguous United States estimated to be without Clean Water Act protections. 

About WOTUS, Sackett decision

The Clean Water Act is the revised and restructured Federal Water Pollution Control Act, enacted in 1948 to protect waterways that are used for or could be used for commerce.

“The 1972 amendments to the Clean Water Act established federal jurisdiction over ‘navigable waters,’ defined in the Act as the ‘waters of the United States,’” according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

But that’s as far as the definition goes, leaving the two agencies that jointly enforce the regulations to define the term under statute, and have had to determine what geographical features such as wetlands, streams and rivers fall under “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, and, therefore, under federal protection under the Clean Water Act.    

In the decades since, that definition has undergone several amendments, most recently in 2023 to conform to the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision.

The Sacketts are an Idaho couple who were fined by the EPA for backfilling wetlands on their property near Priest Lake. The Sacketts filed a lawsuit asserting that the wetlands were not directly connected to the lake, a navigable body of water protected by the Clean Water Act. Justices ruled in favor of the couple and put parameters on “waters of the United States.”

Justices state in the May 2023 majority opinion that the Clean Water Act’s use of “waters” only refers to geographical features described in everyday language streams, oceans, rivers, and lakes “and to adjacent wetlands that are ‘indistinguishable’ from those bodies of water due to a continuous surface connection.”

The ruling narrowed the definition of “waters of the United States, stripping away protection under the Clean Water Act for isolated wetlands, or those without an obvious connection to navigable waters.

The two federal agencies, under the Biden administration at the time, had published a revised definition in January 2023 that was then amended that September to conform to Sackett.

Shortly after the second Trump administration took office, the agencies began a campaign to change the amended 2023 WOTUS that it called “overly broad” in a news release Monday and “failing to fully implement the Supreme Court’s decision in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency.”

Savage explained that the Clean Water Act, passed in 1972, was based on relationships with navigable waters. Then in 1977, the Corps of Engineers came up with the wetlands definition manual, which set the process for how wetlands were defined, based on hydrology, hydrophilic vegetation and hydric soils.

“During that time, almost any wetland was protected because you could find some relationship to​ a navigable water, even if it’s over land, but now you know that’s all changing,” he said, and the reason it started changing was because the Supreme Court got involved.

“That was in 2006 and ever since then, it is going around and around and up and down and through. You know, nobody knows what the rules are half the time. I mean, there’s been a couple of times where half the states were under one set of rules and the other half are under another set of rules because of litigation,” Savage said.

On the state level

Savage said regarding the proposed rule change that there’s two ways to look at it: the federal level and the state level.

“Right now, as far as North Carolina is concerned, it’s not looking good, period,” he said, because of the Farm Bill that made state and federal regulations to protect wetlands the same.

During summer 2023, the General Assembly approved language in Senate Bill 582, often called the Farm Bill, to align the state’s definition of wetlands with the federal. The definition reads: “Wetlands are classified as waters of the State are restricted to waters of the United States as defined by” the Army Corps and EPA.

Savage said he’d heard that a few legislators were starting to reconsider the move, and he said part of it is because the state government is funneling millions of dollars to use nature-based solutions, like wetlands, to mitigate flooding issues. “However, what the heck is this about, not wanting to protect the very resources we need to use to protect our communities? And I think that might be having a little bit of an effect.”

Savage said they’re working with the Southern Environmental Law Center and other groups to make changes, but there’s not a lot that can be done at the state level in North Carolina because of Dillon’s rule, which means that local governments only have as much power as the state specifically allows.

“Anything a locality may want to do to protect wetlands, the state legislature can immediately overturn it” via legislation, Savage said. “So, it’s not a lot that can be done there.”

Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Mark Sabath told Coastal Review in an earlier interview that, while this proposed rule reduces federal protections, states and tribes still have authority to protect waters, and can fill the void in protecting these resources that the federal government is leaving behind.

Sabath said in some situations, it’s not a possibility because of not having the resources, “and there are examples occasionally of states that do their best to try to fill that gap. But much more often, we see the opposite, like in North Carolina.”

Savage clarified his point in noting that, just because the wetland is not considered protected by the Clean Water Act, it is still a wetland.

“Some people think if it’s not jurisdiction​al, then it’s not a wetland. No, it’s just not a jurisdictional wetland. It’s still a wetland. It meets the Army Corps of Engineers’ definition of a wetland, which is heavily based on science,” Savage said. “I think it’s important to make that distinction. We have jurisdictional wetlands that are protected, and the definition of jurisdictional wetlands is getting tighter and tighter and tighter, so that most of our wetlands are no longer jurisdictional, right? Therefore, they’re not protected, but they’re still wetlands, right? And that’s why we still have to be concerned about them.”

The EPA and Corps committed in a Dec. 22 press release to consider the public input received in developing a final rule.

The two federal branches that enforce the Clean Water Act last month pitched changes to the “waters of the United States” definition, which establishes the types of waterbodies that are federally protected against pollution, and if these amendments pass as written, conservation groups fear millions of acres of nontidal wetlands will be left vulnerable.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers have for decades had the authority to regulate “navigable waters,” which means “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas,” as written in the 1948 Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Expanded in the 1970s, the measure is typically referred to as the Clean Water Act.

The EPA explains on its website that the Clean Water Act “establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters.”

One thing the Clean Water Act doesn’t do is clearly define “waters of the United States.” The EPA calls it a “threshold term in the Clean Water Act and establishes the geographic scope of federal jurisdiction under the Act.”

EPA and Army leadership announced Nov. 17 plans to update the definition, which has been the subject of lawsuits and years’ worth of arguments.

The “Updated Definition of ‘’Waters of the United States’’’ was published Nov. 20 in the Federal Register, launching a 45-day comment period on the proposed changes that closes Jan. 5.  A virtual public meeting is scheduled for 12:30 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, with a 2-2:30 p.m. break. Attendees must register online to speak by 5 p.m. Monday. To listen only, register by the start of the meeting.

This latest attempt, which would exclude isolated wetlands, is directly linked to the Supreme Court’s May 2023 Sackett v. EPA decision. The Sacketts are an Idaho couple fined in the late 2000s for backfilling a section of their property that the EPA considered wetlands.

Judges ruled in the final opinion on the case that the “(Clean Water Act)’s use of ‘waters’” only refers to geographical features described in everyday language “as ‘streams, oceans, rivers and lakes’ and to adjacent wetlands that are ‘indistinguishable’ from those bodies of water due to a continuous surface connection.”

Earlier that year, the EPA had finalized a “Revised Definition of ‘Waters of the United States'” rule that took effect March 20, 2023, and which the Sackett case invalidated. In August 2023, the EPA and Army Corps issued an amendment to align the rule with the Sackett decision.

That final conforming rule is what the EPA and Army Corps leadership are proposing to amend.

The agencies argue that the change “would fully implement” the Supreme Court’s ruling “by ensuring federal jurisdiction is focused on relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water—such as streams, oceans, rivers, and lakes—and wetlands that are connected and indistinguishable from such waterbodies.”

With this proposed rule, the agencies explain in the docket, they “intend to provide greater regulatory certainty and increase Clean Water Act program predictability and consistency by clarifying the definition of ‘waters of the United States.’ This proposed rule is also intended to implement the overall objective of the Clean Water Act to restore and maintain the quality of the Nation’s waters while respecting State and Tribal authority over their own land and water resources.”

Environmental groups argued then, when the Sackett case was ruled, and still maintain that by removing protections from the millions of acres of nontidal wetlands, there will be consequences: Water quality will be jeopardized and flooding will increase, to name just two.

Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Mark Sabath said in an interview that for 50 years, the Clean Water Act has been the strongest and best federal protection for many of the waters and wetlands around the country.

The law does that “by saying you can’t pollute, you can’t fill, you can’t destroy certain features, certain waters, without a permit,” Sabath said, and the permitting process means that there are certain protections and controls you have to apply to minimize the amount of destruction.

Sabath added that a number of features of the Clean Water Act are dependent on the type of water, and, in addressing its critics, not every puddle in the country covered by the act.

“It’s only things that meet the definition of waters of the United States, and that isn’t defined in the statute itself,” Sabath continued. “Congress didn’t define it, so EPA and the Army Corps, in a series of rules over the years, have tried to define exactly what wetlands are and aren’t covered by the Clean Water Act.”

This proposed rule is the latest revision and it is “by far the most narrow, the most extreme definition,” Sabath continued. “It includes the fewest number of streams and wetlands and other waters of any interpretation of ‘waters the United States’ that we’ve seen.”

North Carolina Wildlife Federation Conservation Policy Vice President Manley Fuller told Coastal Review that with this proposed rule, the bottom line is a massive loss of protection of waters of the United States, which are vital habitats for fish and wildlife.

“This will also negatively affect hunting and fishing, which are a significant part of our natural resource-based economy,” he continued. “Wetlands are also buffers for the built environment and help reduce downstream flooding. Protecting clean waters and wetlands is extremely popular with the public for many reasons and we need to strengthen rather than weaken these programs.”

North Carolina Sierra Club Deputy Director Erin Carey told Coastal Review the rule will effectively remove federal protections from at least 80% of wetlands and over 5 million miles of streams across the country.

“This rule will open millions of acres of wetlands to the threat of development, leaving communities already vulnerable to flooding without the frontline protection afforded by these invaluable habitats. Wetlands act as filters for floodwaters and other runoff, making them critical not only to flood mitigation, but to the preservation of clean water resources,” Carey said.

Environmental Defense Fund Coasts and Watersheds Science Senior Manager Dr. Adam Gold pointed out as well that if the proposed rule is implemented as written, nearly all nontidal wetlands and intermittent streams could be without Clean Water Act protections in North Carolina and across the United States.

While there are many changes in the proposed rule, the most notable are to the definitions of “relative permanence” of waters and a “continuous surface connection” for wetlands, Gold said, adding that the proposed language introduces the concept of a “wet season.”

“Under the proposed rule, wetlands and waters would only receive Clean Water Act protections if they have surface water throughout the ‘wet season,’ described in the rule as ‘an extended period where there is continuous surface hydrology resulting from predictable seasonal precipitation patterns year after year,’” Gold said. “This proposed rule would make it easier to drain or develop wetlands that do not meet the ‘wet season’ surface water requirement, putting our wetlands and the benefits they provide at serious risk.”

In North Carolina, the impact of the proposed rule is 3.2 million acres, or about 88%, of nontidal wetlands estimated to be without Clean Water Act protections. “Importantly, this analysis relies on wetland ‘wetness’ during the growing season, but the proposed rule uses the ‘wet season,’” Gold said.

About the wet season, Gold continued, there are “fundamental issues with the proposed rule’s ‘wet season’ dataset.”

He said the classification of the “wet season” comes from the Army Corps of Engineers Antecedent Precipitation Tool, but the underlying data this tool relies on is modeled using the average monthly temperature and precipitation between 1950 and 1999. The modeled dataset was published in 2001 and does not use the best-available methods.

“The agencies proposed ‘wet season’ dataset classifies most of the year, and in some cases the entire year, as ‘wet’ for much of coastal North Carolina. So, under this proposed rule, wetlands or streams in Jacksonville would need to have surface water year-round (the whole year is classified as ‘wet’) to have Clean Water Act protections. For New Bern, the ‘wet season’ is 11 months, and for Wilmington or Brunswick County, the ‘wet season’ is 10 months.”

Gold said the proposed rule “which could essentially remove nontidal wetland and intermittent waters from the Clean Water Act, does not align with the goal of the Clean Water Act to ‘restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation’s waters.’ Science shows us that all wetlands, regardless of how ‘wet’ they are, clean our water, provide critical wildlife habitat, and reduce downstream flooding impacts.”

The EPA and Corps also asserted the week the proposed changes were announced that the new rules would provide “the regulatory certainty needed to support our nation’s farmers who feed and fuel the world and advance EPA’s Powering the Great American Comeback initiative.”

Sabath noted that the idea that this will have huge benefits for farming and for farmers is a common refrain when they’re restricting the protections of the Clean Water Act, “but the Clean Water Act actually exempts most farming activities from coverage already, so you don’t need to get a permit for doing regular farming activities, even when they would affect a wetland or stream that would otherwise be covered.”

The idea that this is a huge benefit for farmers is a nicer story, “because they don’t want to say, well, this is a huge benefit for large industrial facilities, industrial polluters, developers,” Sabath said.

Carey sees the proposed rule as demonstrating “that the EPA has abdicated its mandated responsibility to protect the environment and the people who depend on it. Even worse, the agency appears eager to sacrifice our natural resources on the altar of corporate greed.”

The public should be “very concerned that the federal agency tasked with ensuring clean water, clean air, and the protection of our natural environment seems determined to undermine that responsibility. With this proposed change, the EPA claims to seek clarity in regulation, but this rule would serve only to allow industry to profit from environmental destruction, and the ruination of our natural resources,” she added.

White Oak Waterkeeper Riley Lewis said in a statement that the EPA’s new definition of Waters of the United States ignores decades of scientific understanding and generations of Indigenous knowledge.

“By redefining wetlands using ambiguous criteria seemingly designed to maximize developable land and reduce regulatory barriers, the agency is turning a blind eye to the very real, very predictable impacts on our communities,” Lewis said. “Water will continue to move beneath our feet through groundwater and across the landscape during storms, regardless of a federal definition or a construction permit. This rule sets Americans up for flooding, damaged infrastructure, and increased pollution in the waters we rely on for our drinking supply, our food, and our way of life.”

So, why does this actually matter to the public? Sabath said it does in a few ways.

In North Carolina, people who hunt, fish and paddle use wetlands directly and those might be impacted by being destroyed or polluted without a permit.

“Anyone who is in a community that floods during extreme weather, and we all know that that’s happening more and more now, or that’s at risk of flooding,” Sabath said. By losing those wetlands, you lose their ability to protect communities from flooding, and that comes more often now from extreme weather.

“It’s a double whammy. You’re losing the benefits that they provide, and you’re probably creating more problems,” and more potential pollution or channels of pollution at the same time by replacing wetlands, natural areas with pavement or developed areas, he said.

With wetlands being a “good natural sponge” that can absorb huge amounts of water, “if anything, we should be trying to expand wetland coverage rather than take it away, Sabath said.

“In short,” Carey with the Sierra Club continued, “communities will watch rivers and streams in their communities fall victim to unchecked pollution. Without federal protections, industry will discharge and develop at will, destroying habitats, water quality, and flood protection measures as they go. The wetlands and streams of this country belong to all people, not just those who seek to exploit them.”

Update 11 a.m. Tuesday: Organizers announced late Tuesday morning that the Core Sound Chow Down set for Friday night has been canceled because of the weather forecast. Ticketholders can submit using an online form their preference to refund the ticket to the event held entirely outside. Options are a full refund, transfer to 2026 or donate the cost to the museum. Festivities on Saturday and Sunday will continue as planned.

Original post:

One of the first signs that the holidays are upon us is when the two-story Christmas tree made entirely of crab pots begins to illuminate the grounds of the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island.

The multicolor glow from the symbol of Christmas — plus all the holiday lights decorating the sizable facility — also means that the Waterfowl Weekend is just around the corner.

The museum, which highlights the heritage of the 13 unincorporated communities of Down East Carteret County, has held the annual celebration the first weekend of December for the last few decades, and are gearing up for this year’s scheduled for Dec. 5-7.

The weekend gets underway Friday evening with the Core Sound Chow Down stew competition, a ticketed event. The doors open to the public at 8 a.m. Saturday and again at 10 a.m. Sunday. During both days, visitors can meet the more than 45 carvers, artists, photographers and crafters set up at the festival.

While winding down Harkers Island Road on the way to the museum, travelers will pass homes decorated to the hilt, and residents selling crafts on the roadside.

They’ll also drive by Harkers Island School, where the Core Sound Decoy Carvers Guild’s 37^th annual Core Sound Decoy Festival is taking place. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, the campus will be filled with carvers, vendors and antique decoy exhibits. Carving competitions are scheduled throughout both days, and food will be available for purchase.

When the Waterfowl Weekend was in its early days, the focus was mainly on decoys, but the festival has evolved over the years and is now a part of the holiday celebration for many.

“We have turned what used to be a weekend for decoys to a season of traditions,” Executive Director Karen Willis Amspacher told Coastal Review, and a large part of that is the joy and nostalgia that holiday decorations invoke.

“The museum’s Christmas lights are about Core Sound. Celebrating communities and traditions. That’s what we do every day,” she said.

The two-plus-story Christmas tree made of crab pots and the “Gallery of Trees: Telling our Story” are “part of that celebration for sure,” she explained. The Gallery of Trees features crab pot trees that families, friends and area businesses sponsor and decorate. The first was first held in 2020 and has become a special part of Waterfowl Weekend.

Amspacher said that adding the giant tree made of crab pots to the holiday decor was inspired by social media, with the first try in 2010 or 2011.

“Blame it on Facebook. We kept seeing pics from Maine where they were stacking lobster traps and Maryland where they were stacking crab baskets and we said ‘why not?’” Amspacher said. “The first attempts were a learning experience — small and sometimes more square than round — but then Abbi (Davis) and Kenny (Brennan) took on the project, and their engineering skills and a lot of rebar and zip ties made it happen.”

The small team of volunteers spent the last few days of this October building the 2025 tree, including Davis, a Harkers Island native.

Davis began working part time at Core Sound on and off the summer of 2015 and again while she was attending trade school. Now a volunteer, she helps when she can, which isn’t very often because her career keeps her on the road a fair bit, she said. She currently resides in South Carolina where she’s a lineman.

“The museum is such an incredible place,” Davis told Coastal Review.

Core Sound has captured the sense of place “that most people have a really hard time understanding if they haven’t lived it and gave them a glimpse into the culture of Down East. That is something that would have otherwise been long forgotten by the world.”

Though the tree of crab pots was part of the picture before she began working there, Davis started helping out with the tree in 2015, when the lights were powered by a generator that had to be regularly be fueled up.

“I remember I would ride down there to look at it because it was so beautiful but I also worked at the museum so I took on the job of being the ‘gas lady’ whenever I could that year,” Davis said.

There was a pause on putting the tree up for a few seasons because it became harder to borrow crab pots, compounded by the damage to the facility from 2018’s Hurricane Florence that closed the main building for a few years to undergo repairs.  

“In 2020 I started working there again and when I did, we talked about making Christmas big,” Davis continued. “That year I wanted the tree to make a comeback. I remember asking everyone I knew who had crab pots or who had been a crabber in the past, if we could get some for this tree. Everyone I talked to was excited but finding someone that had pots available and the time wasn’t easy.”

The first year that Davis took the project on, her father and sister helped load the crab pots into the back of her pickup truck and in a trailer to haul to the museum. “It took three trips,” Davis said.

Davis explained that the team likes to “joke and say the engineering is a little bit organic because it doesn’t have to be exactly the same to work.” And they’ve been working together for so long, that “at this point we just know what to do.”

Their favorite saying is that “we’re making circles out of squares,” she continued. “We always start with the same amount for the bottom. Make a ring out of pots basically and then fill it in. Each row is done the same way just a smaller number of pots until it gets to the top. The pots are secured through heavy duty wire ties and rebar.”

This year, it took 170 crab pots arranged in 12 rows to build the 23-foot-tall tree.

Once the tree is complete, a glowing handmade star is placed on top.

“The coolest part about this tree for me is what it represents. These pots are actually used by commercial fisherman in the sound. Every year they harvest and haul hard crabs. Knowing that they’re real and not something just bought for decoration,” Davis said.

New this year, the tree is being decorated with buoys hand-painted by local kids, “which is really special,” she said, “And knowing that in every way possible this tree is Down East, makes it absolutely great! It captures the spirit like many things at the museum and it’s put on display so the world can have a chance to see a small glimpse of that.”

“Because everyone loves,” the giant Christmas tree, it is being featured on the museum’s holiday apparel line, Amspacher said. “It has become a symbol of Down East Christmas.”

Waterfowl Weekend details

The fourth annual Core Sound Chow Down and Best Sweet Potato Pie Down East competition starts at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets, $35 for members and $45 for nonmembers, include four cups of your choice from the spread of chowders, soups and stews made by cooks from around the county. Molasses Creek will perform live music.

Competitors returning this year are D’s Island Clam Chowder, Per-Atlantic Crab and Corn Chowder, and Gloucester Mardi Gras Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. New this year will be stewed shrimp, crab-shrimp bisque, stewed scallops, chili, and Cedar Island original lima beans and crab meat. The submissions will be judged by seafood market and chefs from across eastern North Carolina.

Doors open at 8 a.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. Sunday, and each day has special programming.

On Saturday there will be live music at 11 a.m. with Asher Brinson and Friends, noon with Mac McRoy and The South Point Band, and 1 p.m. with Molasses Creek. Preview for the live auction is at 2 p.m. and the auction begins at 3 p.m. The online auction is live now through Dec. 6.

On Sunday, a church service is scheduled for 8 a.m. and at 2 p.m. is a World War II Pearl Harbor Day memorial gathering.

Every year, the museum’s “Core Sound Quilt Crew” sew a quilt that is put up for action to raise funds for the nonprofit museum. This year’s theme is “Reflections of Diamond City.” Tickets can be purchased online for the quilt raffle, as well as the Christmas raffle. Winner takes home $5,000.

The Coastal Resources Commission approved last week revised text that is meant to satisfy the latest objection from the Rules Review Commission regarding Jockey’s Ridge’s designation as an area of environmental concern.

The Coastal Resources Commission, or CRC, has been trying to get this text sorted since October 2023, when the Rules Review Commission objected to and removed 30 rules, including those for Jockey’s Ridge protections, as part of the 10-year periodic rules review process.

According to the the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management, which carries out the rules and regulations set by the CRC, the text that had been up for review a few years ago was almost identical to what had been approved in 1984 for the centerpiece of Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Dare County.

Part of the text the Rules Review Commission most recently objected to reads: “(a) Description. Jockey’s Ridge is the tallest active sand dune (medano) along the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Located within the Town of Nags Head in Dare County, between US 158 and Roanoke Sound, Jockey’s Ridge represents the southern extremity of a back barrier dune system which extends north along Currituck Spit into Virginia.”

The CRC at its regular business meeting in Beaufort Hotel was briefed about the rules commission’s latest objection Wednesday during the annual rules review update, and again Thursday before voting unanimously to submit the amended text to the rules panel.

Daniel Govoni, policy analyst with the Division of Coastal Management, said Wednesday that a general statute directs staff to review and identify any rules that are unnecessary, burdensome or inconsistent. Rules that are considered necessary, go through the rules review process, and that includes being run through the Rules Review Commission.

Govoni said that just recently, the Jockey’s Ridge area of environmental concern permanent rules the Coastal Resources Commission approved Aug. 27 was sent to the Rules Review Commission and “they again have objected.”

The reason this time, he continued, “is because the rule was split up into three categories: (a) being description, (b) being boundaries and (c) the use standards. They basically said that the description was unnecessary.”

When Coastal Resources picked up the discussion Thursday, Govoni reiterated that the rule was drafted into three parts, with a description explaining Jockey’s Ridge and its importance, and a boundary describing the area of environmental concern boundary and an accompanying map.

Govoni stated that the Rules Review specifically objecting to “the paragraph (a) description,” and that it “was not the same as the designation as under general statute.”

Coastal Resources was left with two options with a deadline of Dec. 1: either amend the rule to address the Rules Review objection, or submit a written response explaining why the rule won’t be changed.

Govoni said staff came up with the following proposed language as a way to meet the requirement: “Designation. Given the status of Jockey’s Ridge as a State Park, State Nature Preserve, complex natural area, and an area containing a unique geological formation as identified by the State Geologist, the Coastal Resources Commission hereby designates Jockey’s Ridge as an Area of Environmental Concern pursuant, as required under general statute.”

The amendment also included adding that “The AEC is located within the Town of Nags Head in Dare County, between US 158 and Roanoke Sound” to the boundaries explanation.

The Coastal Resources Commission’s legal counsel, Sarah Zambon, explained that the legal counsel for the Rules Review Commission was consulted on the proposed permanent language but, “just like I don’t speak for all of you, RC Council doesn’t speak for the RRC, but they have reviewed this language.”

Zambon continued that “the main issue was with the description of it being the tallest sand dune along the Atlantic Coast.”

Coastal Resources Chair Renee Cahoon pointed out that “this description just became a problem in August. Amazing. Amazing. After 40 years.”

About Jockey’s Ridge rules

The more than two-year back-and-forth between the two commissions began in early October 2023 over 30 rules undergoing the 10-year periodic review process.

“Development activities in and around the state park boundaries have been regulated by the administrative rules of the Coastal Resources Commission since the designation of Jockey’s Ridge as a Unique Geologic Feature Area of Environmental Concern in 1984,” division documents explain.

When the rules commission reviewed the 30 rules the division submitted, including Jockey’s Ridge as an Area of Environmental Concern and use standards, the rules panel removed the rules from the North Carolina Administrative Code and returned them to the Division of Coastal Management.

Coastal Resources filed a lawsuit shortly after contesting the Rules Review’s decision to remove the 30 rules, which is still in litigation.

The CRC then adopted emergency and temporary rules reestablishing the area of environmental concern and use standards that went into effect Jan. 3, 2024, and expired May 13, 2024, which the Rules Review Commission also objected.

Coastal Resources decided to move forward with permanent rulemaking on April 25, 2024, and adopted the permanent rule Nov. 14, 2024. The rules commission objected to the proposed permanent rule on Dec. 19, 2024, for failing to comply with public notice requirements. Staff said in documents that the terms of this objection had been satisfied.

A Wake County Superior Court judge in February of this year ruled in favor of Coastal Resources in the lawsuit that directs the codifier to “immediately return” the rules to the administrative code. Rules Review has since filed an appeal challenging the ruling and the Coastal Resources is due to submit a brief in response by Dec. 12.

The Coastal Resources Commission took up the subject again Aug. 27 and adopted permanent rules designating Jockey’s Ridge as an area of environmental concern and use standards. The Rules Review Commission objected on Oct. 30 to the recently submitted text for using the word “Description” because it is “not the same as a ‘designation’ as required under state law.”

The Coastal Resources Commission was given Dec. 1 as a deadline on the new proposed designation, which is an attempt to clarify the language going forward, Govoni said Thursday. In the time since the judge ruled that the Jockey’s Ridge rules would be returned to the administrative code, the division decided to amend and clarify the language.

If the suggested language meets final approval, the existing rule would be repealed and replaced with this new version.

Coastal Review will not publish Thursday and Friday in observation of the Thanksgiving holiday.

Updated at 8 a.m. Thursday to include the link to the Federal Register, which published the proposed rules Thursday after the story posted, and public comment information.

The two federal agencies with jurisdiction over navigable waterways have published amendments to the existing “waters of the United States” rule that they say will “establish a clear, durable, common-sense definition” of the term, and a public comment period has opened.

The Environmental Protection Agency and Department of the Army’s changes have heightened worry among conservation groups that federal protections for isolated wetlands might be weakened further than they were soon after the 2023 Supreme Court decision that found wetlands must be connected by surface water to a navigable body of water to fall under the 1972 Clean Water Act.

The EPA and Army Corps of Engineers said in a release Monday that the newly proposed changes were to “fully implement the court’s direction by focusing on relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water—such as streams, oceans, rivers, and lakes—and wetlands that are connected and indistinguishable from such waterbodies.”

As part of the announcement, leadership posted the prepublication notice they planned to submit to the Federal Register, which was published Thursday, starting a 45-day public comment period.

Comments must be submitted by Jan. 5, 2026, and identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– OW–2025–0322, through www.regulations.gov, by email to OW-Docket@epa.gov, or mail to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center, Water Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460.

Language in the Clean Water Act states that the “term ‘navigable waters’ means the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.” However, the act doesn’t define what “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, actually are, leaving the EPA and Corps to determine the geographic scope of the rule.

Over the last five decades, pushback and litigation have forced the two agencies to revise the definition several times.

The current regulatory definition, according to the EPA, was put in place in September 2023 to align with the May 2023 Supreme Court ruling on the Sackett v EPA lawsuit.

The Sacketts filed the lawsuit after the agency ordered the Idaho couple to restore where they had begun backfilling with dirt the section of their property that the EPA considered to be wetlands of a nearby navigable waterbody. The judges sided with the Sacketts that federally protected wetlands must have an obvious connection to waterbodies like streams, oceans, rivers and lakes.

To conform to the Sackett decision, the EPA and Army amended in September 2023 the latest final rule, which had been put in place that January.

EPA Secretary Lee Zeldin and Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam Telle shared with Washington, D.C., lawmakers Monday afternoon an overview of the proposed rules.

“I know that across the country, news of today’s proposal is going to be met with a lot of relief and happiness from farmers, ranchers, other landowners, governments that have been looking for a simple, prescriptive definition that the whole country can operate off of, and would allow individuals to know whether or not there’s a ‘water of the United States’ without having to go hire an attorney or a consultant, having to pay someone to Tell them,” Zeldin said Monday during the announcement livestreamed on the EPA’s YouTube.

The EPA secretary explained that the proposal “includes practical, common-sense revisions that will make a real difference,” and adds definitions for what he called “key terms” such as “’relatively permanent,’ ‘continuous surface connection’ and ‘tributary’ to appropriately limit the scope of what is consistent with” the Sackett case.

“We’re establishing that jurisdictional tributaries must connect to traditional navigable waters, either directly or through other features that provide predictable and consistent flow. We’re adding a new exclusion for groundwater and revising exclusions for certain ditches prior converted cropland and waste treatment systems,” Zeldin continued. “We’re incorporating locally familiar terminology such as wet season to help determine whether a water body qualifies as WOTUS. And we’re strengthening state and tribal decision-making authority by providing clear regulatory guidelines while recognizing their expertise in local land and water resources.”

He explained that the proposed rules were developed based on input from multiple sources, including preproposal recommendations, docket information from nine public listening sessions and consultation comments from states, tribes and local governments.

Telle addressed the audience after Zeldin.

“Since 1972 Americans have struggled to understand what Congress meant when it included the term ‘waters of the United States’ in the Clean Water Act. Did it apply to them? Did it not? The definition of that term has been often abused, sometimes stretched beyond recognition over time, and it’s left Americans uncertain about whether they were complying with the Clean Water Act or not,” he said Monday, adding that “under President Trump’s leadership, the EPA and army Civil Works, which oversees the Corps of Engineers, are kicking off the formal process that will give American certainty about their property once and for all.”

Several Republican officials thanked Zeldin from the podium for initiating the proposed amendments including West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey who said that “for too long there’s been great deal of uncertainty” about the WOTUS rule.

“Unfortunately, it left many people holding the bag. Farmers, contractors, small business owners guessing whether their ephemeral stream or a backyard ditch was going to be classified as a waters of the United States rule and potentially subject them to significant penalties,” he continued.

Alabama Congressman Gary Palmer said he was confident that the rule will prioritize clean water while protecting farmers, ranchers, landowners and businesses alike.

Conservation groups have been vocal about these revisions opening up isolated wetlands to development and degradation since the announcement was made.

“Wetlands are the lifeblood of our coast, and should be held to the highest standards of protection,” North Carolina Coastal Federation Coastal Advocate Kerri Allen explained. “The wetlands most impacted by these proposed rollbacks are the very wetlands that hold water during storms and help protect downstream waters. With the proposed changes, our coast will face irrevocable damage that impacts not only our wildlife and fisheries, but also our coastal economy and communities.” The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Mark Sabath said Monday in a statement that this proposed rule, if adopted, “could have catastrophic ramifications for communities already plagued by flooding, water quality concerns, and drinking water shortages. After critical, longstanding protections for clean water and wetlands were drastically narrowed by the Sackett decision, we need stronger protections, not weaker, to safeguard our communities and environment.”

League of Conservation Voters Healthy Communities Program Director Madeleine Foote had a similar reaction.

“The Trump administration’s Polluted Water Rule is another blatant giveaway to big corporate polluters that will jeopardize the waters that our families and communities rely on for drinking, recreation, and fueling our local economies,” Foote said.

“In 2023, the Supreme Court’s devastating Sackett decision stripped federal protections from millions of miles of streams and tens of millions of acres of wetlands, and now corporate polluters are pushing their friends in the administration to go even further in decimating our clean water safeguards. They won’t be happy until the Clean Water Act is nothing more than words on a page and they can pollute our waters with abandon,” Foote continued.

Environmental Defense Fund Associate Vice President Will McDow stated Monday that the new proposed WOTUS rule from the Trump administration that will redefine which wetlands and waters have Clean Water Act Protections. 

“We already spend billions annually responding to disasters that were created by building in risky areas. With today’s proposed WOTUS rule, commercial developers will be allowed to pave over wetlands to build unsafe housing that either floods or increases flooding to neighbors,” he continued. “This rule brings tremendous uncertainty and risk to our nation’s drinking water, flood protections and critical habitats. Based on our peer-reviewed analysis, new requirements for wetland protections could leave nearly all wetlands without Clean Water Act protections. Requirements in the new rule are not based in science, difficult to implement in practice and will create a dangerous lack of clarity.” 

Update Nov. 19: According to an updated agenda document on the Marine Fisheries Commission webpage, the previously listed action item to consider adopting management strategies developed as part of the adaptative management framework for the Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3 during this week’s meeting has been removed.

Original post Nov. 14 “Fisheries to vote on proposed blue crab harvest rules” follows:

The coastal county lawmakers that formed a new group to support commercial fishing have submitted a resolution opposing more restrictions on the commercial harvest of blue crabs ahead of the Marine Fisheries Commission Nov. 19-20 meeting in Wrightsville Beach.

The Marine Fisheries Commission is expected to consider adopting management strategies developed as part of the adaptative management framework for the Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3.

Those proposed strategies were discussed extensively during the third meeting of the North Carolina Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition held Nov. 5 in Morehead City, when the members approved the resolution opposing any further restrictions until the 2026 blue crab stock assessment is completed.  

Amendment 3 was adopted in 2020 “to end overfishing and achieve sustainable harvest in the blue crab fishery,” Division of Marine Fisheries documents state. The original plan was adopted in December 1998 with the intention to manage the species, and amended in 2004 and again in 2013. The division acts as staff to the commission.

Amendment 3 is nearly halfway through the legislatively mandated 10-year stock rebuilding period “with little evidence suggesting management measures have been successful in ending overfishing or achieving sustainable harvest,” documents continue. The adaptive management framework in the amendment 3 is being “used to implement management measures projected to reduce fishing mortality (F) closer to the F target and rebuild the spawning stock closer to the spawner abundance target with greater than 50% probability of success.”

Current rules include closures Jan. 1-31 north of the Highway 58 bridge in Carteret County and March 1-15 in waters south of the bridge, and a 5-inch minimum size for mature females.

Staff propose starting Jan. 1, in addition to existing closures, prohibiting crab trawling statewide year-round. For waters north of the Emerald Isle bridge, a 30-bushel trip limit would be put in place from September to December, and for south of the bridge, a 15-bushel hard crab trip limit from September to December.

“These recommendations should be viewed as a first step rather than a comprehensive solution. Recommendations are based on a stock assessment that indicated the stock was overfished and overfishing was occurring but has a terminal year of 2016. Fishery-independent stock indicators suggest stock status has not improved since then,” agenda documents state.

The division has begun the process of developing a new benchmark stock assessment that should provide an updated stock status, and a review of the blue crab fishery management plan is scheduled to begin in 2026, “at which time comprehensive management will be explored. Until then, Amendment 3 management, including adaptive management and changes made through adaptive management will remain in place,” documents continue.

The N.C. Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition was put in motion this past summer by Dare County Chairman Bob Woodard after a proposed rule to ban shrimp trawling in some North Carolina waters worked its way through the Senate. The House decided not to take action on the bill.

Elected officials and staff representing Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Camden, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Hertford, Hyde, Onslow, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington counties were invited to join the group that has met twice, on Aug. 5 and Sept. 16.

Currituck County Commissioner Janet Rose explained to the coalition during the Nov. 5 meeting that she has spoken with watermen in her area who are now crabbing, and they’ve been catching 50 to 60 bushels a day.

“If they’re cut to 30 bushels next year, that’s a 40 or 50% cut,” Rose said, adding that this reduction is going to hurt crab picking houses, and the towns that rely on them.

Woodard shared a resolution Dare County passed that week opposing the blue crab restrictions with the hope “that each county will adopt something similar with respects to the proposed blue crab harvest restrictions,” before the group decided to draft its own resolution to submit to Marine Fisheries Commission before the meeting.

Glenn Skinner, who is executive director of the N.C. Fisheries Association, was brought in as a consultant to the coalition.

He told the group that there’s a lot going on behind the scenes, but “I think the most important thing here is we do not have a stock assessment.”

They tried last year to update the stock assessment that was used for the last management measures “and when they added a few extra years of data, for lack of a better word, it went haywire and they determined it could not be used. So, we do not have a stock assessment for blue crab. Therefore, we do not have a stock status to say if it’s overfish or if over fishing is occurring.”

At this time what the division needs to do is to produce a reliable stock assessment for blue crab if that’s possible, Skinner said. “I doubt that in many ways that that’s possible because I think they lack a lot of the data they need. But that hurdle in my opinion has to be overcome before you start regulating the most valuable commercial fishery in this state.”

Marine Fisheries Commission meeting details

The commission meeting will begin at 1 p.m. Wednesday and resume at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Holiday Inn Resort Lumina. The public can attend in person or view the the livestream on YouTube. Public comment sessions are at 6 p.m. Wednesday and at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Other fisheries agenda items include the following:

• A presentation on the history of southern flounder management in North Carolina through Amendment 5.
• An analysis of southern flounder in North Carolina waters using the division’s fishery-independent sampling data.
• A presentation on upcoming management changes for striped bass in the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse rivers.
• An overview of reporting options available for the new reporting requirements for recreational and commercial fishermen that go into effect Dec. 1.
• A demonstration of the new electronic license and statistics annual report
• An update on the proposed framework and timeline for the 2026 revision to the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan.

The full agenda and associated materials are on the Marine Fisheries Commission Meetings webpage.

The deadline for written comments is 4 p.m. Monday and can be submitted through an online form; mailed to Marine Fisheries Commission Meeting Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557; or dropped off at the Division of Marine Fisheries headquarters in Morehead City.

A group of volunteers spent peak visitor season this year under the blistering sun and swarmed by thick clouds of flying insects, all to make sure the wild horses, including the newborn foals, inhabiting Cape Lookout National Seashore and Rachel Carson Reserve were undisturbed by the thousands who make their way to the barrier islands that are only accessible by boat.

The volunteers are part of the Pony Patrol program, which trains the “Pony Patrollers,” as they’re called, to share with visitors how to safely observe the two herds. One herd is on Shackleford Banks, the national seashore’s southernmost island, and the other is on the reserve site that is across Taylors Creek from downtown Beaufort.

The National Park Service, Foundation for Shackleford Horses and reserve staff organize the outreach effort that just wrapped up its third year. The foundation is the federally designated co-manager with the park service of the herd.  

Rich Rehm, a volunteer who leads the program for Cape Lookout, explained that the goal of Pony Patrol for the park service is twofold. First is to make sure guests on Shackleford Island stay at least 50 feet from the horses and keep their dogs leashed. Second, as representatives of the National Park Service, is to answer questions visitors may have about the horses, the island, or the seashore.

Paula Gillikin, stewardship coordinator for the 10 reserve sites, has been the longtime manager for the herd at Rachel Carson Reserve, one of 10 protected sites along the coast managed by the North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve, under North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

“The Pony Patrol plays a vital role in supporting the Rachel Carson Reserve and our partners by helping us educate the public about the wild horse population that makes the reserve such a unique part of North Carolina’s coastal heritage,” Gillikin said. “When the public understands what the horses need to survive and be healthy, they are more likely to give the horses the space they need to thrive. This understanding also keeps our visitors safe.”

Foundation President Margaret Poindexter told Coastal Review that the 2025 season had been the largest “and undoubtedly our most successful,” despite its “very difficult start.”

What made 2025 special, she continued, was the determination and resolve of the close to 50 volunteers.

The rocky start began when the first foal of the year from either herd was born at the Rachel Carson Reserve in early May, Poindexter said.

“Her presence was immediately known — lots of eyeballs in Beaufort are constantly on that herd. Just a few days after her birth, and within days of the Pony Patrol season launching, a group of visitors got too close to the foal, the anxious stallion gathered up his mare to get away from them, and the foal was stranded on the oyster rocks unable to keep up with its mama,” she explained.

Though the reserve staff was able to intervene and reunite the two, the Pony Patrollers “were very disappointed that something so potentially tragic could happen so early into the season, before the real rush of visitors even started,” Poindexter said.

Then, on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, a newborn foal was found alone on the east end of Shackleford, on the oceanside. The foundation “made the difficult decision to remove it in order to save its life. Again, the Pony Patrollers were discouraged, afraid that perhaps human intervention had caused the foal to be separated from its mother,” she continued. 

Another foal on Shackleford was separated from its mother 10 days later, found in the mud on the sound side, likely as the result of a stallion fight. It too was removed to save its life, Poindexter said.

Volunteers Margo Hickman and Laura Palazzolo, both Carteret County residents, agreed it was particularly heartbreaking to see the foals removed from the island earlier this summer. Hickman said it was uncertain if they would survive.

“’The Americas’ TV episode about Shackleford was beautiful, but it drew a lot of attention — and with that came more pressure on the horses,” Palazzolo said. The first episode, “The Atlantic Coast,” of the NBC series dated Feb. 23 began with the wild horses at Cape Lookout.

“There were multiple incidents of visitors getting too close, trying to take selfies, or even attempting to pet the ponies,” Palazzolo explained. “We can’t say for sure why two foals were abandoned on the east end, but human interference could certainly have played a part.”

Poindexter continued that “Shortly after those incidents, a filly was born on the west end of Shackleford, in an area that receives significant visitation because of its close proximity to the ferry drop and the crossover to the beach. The Pony Patrollers committed themselves to ensuring the safety and survival of this little girl.”

The volunteers scheduled regular tours in the area around the pair and reported to each other after their shift about the whereabouts and well-being of the foal and her mother. “They intercepted numerous visitors who were curious about her, moving them away from her so as not to interfere with her nursing and nap times, but sharing insider information about her and her harem to create a unique and enhanced visitor experience,” Poindexter said.

Some of the volunteers that have been with the program since the first season, including retirees Hickman and Deb Walker, have been captivated by the filly.

Walker, who grew up in Newport and returned after retiring in 2015 from several decades as an educator in Mississippi, said a major highlight for her this summer was the newborn filly.

Hickman called the filly’s birth “the icing on the cake” for her. “We all became part of her family as her honorary aunts. We weathered heat and humidity and some god-awful mosquitoes daily to check on her.”

Fellow Pony Patroller Cindy K. Smith, who began volunteering in 2024, was the first of the group to spot the filly.

Smith, a Straits resident, said she was fortunate to be leading a tour that day in June when she spotted the foal shortly after birth. “Her little legs wobbled to steady herself against her Mama.”

Smith is photographer, naturalist and guide who has been visiting Shackleford and Rachael Carson for 30-plus years and joined Pony Patrol because, like so many others, she has a “fascination with the ‘ponies.’”

Smith said once realized the foal was a newborn, she began calling seashore staff and other patrollers.

“We were all elated,” Smith continued, adding that knowing that the Fourth of July week, and the associated influx of visitors, was near, the volunteers knew extra precautions would be needed to keep her safe and at a distance from human interaction.

The volunteers were given guidance from seashore and foundation staff to developed a plan to quietly watch from afar, Palazzolo said, adding they always kept a respectful distance. “At least one Patroller was stationed on the dunes, watching and ready to gently intervene if visitors wandered too close.”

Smith reiterated that the volunteers “went over and above for this little girl, perching on dunes, hiding behind bushes or whatever it took to make sure she would not be approached. Individuals went out on their own and watched over her even when it was not a shift. I think this camaraderie bonded us in a way that made each of us better and as a whole, a more cohesive unit.”

The foal is thriving now, Palazzolo explained, and along the way, “visitors got to experience something really special. We’d share what we’d learned from our reports — her habits, her routine — and people would sit quietly to watch. We’d tell them, ‘If you stay back and give her space, you’ll see her nurse, nap, or maybe even get the zoomies.’ It became this magical moment of connection — respectful and joyful all at once.”

How Pony Patrol began

Poindexter explained that the first year in 2023 was truly a pilot, and began with around 30 participants.

“We only sent volunteers to Shackleford that first season. Rich Rehm, one of the seasoned volunteers at Cape Lookout National Seashore, stepped up and offered to be the program coordinator. Truly, without his willingness to fill that role, the program likely would never have gotten off the ground,” Poindexter said.

Rehm retired as an environmental consultant in the Research Triangle Park area and moved to in 2016 to Merrimon with his wife. He began volunteering with the seashore in 2017.

When Rehm was asked in 2019 to coordinate the program for the National Park Service, he said he passed on the opportunity. Then, the program was put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, he decided he would take up the role.

After that first year in 2023, the seashore “was pleased with the success of the program and we expanded the program to include Rachel Carson Reserve,” Rehm said. “In 2025, we expanded the program again to include the east end of Shackleford Island.”

Though the 2025 season wrapped up in late September, a call for volunteers will likely go out in the coming months from both the National Park Service and Rachel Carson Reserve ahead of the 2026 season. Gillikin, with the reserve, said Pony Patrol applications for both herds will likely be launched in January or February.

Poindexter said that those interested in joining the Pony Patrol should know that conditions are rough. “Walking over dunes, in sand, through mud and marsh, often in extreme heat and humidity, while being besieged by mosquitoes,” she said.

Despite the challenges like the heat, the bugs, the mud, and the occasional rude visitor, Palazzolo said the horses make it all worth it.

“There’s nothing like standing on those dunes, watching them go about their day. It reminds you that wildness still exists — and that it’s fragile,” she said. “I’m looking forward to checking on her this winter — and jumping right back in next summer.”

Rehm added, “If you can put up with the heat, the humidity, the bugs, and the storms by all means you should volunteer.”

Coastal Review will not publish Tuesday in observation of Veterans Day.

Stepping through the wrought-iron gate flanked by the First Baptist Church of Beaufort and Ann Street United Methodist Church, the Old Burying Ground offers a quiet respite from bustling Front Street in Beaufort, North Carolina’s third oldest town.

The low-hanging branches of gnarled live oaks tangle above most of the 300-year-old cemetery on the 400 block of Ann Street, casting shadows on the worn dirt paths that meander between the seemingly organized fenced-in family plots next to simple headstones wedged like crooked teeth between the ornate, weathered monuments, obelisks and statues.

There’s an area that appears to be an open space near the corner of Craven and Broad streets under a tree that Carteret County native Bill Lewis has determined is the unmarked grave of 13 of his ancestors, including Thomas Lewis Sr., born 1740 and died 1815.

A lifelong historian and genealogist of the Lewis family, Bill recently retired from the defense industry and splits his time between Morehead City and Virginia.

He told Coastal Review during a telephone interview that he has always known where his family was buried in the centuries-old graveyard. The location has been part of his family’s oral history for generations. 

He decided about three years ago, after his father and aunt died within days of each other, to expand on the family history research he inherited from them, and prove to some skeptics that his ancestors were in those unmarked graves. 

The Old Burying Ground

Beaufort, first known as Fishtown, was established in 1709 and the street plans for the town that were designed in 1713, and are still in use. Around 1724, the town deeded the lot to the wardens of St. John’s Parish, the first Anglican church in Beaufort, for the church and, presumably, a cemetery. Though speculation is that the land was used as a graveyard before 1724, documents state.

“The Old Burying Ground grew up around the building used for sessions of the Court and for reading the service of the Anglican Church in St. John’s Parish,” according to the Beaufort Historical Association, which manages the graveyard.

The property was transferred to the town in 1731 when an adjacent lot was added but was full by 1828. The graveyard was enlarged in 1851, 1855 and again in 1894 by the Baptist and Methodist churches that have stood on either side of the graveyard’s Ann Street gate since the mid-1800s. The Methodist congregation’s first building erected in 1820 now houses Purvis Chapel AME Zion Church, on the corner of the Old Burying Ground at Craven and Broad streets, according to the nomination form. 

The graveyard has around 500 marked graves, with about half from before and during the Civil War, which took place between 1861 an1865, 150 between 1865 and 1900, then a handful of 20^th century markers.

“The whole area with its lichen-encrusted stones shaded by great trees is pervaded by an atmosphere of age, peace, and pleasant melancholia that makes it one of the most memorable spots in one of North Carolina’s most picturesque communities,” reads the National Register of Historic Places nomination form submitted in 1974 for the nearly 3-acre graveyard. “The range of tombstone design is quite remarkable, from the primitive grace of the simple cypress slabs to the sober functionalism of the long brick grave covers to the ornate memorials of the Victorian period.”

Visitors can take self-guided tours using a map provided by the Beaufort Historical Association, the nonprofit that manages the graveyard, to see where the girl is buried in the barrel of rum, the monument topped with a cannon for Capt. Otway Burns, who was an American privateer during the War of 1812, the soldier from the British Navy who was buried standing up in full uniform facing England, the grave of a romance rekindled after decades of separation because her father didn’t approve, or the northwest corner, which is the oldest part of the cemetery. 

“The corner looks empty, however a 1992 archeological survey confirmed that there are many graves in this area. It is probable that some of the unmarked graves contain victims of the Indian wars whose skulls were cleft with tomahawks of hostile Coree and Neusiok Indians. It is recorded that in September, 1711 the area had ‘been depopulated by the late Indian War and Massacre,” according to the association. 

The Lewis ancestors

The Old Burying Ground holds “the history of our family roots, where Thomas Lewis, an often-overlooked progenitor, is buried alongside David Lewis and his wife. My siblings and I were captivated by our grandfather Raymond and father’s tales there. The cemetery was our playground, sparking imaginations with stories about our ancestors, including whimsical claims that Thomas was born a pirate and one of the first settlers in Carteret County,” Bill Lewis notes in his family research.

Bill is a native of the Promise Land, which is a neighborhood from 10^th  to 15th streets on the sound side of Morehead City, and a graduate of West Carteret High School. The Promise Land, Harkers Island and Bogue Banks were settled in the late 1800s and early 1900s by Cape Bankers, pronounced Ca’e Bankers, when these fishing and whaling families moved to the mainland after their settlements on Shackleford Banks experienced a series of devastating storms.

In his research, Bill introduces himself as “a proud descendant of Ca’e Banker and Waterman Thomas Lewis Sr. (1740 – 1815),” and he draws inspiration from his late father, Jerry Thomas Lewis (1937 – 2023), “a steadfast Promise Lander and beacon of strength” and his mother, Edna Faye Garner (1938 – 2013), who “came from a determined Salter Pather squatter family.”

His late father was in the military and traveled extensively, but every time they were home in Carteret County, they would visit the cemetery to put flowers on the unmarked graves. “He would say, I want you and your brother and sister to go out here in this graveyard and find Thomas Lewis Sr. Well, my dad new there was no headstones,” he told Coastal Review.

“We embarked on an exhilarating adventure through time as my father took us to a mysterious graveyard, where history whispered through the wind. He paused by an ancient oak tree, excitement gleaming in his eyes, and pointed to an elongated grave. ‘Can you believe this? This is the resting place of your great-great-great-great-grandfather, a son of a pirate!’ His enthusiasm was contagious,” Bill continues. “We were reminded of our family’s rich heritage in Carteret County, where the earliest Lewises settled between 1635 and 1730, helping to shape the community during its formative years.”

Bill said during the phone call that he pored over documents, records and other resources to corroborate the family lore. Once he had substantial proof, he approached the town with the idea to have a headstone installed marking his family gravesite. 

The Carteret County Historical Society oversees the History Museum of Carteret County, where Bill volunteers, and has been asking for donations to purchase and install the proposed 30-inch by 78-inch ledger, which, in this case, is a piece of stone about the size of an interior door the length of a grave, and the 13 footstones expected to be 8 inches by 4 inches.

He told Coastal Review Wednesday that, so far, they had raised around $1,700 and needed close to $5,000 for the simple marker they have designed, and are still taking donations. Call the society at 252-247-7533 for information.

Town of Beaufort Planning and Inspections Director Kyle Garner said in an interview Thursday that he has been working with Bill Lewis for the last year on the proposed headstone.

Bill “has done extensive research,” Garner said, “it’s amazing what he has been able to find.”

Garner added that the graves could have been marked at one time, but the marker could have been wooden and is no longer there. 

Because the cemetery is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Garner and Bill Lewis have been consulting Melissa Timo, the historic cemetery specialist at the Office of State Archaeology, to make sure the proposed marker wouldn’t degrade the cemetery. 

Timo explained to Coastal Review that the state has limited information on the cemetery and “I don’t believe that the cemetery has been 100% surveyed archaeologically” by ground penetrating radar or similar. 

“There was a limited archaeological survey done in 1991 where they opened shallow trenches in what appeared to be ‘open areas’ in the north-central part of the cemetery,” Timo continued. “No surprise, their work reveal that the area wasn’t free from graves at all. There were dozens of unmarked graves and potential graves,” but the digging was just deep enough to expose the tops of grave shafts and not into the burials or human remains themselves.

Timo said that while this survey doesn’t appear to line up where the Lewis ancestors are, “it is very telling for the possibilities in the section he’s concerned about. I tell people that what’s on the surface in a historic cemetery rarely, rarely matches what’s underground,” Timo explained. “There are probably a great deal more people in that cemetery than we expect. Additionally, since this is an urban cemetery, popular but hemmed in on all sides, we might expect people to be much more tightly aligned than a rural cemetery with plenty of room.”

Beaufort Historical Association Executive Director Michael Tahaney said in an interview that the Beaufort Historic Site is looking forward to including this newly publicized Lewis family heritage and the new headstones on tours of Beaufort’s Old Burying Ground. 

“The watermen and whalers were invaluable to the formation of coastal village settlements that grew into the Carteret County towns of today. I’ve spoken with several of our long-term docent guides who have very little previous knowledge of these unmarked graves. The headstones will be a testament to the family’s legacy,” he said.

The 18.8 million visitors to North Carolina’s nine National Park Service sites in 2024 injected $2.3 billion into the state’s economy, second only to California’s $3.7 billion, finds a recent report.

Of that $2.3 billion statewide, around 4.7 million visitors spent $732.2 million in the communities around the coast’s five National Park Service sites, according to “2024 National Park Visitor Spending Effects: Economic Contributions to Local Communities, States, and the Nation” made available to the public Sept. 25.

Park service officials release the annual report detailing what visitors paid the previous year on lodging, camping fees, restaurants, groceries, gas, local transportation, recreation industries and retail in gateway regions, which are the communities or areas that surround a site. An easy-to-use interactive online tool breaking down the report is on the website.

With the ongoing government shutdown that began Oct. 1, and ongoing at the time of this publication, next year’s numbers will likely show a different story.

Visit NC Executive Director Wit Tuttell told Coastal Review that the report “makes it clear that national parks, seashores, historic sites and trails enrich our state and local economies.” Visit NC is the state’s official destination marketing organization.

The study looked at the Wright Brothers National Memorial, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and Cape Hatteras National Seashore, all on the Outer Banks, Cape Lookout National Seashore in Carteret County, and Moores Creek National Battlefield in Pender County, and, in the western part of the state, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site.

“Beyond the monetary impact, there’s endless value in preserving our scenic wonders and the experience of what humans as well as nature have achieved,” Tuttell continued. “Travelers come here to channel the Wright Brothers, camp on the beach at Cape Lookout, and view the foliage along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Knowing there’s an economic boost to go along with these priceless experiences makes us doubly appreciative.”

Nationwide, more than 85 million acres make up the 433 federally managed sites found in every state, Washington, D.C., American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The report states that across the country in 2024 a record 332 million park visitors spent an estimated $29 billion in gateway regions at the 404 sites that counted the number of visitors. The previous record was set in 2016 with 330.9 million visits.

Total visitor spending estimates increased by almost 10% in 2024 compared to 2023, which the report authors credit to a 2% park visitation increase of around 6.36 million. Data also shows that more than 55% of parks had an above-average off-season in February-June and October-December. 

Using this report, the National Park Conservation Association estimates that the National Park Service is losing $1 million a day nationwide from fee revenue for each day the government is shutdown.

“Based on the Park Service’s shutdown plan, almost 9,300 people (nearly two-thirds of Park Service staff) are now being put in the scary position of not knowing when their next paycheck will arrive. Additionally, park concessioners and partners now face the prospect of lost revenue and further economic hardship — local economies could lose as much as $80 million in visitor spending every day parks are closed in October,” the association stated on its website.

National Park Service on the coast

On the Outer Banks, Wright Brothers National Memorial saw 407,000 visitors who spent around $28.6 million. The site in Kill Devil Hills “encompasses the spot where Wilbur and Orville made their world-changing first flights, the historic sand dune where they did most of their gliding, and the location they lived while they were experimenting in the Outer Banks,” the park service states.

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site is on Roanoke Island and its 275,000 visitors brough in an estimated $19.3 million to the local economy. The site “preserves and interprets the site of the first English Colony in the New World, is the site of the theatrical production, The Lost Colony, and interprets the historical events of the Native Americans, European Americans, and African Americans who lived on Roanoke Island, North Carolina,” according to the park service.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore saw 2.8 million park visitors in 2024 spend an estimated $650 million. This national seashore is roughly 70 miles from north to south and is made up of Bodie, Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. The nation’s first national seashore, Cape Hatteras was established in 1937 “to preserve significant segments of unspoiled barrier islands along North Carolina’s stretch of the Atlantic Coast,” the National Park Service said.

Bryan Burhans is the director of Outer Banks Forever, the official nonprofit partner of three parks, and a branch of Eastern National, a nonprofit that promotes America’s national parks and other public trust partners.

“The National Parks are a money generator. They generate a lot of tourism dollars for the Outer Banks,” he said, but more importantly, these sites are “such an integral part of the fabric that makes up the Outer Banks, which he called “a unique and special place.”

Outer Banks Forever is the official philanthropic partner and does not receive any federal funding. Its work is funded by local businesses, donors, state and county partners, and through various grants. “And our goal is simple. It is to preserve and enhance the visitor experience of our national parks here on the Outer Banks,” Burhans said.

One of the group’s recent projects is the pathway at Cape Hatteras connecting the lighthouse to the beach. It’s in the second phase of the project and is under contract with a company to build a restroom facility with outdoor showers with hot water. “The restroom facility alone is about a $380,000 investment by Outer Banks Forever.”

Cape Lookout National Seashore in Carteret County brought in 552,786 visitors that spent $28.9 million. The site protects a 56-mile stretch of barrier islands where sea turtles and shorebirds nest, a herd of wild horses roam free, and Cape Lookout Lighthouse and two historic villages are a snapshot into the past.

“People come to Cape Lookout National Seashore to recreate at the beach and end up supporting the U.S. and local economies along the way,” said Katherine Cushinberry, the acting superintendent, in a release. “We’re proud that Cape Lookout generates $32 million in revenue to communities near the park.”

Moores Creek National Battlefield is an 88-acre site in Pender County that welcomed 691,000 visitors who spent about $5.4 million. The battlefield preserves the site of a Feb. 27, 1776, Revolutionary War battle. “Loyalist forces charged across a partially dismantled Moores Creek Bridge. Beyond the bridge, nearly 1,000 North Carolina Patriots waited quietly with cannons and muskets poised to fire. This battle marked the last broadsword charge by Scottish Highlanders and the first significant victory for the Patriots in the American Revolution, according to the website.

“The two leading drivers of tourism are natural resources and history. Moores Creek National Battlefield is rich in both,” Greater Topsail Area Chamber of Commerce & Tourism Executive Director Tammy Proctor said in an interview.

“This national park is a treasure that attracts thousands of visitors each year, not only from the Pender County beaches but from the Wilmington area and Brunswick Isles,” she said, adding that the park and its history “had a significant impact on the Revolutionary War. Those fighting for independence from England experienced their first decisive victory at Moores Creek Bridge.”

Moores Creek is a tributary flowing to the Black River and a perfect kayaking location, with a kayak launch at the park. “The creek is pristine and leads to one of the nation’s most pristine rivers. The trails in Moores Creek provide visitors with an experience of the great outdoors and a walk among historical events,” Proctor continued.

“Regarding Moores Creek National Park staff, I can’t say enough about the educational opportunities, programs, and events this staff orchestrates in collaboration with the Friends of Moores Creek Battlefield Association, the nation’s oldest National Park friends organization,” she said.

National Park Service and the shutdown

As of Wednesday, the United States Government had been shut down for three weeks because, according to Oct. 10 post by the National Conference of State Legislatures, on Oct. 1, “lawmakers failed to resolve a budget deadlock, halting some federal operations and putting approximately 750,000 employees on unpaid leave. Triggered by partisan clashes over funding beyond Sept. 30, the shutdown has created uncertainty for many federal programs.”

The National Conference of State Legislatures was created in 1975 by state legislators and legislative staff to provide research, technical assistance and opportunities for policymakers, according to its website.

During a government shutdown, the organization continues, “the administration retains limited spending flexibility by prioritizing funding for programs that the president deems essential for public safety or national security, such as military operations or emergency services.”

As a result, national parks have remained partially open to the public. Many of the sites advise that some services may be limited on their official Facebook page by way of a reshare from the National Park Service dated Oct. 1, with a link to the Department of the Interior’s “Operations in the Absence of Appropriations” that includes the park service’s contingency plan dated September 2025.

Lincoln Larson, an associate professor of parks, recreation and tourism management at North Carolina State University, explained to Coastal Review that during a government shutdown, much of the park staff is furloughed, “meaning they don’t work and aren’t paid but retain their job and benefits when the shutdown ends. Overall, a shutdown presents enormous challenges for park management, members of the public who want to visit parks, and for the park employees themselves.”

In most cases, the decision to close depends on the park itself, but many park managers want to keep their sites as open and accessible to the public as possible. However, that is difficult to do with limited staffing, he continued.

While basic services such as roads and restrooms are usually open, they are not monitored or maintained at the same level as during regular operations, and other services, including visitor centers, entrance kiosks, campgrounds, websites, programming and permitting systems, might not be available at all.

Most National Park Service staff view stewardship of natural and cultural resources as a major part of their job, but when they’re not available to protect and conserve these valuable assets, many threats arise, including the effects of overtourism.

Threats like littering, graffiti, human waste, and off-trail behavior often increases under these conditions, causing irreparable damage to fragile park resources. “We saw this happen during the COVID-19 pandemic, when excessive visitation and limited staffing created unprecedented challenges for parks,” Larson said.

Limited staffing also creates safety issues, particularly if law enforcement or search and rescue operations are negatively impacted, which led to many parks closing during the pandemic because of concerns about degradation in the absence of enforcement. A government shutdown poses similar problems.

Larson said it’s difficult to quantify the broader economic impacts of park closures or service reductions.

“Although a shutdown clearly impacts operations within a park itself, the negative effects outside of parks can take an even greater and longer-lasting toll on nearby communities,” Larson explained. Adding, in many parts of rural America, including eastern North Carolina, national parks are major economic engines that, through outdoor recreation and tourism, power local economies.

“These gateway communities depend on park visitation to survive and thrive. Many park workers also live in communities near the parks, and their salaries breathe life into these towns. When parks shut down, many of these economic benefits are lost, making life much tougher for people living nearby. If shutdowns happen during peak tourism seasons, the economic impacts can be even more devastating and leave a lasting effect on the social and cultural landscape of an area,” Larson said.

The National Park Conservation Association urged in a Sept. 29 letter that the National Park Service close all parks during the shutdown to avoid the damage to infrastructure, vandalism and sanitation issues, like human waste and trash, many of the federally managed parks experienced during the last shutdown that lasted 35 days in December 2018 to January 2019.

“NPCA will not stand by and watch history repeat itself… We know what happened last time park staff were forced to leave parks open and unprotected, and the impacts were disastrous … If the federal government shuts down, unfortunately our parks should too,” NCPA President Theresa Pierno said in a release.

​It was well into what we now call hurricane season in 1879 when the Atlantic Hotel on the Beaufort waterfront began filling with hundreds of guests ahead of the North Carolina Press Association’s annual meeting taking place there in late August.

Visitors from across the state, including the then-governor and his wife, made the lengthy trek to the hotel, most arriving around Aug. 15, of that year, about the same time as rumors began to circulate that a hurricane was causing damage in the Caribbean.

“But nobody in Beaufort was too bothered by that. In fact, the hotel manager was told about it, and he said, ‘we haven’t had a bad storm here in over 20 years. Everyone’s going to be fine,’” Assistant State Climatologist Corey Davis explained when he began his talk on “Lessons Learned from Recent Statewide Storms” at the Down East Resilience Network’s fall gathering.

Davis is with the State Climate Office of North Carolina based at N.C. State University in Raleigh, and was one of the speakers at the get-together held Sept. 23-24 in the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island.

A project of the museum, the network meets there a few times a year to share and discuss with scientists, decision-makers and residents the latest research on the threats to Carteret County’s coastal communities such as nuisance flooding and hurricanes, and opportunities to address the aftermath.

Davis continued, fast-forward to a few days later, and warning signs began to appear that a storm was coming. “It’s the fishermen, the locals, that are the first ones to take notice.”

Then a Coast Guardsman stationed at Fort Macon on Bogue Banks began to receive telegraph transmissions from Florida and Georgia about the storm making its way up the coast.

The Coast Guardsman rushes to Beaufort to tell the hotel manager that a hurricane is on its way, Davis narrated, “and this hotel manager just scoffs. He said, ‘Nobody from the U.S. government is going to tell me how to run my hotel. Now you go back and do your job. Everybody here is going to be fine for the night. Well, as you can guess from the foreshadowing, they were not fine,” Davis said. “By 3 a.m. the rain had picked up. The wind was blowing even harder. The floodwaters along the ocean from the storm surge had risen to waist high by that point.”

A local then sounded the alarm to alert everyone that they needed to seek safety. The bottom floors of the hotel were already flooding, but not many people took notice.

“Now, I wish I could tell you that this story had a happy ending, but it doesn’t. This is a tragedy in our state. This is the story of the great Beaufort hurricane of 1879. It was a Category 3 storm at landfall right here in Carteret County. And in total, 46 people in North Carolina and Virginia lost their lives during the storm,” Davis said.

The hotel was rebuilt the next year on the Morehead City waterfront, only to burn to the ground in 1933.

He opened his talk with ​that history to give “a perspective of how these storms were perceived 100 and some years ago. Largely, that’s that hurricanes were primarily coastal events.”

Prompting him to ask what has changed when it comes to learning about hurricane behavior and forecasting, as well as why tropical storms and their hazards getting worse, and putting more folks at risk.

One change, for the good, is that forecasting has improved since the early 1970s. “What we saw back in the late ’70s, early ’80s is that the average track error at 72 hours was something like 400 nautical miles. That’s basically the distance between right here on Harkers Island and Knoxville, Tennessee,” Davis said.

Track error is the difference between where a hurricane is expected to go and the path it actually travels.

As science, modeling and forecasting have improved in the decades since, track error has decreased. “Over the last five to 10 years, that 72-hour error is under 100 nautical miles,” he said.

Another area of improvement, which he thinks should continue to improve, is communicating to the public the storm forecast and associated hazards.

Past messaging has focused on winds being the primary hazard, especially for coastal areas, but in recent years forecasters have emphasized rain amounts, flooding and storm surge, as well as hazards people in inland areas should expect.

One of the changes “that we don’t have a whole lot of control over” is background climate, which includes increasing global ocean heat content, or the total amount of heat the ocean has absorbed and stored.

“We know by now that the oceans have really absorbed the brunt of the warming that’s happening, especially over the last 50 to 60 years,” he said, and there’s been a steady increase since the late 1960s or the early 1970s.

This increase has had a few different impacts on tropical storm and hurricane events.

“No. 1, when you’re seeing that much warm water present, it means more seasons will be favorable for tropical activity. Even though there can be some other environmental oceanic factors that you have to worry about, if the ocean is warm enough, you can pretty much always get storms to form,” Davis said.

Another big impact is rapid intensification, like when a storm goes from a Category 1 to a Category 4 in 18 hours, as did Hurricane Erin earlier this summer.

“Obviously, that does add to the punch that those storms bring when they get to land,” Davis said.

As for atmospheric factors, a warmer atmosphere is similar to a bigger sponge and is “able to soak up more moisture, and it tends to wring out that moisture all at once, and it is able to do that even farther inland as well. So storms are getting wetter overall,” Davis said.

Hurricane Florence in September 2018 dumped “36 inches of rain in parts of southeastern North Carolina, just unheard-of amounts.”

Researchers looking at hurricane trends have found that, especially since the early 1970s, the storms are slowing down and even stalling when reaching land, and that’s primarily for the coastal Carolinas.

“That means we see storms like Florence. They get to our coast and just slow to a crawl; they sit over us for days and drop even more rainfall than we’ve ever seen,” he said.

Another consequence of these changes is that more people are in harm’s way from these storms. Davis cited a study from a few years ago that found for every house in North Carolina that was removed due to floodplain buyouts, another 10 had been built in those floodplain areas.

Another study determined that from 1996 to 2020, 43% of the flooded buildings in the state were outside of the Federal Emergency Management Agency-designated floodplains, and of all the buildings that have flooded in the state during this 25-year window, 23% flooded multiple times.

Storms look different now than they did in 2010, Davis continued, referencing a map showing the major storms most people consider the worst they experienced.

From the mountains, east, the storms were: Frances in 1916, Ivan in 1940, Hugo in 1989, Hazel in 1954, Fran in 1996, Floyd in 1999 and Isabel in 2003.

Davis then moved to a new map his office created showing the state’s worst tropical events as of September, which looks drastically different from the 2010 map.

“Carteret County is a really good example,” Davis said. “You’ve got one of those classic coastal monster storms. Hazel in 1954, a big event, storm surge in Morehead City and other parts of the coastline.”

But for the North Core Banks and Ocracoke Island, 2019’s Dorian caused soundside storm surge like those areas had never seen before. “Most of the rest of Carteret County and most of southeastern North Carolina would now show Florence as the worst.”

Fifty other counties have seen their worst storm come during the last 10 years.

Looking at the scale of some of these events, Florence can now be considered the worst storm from Cape Lookout to the suburbs of Charlotte. “That is a massive footprint that we just didn’t see historically for those sorts of storms,” Davis said.

Davis said there are things to be learned from these storms.  

“The first is what I’ll call action at a distance,” which essentially means that an area can experience big impacts even if the eye of the storm remains far away.

“I know this area saw that with Erin earlier in the summer, 200 to 300 miles offshore, but you still saw the rip currents and the overwash as if it was literally right in your backyard,” Davis said.

Another takeaway, he continued, is that you can’t just look at the strength of the winds or the category to understand what a storm will do.

Tropical Storm Chantal in early July was a weak tropical depression when it moved over central North Carolina, but the 8 to 10 inches of rain over a 12-hour period was far beyond what those areas had seen before.

Davis said he’s “firmly in the camp” of if we don’t learn from history, we’re doomed to repeat it, and one of the big tragedies in eastern North Carolina was after Hurricane Floyd came through in 1999. Residents were told that it was a thousand-year event, leading people to believe a storm of that magnitude wouldn’t happen again in their lifetime, their children’s lifetime, or their children’s children’s lifetime, so they rebuilt the same as before.

“It wasn’t until we got the next storm with Matthew and the next storm with Florence, that they realized it’s probably not a great idea to have a house here, because this is not a once-in-a-lifetime event,” he said, adding that has to be emphasized to people. “If it happens once, it’ll happen again.”

The blue crab population in the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System is taking a hit sometime between when juveniles leave their nursery habitats and before reaching sexual maturity, a recent study finds.

Published last month in Fisheries Oceanography, “Long-Term Trends in Juvenile Blue Crab Recruitment Patterns in a Wind-Driven Estuary” examined the density of blue crabs in three different types of nursery habitats during the instar stage of the species’ complex life cycle. That’s when the tiny juvenile crab is about the size of a pea.

The North Carolina blue crab population began declining in the early 2000s, and despite state-mandated measures implemented in the years since to protect the lucrative fishery, the population hasn’t recovered. “With fishing accounting for approximately 80% of total annual blue crab mortality, these measures were expected to allow the stock numbers to recover, which has not occurred,” the study explains, referencing a 2018 N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries report. “This absence of recovery has often been attributed to recruitment overfishing.”

But, that’s not what the authors found.

The research shows that the juvenile blue crab population numbers from the late 1990s and the late 2010s are similar, and point to a “potential population bottleneck occurring in later life stages.” But the bottleneck is not the result of recruitment overfishing, which “occurs when the spawning stock of a population has been depleted to the extent that there are insufficient adults to produce the required number of recruits to replenish the population.”

Lead author of the study, Erin Voigt, is a doctoral candidate in David Eggleston’s lab in the North Carolina State University’s Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Also listed as authors are Eggleston, a professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences, and previous N.C. State doctoral student Lisa Etherington.

Voigt told Coastal Review that one of the biggest takeaways from her research, at least in looking at the instar stage, is that “there is no evidence of recruitment overfishing.”

And if it’s not recruitment overfishing, “then that means that there’s something going on after the instar stage but before the adult stage that’s resulting in the blue crab population not rebounding,” Voigt said.

Another component of the study, which also relates to Etherington’s work, was to determine which habitats the blue crabs use.

Voigt sampled at Ruppia seagrass beds and shallow detrital habitats found along the mainland shores and the mixed species seagrass beds on the sound side of the Outer Banks.

Early in the life cycle, when the megalopae return to the inlets, the seagrass bed structure is the first nursery habitat they encounter on the sound side of the Outer Banks if there are no storms to interfere with the pattern.

“However, the surprising thing that we found was that if you look at the density of blue crabs,” which she said is the amount of blue crabs per meter squared, “you find almost four times as many blue crabs in these super patchy, very hard to see, kind of scruffy seagrass beds on the western shore.”

The researcher, the research 

Originally from Maryland, Voigt earned her bachelor’s in biology from St Mary’s College, spent a few years researching at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, and then earned her master’s in ecology at San Diego State University.

She began her doctorate in 2016 but took an extended leave of absence when she began working in 2023 as program coordinator of the Duke University Marine Lab Scholars and Climate Scholars Program. Voigt resumed her research earlier this year and plans to defend her thesis later this semester.

Voigt began explaining her research by reviewing the “complex life cycle” of a blue crab.

In early summer, the male and female typically mate upriver in low-salinity environments. The female, or sponge crab, carries the eggs on her stomach. When it’s time to hatch, the planktonic larvae, or zoeae, which Voigt said look like space aliens, drift into the inlets or ocean and undergo several molts, with the last transition in the ocean being to the megalopa or megalopae phase.

“The megalopae have a little bit more swimming ability. They look less like aliens and slightly more like something that you might consider a crab or a shrimp,” Voigt said.

Starting in late summer and early fall, the winds shift from primarily southerly to northeasterly, and with that shift, the megalopae are pushed back into inlets, usually the Oregon and Hatteras inlets. They will use their sensory capabilities to find a nursery habitat and then transform to instar, or a small crab.

The instar stage in the life cycle is the focus of her study, she said, and builds on the research of previous graduate students in the Eggleston lab, including Etherington, who had sampled areas within the Pamlico Sound between 1996 and 1999 to learn where juvenile blue crabs were settling.

“In about 1999 — unrelated to her experiment — there was a massive overfishing event, and this occurred due to three hurricanes,” which were Floyd, Dennis and Irene. Overfishing means that a species is being removed at a rate too high for the population to maintain.

The inundation from these storms decreased the salinity upriver, forcing blue crabs to migrate to smaller, higher-salinity areas. This concentration led to a 300% increase in catch-per-unit effort, which is a way to measure how abundant a species is by dividing the total weight of the catch by total amount of work it took, such as hours fished and with what equipment.

“There was just a ton of blue crabs caught that year. We had a really high take. The blue crabs have never rebounded from that,” Voigt said. “There has been a decrease in fishing pressure during that time — a 50% decrease in fishing pressure — and we still have not seen it rebound.”

Then in 2016, when Voigt began as a doctoral student, Eggleston told her he found it interesting that the blue crab population wasn’t rebounding and it wasn’t clear why, though the going theory was recruitment overfishing.

For her research, she sampled from 2017 until 2019 the same exact locations Etherington had sampled 1996-99 for her study.

Voigt said she expected to find a strong reduction in the number of crabs in these key nursery habitats, “because if we’re running into recruitment overfishing, then you’re assuming that not enough juveniles are recruiting back into Albemarle-Pamlico Sound, and therefore you will not see as many instars in these habitats,” Voigt explained.

“However, what’s really interesting about this study was that we did not find that. In fact, the numbers of blue crabs we found when I studied were statistically no different from the number of blue crabs” that Etherington had found when she sampled the same areas before the fisheries collapse, Voigt continued.

A discussion about a proposal to transfer the Division of Marine Fisheries from the Department of Environmental Quality to the state agriculture department looms large on the list of priorities for a newly formed alliance created to support North Carolina’s commercial fishing industry.

During the North Carolina Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition’s second meeting Sept. 16 at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City, Dare County Board of Commissioners Chair Bob Woodard explained that the proposal was floated after asking commercial fishermen about their concerns.

Among those issues were catch limits, water quality, educating the rest of the state on coastal issues, predation management, and the idea that Woodard called “a big one.” 

“It’s a biggie, is moving the director of Marine Fisheries to the Department of Agriculture,” Woodard said.

The Division of Marine Fisheries provides staff support to the state Marine Fisheries Commission, which is a nine-member board appointed by the governor that manages fisheries in coastal and joint waters.

Woodard initiated the alliance in a July 3 letter to other coastal counties after a state Senate committee amended a House bill that would “prohibit the use of trawl nets to take shrimp in coastal fishing waters or the Atlantic Ocean within one-half mile of the shoreline.”

House Bill 442 was first introduced in March with the stated intention of opening fishing for summer flounder and red snapper, but Senate added the trawl ban language before approving the measure. Despite a handful of “noes” from a few coastal Republican senators and a well-attended protest organized by commercial fishing interests, the amended bill was approved June 19 in a nearly unanimous vote and sent back to the House to consider. House leaders announced on June 25 that the House would not take up the bill.

The coalition held its first meeting Aug. 5, also in Morehead City, and plans are in motion for the next meeting to be Nov. 5 at the same location.

“I think we’re making some really, really positive headway with respect to this coalition,” Woodard said as he called the meeting to order.

Woodard also explained that the Food and Drug Administration has warned that the public should avoid eating imported shrimp potentially contaminated with radioactive material that may have been sold at Walmart in 13 states.

“This is exactly what we’re talking about, folks. Folks sitting around this table, we want to eat local shrimp, and we want to eat it out of clean waters. Americans are being warned not to eat or sell or serve certain Great Value, raw, frozen shrimp sold at Walmart after toxic levels of radioactive materials were detected in just one sample,” said Woodward, noting that the FDA states in its press release that the suspect shrimp had been imported from Indonesia.

“This is this is what we’re dealing with,” Woodard reiterated, adding that nothing is more important than protecting the livelihood of commercial fishermen and local seafood.

As part of that focus, the coalition members has since the first meeting been talking to those in the commercial fishing industry about their concerns. The coalition was tasked with breaking down the list of 10 issues into four priorities.

The priorities to which they agreed to and ranked in order of importance are education, fisheries limits and water quality, legislative items, and predation management.

Regarding the top priority, education, the goal is to inform the rest of the state, local governments, the legislature and consumers about the commercial fishing industry.

Currituck County Commissioner Janet Rose pointed out that consumers are statewide but don’t have a seat at the table. “I think we really need to play into the consumers. I think that’s important.”

For priority No. 2, water quality decline and limits and rules for crabbing, shrimp and flounder, Pasquotank County Commission Chairman Lloyd Griffin said the “biggest opponent right now is the five highways that come to eastern North Carolina.”

“We’re fighting stormwater runoff. We’re fighting the closures because of the stormwater runoff. We have more people that want to live on the coast because of the quality of life. So our roads are our issue,” Griffin said. “You really want to be conscious of is what is happening with our closures because those closures do have an impact.”

The suggestion to move the Division of Marine Fisheries to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Marine Fisheries Commission data sharing and transparency, and testing for restaurants to back up local seafood claims, all fall under the third priority: legislative items.

Carteret County Commissioner Chris Chadwick spoke up in support of the idea of the division being under the Department of Agriculture.

“Shrimpermen, fishermen and floundermen and all that, they are food producers. The only difference — they don’t own the land. They’re out there in the public water. But I think it would be a much more friendly atmosphere over there. Maybe less political. Hopefully less political,” Chadwick said.

Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, was in attendance, and she told the coalition she understands fish issues and the environmental constraints.

As a representative, Harrison said “it’s incumbent on us to educate our colleagues and these folks back here have done a really excellent job of that,” adding that it has been interesting to counter the bad facts that have been floating around the legislature.

Marine Fisheries’ ‘early history’

During the meeting, two scientists who have retired from the North Carolina Department of Marine Fisheries were invited to speak about their time as public servants.

Cornell Purvis, who acted as director for Marine Fisheries from 1978 to 1992, said that “in the last 40 years, Marine Fisheries has been the red-headed stepchild of state government, but it didn’t start out that way. It started out with something that needs to be celebrated. I’m here today to lift the truth and to celebrate the early history of Marine Fisheries.”

He said that, going back 50 years, it “was all old school,” while under the leadership of the division’s third director, the late Ed McCoy. Purvis called him “the brainchild behind the focus on the science and the focus of connection with the fishermen.”

The director taught his staff that they were public servants who served the fishermen in the state. “He told us experience is the best teacher. It’s always the best teacher. These fishermen already know it. We have to learn what they already know and put it in scientific terms.”

Jess Hawkins, previously the chief of fisheries management for the division, worked in state government for 30 years, with much of that time in fisheries regulation. His role with the division was to coordinate rulemaking for the Marine Fisheries Commission.

So, how did the state get to a point where a bill proposing a flounder season was transformed into banning shrimp trawling in estuarine and a coastal waters, he said. “How does that happen in our state?”

Hawkins said the trawl amendment “did not spontaneously develop. It was a chronic process of what I believe is failed governance, and education is a key component of that.”

He added that his comments were intended to help, not disparage, before reciting a brief history of the last few decades of fisheries management.

The Fisheries Reform Act of 1997, which was passed with bipartisan support, “set the foundation for fisheries management in North Carolina and it was an epiphany for our state,” Hawkins said.

The act was meant to transform how the state manages its fish, and set the structure for the Marine Fisheries Commission, established the science-based management system, and required fisheries management plans for all commercially and recreationally important fisheries. The act also provided an avenue for robust public engagement through advisory committees.

When Hawkins retired in 2006, he was managing 25 advisory committees, and now there are seven, prompting his concerns with the public input or stakeholder process.

“My observation is — and following fisheries policy in our state since I’ve retired — is the last 15 years or so, the stakeholder input process of the Fishery Reform Act has been corrupted,” Hawkins said.

The process to build a fisheries management plan begins in a committee, but “right now your fishery management plan committee only meets once,” which used to meet consistently, Hawkins said, the same as the standing and regional committees.

The North Carolina General Assembly requires the Marine Fisheries Commission chair to establish a committee that helps develop the management plan. “The executive branch has interpreted that, that they only need to meet once. During which time, they only share ideas, then staff “assimilate the ideas and go off and work on the plan,” Hawkins said. The committee never gets to review the draft plan before it goes before the commission. “So, that process has been corrupted.”

The habitat and water quality advisory committee used to meet monthly, but in the years since Hawkins retired, he said that the committee has never met. And the finfish committee should have been able to review the flounder fishery management plan, but during some years, it never had the opportunity.

Hawkins also pointed to what he called a lack of dialogue between the public and the fisheries commission, particularly limiting, he said, is the three-minute time limit per person during the public comment portions of commission meetings.

“The silence about seafood consumers in our state when we manage our resources is deafening. There’s very little regard to that, very little discussion of that,” Hawkins said.

There is advocacy for consuming domestic seafood, and it is known that the country has a well-managed seafood system management system that inspects the product caught in the United States, but “We only inspect 1-2% of our foreign seafood, yet we import 85%. We import 90% of our shrimp and yet we have a bill that’s introduced to even stop the shrimp harvest based on no scientific reason of shrimp populations being harmed.”

Hawkins gave the coalition a list of his proposed legislative changes that he said he had also sent to legislators over the years. None have been approved.

“North Carolina cannot afford to continue to rely on the leadership that changes with the gubernatorial office every four years to manage our seafoods. It can’t do that. There needs to be changes,” he said.

Saturday evening was one of celebrating coastal stewards, supporters and volunteers during North Carolina Coastal Federation’s annual Pelican Awards and Taste of the Coast fundraising event.

The nonprofit organization that publishes Coastal Review was established in 1982 with the mission to protect and preserve the state’s coast and has offices on the Outer Banks, the central coast and Cape Fear region.

Held in Carteret Community College’s Joslyn Hall, the staff presented 15 Pelican Awards to those who have shared “their time and talents, through leadership, education, hands-on projects, and volunteer efforts, to inspire others and create lasting change,” according to the organization.

The Taste of the Coast fundraising celebration followed the ceremony next door in the Crystal Coast Civic Center, where there was food, live music and a silent auction.

This is the 22nd year that the organization has recognized “exceptional contributions” with Pelican Awards.

Federation Board of Directors Vice President Kenneth Chestnut told the roughly 200 in the audience that the Pelican Awards annually “recognize and celebrate the organizations, agencies, partners and the extraordinary people who work together for a healthy coast.”

He continued that the awards are “about partnerships and coming together for a common cause, and that’s the protection and restoration of our beautiful coast.”

Federation Executive Director Braxton Davis presented one of the two Lifetime Achievement Awards this year to Dr. Hans Paerl, “For a Distinguished Career Dedicated to Coastal Research, Protection, and Restoration.”

Paerl, who recently retired after 47 years, is a Kenan Professor of Marine Environmental Sciences at University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City.

“Paerl has spent decades uncovering the secret of healthy waterways and applying that knowledge to protect the coast,” Davis said.

Paerl’s accomplishments include establishing the FerryMon program, where he turned state ferries into long-term water quality monitoring stations for the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds.

“His groundbreaking research has shown how nutrients and climate affect water quality, how harmful algal blooms form, and most importantly, what we can do to safeguard our estuaries and coastal waters for future generations,” Davis said of Paerl, whose work has appeared in 600 scientific publications. His many honors include the 2003 G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award for work in oceanography, the 2011 Odom Award in estuarine science, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Harmful Algal Bloom committee.

Paerl took the podium with ease and explained to the crowd that he was thrilled to be able to talk about the scientific achievements made in the state to help protect its waters, particularly going way back to the phosphate detergent ban enacted in the 1980s, and the establishment of a total maximum daily nitrogen load for the Neuse River, “which has been effective, and I’m glad to say that we’re seeing some really good results from that now.”

But, Paerl continued, “more importantly, I think I’d like to share this award with all the students, technicians, faculty and collaborators that have worked with me.” He called himself “more of a facilitator” who knocks on doors in the legislature to point “out that good science brings good management and good decisions.”

Though he’s retired, Paerl said he is indebted to those he has worked with and hasn’t stopped knocking on doors and talking to folks and collaborating.

“I’m still showing up at work, and we’re all dedicated — I’m really speaking for all the folks that I’ve worked with — we’re all dedicated, from the science perspective,” Paerl said, to make North Carolina an example for other states, the country and the world, “in terms of using science to really make a difference, in terms of protecting our environment, saving it and making sure it’s sustainable for the long run.”

Federation Coastal Management Program Director Kerri Allen of the Wrightsville Beach office presented to David Cignotti a Lifetime Achievement Award “For Outstanding Community Leadership, Collaboration, and Dedication to Coastal Stewardship.”

Cignotti is someone “who embodies the heart and soul of this community,” Allen said, and “is one of those rare people who leads a quiet strength, deep humility and a genuine love for nature that you can feel in everything he does.”

A lifelong educator, former mayor of Wrightsville Beach and dedicated steward of the Coastal Federation, he helped launch a membership drive that brought in more than 60 new families, has been a site coordinator with an international coastal cleanup effort for at least a decade, and is a cofounder of Save Our Seas NC. Cignotti also served on the Coastal Federation’s southeast advisory committee, its board of directors, and he chaired the audit committee.

“When the coast needs a voice, he speaks up,” Allen said, whether that’s bringing attention to the use of bird poison on Wrightsville Beach, protecting trees from unnecessary clearcutting, or making sure local businesses have a say in offshore drilling proposals.

Cignotti expressed his gratitude, adding that he couldn’t think of another organization with more than 40 years of advocacy for the coastal environment, and “cannot imagine getting an award that I would cherish more than what I’m getting tonight.”

He continued that one of his favorite quotes is from Jacques Cousteau, “that people protect what they love. And I think that pretty much sums up what we’re doing here tonight. Everybody that came tonight loves North Carolina’s coast and is here to support the coastal Federation’s mission.”

Northeast region awards

Alyson Flynn, coastal advocate at the Coastal Federation’s Wanchese office, presented three awards for the Outer Banks area.

“All three of our recipients in the Northeast embody the spirit of the Pelican Award in their own unique way, from on the ground restoration work to grassroots volunteerism, to forward thinking leadership that shapes the future of our coast,” Flynn said.

Volunteer Donnie Sellers was recognized “For Exceptional Contributions and Stewardship of Our Coast.”

Sellers said he appreciates what the Coastal Federation does and all the hard work of the staff, which he says he sees firsthand at the northeast office, “but mostly I’m grateful for how generous and kind they are, because that’s — It’s probably not what I should say — but that’s really what keeps me coming back.”

Volunteer Leonard “Len” Schmitz was awarded “For Outstanding Volunteer Efforts to Advance Oyster Shell Recycling.”

Schmitz told the audience he wanted to share the award with his fellow recyclers on the Outer Banks, adding “we couldn’t do this without the help of the restaurants.”

National Park Service’s Outer Banks Group Superintendent David Hallac was honored “For Leadership and Dedication to Coastal Protection, Recreation and Cultural Resources.”

The group includes Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Wright Brothers National Memorial and Fort Raleigh National Historic Site.

Flynn explained that Hallac had since 2015 managed one of the most iconic and dynamic barrier island systems in our nation and faces regular challenges, such as rising seas, chronic erosion, collapsing homes, petroleum contamination and increasing fragility of N.C. 12, the state highway, all while welcoming over 3 million visitors each year.

“From 1985 until 1999 I came from a small town right outside of New York City to the Outer Banks,” Hallac said as he accepted his award.

“I spent the entire year dreaming about coming to the beach there. I had no idea I would end up managing the three lighthouses there and 80 miles of beaches and 200 miles of incredible coastal marshes, it’s been just absolutely amazing,” Hallac continued. “It’s a little bit ironic at the same time that all of the things that shape these beautiful places, sometimes it appears we’re fighting against it. And so it’s my goal. It’s our goal, to find ways to change, to adapt to the things that are shaping our coastline, to be able to coexist in these places and also to preserve them for future generations.”

Central Coast awards

The nonprofit Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail received a Pelican Award “For Dedicated Partnership to Protect and Restore Coastal Water Quality and Habitats.”

Water Quality Program Director Bree Charron, based in Carteret County, explained that the Friends group has, over the past five years, worked to secure and help purchase 787 acres to create an 11-mile-long trail through the North River Wetlands Preserve in Carteret County. The Friends supports the trail that connects Jockey’s Ridge and the Great Smoky Mountains.

Ben Jones, a project manager with the Friends group, said its members were excited to help restore and showcase the preserve.

“There’s lots of land we still need for the trail anyway,” he said, “and I hope this is just the beginning, too, because it’s really important for us to provide access for people to these special places that we’re protecting.”

Jessica Guilianelli with Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point was recognized “For Supporting, Promoting, and Advancing the Use of Living Shorelines.”

April Hall is with the salt marsh program and said when she joined the Coastal Federation staff a few years ago she took over a living shoreline project along the Neuse River at Cherry Point.

“At the time, the Federation had secured funding to support construction of roughly 2,000 feet of a much larger 12,000-foot living shoreline project led by Jessica Guilianelli,” Hall said. “And in case anyone is trying to do the math, 12,000 feet is about 2.3 miles. So to say this was an ambitious project would be an understatement.”

The site had experienced severe shoreline erosion, losing more than 100 feet in some areas since 1994, and worsened by Hurricane Florence in 2018.

Under Guilianelli’s management, air station brass committed to a hybrid solution to repair critical bulkheads while incorporating living shorelines and native marsh plants to reduce wave energy and restore natural shoreline functions.

“I’m in a really, really interesting position as natural resources manager for the Marine Corps,” Guilianelli said, adding it’s a balance that challenges her daily. “It’s such a cool thing to be able to balance our military mission with conservation, and I’m grateful to be in that role.”

Lauren Johnson and Tamarr Moore, who recently earned their master’s degrees from N.C. Central University, were recognized “For Partnership and Inspiration to Advance the Next Generation of Coastal Professionals.”

Coastal Educator Rachel Bisesi of the Coastal Federation’s Newport office noted that the two women are the first graduates of a new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration program under their adviser, Dr. Caressa Gerald. The NOAA program supports students of color in environmental sciences.

“Lauren and Tamar have shown remarkable courage and resilience entering scientific spaces where representation is still far too limited. They broke barriers and paved the way for students of color to pursue coastal research. Their work has inspired others and opened the door for the next generation of environmental professionals and I can’t wait to see where their journey leads them, Bisesi said.

The graduates both thanked their parents and adviser, Gerald, who Moore said “opened a lot of doors for me and put me in many rooms that I would not have otherwise been in.” Johnson added that she was “very grateful to be in this room right now, along with other professionals” with the same drive and motivation.

Southeast region awards

Photographer Alan Cradick was honored “For Outstanding Volunteer Service to Our Coast.”

Coastal Education Coordinator Bonnie Mitchell explained that Cradick has been behind the camera “quietly and generously donating his time, energy and professional photography skills to help us tell the story of our work.”

Cradick, in accepting his award, said that it’s a privilege to be recognized, but that’s not why he volunteers. “I do it because I just love photography. I love the coast. I love working with professionals and professional volunteers who do so much wonderful things for the coast and for advancing the health of the of the ecosystems.”

Feletia Lee and Anna Reh-Gingerich were honored “For Dedicated Partnership and Commitment to Advance Watershed Restoration.”

Reh-Gingerich, watershed coordinator of Wilmington’s Heal Our Waterways Program, and Lee, chief sustainability officer at University of North Carolina Wilmington, have been working with the Coastal Federation on stormwater pollution in the Bradley and Hewlett creeks watershed.

Over the years, the project has resulted in rain gardens being installed and the use of permeable materials that absorb rain to retrofit parking lot drainage systems. The sites also serve as living classrooms, Coastal Federation Special Projects Manager Lauren Kolodij explained.

Reh-Gingerich said that she and Lee were honored to be recognized and thanked the Coastal Federation for supporting the effort. “This work is really easy to do when you have great partners to do them with.”

Paddling organization We the Water was honored for “For Excellence in Community Education and Inspiration for Coastal Protection and Restoration.”

The Wrightsville Beach Outrigger Canoe Club’s members paddled the state’s entire coast to advocate for clean water. The team paddled more than 340 miles along the coast over the course of three summers to raise awareness about the importance of clean water and raised more than $50,000 for the Coastal Federation, Kolodij said.

The Coastal Federation’s Kerri Allen, who is part of the outrigger club, accepted the award on behalf of the entire team.

“Every stroke counts, and when you get it right, you move as one, as a single force gliding through the waves,” Allen said, adding that “it’s a perfect metaphor for protecting our coast, we’re all on the same boat. Literally and figuratively, the threats and challenges we face are considerable, but we go farther and stronger when we move as one.”

Statewide awards

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Habitat Enhancement Section was recognized “For Dedicated Service and Collaboration for Oyster Habitat Creation.”

Marine Debris Program Director Ted Wilgis of the Coastal Federation’s Wrightsville Beach office, said that the division’s habitat enhancement section had since 1996 built almost 800 acres of oyster sanctuary and a cultch-planting program, where oysters can be harvested.

Jason Peters, program supervisor for restoration work, said he and Enhancement Section Chief Zach Harrison were accepting the award on behalf of all of the dedicated and hardworking state employees who are involved.

“We’ve got a crew of vessel operators, equipment operators, divers, field biologists, supervisors all play an integral role in this work. And we’re just, we’re very fortunate to have such great staff,” Peters said.

Harrison added that he and his team were “honored and humbled to be just a small cog in such a big machine driving the North Carolina coast forward and environmentalism in the U.S. forward.”

Worth Creech of the firm Native Shorelines was honored for “For Advancing Community Oyster Shell Recycling and Coastal Restoration”

Coastal Resiliency Manager Sarah Bodin said Creech “has been an absolute transformative force in the world of oyster shell recycling and coastal restoration through tireless dedication, community engagement and innovative thinking.”

He did this by building public awareness, and relationships with restaurants, volunteers and restoration professionals. “His efforts have directly contributed to restoring oyster habitats, enhancing biodiversity and protecting shorelines from erosion,” Bodin said.

Creech told the crowd that you never know what you’ll get a passion for in life, and “you certainly don’t know whether it’s going to be something as stinky as oyster shells, but it happened to me with Native Shorelines,” adding he’s always “inspired by those who did this hard work before me.”

The Kenan Fellows Program for Teacher Leadership was recognized “For Cultivating Coastal Collaboration and Empowering Educators”

Bisesi said the program empowers “educators to lead in both the classroom and the community, and provide immersive experiences and professional development by equipping teachers to with the tools they need to inspire the next generation.”

Associate Director Mark Townley told the audience that since connecting eight years ago with the organization, “I can honestly say that the Coastal Federation is an exemplar of what a partnership should and can look like to really make a huge impact with K-through-12 public school education in the state of North Carolina.”

Attorney John Harris was recognized “For Outstanding Business and Community Collaboration to Advance Coastal Stewardship”

Coastal Federation founder and Senior Adviser to the Executive Director Todd Miller, said that Harris began working with the organization in 1997 on the Hoop Pole Creek project in Atlantic Beach. Harris is a partner in the Wyatt, Early, Harris, Wheeler firm’s Morehead City office.

“John’s legal work made it possible for the Coastal Federation to buy out a condominium and marina development and permanently protect 30 acres of rare maritime forests,” Miller said, adding that it was the first property ever purchased in the state using the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust Fund.

“Since then, John has finally helped us conserve nearly 15,000 acres of coastal lands, forests, marshes, creeks, all protected because he made sure every deal was done right,” Miller added.

Harris told the crowd that he was “honored to be able to preserve clean water in our wetlands and to help them purchase land for our grandchildren and generations to come to enjoy what we have Here at the coast.”

Those slabs of meat labeled “shark” on display in grocery stores and seafood markets might be from a critically endangered species and contain significant levels of mercury, according to a new study.

The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill paper, “Sale of critically endangered sharks in the United States” was published Tuesday in Frontiers in Marine Science journal. The study was funded by the university and the National Science Foundation.

Students in the university’s undergraduate-level seafood forensic course analyzed the DNA of 29 shark meat samples collected from 19 filets purchased in grocery stores, seafood markets and Asian specialty markets, mostly in North Carolina, and from 10 products called “jerky” that was ordered online.

Out of the samples, 27 “were ambiguously labeled as shark or mako shark but not as a specific species.” Of the two samples that were labeled, one was shortfin shark mislabeled as blacktip shark, and the other was correctly labeled.

The students identified 11 different species, three of which the Union for Conservation of Nature has designated as critically endangered: great hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead and tope.

“Previous studies have found that the first two species contain very high levels of mercury, illustrating the implications of seafood mislabeling for human health. The availability of shark meat in U.S. grocery stores is surprising given the dramatic decline of shark populations globally,” the authors wrote. “Moreover, the fact that nearly all shark meat is labeled ambiguously or incorrectly amplifies the problem. Accurate, verified product labels for shark meat would benefit consumers and shark conservation efforts, and should be a priority for the seafood industry.”

Savannah Ryburn, the lead author of the study, is a marine ecologist who recently earned her doctorate from UNC Chapel Hill. She and distinguished professor John Bruno are co-instructors for the class.

Ryburn told Coastal Review Tuesday that the main goal of the study was to figure out what species are being sold and if there’s any cause for concern, to which, “we would say ‘yes.’”

Just in the 29 samples analyzed, three were the meat of critically endangered species that are extremely high in mercury, which can be very dangerous for human consumption, Ryburn highlighted.

Finding the highly endangered shark species among the samples is a big conservation concern, “but even more perversely,” Bruno explained, these are long-lived, high-trophic level species with high mercury concentrations.

“Nobody should be eating hammerhead sharks,” Bruno said, because they’re loaded with mercury and the consumer has no idea, since the meat is sold as shark.

“We don’t know if it’s a spiny dogfish that’s low in the food chain, not very long lived, not very big, probably not super concerning in terms of tissue content, but there’s just no way to know,” Bruno added.

With this ambiguous labeling, Ryburn continued, sellers are taking away the consumer’s choice. “It’s very concerning when it comes to the general labeling,” particularly considering their findings are from such a small sample size. “It just raises more concerns for the actual shark meat market in the United States.”

Bruno explained that the shark populations are being decimated by fishing, and mostly for its fin. There are regulations in place that require the fisher to land the entire shark, not just cut off the fin, which is one reason the meat is being sold in stores.

Bruno explained that the fin is shipped to Asia, where it is in demand, and then the rest of the meat goes into either the pet food supply or the human food supply, but it’s not lucrative. The average price in the Raleigh area was around $5 a pound.

The United States Food and Drug Administration only requires sellers to have the meat labeled as shark, Ryburn continued.

The results of the study led the authors to emphasize “that sellers need to be required to label their product to the species name, rather than just shark, so that it can be more regulated and consumers have more of a choice,” she said. “In Europe, their regulations are a bit more specific when it comes to labeling sharks to the species level, so we definitely recommend following suit with that European regulation.”

Seafood Forensics

Bruno is a marine ecologist who, about a decade ago, designed the Seafood Forensics class for students to do the actual research testing and certifying seafood.

“We purchase seafood in grocery stores and restaurants, and we sequence it to identify what it really is, and we quantify mislabeling,” Bruno said. “We teach the undergraduate students about seafood mislabeling,” and use DNA barcoding to figure out what stores are actually selling.

Students are taught basic lab skills such as how to extract and sequence DNA, how to read the sequences and compare them to online databases, or DNA barcoding. Previous classes have studied red snapper and shrimp, for example.

Ryburn explained that the students design the research project they work on throughout the semester.

The idea to study shark meat evolved from a student telling the class that she noticed a grocery store was selling meat under the generic label of “shark,” though there’s hundreds of species of sharks, and they vary, she said.

The students collected the samples, most of which were labeled “shark,” and then began going through the process to identify the species.

About sharks

Ryburn, who studied sharks for her doctorate, said the animal is vital to the overall function and health of the marine ecosystem but “they’re currently being fished at extremely high rates throughout the whole world.”

Many of the species are long lived and, as a result, the populations don’t replenish quickly. If a large number is removed by fishing, it is hard for the population to recover at a sustainable rate.

She called sharks the “cleanup crew” for marine ecosystems, because they prey on injured or sick animals, making the populations of other species stronger.

If there are no sharks to help manage the population of other species, this will cause a cascading effect on the overall health within the ecosystem.

As for the threats to human health, shark meat is similar to tuna, in that there’s a very high level of mercury in its tissue, and that is due to something called bioaccumulation, which is the buildup of chemicals in an organism over time.

“Predators that are higher up in the food chain tend to accumulate more mercury in their tissue from the prey that they’re eating, because everything has mercury in its tissue,” Ryburn said. But with larger predators that live longer and eat bigger prey, the animal tends to accumulate more mercury, and that mercury never leaves the tissue.

Some shark species even eat tuna, like the mako shark, and they’re accumulating all of that mercury when they eat.

“If we go and eat something that’s super high in mercury, we’re also absorbing that mercury into our bodies, and mercury can cause major health issues and even cause people to die,” she said.

Researchers found in a recent study that, over the long term, bulkhead structures have a “significant negative effect” on marsh habitat size.

Using high-resolution imagery from 1981 of Carteret County’s Bogue and Back sounds and Newport and North rivers, the team measured the marsh extent, or total marsh area, at 45 sites with bulkheads and 45 natural sites, or those without the type of hardened structure. The 1981 measurements were then compared to the data from images collected in 1992, 2006 and 2013 of the same 90 sites.

The study found that all 45 bulkhead sites experienced marsh shoreline erosion during the 32-year study period, with complete marsh loss at 11% of the sites with bulkheads. More than 80% of the 45 natural marsh control sites experienced shoreline erosion, but at seven sites, around 15%, the marsh shoreline accreted waterward. None of the control sites experienced complete marsh loss.

“Our study found bulkheads nearly tripled the rate of marsh loss over a 32-year period. All of the 45 marshes we studied in front of a bulkhead got smaller or disappeared entirely,” Principal investigator Brandon Puckett explained to Coastal Review.

Puckett is a research marine biologist for the Coastal Resilience, Restoration and Assessment Branch in National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, which partnered with Duke University and North Carolina Division of Coastal Management on the study.

“At the 45 natural marsh sites without bulkheads, the story was different. While many of them also eroded, more than a third actually held their ground or even grew by migrating inland into upland habitat. Bulkheads prevent marsh migration leading to a process known as ‘coastal squeeze’ whereby the marshes are not only eroding at the front edge, but are also blocked from migrating upland,” the Beaufort-based scientist said.

The study, “Bulkheads Reduce Salt Marsh Extent: A Multidecadal Assessment Using Remote Sensing,” was published this summer in the nonprofit Coastal Education and Research Foundation’s Journal of Coastal Research.

“Think of it this way,” Puckett continued. “Over the 32 years of our study — close to the length of a mortgage — the average marsh in front of a bulkhead lost about 15 feet of width. A natural marsh, on the other hand, lost only about 5 feet of width on average, because it could often make up for erosion by migrating upland.”

Of Carteret County’s 1,530 miles of estuarine shoreline, salt marsh accounts for about 1,270 miles, roughly 87 miles is hardened with bulkheads, and the remaining 11% is a different shoreline type or hardened structure other than bulkheads, like riprap.

The Division of Coastal Management, which is under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, calls bulkheads the “most commonly used estuarine shoreline stabilization method” in the state “but could have deleterious impacts on the marsh habitats where they are being constructed.”

Factors contributing to the deterioration of salt marsh habitats include sea level rise and coastal development, which often result in hardened shoreline stabilization structures like bulkheads or seawalls constructed to protect against coastal hazards such as erosion, flooding and subsequent property damage, according to the study. “Concurrently, the many ecosystem services salt marshes provide, such as storm surge protection, carbon sequestration, improved water quality, and nursery habitat, are also diminishing.”

Authors state that the study is intended to offer a better understanding of how hardened shorelines like bulkheads “can have a significant negative effect on marsh extent through increased erosion of the waterward edge and prevention of landward migration with” sea level rise.

Why look at bulkheads and marsh loss?

Puckett told Coastal Review that the team decided to pursue the study after they realized they were “watching two powerful trends collide: the decline of essential marsh habitats and the increase in shoreline armoring,” provoking the question “’Is the solution to one shoreline erosion (bulkheads) actually making the other problem — marsh loss — worse?’”

He noted that scientists have long suspected that the hardened structures harm marshes but there wasn’t a lot of long-term data demonstrating these impacts. “We wanted to look back in time to objectively compare the long-term rates of change in marsh loss in locations with and without shoreline armoring.”

To get what Puckett called a “fair, apples-to-apples comparison,” the team “essentially became historical detectives” using the old aerial photographs, which were taken around low tide, when marsh shorelines were most visible. The study area was chosen because the historic aerial imagery was available.

They pored over the 1981 photos to find 45 locations where a fringe of salt marsh already existed with a bulkhead behind it. Then, for each of those 45 bulkhead sites, they located a nearby natural marsh without a bulkhead.

“We were careful to select control sites that were exposed to similar wave and wind conditions so that we were comparing like with like,” Puckett continued. “We meticulously traced the waterward and landward edges of the marsh at each site for each of the four imagery sets. By comparing these digital outlines over time, we could precisely measure both the erosion at the front of the marsh and its migration (or lack thereof) at the back.”

One of the more striking surprises from the study, Puckett said, is that the negative effects of bulkheads are almost invisible over shorter time spans.

“When we analyzed the data in smaller chunks — say, over a seven- to 14-year period — the difference in erosion rates between the bulkhead and natural sites wasn’t statistically significant. It was only by looking across the entire 32-year period that the dramatic, long-term impact became undeniable,” he said. It’s a true ‘death by a thousand cuts,’ and it tells us that short-term assessments can easily miss the entire story.”

The discovery also raises a new question about what’s driving erosion.

“We found that the fastest erosion rates occurred between 2006 and 2013, the period during our study with the highest rate of relative sea-level rise,” he said, “but not the stormiest from a tropical storm and hurricane perspective. This suggests that the constant, daily pressure of higher water levels might be a more powerful force in eating away at marsh edges than the occasional big storm, which challenges some common assumptions.”

‘Study is unique’

Authors state that this study is “the first to investigate the long-term impacts of structures on loss of marsh extent and provide useful information for better understanding the effects of shoreline hardening on salt marsh ecosystems,” which Puckett expounded on for Coastal Review.

“This study is unique for a few key reasons,” Puckett said. “Conceptually, we’ve known that bulkheads can expedite loss of marsh through reflecting wave energy and preventing migration, but this is one of the first studies to provide empirical evidence to support our conceptual understanding.”

The study analyzes more than 30 years of data, enabling the team to illustrate the slow, cumulative impacts that shorter studies could miss. “Environmental changes often don’t happen overnight, and this long-term view is critical,” he continued.

The research specifically focuses on what happens to the existing marsh that is left in front of a bulkhead, as well.

“Many people might think that as long as you leave some marsh, you’re preserving its function. Our work shows that while this may be true in the short-term, this leftover fringe marsh is often living on borrowed time because it can’t easily adapt to rising seas,” Puckett said.

And lastly, the team didn’t just measure erosion at the water’s edge, but also measured the movement of the landward boundary.

“This allowed us to calculate the net change in marsh area and definitively show that preventing landward migration is a critical factor that turns a shoreline erosion problem into a catastrophic loss of habitat. It’s this comprehensive look at both sides of the marsh over such a long period that is a unique component of this research,” he said.

Though disheartening, Puckett said it’s crucial to know that “this isn’t just a story about loss. It’s also a story about resilience and hope. The ‘good news’ from our study is that where marshes had space to move, they did.”

In the 45 natural sites studied, more than a third of the marshes were stable or even grew by migrating into upland habitats, both proving that marshes are naturally resilient and can adapt if given the room and pointing to a path forward to help address marsh erosion and migration.

“First, to combat erosion at the water’s edge, we can use living shorelines. Instead of hard walls, these solutions use natural materials like oyster reefs and native plants to slow wave energy while maintaining the vital intertidal connection between land and water. This helps preserve the marsh’s front edge. However, a marsh still may need room to move inland to adapt to sea-level rise,” Puckett said.

And a “second, equally critical part of the solution is to protect marsh migration corridors through land-use planning and conservation,” he added.

The corridors are undeveloped land set aside to allow marshes to move upland to survive rather than drowning in place.

“It is the combination of using living shorelines to reduce erosion and allowing for landward migration that can reduce the effects of coastal squeeze. We have a chance now to help protect our salt marshes that are the nurseries for our fisheries, our buffer from storm surge, and our natural water cleansers,” Puckett said.

The North Carolina Sea Turtle Project kept careful watch over incubating nests threatened by the ocean overwash, storm surge and erosion associated with mid-August’s Hurricane Erin.

Under the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the N.C. Sea Turtle Project is a coastwide, collaborative conservation effort that brings together federal, state, conservation and volunteer groups to monitor sea turtle activity, particularly during nesting and hatching season from early May to mid-November.

The commission’s sea turtle biologist Matthew Godfrey, who manages the project, explained to Coastal Review that about half of all sea turtle nests laid in the state had finished incubation before Hurricane Erin impacts began to arrive. Of the nests that were still incubating, nearly all experienced at least some overwash because of large waves and wind associated with the hurricane.

Coastal flooding and other signs of the storm moving north off the coast began around Aug. 19 and lasted throughout the week as the storm moved north.

“Several beaches reported observing entire nests being washed away, and others reported today (Aug. 26) that some remaining nests experienced the emergence of hatchlings overnight,” illustrating that some sea turtle eggs can withstand storm-related inundation and still produce hatchlings, Godfrey said.

Loggerhead, green, Kemp’s ridley, leatherback and hawksbill sea turtles all come ashore to lay eggs. The females return to the beach every few weeks to nest, up to four times a season. It usually takes about 55 days for the eggs to hatch. Nests can be excavated after a minimum of three days after the first hatchling emerges, or when the commission grants permission, if the nest is unsuccessful.

“We won’t have a full account of how many nests were lost or negatively impacted until the end of the season, but based on experience from other years, it is likely that those lost to Erin will include nests that had been moved from more exposed areas to seemingly safer areas of the beach,” he said.

Godfrey explained that sea turtles have been around for millennia, surviving despite impacts from storms and hurricanes on their nests.

“Part of the life history strategy of sea turtles is to lay large clutches of eggs in nests on sandy beaches across different locations and times of the summer to spread out the risks associated with egg incubation in a dynamic environment, such as coastal areas,” he said. “While storms like Hurricane Erin may reduce the production of hatchlings from some specific nests, the overall rate of hatchling production from NC nests should remain relatively good this year.”

Through the Sea Turtle Project, the Wildlife Resources Commission permits more than 20 different groups that help monitor sea turtle nesting and strandings on North Carolina beaches.

Outer Banks

Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, or N.E.S.T., President Tony Parisi said that there have been 29 nests this season from their patrol area, the Virginia line to south Nags Head. There were 18 nests as of Aug. 20, before the state began seeing significant effects from Hurricane Erin.

“There isn’t a lot we can do to protect nests in situations like this,” Parisi explained. “Before Erin struck, our main preparation for the storm was removing stakes and signs, and making provisions to find the nest if everything gets washed away or covered.”

One nest in Corolla was partially washed out, and a few others had significant sand accumulation, including one in Corolla and another in Southern Shores, Parisi said, adding that the organization won’t know how many nests or hatchlings survived until the nests are excavated. 

“The survival rate is dependent on several factors, primarily how much a nest was over washed and how long it remained underwater,” she said. “In some cases, we may have to wait 75 days after a nest is laid before we can excavate,” or 90 days for nests laid after July 31.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore Public Affairs Specialist Mike Barber said the staff during post-storm assessments found that out of 109 nests that were in the ground prior to Hurricane Erin, 35 were lost due to storm impacts and 72 nests were overwashed, which may increase losses attributed to the storm.

Central Coast

At Cape Lookout National Seashore, Hurricane Erin washed out 49 sea turtle nests, but 69 nests remained on the seashore’s beaches as of Aug. 27. There have been 225 sea turtle nests so far this year at the National Park Service site in Carteret County.

Chief of Resource Management Jon Altman said that before the storm, staff excavated and inventoried the hatched nests to collect the data before those nests were washed out.

“Since we lose a few days of monitoring, we know we will lose some information,” he said.

That information can include knowing when nests hatch during a storm and survive, or when new nests are laid on the beach and track evidence is obscured by strong winds.

“Without direct observation evidence those events are unknown,” he said.

After the storm, staff assessed the beach and documented nests that were washed out, buried under sand or overwashed, and how many remained on the beaches. The nests in or on the dunes, where there’s higher ground, generally fared better.

“The sea turtle nesting season extends into September, and we have had three new nests since Hurricane Erin passed by,” Altman said last week.

For Fort Macon State Park, five of the six nests at the site hatched before the storm, Superintendent Randy Newman said.

There’s one nest still on the beach, which was overwashed several times during the storm with about a foot of sand being deposited on top of the nest. “We have removed the sand back to pre-storm levels over the nest. Now we wait a couple of weeks to see if the nest will hatch or not,” he said.

Atlantic Beach Sea Turtle Project Volunteer Coordinator Michele Lamping told Coastal Review that fortunately, the sea turtles had already hatched and entered the ocean before the storm. Lamping, who is the sea turtle specialist for the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, said the ocean reached the dunes in several places and would have drowned the nests had they not already emerged and entered the sea.

Farther south on Bogue Banks, Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol Program Coordinator and President Dale Baquer said that this year’s sea turtle season got off to a great start with 23 nests, which is better than average.

There were 13 successful hatches, with an 85% total hatch rate, leading up to the storm.

“We knew Hurricane Erin would bring high tides. We had planned to remove all extra equipment off the beach, and pound our stakes in Monday night ahead of the storm. We were inundated with higher tides sooner than expected,” Baquer said, so volunteers rushed out the afternoon of Aug. 18 to shore up the nests after receiving calls about the nests being under water.

Baqur said there were 10 nests before the storm, one of which hatched overnight during the storm, and one was completely washed out — the turtles and eggs were swept out by waves.

The volunteers are waiting until the remaining eight nests “either hatch or approach day 75 of the incubation cycle, when we are permitted to excavate,” he continued. “The nests took on some heavy waves but sometimes nature can be amazing.”

Hammocks Beach State Park Ranger Renee Evans said that there were nine nests, six of which successfully hatched before Hurricane Erin on the beach at the park near Swansboro.

The remaining nests experienced significant over wash, and one nest is completely gone. Another nest saw some overwash, and per the commission’s program protocol, the nest will be excavated after 75 days, when they’ll be able to determine the final outcome of that nest. 

“However, our third nest survived all odds,” Evans said. On Monday, Aug. 25, “I discovered that the nest hatched at some point during the storm last week. Park staff excavated the nest and found 155 eggs in which 80 of them had hatched. There were even 37 live hatchlings still in the nest and ready for that swim. Park staff released them to the ocean.”

Cape Fear Region

Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center Deputy and Conservation Director Terry Meyer said that for the region they patrol, “fortunately, we had about half our 90 nests hatch prior to the high tides.”

The Topsail Island-based organization lost fewer than 10 nests outright, Meyer said, and how the nests were lost depended on where they were on the island’s more than 20 miles of beach.

In some cases, markers indicating where the nest’s location were washed out and no eggs were found after the storm. The beach gained sand as well. Some eggs were under 2 feet of sand, and had several tides of standing water, “so we wait and see what happens there,” Meyer said. About a dozen nests were high and remained dry, and were expected to hatch as normal.

Audubon North Carolina Coastal Biologist Lindsay Addison said the conservation organization monitors Lea-Hutaff Island, a 4-mile-long undeveloped barrier island between Figure 8 Island and Topsail Island.

“This year, we have 23 nests and three probable nests,” which refers to egg chambers that were not confirmed when the crawl was found, Addison said.

“When Erin passed offshore, 15 of those 26 total nests were still incubating. Nine of them experienced overwash. We are continuing to monitor all nests on the island and will know over time if the eggs in the overwashed nests survived or failed,” Addison said. “After the storm has passed, we record the condition of the nests and may, depending on the circumstances of each nest, remove any additional sand that has accumulated over the top of the nests.”

There were 40 documented sea turtle nests, all loggerheads, at the Masonboro Island Reserve. The reserve is one of 10 protected sites under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management.

Southern Sites Manager Elizabeth Pinnix said last week that when the effects of Hurricane Erin began on Aug. 19, almost half of the nests, or 17 of the 40, had already hatched.

Hurricane Erin produced large surf and wave runup on most of the 8.5-mile stretch of Masonboro Island with some of the more low-lying and dune-lacking areas experiencing wave overwash from the ocean to the marsh.

The reserve lost two nests as a result. Nearly half of those remaining experienced some overwash.

As of last week, the reserve had 19 nests still incubating on the beach. “Fortunately, most of our remaining nests were situated on dunes or higher portions of the beach where they experienced overwash, but were not completely washed out and lost. Many nests can experience a small amount of overwash events and remain viable, as long as they don’t remain in standing water or become exposed for a long period of time,” she said.

Bald Head Island Conservancy Sea Turtle Biologist Paul Hillbrand explained that during the storm, both daily high tides were consistently reaching the dune toe in most areas of the island. The team assessed how much water was on the beach during high tides and how much sand was accumulating or being displaced.

“Once Erin passed, we still had significant tides into the weekend. We started recovery Sunday and Monday when we replaced runways and dug out cages (nests) that had accumulated more than a foot of sand,” he said.

Of the 22 remaining nests at the time, all but one was either significantly washed over or consistently in the surf line in the hours surrounding the high tides.

“We were fortunate to not have any nests completely washed out, but significant overwash is not ideal. That being said, we are hopeful that some of the resilient nests are capable of withstanding this tide event,” Hillbrand continued. “We have had two nests hatch since Erin passed, providing hope for my team, volunteers, & the island alike.”

Caswell Beach Turtle Watch Co-Coordinator Jamie Lloyd began by explaining that the beach there struggled with severe erosion in the last year, especially on the east end near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, which “greatly impacted our nesting turtles as there was no beach to lay in some areas. We had a high number of false crawls. Add to that king tides and Hurricane Erin swells and we had tidal trouble for the nests that were laid.”

Lloyd said they “painfully watched” as the tidal swells from the storm overwashed nine of the 10 remaining nests for three or four days, twice a day. Some were splashed over repeatedly and a few were under standing water for hours.

“Fortunately, none of our nests or nest stakes were washed away, but some had up to a foot of sand accretion,” she said.

One nest has hatched since the storm, which Lloyd said they inventoried three days later. The nest was a large clutch of 140 eggs, with 94 developed.

“We have teams monitoring the other nine nests daily and nightly for activity. Nests that do not hatch by Day 75 of incubation will be excavated and closed with permission” from Wildlife Resources Commission, she said.

Ocean Isle Beach Sea Turtle Protection Organization Coordinator Deb Allen said the organization as of Wednesday had verified 40 nests on the island, and 17 nests emerged on or before Aug. 10. 

“The surge from Hurricane Erin overwashed or submerged nests with ocean water,” which Allen said put the incubating nests in danger of partial or total loss of the nest, but four nests did emerge as the surge from Erin came close to the nests.

“Teams were able to inventory the nests, getting 424 hatchlings to their ocean home prior to nests being underwater. A visitor reported 20 hatchlings were emerging from nest 25. The team arrived as the egg chamber began to fill with water. The team was able to save 116 hatchlings from drowning,” Allen said. “We think we lost 18 nests but are hoping for a better outcome.”

A chance to climb to the top of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse and look over the expanse of uninhabited barrier islands, sounds and the Atlantic Ocean might be in the foreseeable future now that a much-anticipated, multiyear, projected $15 million renovation project is expected to begin this month.

National Park Service officials announced Friday that Stone and Lime Historic Restoration Inc. received the contract and the work that should start soon could take up to three years to complete.

“The Cape Lookout Lighthouse has long stood as a sentinel for mariners navigating the treacherous waters of the Southern Outer Banks. Time and elements have taken their toll on the structure, prompting the National Park Service to initiate a full preservation effort aimed at safeguarding the lighthouse for future generations,” officials said.

The Cape Lookout Lighthouse is a double-walled, 163-foot-tall tower with a spiral cast iron staircase winding through the interior. First lit on Nov. 1, 1859, the structure, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, replaced the 1812 lighthouse that previously stood on the island. The National Park Service established in March 1966 the Cape Lookout National Seashore, which is made up of 56 miles of undeveloped barrier islands in Carteret County.

“This renovation marks a pivotal step in preserving one of North Carolina’s most iconic landmarks,” Acting Superintendent Katherine Cushinberry said in a statement. “The lighthouse is not only a critical aid to navigation but also a symbol of our coastal heritage.”

Cushinberry is in the temporary role following the retirement this summer of the seashore’s previous superintendent, Jeff West.

Chief of Interpretation and Public Information Officer BG Horvat told Coastal Review that the restoration project includes the repair or replacement of the 200-plus metal stairs, handrails, landings, glass panes, windows and doors, plus new paint for the black-and-white exterior, which will allow the original bricks to “breathe,” or allow air to flow throughout the tower, as it was designed.

Stone & Lime has overseen several lighthouse projects for the National Park Service, including the multi-year restoration of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, which is suffering from similar structural and cosmetic concerns, the company said.

The Massachusetts-based restoration company in a June 6 press release announced that it had been selected to manage the Cape Lookout Lighthouse project and will “oversee a variety of historically sensitive repairs that ensure the public will be able to have access to the Lighthouse in the future while fortifying it against the impacts of the ocean environment, especially as hurricanes and other meteorological events growth in strength and frequency.”

Horvat told Coastal Review that the restoration company won the contract because “their bid was the most successful based on the needs of the project, their experience in historic preservation work, and what the park’s needs were to get the work done with high quality and historic preservation in mind.”

Safety issues for the structure are numerous, which is why the public climbing season stopped after an annual inspection of the tower in 2021, prompting discussions about a renovation, Horvat said.

The concerns were first noted during a preseason safety inspection early that year. That’s when staff pinpointed compromised structural components such as stairs and handrails. Engineers were then brought in for more in-depth inspections, resulting in a list of things to consider repairing.

“The lighthouse was built in 1859. The iron components of the tower are all original. In many areas it is corroded away, or deteriorating. For example, some of the landings are bowing. The metal doorway to the gallery at the top has a small hole in it. The handrails and stairs are rusty in several places,” he said. “The list is pretty big considering the age of all this metal that acts like the ‘bones’ of the whole structure.”

While the tower is undergoing repairs, “the biggest thing” visitors may notice is the refurbishing the ironwork of the watch, lantern and dome levels at the uppermost section of the lighthouse, Horvat said.

“The whole top of the lighthouse will come off, and a temporary cap will be placed atop of the lighthouse tower until the refurbishment is complete. Then, the top of the lighthouse will be placed back where it belongs, new and improved, adhering to historic preservation standards,” he explained.

Visitors will also notice that the lighthouse exterior will be stripped to bare red brick — the first time since 1873 — and then repainted with a breathable paint to help stabilize the moisture content of the bricks. 

Although the lighthouse was completed on Nov. 1, 1859, with its original red brick tower, back in those days, the Lighthouse Board “decided that each coastal light would have its own day-mark pattern, allowing mariners a way to note their location during daytime, as each lighthouse displays a distinct flash pattern at night,” he said.

The Bureau of Lighthouses, established in 1852, replaced the Lighthouse Board in 1910. The U.S. Coast Guard absorbed the bureau in 1939, caring for the lighthouse until 2003, when ownership was transferred to the National Park Service.

“In 1873, Cape Lookout Lighthouse was painted with its distinctive black-and-white diagonal checkers, or diamond pattern,” Horvat said. “Since then, there have been numerous paint jobs to brighten up the day-mark pattern on the lighthouse,” and for some of those layers, oil-based paint was used, which doesn’t allow the exterior to breathe and damages the masonry.

The more breathable types, such as water-based paints, “work with the original red brick masonry to allow moisture built up in the bricks to move freely, or evaporate rather than create pockets of condensation within the tower. Trapped moisture accelerates the deterioration of the bricks and lends to the corrosive problems on the interior metals as well,” he said.

Also, there have been various types of cements used inappropriately for patchwork over the years.

“Of course, materials like paint and cement have all changed over the last 166 years,” Horvat said.

Money for the restoration comes from a combination of sources, including National Park Service line-item construction funds, Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act revenues and cyclic maintenance funds.

“These resources enable us to enhance and maintain our facilities for the benefit of the public,” Horvat said.

While the lighthouse and the immediate area are closed to the public during the renovations over the next few years, visitors are encouraged to explore the rest of the park, like the scenic beaches, and the cultural historic sites. Interpretive programs and updates on the restoration progress will be available through the seashore’s website and social media.

MOREHEAD CITY – Keep telling your story.

That was the message to those who attended the first meeting of the North Carolina Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition held Tuesday afternoon in the Crystal Coast Civic Center.

Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard, who initiated the coalition to be a voice for the commercial fishing industry, welcomed elected officials and staff from Beaufort, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Hertford, Hyde, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington counties, and 10 coastal legislators or their representative.

“We’ve got a lot of folks here today concerned about this coalition, and this effort,” Woodard said, adding that many of the more than 100 in the audience were in Raleigh to protest House Bill 442.

But the head of the state’s recreational fishing association called the group’s goals “disappointing.”

‘No due process’

First introduced in March to open up the recreational season for flounder and red snapper, the Senate amended the bill in mid-June to include a trawling ban in the state’s inland waters and within a half-mile of the shoreline.

The proposed ban was met with both outcry and support, but when the Senate kicked the amended bill back to the House, representatives chose not to advance the bill. Since June 25, the bill has been parked in a House committee.

Woodard set the coalition in motion July 3 with a letter to the 18 other coastal counties that border bodies of water from which licensed commercial fishermen are required to report their catch, representing 20% of the state’s counties, he explained.

“That should send a clear voice to our legislators, that we got 20% of the entire counties in the state of North Carolina, and hopefully we will grow up more for people that believe in eating the fresh local seafood from clean, clear waters in our state, rather than foreign food that comes into our country. I don’t know about you, but I want to eat fresh, seafood,” he said.

When Woodard began the meeting Tuesday, he told the crowd that he was “appalled to see that (proposed trawling ban) went to the House,” and wrote a letter June 30 to Senate Leader Phil Berger.

Woodard read the second paragraph of that letter aloud: “Our democratic system, established by our forefathers, was designed to ensure that every voice in leadership could be heard-whether in support or opposition. At its core, our Constitution is built on mutual respect and, most importantly, due process.”

Woodard said, “everyone in this room sitting here today certainly knows there was no due process,” and then explained how he pitched the idea to form the coalition to a fellow commissioner.

“I said, ‘Enough is enough.’ I’ve been a chairman in Dare County for the last 10 years. I’ve been on the board the last 12 years,” Woodard said. “Every single year, we have to fight the regulatory agencies. We have to fight the leadership.”

It was time “to come together, not just counties, not just fishermen, but stakeholders all over the south and this entire state. We need to educate those legislators that aren’t living on the coast.”

Once given the board’s blessing, Woodard sent the letter proposing the North Carolina Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition.

“The goal of this coalition is to bring together county leaders from coastal regions to address these critical issues with a unified voice. By coordinating our efforts, we can better advocate for the long-term health and sustainability of our fisheries, our local economies and our fishermen’s way of life,” Woodard said.

About the coalition

Members agreed that the coalition would be a public body and have its next meeting at 1 p.m. Sept. 16 in the civic center, ahead of when the legislature is expected to convene.

After that, the coalition will meet quarterly in Carteret County because of its central location.

Woodard emphasized he wanted the coalition to be “as transparent as humanly possible,” adding he wanted the “public to be here.”

The coalition adopted a mission statement to support commercial fishermen and fishing communities, protect their livelihoods, preserve coastal heritage, “and safeguard the economic vitality of our working waterfronts. Together, we work to ensure the continued harvest of high-quality North Carolina seafood—feeding families, strengthening communities, and ensuring North Carolina Catch remains a priority for consumers to enjoy throughout our state and beyond.”

During the discussion, Pamlico County Commissioner Candy Bohmert said that the coalition should focus on promoting — rather than stating it’s out to save — the commercial fishing industry.

“We don’t need to save these people. They save themselves. We need to empower them,” Bohmert said. “We really need to kind of change that language. We’re promoting them. We’re promoting our commercial history. We’re promoting all of that because they’re important.”

Bobby Outten, Dare County’s manager and attorney, is to serve as staff to the board.

Outten explained that the intention with the coalition is to act as a governmental body.

“The fisheries groups have for years been working hard to deal with fisheries issues, and what we found is the legislators aren’t listening, and it’s a hard road, and it’s a tough time,” Outten said.

The idea is to get the governmental entities of the affected counties together and “then be the voice for the political side of this,” Outten said.

Fisheries groups will still be the resource to disseminate the information, but the coalition will be “the voice of the political counties.”

From the legislators

There were nearly a dozen coastal legislators at the meeting, including Sen. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck. Hanig has been a vocal opponent of the trawling ban since it was first proposed at a Senate committee meeting June 17.

“We’ve never had the opportunity to tell our story. Well, guess what God brought us? He brought us H442, and you know what that did? That wasn’t the shot heard around the world. That was the backfire heard around the world. Let me tell you why. Now we have the ability to be on the offense, and we have to keep that ability to be on the offense,” Hanig said.

That bill “is allowing us to tell our story,” he said, adding that it led to the coalition and got 700 people to Raleigh in about three days.

The turnout in Raleigh brought together various aspects of the industry, such as commercial fishermen, packing houses, “everybody. You know why? Because what’s the first thing they went after? The shrimp, right? They’re going after everything,” Hanig said. “Because that’s what they’re after, folks, they make no qualms about it. They’re after our industry.”

In response to an audience member asking who “they” are, Hanig said “Pick someone. The CCA, the Wildlife Federation, certain legislators, you know, their efforts. They’re after this industry. They make no bones about it. They’ve been telling the wrong story, the false story, for too long, and we haven’t stopped that.” The CCA is the Coastal Conservation Association North Carolina.

“I implore you, tell your story. Do not be afraid to tell your story,” Hanig said. “Let them know where you’re coming from, because those stories matter.”

Rep. Carson Smith, R-Pender, told the crowd that people in Raleigh think there’s no fish, no crabs, no shrimp, that “our fishery is completely depleted, because that’s what the Marine Fisheries Commission is telling them.”

He added that this message is what he feels pitted recreational against commercial fishing, and “they think that the shrimp trawl has killed all the fish.”

Smith suggested two resolutions: Ask the “General Assembly to completely redo the Marine Fisheries Commission,” and “tell the Wildlife Resources Commission, ‘hey, stay in your lane.’ You count the trout in the mountains, but don’t use state resources” to try to close the commercial fishing industry down.

Sen. Bob Brinson, R-Beaufort, said the best way to educate folks in Raleigh is by “getting them on your boats, getting them in your oyster beds, getting them in your fish houses, and showing them what it is you do and how you do it.”

Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Carteret, explained that when the Senate voted on House Bill 442 June 19, four voted against, but 40-plus voted in favor, which he didn’t expect.

He later found out that the votes for the amendment were for the “environmental side because they claim that shrimp trawling was destroying the environment in our sound. That it was going to destroy all kinds of fishing. Well, that’s one of the talking points that the CCA has used for the last 20 years,” he said.

Sanderson said that he was also upset about how the bill was amended in the Senate, “because the process stunk to high heaven.”

He explained that he was co-chair in the Agriculture Committee when the amendment “first came about, and that is the last thing that you ever do to a committee chairman,” he said. “If you’ve got something that’s going to be contentious, if you’ve got something that’s going to cause a lot of outcry or pushback,” you should go to them before the meeting. But Sanderson said that’s not what happened in this case.

“Let’s stay strong. Keep helping us. Keep telling your story, spreading this message across and around this state, so that the next time this happens, there’ll be an outcry from all over this state,” he said.

Response from CCA-NC

Coastal Conservation Association-North Carolina Executive Director David Sneed told Coastal Review in an email that “it is disappointing to read the goal of this new coalition is apparently to create a vehicle only for ‘battling issues that affect the state’s commercial fishing industry’ (fewer than 2,000 people who profit from a public trust resource) rather than acting in the public interest for the 11 million citizens of North Carolina who own our public trust resources and would benefit enormously from a healthy, sustainable coastal fishery.”

The coalition would be better served by recognizing the foundational, bedrock principles established by the public trust doctrine and the state’s constitution. “That North Carolina’s coastal fisheries resources belong to all 11 million citizens of this State and must be managed, preserved, and protected for the overall benefit of those citizens and future generations.  In addition, the coalition’s approach only divides and disenfranchises the not-for-profit fishing public that lives in and visits our coastal counties,” Sneed continued.

“There are more than 91,000 Coastal Recreational Fishing Licenses sold across the state’s 19 coastal counties each year, and it is reliably estimated that more than 300,000 people spend nearly $1.5 billion annually across the three Congressional Districts that encompass these 19 coastal counties—people who not only live in our coastal counties but also people from inland counties who visit our coast and spend money supporting our coastal fishing communities,” he said. “Our hope would be that any efforts by this coalition will be focused on building a true coalition in the public interest—one that will support the sound management of our coastal fisheries resources to achieve the long-term sustainability that all North Carolinians deserve and are entitled to under the law.”

With massive canines that could gore and then gnash its prey, prehistoric hell pigs were fierce predators before they went extinct 20 million years ago.

The four-hooved entelodonts, the scientific name for the land mammal that looked like a giant hippo-pig hybrid, had a skull half the size of its body with a jaw that could open more than 90 degrees to chomp its game.

“We’re talking, maybe 6 feet at the shoulder, closing in on 2,000 pounds, a massive head with these weird projections that made the skull look even more crazy,” Raleigh-based paleontologist Sean Moran told Coastal Review.

The hell pig, which isn’t a pig at all but is related to the hippo, is one of a dozen “exceedingly rare” early Miocene land mammal fossils recovered over the last several decades from a commercially owned rock quarry just outside Maysville, where Jones and Onslow counties meet.

These fossils help fill in the gaps of early Miocene biogeography, or how the animals were distributed across the Earth roughly 23 to 16 million years ago, according to a recent Cambridge University Press study.

“The Early Miocene is of great importance to understand the macroevolution and distribution of land mammals in North America. It marks the origins and major adaptive radiations of many modern families of mammals, and considerable faunal dispersal coinciding with global sea-level changes,” explains the paper titled, “Early Miocene land mammals and chronology of the Belgrade Formation, eastern North Carolina.”

Moran is an author of the paper and has been the paleontology and geology collections manager for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh since 2021.

The study looks at around 25 years’ worth of fossils collected from the Belgrade Formation, “where we only have a few dozen fossils of land mammals,” Moran said. He described the Belgrade Formation as a single, fairly thin stratigraphic, or rock, layer in Jones County and the vicinity.

The land mammal fossils found in Maysville “of this age are rare in eastern North America, north of Florida,” but similar fossils are found in abundance in Texas, Florida and Nebraska, the study says. “As such, the recovery of a small but biochronologically diagnostic assemblage of land mammals from (the Maysville quarry) makes it an important contribution to understand Early Miocene biogeography.” 

 A biochronologically diagnostic assemblage means that the group of fossils found together in the same rock layer indicate a specific geological time period. In this case, the late Oligocene or early Miocene, about 17 to 21 million years ago.

The fossils recovered from the Belgrade Formation are of “added importance” because land and marine animals are embedded in the same rock layer “which are likewise rare during this time in North America.”

Though there’s only been around three decades of collecting on and off in the Belgrade Formation, that “gets our hopes up that when we start looking more closely and collecting more diligently, that we might be able to build out a much greater fauna list of what might be there,” Moran said.

The discovery of the hell pig molar is surprising because hell pigs are “pretty rare in most places,” Moran explained in an interview.

The museum collection that Moran oversees includes a cast of that hell pig molar found around 15 years ago, which was donated to the Smithsonian, “but that’s representative of the whole group being here at that period of time when the sediments were deposited,” Moran said.

The first hell pig​s appeared in southern Asia about 40 million years ago, and ​are in a family called Entelodontidae. Their population spread across the rest of Asia and into Europe before eventually migrating into North America about 36 million years ago, Moran explained.

When he’s out doing field work in Nebraska, where he’s been since early last week, Moran said he expects to see fossils of much earlier versions of the hell pigs that are considerably smaller, a little more diverse, and consisted of a few more species. Whereas, the hell pigs that were in coastal North Carolina were “sort of the end of the lineage. It’s only a couple million years before we know it goes extinct.”

Moran said researchers are “pretty sure” hell pigs are omnivorous, given the shape of their teeth, and may have been predators within their ecosystem. The bulbous teeth indicate that they may be eating nuts and fruit and occasionally meat.

“Their teeth are large enough and are robust enough that they certainly could have,” Moran said. “They’re pretty wild animals. We’re still trying to figure out where they fit in the evolutionary tree.”

Other mammals noted in the paper are rhinos, which Moran said are fairly common in the North American fossil record, until they went extinct somewhere between 3.5 to 5 million years ago, and two different species of horse.

He explained that while the Spanish did bring horses to North America, the very first species of horse was on the continent millions of years ago.

“So, around 55 million years ago, we see the first species of horse in what is now Wyoming, and we have a great fossil record of horses all the way from 55 million years ago to 10,000 years ago, give or take, at the end of the ice ages,” Moran said. “Of course, only 500 years ago or so, they were brought back by the Spanish. But we have a really diverse fossil record of horses here in North Carolina.”

There’s a small weasel-like animal, and an animal called the protoceratid, which is deer-like, but not a true deer.

“I think one of the most interesting things that we have is a red panda, which is pretty unusual for North America. There are only a few places where they’ve been documented, especially this far back in time,” he said. “So they are diagnostic of the period of time we’re looking at when they were first found in Nebraska; that’s about the same age as what we’re seeing in Belgrade.”

Moran said it’s the nature of the climate on the East Coast that makes it rare to find these land mammal fossils.

“The eastern part of the U.S. is just much more humid and wet, so we can’t rely on the elements,” like in the western part of the country where there’s not enough rain to sustain heavy plant growth, and rock is exposed, Moran said.

In North Carolina, “you have to rely on rivers to cut through rocks of the right age that you’re interested in,” Moran said, or rely on development projects to cut into the rock and hope that you get access during development.

“One of the ways that we are reliably able to see these units is through quarries,” where the paleontologists do much of their work because the work to mine rock requires “cutting through stratigraphic records of sedimentary rock in the eastern part of the state.”

And, “Beaches are a great place for people to find fossils all throughout North Carolina, but the reality is, if we lived in a place where rock was exposed like in Nebraska, this likely would have been a fauna that was already well-known,” he explained. But, the fairly recent mining activities “allows us to see this as a new frontier for understanding the land mammals and land mammal evolution in the state,” he said.

Moran has been in Nebraska the past few weeks conducting field work with the museum’s paleontology crew, which travels each summer to search for new fossils.

Each week, one of the paleontologists hosts a “Dino Dig Live” talk, where the scientists call in to answer questions. Moran is scheduled to call in from the field site at noon Thursday. The talk will be streamed on YouTube.

The last talk for the summer is Saturday, Aug. 16, with SECU DinoLab Manager Eric Lund calling in from a field site in Montana, also available on YouTube.

The first chapter of a recently published book about Ocracoke’s unique dialect begins with the imagined experience of a visitor’s first time taking the ferry from Swan Quarter across Pamlico Sound to Ocracoke Village.

During the trip to the 14-mile-long island only accessible by boat or light aircraft, the visitor decides to explore the ferry, pausing upon hearing a group speak a sort-of familiar dialect they can’t quite place.

“You greet the group and then make the same mistake as hundreds of tourists before you, by asking ‘Where are y’all from?’ The response, ‘right here,’ accompanied by uproarious laughter, leaves you disoriented,” the scenario continues.

The mistake is “so frequent that it is part of island lore, passed down by O’Cockers – Ocracoke residents who trace back their family lineage on the island for generations.”

This encounter in the first chapter of “Language and Life on Ocracoke: The Living History of the Brogue,” sets the scene for an exploration into the once-prominent dialect now only spoken by a few hundred on the island.

Published by UNC Press, authors are North Carolina State University English professors Jeffrey Reaser and Walt Wolfram, and Ocracoke Preservation Society board member Candy Gaskill, a fourth-generation resident.

“With this prolonged and comprehensive approach to the region, the authors document the island’s changes, providing readers with a deeply researched, empathetic, and engagingly written snapshot of one of North Carolina’s most cherished places, one with a linguistic heritage worth celebrating,” UNC Press said in a release.

Wolfram told Coastal Review in an interview that he really wants people to understand that Ocracoke had this rich legacy of language.

“What’s Ocracoke famous for? Well, it’s famous for Blackbeard,” Wolfram said about the pirate that was beheaded on the island in 1718. “It’s also famous for its language,” but O’Cockers are losing this tradition that has been a part of the island culture for centuries.

The dialect was “once an iconic trait of the 200-mile chain of Outer Banks islands” but is “now merely a whisper in the region.” Now, there are less than 200 who speak some semblance of the traditional brogue, the book states, and “there are sure signs that the traditional Brogue will soon become extinct.”

Wolfram said he thinks “there are certain things that are strongly associated with that community, and the language has been one of them, and now it’s threatened. What the book does is remind them of that tradition. So in a sense, (the brogue) will be remembered with examples even when it is almost gone.”

This is their third book on Ocracoke and builds on Wolfram’s 1997 “Hoi Toide On The Outer Banks: The Story of the Ocracoke Brogue.” “Hoi Toide” is the brogue pronunciation of high tide — the long i vowel is pronounced as “oy” – and is the origin of the nickname, hoi toiders.

Reaser said in an interview that they “really wanted this to be the first linguistics beach read” and be a bit of an introduction to the linguistics, which is the study of language and structure, to make it accessible for all audiences.

The book is broken up into 24 short chapters, which can be read in any order, and touch on what the brogue is and who speaks it, if the brogue is Shakespearean English or if it’s pirate talk, how to study language, accents and dialects, about African American and Latino communities on Ocracoke, the weather, how the language is evolving, and speculation on how the brogue will evolve, or disappear.

The brogue isn’t Elizabethan, by the way, and it’s “not just pirate talk” (their emphasis) despite Ocracoke’s ties with Blackbeard.

What is it then? The short answer is that the “primary finding was that it was an English dialect that had been influenced by Gaelic languages and other English dialects that had previously been influenced by Gaelic languages.”

“We’re focused on Ocracoke, and we want to preserve and celebrate that dialect and that tradition, but there is another purpose of just getting people to understand more generally, that this is how languages work, this is how dialects work. That they’re always patterned and systematic,” Reaser explained. “Even when there’s a dialect that isn’t celebrated the way that Ocracoke tends to be, that is something that people should take seriously and value.”

Of special note is the companion website with more than 80 QR codes that link to sound or video clips on ocracokebrogue.com, all pulled from their extensive collection of oral histories, media clips, documentary footage and other materials.

“You don’t want to just read about it, you want to hear what it actually sounds like,” Wolfram said.

A peek between the pages

Many of the chapters are based on stories from villagers, such as the first chapter, “Do they take American money over there?” That’s coming straight from the O’Cockers’ stories, Reaser said.

There’s even an anecdote in the book about a British Broadcasting Co. crew that traveled to Ocracoke with the intention of having residents recite lines from Shakespeare’s plays.

Reaser said that having the BBC visit was a “really funny experience,” because they were sure the story was that Ocracoke had preserved Elizabethan English.

“We’re trying to tell them otherwise,” he said, and tried to direct their attention to how interesting the community is with its “really rich mix of all these historical traditions,” but they stuck with their story.

“They actually had the complete works of Shakespeare, and they’re trying to get locals to read it,” he said, expecting it to sound like they were at the Globe Theater, “which is so insulting.”

So, some of the performers in the community recognized what was happening, and decided to put on their best British accent, and overdo the stage performance.

“What the BBC captured was something that’s not even close to the local dialect,” Reaser said, but they aired it, and they must have received enough feedback because you can’t find it anywhere on their website. An updated version has been released but it still pushes the Elizabethan myth.

Wolfram said the publication features stories that people aren’t necessarily aware of as well, like the prominence of the one African American family that moved there in 1865 and maintained the family as a unit until the late 2000s, and how men’s and women’s speech patterns were affected by changing economic drivers, namely the village increasingly depending on tourism.

“We want people to remember how the Black family fit and didn’t fit into the community,” Wolfram said.

Women were in the service industry as tourism grew for the village while men continued to focus on water-related work, Reaser said. The brogue then became “crystallized as this artifact of masculinity, where it never had that in the past.”

Appreciating Ocracoke

Wolfram first heard about Ocracoke as a new professor at N.C. State in 1992.

In the acknowledgement, Wolfram explained that he and his wife decided to travel the state to experience different communities. While explaining these trips to his colleagues, another faculty member told him to “take a trip to Ocracoke, where ‘the people speak Elizabethan English.’”

Wolfram said he recognized the comment to be a “simplified romantic myth often associated with long-term isolated language varieties such as Appalachian English, but I was intrigued.”

That first trip was the catalyst to him devoting more than three decades and taking hundreds of trips to the island to learn more about the village’s families and their history.

When Reaser was a graduate student at N.C. State in 2000, he joined Wolfram on a trip and became just as enthralled with Ocracoke.

The two emphasized how grateful they are to have been welcomed over the years.

There’s a real love of the community and people who live there. “They’re so generous to us. It’s an incredible experience,” Reaser said.

Wolfram said the residents “have been incredibly collaborative and cooperative with us, and we can’t thank them enough for that.”

He feels that when researchers study a community, it’s nice for academics and their reputation, “but we want it to be meaningful” for the communities who give their time and resources.

“We do these sorts of sophisticated analyzes, but what does the community get out of it?” Wolfram continued, explaining that he finds it “ethically inappropriate” when academics go to a community for information and never see them again.

People need to know what you’re doing with the stories, histories and cultures they share with you, and how what you’re doing can help the community, Wolfram said, adding he and his team try to help with any project or program they can as a way to thank the community for “being so generous in terms of talking to us, working with us, and allowing us in.”

HARKERS ISLAND — It takes countless hours of work for the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center to fulfill its mission of preserving Down East Carteret County’s heritage.

Located next to Cape Lookout National Seashore’s visitor center on Shell Point, offering on most days a view of the diamond-patterned lighthouse across the sound, the museum spotlights the history and traditions of the 13 unincorporated communities in the eastern part of the county through exhibits, programs and events.

While Executive Director Karen Willis Amspacher and about a dozen volunteers were busy setting up the morning of July 3 for the annual All-American Shrimp Fry taking place that Saturday, July 5, she told Coastal Review that “It’s the work that makes this place what it is” and the museum “was built on volunteers.”

From converting an old doctor’s office to the gift shop housed in the facility, clearing land and pulling stumps from Willow Pond behind the museum, to creating beautiful quilts and feeding thousands fresh local seafood and sweet puppies, “Core Sound has always been and still is — and hopefully will always be — grounded in the hard work, talents and dedication of the people of our community,” she explained.

So, when Gov. Josh Stein inducted Amspacher and nine others June 25 into the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor in the state, she didn’t tell a soul.

Amspacher, who has been leading Core Sound since it was established in 1992, had been in Raleigh that last week of June with others fighting against a proposed law that would ban commercial shrimp trawling in the state’s inland waters and within a half-mile of the shore. The House chose not to push the contentious bill through.

She was reluctant to accept the award at the time because, she said, it wasn’t only her who had made the museum a success, and didn’t feel like a time to celebrate. Amspacher decided to meet with the governor anyway because it was a chance to speak to him about the proposed trawling ban.

She wrote in a social media post a week later a “confession of guilt for accepting something good that belongs to everybody that I have mommicked all along the way.”

Amspacher thanked everyone for their congratulations, “but know … WE have accomplished NOTHING alone. Since I moved back home in 1982 it’s been quite a journey, thank you to everyone who is still holding on for our fishing communities no matter what it takes,” she wrote, adding that she hopes her daughter, Katie, remembers when she “puts me in the ground on #redhill under those oaks to post a sign somewhere .. ‘Work is love made visible.’ I believe that … I do love ‘my crowd’ … and love means work.”

Amspacher paused between tasks the morning of July 3 to reiterate that she’s truly grateful for all of the volunteers, especially the young ones “who keep showing up to do the work it takes to keep the museum’s work moving forward.”

Her “shrimp boys” Liam Calabria, Nick Davies and Jackson Saunders, were among those setting up tables and chairs. The three best friends grew up together in Raleigh.

Calabria explained during a break that the nickname came from when he and his older brother, who is in college now, began helping at Core Sound about five years ago.

The first few years, “We had to clean all the shrimp, so that was the main focus, and then we would just help out where need be,” Calabria said. “Now we set up all the tables, chairs, water stations, and we’ve helped serve the food recently, and that’s the fun part because we make​ it a friendly competition.”

His family began in 2020 splitting their time between Carteret County and the state capital, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When Core Sound decided to hold the shrimp fry again after pausing during the pandemic, Calabria said that his brother, who was in ninth grade at the time, needed volunteer hours and wanted to help the community.

“I decided to tag along with him,” and his family decided to continue to help. “Now, we started dragging our friends along,” Calabria explained, gesturing to Davies and Saunders.

Davies started helping about three years ago. Currently attending Wake Tech Community College, Davies said it’s “a lot of fun” at Core Sound and he gets to spend time with his best friends.

This is the first year for Saunders, who said he decided to join because he needed some community service hours for scholarships, and “thought it’d be fun to hang out with my friends. So I was just like, why not tag along?”

Calabria added, “We just love the community, and we’ve made a lot of friends and connections through Harkers Island over the five years we’ve lived here, so we just like to see them enjoying the time here and meeting up with some friends.”

Nearby, high school senior Thomas Lathan was helping his grandfather Bill Lathan, a board member for more than 20 years, hang banners that thanked the shrimp fry’s sponsors.

Thomas Lathan has helped at past events, but this is his first summer as an intern. He’s been working with a doctoral student to interview residents about their experiences with tropical storms and how the natural disasters affect and change the culture. He plans to present the findings when he’s done.

Bill Lathan, who still works full time as an attorney in New Bern, said he heads to Harkers Island whenever he’s available and decided to join Thomas that Thursday to help.

Amspacher explained in a later interview that many of the youth that help have been volunteering as shrimp cleaners and trash collectors since they came with their parents and grandparents when they were 9 and 10 years old.

“Now they are high school and college students and they are returning as interns and as the ‘power’ behind our events and projects. They care and each of them know they are part of us and always will be,” she said. “Troop 252 of Davis has been part of our events from the first year we were in this building in 1999. Many of them have children who are now Scouts, doing what they did.”

After the event, Amspacher told Coastal Review that the shrimp fry was a success. This year highlighted the Crystal Coast Water Rescue Team who traveled to Black Mountain during Helene response in fall 2024 and welcomed the Black Mountain Fire Department who called on Carteret County for help.

Core Sound has been reaching out to leaders in the mountains since Hurricane Helene caused untold destruction last fall to the western part of the state to help cope with the destruction and heartache.

Recognizing “our water rescue team traveling to help Black Mountain Fire Department was the same story. The shared experience, the bond that tragedy builds, the ever-knowing that we are all one storm away from needing them to come help us was heavy on everyone there. It was a moment that we will all hold dear,” said Amspacher. “The All-American Shrimp Fry is just that: communities coming together to celebrate our homes, our families and the traditions we hold sacred from across North Carolina.”

The state has the protocols in place for successful fisheries management, but North Carolina is missing the mark, recently released state-mandated research concludes.

A top recommendation: Hire more fisheries scientists.

And the head of the state body formed to coordinate scientific research for the legislature, in a letter accompanying the report, states that lawmakers’ recent failed shrimp trawling ban measure had no basis in the report’s findings and clarifies that the recommendations did not address trawling.

Legislators in 2021 directed the North Carolina Collaboratory to evaluate the overall health of fisheries and habitats and make recommendations for better management ahead of the 25th anniversary of the state’s Fisheries Reform Act of 1997 and the Coastal Area Management Act’s 50th anniversary in 2024.

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences Director Dr. Joel Fodrie and a team of nine researchers presented a summary of their findings to the North Carolina General Assembly late last month, as the legislature had mandated.

Fodrie told Coastal Review that the state requested a broad analysis as part of its 2021 budget bill, so the research team, over the course of three years, collected and used data to assess the state’s fisheries and make the state-mandated recommendations based on those findings that could improve “both marine fisheries and our coastal habitats, with a specific link between those habitats and the way they support fish.”

The 46-page summary highlights the seven findings and the five recommendations to “achieve the vision of the Fisheries Reform Act.” The state Fisheries Reform Act requires fishery management plans to ensure long-term viability of the fisheries, according to the state.

The final, comprehensive report with full analyses and data is still being fine-tuned and is to be sent to the legislature later this year, Fodrie added.

In addition to Chapel Hill, researchers who study fish biology and ecology, estuarine ecology, fisheries management and environmental governance from N.C. State University, East Carolina University and UNC-Wilmington participated in the research.

Fodrie explained that if you were to gather data across states to quantitatively evaluate each state’s attempt to manage fisheries, North Carolina scores pretty high based on the management components put in place as a result of the Fisheries Reform Act, or FRA.

The state seems to have adopted many of the practices that should produce better outcomes and have strengthened these practices for most species over time. Despite those gears being in place, the results are only so-so, he said.

The findings point to at least three significant hurdles for optimizing management outcomes, including a significant time lag in the implementation of new data or information for up-to-date decision-making, a breakdown of trust and communication among managers and key stakeholder groups, and long-term shifts in estuarine habitat quality and coverage.

“What the FRA did for North Carolina is it put us in a position to have many of the building blocks that are helpful and can remain part of the solutions, while the analyses also show that we’re still falling short of the FRA’s core objectives and thus some changes in management structures ought to be seriously considered,” Fodrie said.

About the findings

Researchers found that management intensity in North Carolina had increased over time and is equal to or exceeds the levels of other states throughout the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Gulf of Mexico, but despite the presence of a rigorous management structure, the state continues to “exhibit challenges in achieving the core goals of the FRA, which is ‘to protect and enhance … coastal fisheries in NC.’”

A benchmark for informed fishery management, according to the summary, are quantitative stock assessments. These produce estimates of stock biomass and the harvest rate, which define overfished, related to how much fish biomass is in the system, and overfishing, related to how high the catch rate is, for the population.

The most recent stock assessments estimate that blue crab, southern flounder, spotted seatrout, striped bass and striped mullet are experiencing overfishing, meaning that the harvest rate is too high.

Blue crab, southern flounder, striped bass and striped mullet are overfished, or the stock is too low, and sheepshead and red drum are neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing.

The summary notes that developing and updating the fishery management plans process “is relatively slow, which potentially limits the efficacy of science- and process-based public trust resource management,” what researchers call in the summary “hallmark goals” of the Fisheries Reform Act.

Across the 12 stocks the state manages that have an initial fisheries management plan, the average time between the first plan and amendments is seven years. The average time between management plan actions is a little more than five years.

“In the context of these timelines, there is little evidence that adaptive management is being achieved by increased activity within” the North Carolina General Assembly, “by the breadth of motions adopted” by the Marine Fisheries Commission or by proclamation authority from the Division of Marine Fisheries, according to the summary.

The remaining findings relate to the pressures coastal habitats are facing from fishing, development, climate variability and other human activities. Data suggests that the entire ecosystem has changed since the Fisheries Reform Act was passed, particularly for water quality and coastal and estuarine habitats.

Researchers offered five recommendations.

Fodrie said that a primary recommendation is to increase the Division of Marine Fisheries staff, especially the number of stock-assessment scientists, so the stock assessments and fisheries management plans are regularly updated.

An independent science and statistical committee to improve fishery management outcomes in the state, as well as new approaches for enhancing the division’s outreach with stakeholder participation, trust, and management transparency, are also recommendations.

Fodrie said that the role of this type of committee and a redesigned Marine Fisheries Commission would be to target current weaknesses related to implementation of the Fisheries Reform Act, such as the mode and tempo by which catch limits are set, when and how stakeholders can be engaged, and resolving disputes between key resource users.

The final three recommendations relate to fisheries and habitat health, including adopting an ecosystem-based management approach to assess the health of the state fisheries as a whole and the drivers that affect them; stopping or reversing patterns of habitat loss and degradation, along with requiring improved monitoring of habitat extent and water quality; and re-evaluating the nursery designation system and creating an adaptive framework for protecting critical nursery areas.

“The state also has some real challenges related to what’s happening with its coastal habitats,” Fodrie said, adding that it’s a big ask to take the major steps needed to halt or reverse those trends. “This involves balancing fishing practices, coastal population growth, climate variability, and development; which would require buy-in at the whole-state level to manage at the coastal ecosystem scale.”

Note from the Collaboratory

The North Carolina Collaboratory’s “Study of Coastal and Marine Fisheries of the State” hadn’t gotten much attention since it was first mandated — that is, until the Senate added in mid-June to a House bill about recreational flounder and red snapper seasons a proposed law to ban shrimp trawling in inshore waters and within a half-mile of the shoreline.

The report was mentioned more than once during discussions between supporters and opponents. The House declined to advance the bill with the Senate’s amendment on June 25.

Looking back: House Republicans decline to take up shrimp trawling bill

Collaboratory Executive Director Jeff Warren, in a letter dated June 30, the deadline and date when the summary was released, wrote that “recent legislative actions – specifically, those related to shrimp trawling language in the current version of House Bill (H) 442 – have brought into question the contents of this report. Because this specific issue was out of the scope of this study, this report neither advocates for nor opposes a ban on shrimp trawling.”

Warren stated in the report’s cover letter that there had been multiple comments made by legislators in both chambers as well as statements circulating in the media, that “suggested the Senate was aware of the contents of this report and this advance knowledge drove actions to amend the legislation to include a shrimp trawling ban prior to the report’s release.”

Those statements were untrue, Warren stated, “and undermine the credibility of this multi-year research study carried out by nine researchers across four UNC System campuses.”

Warren added that the recommendations in the summary, and ultimately the full report, do not address, nor respond to, the shrimp trawling language contained in the shrimp trawl ban “nor were they ever designed to. Further, no legislative influence or pressure impacted the legislative recommendations or the scope of work, which has remained consistent over the three-year arc of the broader study.”

He closed the letter by adding the full report will be available later this year after it’s refined, “to ensure a broad variety of users can access the data and information. To be clear, this clarifying work will not substantively change the recommendations provided herein.”

The U.S. Forest Service estimates that the cone crop for longleaf pines in the Southeast will be “poor for 2025,” according to the “Longleaf Pine Cone Prospects for 2025” report released in June.

Because of the anticipated seed shortage that comes with a low estimate of seed-producing cones for the third year in a row, The Longleaf Alliance is scouting for potential locations to harvest in the fall.

Based on observations collected earlier this year from low-density stands of mature longleaf pines in 10 study sites, researchers estimate the average for seed-producing cones is 12.4 per tree this fall.

The study, which looked at state-managed parks in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Louisiana, defines a good crop as 50 to 99 green cones per tree, a fair crop as 25 to 49, poor as 10 to 24, and a failed crop as less than 10 seed-bearing cones per tree.

Once plentiful, the longleaf pine could be found on an estimated 90 million acres in the coastal plains between southeast Virginia to eastern Texas. During the Colonial era, the trees were felled for timber and naval stores. Demand grew exponentially when the turpentine industry took off at the turn of the 20^th century, nearly stripping the ecosystem of the native pine. Today, its estimated that there’s around 5 million acres remaining.  

The alliance is a nonprofit organization that was established in 1995 and is devoted entirely to longleaf pine ecosystems.

“With a fraction of longleaf pine acres remaining in the Southeast, much of this work is focused on reestablishing longleaf pine. We are planting trees that can outlast us, and it is essential that landowners are up for success from the beginning,” The Longleaf Alliance Vice President for Operations Ad Platt explained to Coastal Review.

The Longleaf Alliance is a founding member and leader within America’s Longleaf, a landscape collaborative effort of public and private partners that supports range-wide efforts to restore and conserve longleaf pine ecosystems.

The study site for North Carolina, Bladen Lakes State Forest, is expected to have an average of 27 cones per tree this fall. The more than 33,000-acre state-owned land is in Bladen County, roughly between Wilmington and Fayetteville near Elizabethtown.

Platt said that with Bladen Lakes State Forest being one of only three locations in the report predicted to have a fair cone crop this fall, it is optimistic news for the longleaf cone in North Carolina. The other fair cone crop areas are in Georgia and Florida.

The South Carolina site is estimated to have a poor crop this year, and the remaining six sites are expected to have less than 10 cones per tree, and are in the failed category.

By estimating the number of green, or productive, cones per tree, the seed volume can be approximated. The minimum cone crop needed for successful natural regeneration is 750 green cones per acre, or around 30 cones per tree with 25 seed-bearing trees per acre, the study states.

The 60-year regional cone production average for longleaf pine is about 27 green cones per tree, but the year-to-year average varies widely. For example, 1996 had the single best cone crop at an average of 115 cones per tree, but 1995 had a 41-cone average, and 1997 had a 17-cone average.

This year’s numbers are better than 2024, which “failed” with an estimate of almost seven cones per tree, and for 2023, the estimate was 10.3, according to the report.

Platt explained that the longleaf pine is a masting species, which means that instead of producing seeds consistently each year, there are some years with an exceptionally large number of pine cones and seeds, followed by years with relatively few. So, this pattern of low cone production is somewhat expected.

“For that reason, longleaf pine growers collect as much seed as they can when cone crops are good. The problem is that the seed supplies needed for longleaf pine seedling production are now limited after subsequent years of poor cone production,” he explained, adding that the last good crops documented in the annual Longleaf Pine Cone Prospects Report occurred in 2022.

“Complicating this issue are recent patterns of large, strong storms when pine cones are maturing in the summer and fall. While future cone production is strongly correlated with hurricanes, with positive trends two years after a storm event, strong winds damage that year’s cone crops and mature longleaf forests, as was observed in 2024 with Hurricane Helene in Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina,” he said.

Platt continued that the natural variation of longleaf pine cone production means that even when crops are forecast to be low, there is likely a good longleaf cone crop somewhere.

“The challenge is finding it,” he continued. “If you are lucky enough to have mature longleaf, please assess what kind of cone production you may have this summer.”

Platt said that’s best done on a clear morning with the sun at your back and using binoculars to count the large, developing green cones. Fair or better cone crops include 25 or more cones per tree, with 25 trees per acre.

Landowners with fair or better cone crops may have a potential income opportunity if their longleaf stands are large enough and easily operable, meaning they’re low density with machine access for collection. Pine cone harvesting crews need a decent cone crop on a large enough acreage in the area to maximize their efforts during the short four-week collection window.

“Longleaf pine seedlings grown in tree nurseries support 100 to 150,000 acres planted in longleaf pine each year. To reach the range-wide acreage restoration goal of America’s Longleaf Restoration Initiative, longleaf pine seedling production must meet the growing demand from landowners interested in supporting this imperiled landscape,” Platt said.

Observations of mature longleaf pine trees can be submitted to The Longleaf Alliance through an online survey.

More buildings in 78 North Carolina counties between 1996 and 2020 were exposed to flooding than previously recognized, and almost half of them were not within the federally designated areas that require flood insurance, a new study finds.

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill researchers used anonymous, address-level National Flood Insurance Program records and observational damage to create maps of 78 flood events that three-quarters of the state experienced during those 25 years to determine which buildings experienced flooding and how often.

They found that more than 90,000 buildings flooded at least once, which they predict is “more than twice the number of flooded buildings compared to those at addresses associated with NFIP claims filed between 1996 and 2020,” according to the study published Monday in Earth’s Future, an Advancing Earth and Space Sciences journal.

The study’s results “illustrate that flood exposure, especially repetitive exposure, is much more widespread than previously recognized” and “demonstrate the value of simulating flood events beyond those that generate the most damage and get the most attention from governments, media, and researchers. This first-of-its-kind database of flood maps can be used to better understand how flood exposure, vulnerability, and risk change over time.”

Lead author Helena Garcia, a doctoral candidate in UNC’s Environment, Ecology, and Energy Program, told Coastal Review that the team mapped the nearly 80 events to look at how much flooding at the building level has occurred across those events in those 25 years.

“We know a lot about some of the larger events, like hurricanes Florence and Matthew, but we had questions about some of the other events, too,” she said.

The team used the flood maps they created to build an index to determine what buildings had flooded and how often.

“When we did that, we found that over 90,000 buildings flooded in at least one of those 78 events, with about a quarter of those buildings, or 20,000 of them, flooding in two or more events,” Garcia said. Adding, that of those events, there were 44 that had tropical cyclone activity, and many of the buildings were damaged during those storms.

These findings provide an estimate of how much repeat exposure is happening, especially outside of the large events, like the fall 2018 Hurricane Florence, Garcia said.

The study shows that 43% of the structures that flooded out of that 90,000 were located outside of the Federal Emergency Management Agency-mapped flood zones, Garcia said. “The people that had flooded during some of those events might not have known or realized that they had flood risk at their property.”

FEMA’s Special Flood Hazard Area, or SFHA, is where the National Flood Insurance Program’s “floodplain management regulations must be enforced and the area where the mandatory purchase of flood insurance applies,” according to FEMA.

Antonia Sebastian, assistant professor in UNC’s Environment, Ecology, and Energy Program and Department of Earth, Marine, and Environmental Sciences, told Coastal Review last week that a key takeaway from the study was how much flooding happened outside of mapped floodplains.

FEMA “floodplains are used as the primary indicator of high-risk areas, but flooding can occur outside of them,” Sebastian said. “We weren’t surprised that we had a lot of flooding outside of floodplains, but I think it’s a really important for people to recognize that even if you live outside of a floodplain, you could flood, and we’re finding some of these repetitive flooding hotspots in areas that aren’t mapped.”

About the study

The study area spans eight watersheds, including the entirety of the Neuse-Pamlico and Cape Fear River watersheds as well as portions of the Chowan-Roanoke and Pee Dee River watersheds.

For the study, the researchers used anonymous records of address-level NFIP policies in force and claims from the mid-1970s to 2020 from FEMA for the 78 counties overlapping these watersheds, which is about 77% of the state’s land area.

They used the available NFIP insurance data to map the flood events because it’s not a time-intensive method like physics-based models, and they could produce the flood maps quicker, Garcia explained.

She added that they would have looked at the entire state but the insurance data the team had access to was only available on the three-quarters of the state.

To determine what flood events to analyze, Garcia said the team established a threshold based on data from the 18 flood-related presidential disaster declarations for the study area from the 25-year period.

“We made sure that our algorithm found all of those (18 events) and also found 60 other events,” she said.

The findings highlight flooding hot spots and that information can be helpful for preparedness, mitigation and resilience efforts for these locations.

“We want to make sure that those are the places we’re putting the funding toward, because they need it the most, Garcia said. “And then in the future, I think it’s something to keep track of, to figure out are these hot spots of repetitive flooding shifting as we see different types of flood events that could be more intense or more widespread.”

One of the challenges the team encountered while working on the study was determining what counts as a flood event, Garcia said.

“There’s definitely flooding that happened over this 25-year time period that doesn’t show up in these 78 events, just because it didn’t fit the algorithm,” she said.

To define the flood events, researchers looked for flooding with at least 15 claims recorded within a seven-day period in the same watershed boundary. They chose that threshold because it included all 18 flood-related FEMA federal disaster declarations that occurred within the study area between 1996 and 2020.

Garcia said the biggest surprise for her was how many buildings experienced flooding and repetitive flooding, and not just on the coast. There are properties in inland areas like Lumberton, Winston-Salem and Chapel Hill.

Sebastian said that while the study answered questions, “the coolest thing about this study is all of the potential types of things we can do now with this information.”

Garcia said that with this data set, “we can look at impacts of floods and outcomes over time a wider range of events than we’ve currently or really been able to do so before,” such as financial and health impacts.

“Here we can focus on multiple events and also what happens when people see repeat exposure over time. So, what I’m doing with that is looking at basically people and their movements through time,” Garcia said, adding that there was also interest in finding out whether people are continuing to stay in these repetitive flooding hotspots or moving to lower their flood risk. “Does your experience with previous flooding kind of inform your next residential move, if you do choose to move?”

“Pretty much all my paintings tell a story,” said Rik Freeman.       

“When I was growing up, my grandmother used to say I would eavesdrop on grown folks’ conversations because they were just always so colorful and talking. I would see images in my head of what they were talking about and everything said,” the Washington, D.C., artist told Coastal Review.

For the last few years, Freeman’s art has been telling the story about African American beach communities during the Jim Crow era.

His series, “Black Beaches During Segregation,” features several vibrant paintings representing different historically Black beaches on the Atlantic, including Ocean City on Topsail Island, and goes on display in Onslow County starting Saturday.

The exhibit is part of the 15^th annual Ocean City Jazz Festival set for July 4-6 in North Topsail Beach. The theme of the three-day music festival is “Celebrating History Through the Language of Jazz and Unity.” A full schedule and ticket information can be found on the website.

The festival was first held in 2009 to mark the 60th anniversary of Ocean City’s establishment. Now a part of North Topsail Beach, Ocean City was established in 1949 “as an African-American-owned community 15 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Ocean City was a unique community as it was the first residential beach community with Black home ownership in the state,” according to the North Carolina African American Heritage Commission, which is sponsoring the exhibit with Ocean City Jazz Festival.

Opening reception for Freeman’s show is at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 28, at the Jacksonville-Onslow Council for the Arts, 826 New Bridge St. in Jacksonville. Freeman is scheduled to give an artist’s talk at 3 p.m. and there will be time afterward to view the exhibit. Register online to attend.

Freeman, who spent his youth in Athens, Georgia, said he began drawing as a young child but really got into murals in his 20s, after college. He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1985 when he landed a job at the airport while he was visiting family for Thanksgiving.

He returned to art a few years later at 32. “It was in ’88. My father died — this is about to sound like an old blues song — my father died. I got fired from my job. My girlfriend left me, so I started working back with my art again,” he said.

The D.C. Commission of the Arts and Humanities posted in the newspaper an ad looking for artists willing to work with children during a summer program painting murals. Freeman applied and was accepted. “It started from there,” making a living off painting murals.

The idea for the “Black Beaches During Segregation” series was sparked when he learned that a Black-owned beach in California, which was taken from the family owners in the 1920s, had been returned to the descendants.

“I thought about that and that couldn’t have been the only one,” Freeman said, so he began researching. He came across Chicken Bone Beach, an African American beach in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He asked Honfleur Gallery owner Duane Gautier, who is from the Garden State, if he knew about the beach, but hadn’t heard of it. “And so I started telling them about others.” Freeman’s work is shown at Honfleur Gallery in Washington.

Gautier was interested and told Freeman to write a proposal for the gallery’s Artist in Residence Program.  This was in 2022.

He started with six beaches along the Atlantic Seaboard to research and paint, including Ocean City. He’s up to 14 or 15 beaches now, and he wants to represent at least one beach in every state south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

During his visit to Ocean City, Freeman met with people of the community, including Ocean City Jazz Festival co-chairs Carla and Craig Torrey.

Carla Torrey, originally from Fayetteville but now residing in Durham, is a second-generation homeowner in Ocean City. Her father was the principal builder when the community first started.

When she and others met Freeman in person, Torrey said that he explained how his series “uses art to visually document and celebrate the historical and cultural importance of places like the Ocean City Beach community, which played a crucial role in providing spaces for leisure and community for African Americans during a time of systemic racial discrimination. We are a perfect match.”

The exhibit features two paintings honoring Ocean City. One is based on a photo Torrey gave Freeman of herself as a young girl walking with her father on the pier with Ocean City Terrace in the background. Built in 1953 from an abandoned Navy missile observation tower, the restaurant is no longer standing.

“It’s so special to me, because my father really loved this community,” Torrey said. “I’m very grateful to Rik for doing that.”

She said that after talking to Freeman, the jazz festival organizers felt the series should be brought to the county, “so that they could see the other communities that he had visited and that existed and learn a bit about their legacy in history.”

The other painting features two men playing instruments with a modern-day interpretation of the Ocean City Terrace in the background. Freeman said he thinks they eventually want to get restaurant rebuilt, so he took artistic license when painting the building.

The piece on St. Augustine Beach in Florida, Freeman said, is the only piece that directly confronts the racism of the era.

“Because in June ’64 in St. Augustine, they had, instead of sit-ins, it was a wade-in because you’re wading into either a pool or a segregated beach, and a riot broke out, and a lot of people got injured. It was on the news,” Freeman explained. Around the same time, a motel owner threw sulfuric acid in a pool where high school kids were swimming because they wouldn’t get out of the water.

“Those two incidents led (President Lyndon Johnson) to sign the Civil Rights bill less than a month later. So, I figured I wanted to do at least one piece that did show that out-and-out racism, but most of the pieces are based on showing the joy, the camaraderie, you’re in a safe place, and people just having a good time,” he said.

“But the underlying thing is,” Freeman continued, is that when somebody’s looking at the work and they “say, ‘why is it just all these Black folks at the beach?’ Is this somewhere in the Caribbean, or is it Brazil, Africa?’ No, this is United States of America, and the beaches were segregated.”

In his painting depicting Atlantic Beach in South Carolina, “you can barely see it. You have to look for it. There’s a little orange rope that goes out into the water. And a lady down there was telling me that rope was basically the color line, and she just kind of laughed. She said, ‘What did they think that the water that touched us wasn’t going to come and touch them?’”

Ultimately, Freeman wants people who see the exhibit to see the camaraderie and look at the histories of these beaches.

“I want people to kind of look and see as it’s very commendable what people were able to do to be able to create those beaches and safe places. And you know, some of them had a little bit of trouble and everything, but by and large, they were safe,” he said.

Torrey said that the Ocean City Jazz Festival “provides the perfect historical setting and audience for Rik Freeman’s impactful art, while the NC African American Heritage Commission brings its expertise and mandate for preserving and promoting the rich, often untold, stories of African American heritage in North Carolina.”

North Carolina African American Heritage Commission Director Adrienne Nirdé has been with the state commission since 2020, acting as director for the last two years.

The commission has sponsored the Ocean City Jazz Festival for several years now, which Nirdé said is important for the division within the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

“When talking about segregation and Civil Rights, that’s often associated with lunch counters and schools, and that’s a big part of the history that people learn about, if they learn about it at all, but when you dive into deeper, in a place like North Carolina, this was something that touched every aspect of life,” Nirdé said. “People were recreating. They wanted to go on vacation, they wanted to go to the beach. They wanted to golf and experience swimming pools and all of these different types of spaces. This is just really an important way to share the other layer of this story.”

Council For the Arts of Jacksonville Onslow County Executive Director Kandyce Quintero said she and the council’s executive board “are extremely excited to have this exhibit be the kick-start to the festival this year.”

During Freeman’s talk on Saturday, he said he will discuss the work he curated for this exhibit.

“I really want the visitors to understand how important these paintings are. The stories behind each one and how generations have been affected even in today’s world,” she said.

A senator representing five Piedmont counties has introduced an amendment to a House bill that, if it becomes law, will prohibit shrimp trawling in all of North Carolina’s inland waters and within a half-mile of the Atlantic Ocean shoreline.

Despite protests from a coastal senator and several commercial fishing representatives, two Senate committees that met Tuesday were in favor of amending House Bill 442, which Rep. Frank Iler, R-Brunswick, filed in March “to restore recreational fishing for flounder and red snapper in North Carolina.”

Iler said to both committees Tuesday that there wasn’t much of a recreational flounder season last year. He was referring to the harvest seasons established by the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission, which manages flounder and red snapper fisheries. The commission votes on management plans that determines when those species can be harvested.

As the bill made its way through the House and then to the Senate, its language focused solely on expanding recreational access to southern flounder and red snapper, but that changed Tuesday morning during the Senate’s agriculture, energy, and environment committee meeting. The committee approved the amendment and then referred it to that afternoon’s Senate rules and operations committee, which also voted in favor of the bill.

Sen. David Craven Jr., R-Anson, who also represents Montgomery, Randolph, Richmond and Union counties, introduced the amendment to put North Carolina “on par” with regulations in force in Virginia and South Carolina.

He said that the estimated bycatch, or unwanted species, that comes with shrimp trawling is 4 pounds of bycatch to every pound of shrimp harvested, “which is a lot of other species of fish that’s getting caught in the net, potentially dying,” he said. “This has been an issue for quite some time, and I think it’s time this body addressed it.”

The amendment details the penalties a commercial fishing operation would face if caught “Taking or attempting to take shrimp using a trawl net in any coastal fishing waters other than areas of the Atlantic Ocean located more than one-half mile from the shoreline.”

When Committee Chair Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Pender, opened the floor to elected leaders for comment, Sen. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, was the first to speak. Hanig asked why not wait for the results from an ongoing lawsuit filed in 2020 by the Coastal Conservation Association — North Carolina to ban shrimp trawling and the results of a study commissioned in 2022 on the issue.

“Why the urgency all of a sudden and at the 23rd hour?” Hanig asked.

Hanig said he was also concerned with “what data was used to support the amendment to put the hardworking men and women that work in our fishing industry every day out of a job and completely shut down an entire industry?

“Seventy five percent of the shrimp that are caught in the state of North Carolina are caught where this amendment is affected,” said Hanig.

Craven responded that there was no intent to put anybody out of business.

“I believe these fine folks can trawl a half-mile off the coast of North Carolina,” and continue to shrimp. He added that work had been done on a separate matter to ensure there’s “compensation during that time to make sure that we get these folks transitioned.”

Craven said shrimpers must “understand that they will have a process to move through from doing what they do on a daily basis now to kind of moving and changing into going out in the coastal waters.”

Hanig, with no time to ask further questions, urged the committee to reject the amendment.

“This bill started out as a great step forward, one that restores reasonable access to flounder for both recreational and commercial fisheries. This bill comes from progress, cooperation, long-overdue relief from closures derived from flawed science and outdated rules that hurt both industries,” said Hanig.

“Throwing this trawling ban at the 23rd hour undermines the intent and spirit of the bill. It reeks of the same old sleazy, backroom politics and special interests that caused North Carolina endless wars, endless fish wars,” he continued. It’s “disgraceful what we’re doing to the citizens of North Carolina. This is nothing short of special interest and backroom deals. There’s no question about it. That’s why no one was instructed about this amendment.”

Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe, said both the original bill and the amendment were taking what should be collaborative, scientifically based decisions out of that realm.

“I’m always worried about this body overruling, for instance, the Marine Fisheries Commission on the flounder and the snapper,” Mayfield said, noting that there’s a shrimp management plan and shrimp working group that’s been together for years, working on and improving trawling and bycatch regulations.

During both committee meetings, supporters and opponents of the amendment explained their positions.

North Carolina Fisheries Association Executive Director Glenn Skinner said that, as a lifelong commercial fisherman, “I probably don’t have tell y’all we are opposed to this trawl ban amendment.”

Skinner said that because the CCA-NC lawsuit and the study were ongoing, “I just can’t help but think that it’s no coincidence that we’re talking about this trawl ban in the same year, both of those are supposed to come before a judge and before this General Assembly.”

Chad Thomas, on behalf of the nonprofit North Carolina Marine and Estuary Foundation, said that while the state “has been a leader in the effort to reduce bycatch, and although the need to protect critical habitats is well documented, legislative action is necessary to ensure the enhancement of nearly 900,000 additional acres of inshore habitats that are critical to our fish and shellfish populations. After careful review of the available science, our foundation’s conclusion is that the shrimp trawl legislation, as proposed in House Bill 442 would bring a huge step closer to this protection goal.”

Brent Fulcher, a business owner with operations in New Bern and Beaufort, said he doesn’t “understand how you would even think about taking the fresh North Carolina seafood away from the North Carolina consumer, and run the risk to ruin infrastructure for the entire industry and other sister industries.”

Cameron Boltes, a former Marine Fisheries Commission member, said he, as “one of 460,000 recreational anglers in North Carolina,” supported the measure. “The big point of clarification I want to make is that the bill is not a ban on trawling in North Carolina. It’s in alignment with the best management practices used by every other state in the Southeast.”

Earl Pugh, a lifetime resident of Hyde County and a former county commissioner there, said his county, as the second smallest in the state, relied heavily on the seafood industry. Seafood is one of the three major industries in Hyde County, along with agriculture and tourism, Pugh noted.

“A ban on trawling in inshore waters would be devastating to the economy of Hyde County,” he said, adding that it would take away income that fishermen, fish houses and other locals in the industry rely on.

Thomas Bell with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation praised the measure, saying it “addresses a major threat to the long-term health of North Carolina’s fisheries inshore.

“Shrimp trawling severely impacts the fisheries we depend on, killing millions of juvenile fish, degrading essential habitats and putting enormous pressure on our collapsing fish populations, including spot croaker and flounder,” said Bell. “This bill does not completely ban trawling but puts good stewardship of our estuaries first by moving shrimp trawling offshore.”

Coastal Review will not publish Thursday in recognition of the Juneteenth holiday.

Tropical storms have cost North Carolina tens of billions of dollars over the last 40 years.

These weather-related disasters are putting a spotlight on the state’s “flood-risk crisis,” according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, as well as the potential for “the role of a changing climate, including increases in rainfall and sea level rise to worsen the crisis.”

Heightening the threat, in association with a growing population, is that more impervious surfaces are being built, which decreases the amount of rainwater the ground can absorb.

The North Carolina General Assembly, in an effort to better understand and prepare for flood risks across the state, allocated $20 million in 2021 to NCDEQ’s Division of Mitigation Services to develop a flood resilience program, and nearly $100 million to implement resiliency projects in six of the state’s 17 river basins.

Called the North Carolina Flood Resiliency Blueprint, the program is intended to serve as “the backbone of a State flood planning process that increases community resiliency to flooding, shall be a resource for riverine and stream management to reduce flooding, and should support the establishment and furtherance of local government stormwater maintenance programs,” per the 2021 session law.

Stuart Brown, who has been leading the blueprint team for a little more than a year, told Coastal Review in a recent interview that the blueprint’s goal is to make the state more resilient to flooding.

“We’re trying to better understand what floods, how it floods, and what the impacts of that flooding are,” he explained, which began with looking at what information was available statewide on flooding, what information was needed to better understand flooding, and to see what other states and federal agencies were doing to try to address similar issues.

Studies show that around 60 to 70% of flood damage happens outside of federally defined flood hazard areas, Brown continued. “If that is our understanding of floods, then we’re not going to be particularly successful at mitigating that flooding, or doing things that help reduce the damage caused by that flooding.”

To get a more accurate estimate of current and future flood risks, NCDEQ has partnered with state Emergency Management and other agencies to improve existing flood modeling tools.

Being built right now, the improved modeling will consider, for example, changes in precipitation patterns and sea level subsidence in coastal areas, and all of that new information will feed “into our understanding of what our current and future flood risk is,” Brown said.

The improvements to existing flood modeling tools that are to “provide more accurate estimates of current flood risks and project future flood risk to support long-term strategic planning,” as NCDEQ states, are just one part of the blueprint strategy.  

Once the blueprint is complete, it is expected to offer decision-makers, especially in communities with limited resources, help to build site-specific flood mitigation projects and with funding opportunities.

“Traditionally, disaster management focuses on preparedness, response, and recovery. The Blueprint’s focus is on proactive resilience planning and implementation that can reduce the initial impact from future flood events and help communities recover more quickly,” according to the blueprint spring 2025 update.

Blueprint background

Brown explained during a presentation earlier this year that the state has suffered for decades from billion-dollar disasters and the blueprint “represents an opportunity to take a step back from the disaster cycle and invest in the proactive planning and implementation of resilience work to mitigate future risk and reduce the cost and disruption from future flooding.”

He was speaking at the two-day North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute’s annual conference this March in Raleigh. WRRI is a multi-campus program of the University of North Carolina System and provides resources and support to junior faculty and students.

After hurricanes Matthew in 2016 and Florence in 2018, both totaling around $27 billion in damage, the General Assembly, knowing that these types of storms are becoming more frequent, more severe and more costly, recognized that they should look more into investing in resilience, Brown continued.

When the General Assembly tasked NCDEQ in 2021 with developing the statewide flood resiliency blueprint for major watersheds impacted by flooding, it was with the goal “to better equip the state and its communities to manage current and future flood risk.”

The blueprint is imagined as a statewide program, but right now, the project is funded and authorized to work only in the Neuse, Cape Fear, Lumber, Tar-Pamlico, White Oak, and the French Broad, which was added in 2024 prior to Hurricane Helene, Brown said.

Ultimately, the blueprint is to provide a way to explore different options to reduce risk, exposure to and disruption from flooding, building resilience and give local governments “the tools and data and processing they need to support their flood resilience planning,” he added.

Phased approach

Brown said in an interview that the project has several components and is being developed in three phases.

The first phase was completed in March 2024 with the release of the 98-page draft blueprint document and 77-page draft Neuse Basin Flood Resiliency Action Strategy a few months later. 

The draft blueprint was the “first major deliverable and is the outline for how we do this work,” Brown said. “This is the framework for how to do these river basin action strategies. We put that framework in motion.”

A river basin action strategy is tailored to a specific river basin and uses the blueprint tool and public input to outline specific actions for increasing flood resilience.

The draft pilot Neuse action strategy serves as a template for this type of planning going forward, but is currently missing information about vulnerability that the flood modeling improvements are expected to illustrate, Brown said.

Both documents were written using contributions from more than 150 researchers, technicians, government leaders and staff, researchers, and other partners.

Phases two and three are being developed concurrently. Phase two includes building the interactive online tool with community-specific data and project management guidance tailored to the user’s needs. The tool also is a repository for information, modeling outputs and technical reports. Though the online decision-support Blueprint Tool is public now, Brown said the team is “still building functionality.” Once the improved modeling is complete, that new information will be incorporated into the online tool.

In addition to revisiting the Neuse pilot strategy during phase three, “we’ve also kicked off river basin action strategies for the Cape Fear, Lumber, White Oak and Tar-Pamlico,” he added.

The basin strategy advisory boards are to use the draft blueprint and online tool to develop the other five river basin action strategies.

Staff have been meeting with these advisory boards, and there are plans to meet with different municipalities and counties, all leading to river basin action strategies in Early 2026, Brown said.

Funding, partnerships

The blueprint has an implementation component, Brown explained.

Staff began funding projects last year out of that $96 million allocated in 2021 for priority projects in the six river basins. The money was released after the draft blueprint document was published in March 2024.

NCDEQ partnered with state agencies and local governments to enable dozens of projects worth more than $65 million. The blueprint program invested $25.6 million into these projects according to the April 30 quarterly report to the General Assembly.

“We funded 61 projects so far statewide, that includes many coastal projects among them,” Brown said.

Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Hyde, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico and Pender have all been selected to receive or have received close to $4 million total for stream debris or sediment removal, infrastructure, flood risk reduction, restoration or acquisition.

The state announced funding through the blueprint twice in November 2024 and again in April. Right now, proposals are being accepted for projects that address flood reduction or flood resiliency in key river basins in the state. The deadline is June 30.

“By investing in a more flood-resilient state now, North Carolina will protect and improve the lives and livelihoods of North Carolinians, secure and build upon its thriving economy, expand tourism, support agriculture, forestry, and other working land businesses, fortify transportation infrastructure, protect critical aspects of the military mission, and steward natural resources,” the draft blueprint document states.

Secretary Wilson highlights blueprint

NCDEQ Secretary Reid Wilson has spoken about the blueprint in front of larger audiences since stepping into the leadership role the first of this year, including at the WRRI conference in March and at the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s 2025 Coastal Summit in April in Raleigh.

“We have to engage the public. We have to plan for the future, and again, plan for more severe storms, which is why it’s a wonderful thing that our Division of Mitigation Services is developing the North Carolina Flood Resiliency Blueprint,” Wilson said at the WRRI conference.

He added that the blueprint is the backbone of a planning process to increase community resilience to flooding through all of our river basins and “is the largest statewide flood mitigation investment in state history.”

Wilson explained in April that the blueprint is one step the agency has taken toward resiliency and that the online decision support tool “will enable state and local government agencies to better understand how to build and rebuild to mitigate hazards.”

He continued that while the blueprint team is working with volunteers to develop the six river basins, including those on the coast, “the hope is to expand into all other basins as well. The action strategies are intended to bring together stakeholders to figure out steps to take to make their communities less vulnerable,” Wilson said.

Around the time of a funding announcement, Wilson said “so we’re trying to get the money out the door but in a really smart way, so we know there’s more to do on resilience.”

The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores made a splash Friday when it unveiled its newly revamped, comic-style gallery that uses vibrant panels, colorful sculptures and hands-on experiences to illustrate the facility’s coral conservation and aquaculture efforts.

The North Carolina Aquarium Society, which is the nonprofit group that supports the state’s aquariums, welcomed 180 members for a sneak peek of the vibrant “Future Waters” gallery before the facility opened to the public that morning.

The gallery features interactive displays, a 1,500-gallon saltwater coral reef habitat called “Conservation Cove,” and two working labs that highlight the aquarium’s sustainable aquaculture efforts and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project.

The Pine Knoll Shores aquarium is one of 20 holding facilities in 14 states taking part in the Florida Reef Tract Rescue Project. The network focuses on the rescue, housing and future propagation of Florida corals affected by stony coral tissue loss disease. The goal is to eventually reintroduce the corals to the reef.

The aquarium’s Coral Aquarist Andrew Feliton told Coastal Review that the aquarium is currently cultivating 10 species of coral, all of which have been in captivity since the rescue project began in 2019. The corals came from SeaWorld Orlando and the Florida Coral Rescue.

“We work closely with the Florida Wildlife Commission because these are technically their animals,” Feliton said.

Husbandry Curator Trent Boyette was standing with Feliton near the entrance of the exhibit as a steady stream of visitors made their way through the exhibit.

To date, Boyette said, “we have successfully aquacultured about 23 different species since we first started in 2016.” Aquacultured means that fish, shellfish and other marine plants and animals were bred and raised in water, similar to farming on land.

The aquarium participates in species survival plans, Boyette continued, such as the lined seahorses on display in the exhibit’s working lab.

As the hum of visitors milling about the gallery filled the space, the aquarium’s Communications Manager Shannon Kemp told Coastal Review that staff have spent the last few years working on the gallery, creating about 90% in house, with an emphasis on making the exhibit interactive.

“This is one of the most tactile exhibits we have in the aquarium,” Kemp said, adding the education curator was interested in using a comic book theme “because it’s a different way of presenting information.”

Boyette noted that building the gallery was a major undertaking, to create almost all of the gallery in-house, from constructing the walls to acquiring the coral and fish.

“We spent probably the better part of two years just constructing all this,” Boyette said.

N.C. Aquarium Society President Liz Baird said the nonprofit support organization managed the $240,808 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and donations to build the gallery.

“Funding from public and private sources fits a real need to help communicate with the public, and aquariums and informal cultural organizations are a way to reach people that’s quite different than going to school,” Baird said. “An investment into an exhibit like this reaches a whole new audience in a whole new way, and has been proven effective. So we’re really grateful for that support to help bring this to life.”

Baird served as director of the Pine Knoll Shores aquarium from 2019 to 2023 before transitioning to the nonprofit, and was part of the planning process when the exhibit was first conceived.

 “We really wanted a way to highlight the work that goes on behind the scenes, particularly in conservation, and to help people understand how they play a role in conservation,” she said as she greeted visitors and staff while enjoying the sunny morning on the front patio.

Baird said that they went with the comic book theme to draw visitors to the exhibit.

“When you think about the way that you want to engage with guests, be them young kids through grown adults, people learn best when they are self-directed, and find things that sort of catch their eye or tweak their imagination,” she said.

Though corals are really important for conservation, corals growing don’t catch the eye like the otters or sharks.

“By having this really fun theme,” Baird explained, people are drawn to the exhibit and want to learn why the corals are growing.

The aquaculture work has been taking place for several years, “and we’ve been highly successful at raising these fish, but that happens upstairs, behind the scenes. And again, it’s one of those things that’s not necessarily engaging unless you know the story behind it,” she said.

“These are organisms are really important to our oceans health, and the aquariums are helping take the lead in protecting them,” Baird said.

The aquarium is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For more information or to book tickets in advance, visit www.ncaquariums.com/pine-knoll-shores or call 252-247-4003.

With national forecasters expecting above-normal activity for the 2025 Atlantic hurricane season, officials are reminding the public to prepare now before a storm hits.

Meteorologists are predicting a 60% chance of an above-normal season, 30% chance of a near-normal season, and only a 10% chance to be below normal, National Weather Service Director Ken Graham said during a news conference held Thursday morning at Jefferson Parish Emergency Operations Center in Gretna, Louisiana.

Graham was joined by Acting National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Administrator Laura Grimm and Jefferson Parish President Cynthia Lee-Sheng to announce the season that begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30.

“We’re really looking at an above-normal season once again,” Graham said, explaining that the forecast is between 13 to 19 named storms. Storms are named when they reach 39 mph. In 2024, there were 18 named storms.

Of those 13 to 19 storms expected this year, six to 10 are forecast to become hurricanes, which is when winds reach 74 mph, and forecasters expect three to five major hurricanes, or Category 3 and above, with maximum sustained winds of 111 miles an hour or greater, Graham said.

“The average: 14 named storms, seven hurricanes, three major (hurricanes), so above the average,” Graham said.

Hurricane categories are ranked from 1 to 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. Category 5 is the strongest with winds greater than 157 mph.

Hurricanes are not just about the category, Graham said, adding that only 1 mile an hour separates the different categories. “You’ve got to focus on the impacts,” particularly the dangers of water such as storm surge and flooding.

Graham explained that the strongest hurricanes are the ones that develop the fastest.

“Every Category 5 storm that’s ever hit this country was a tropical storm or less three days prior,” Graham said. “The big ones that hit this country are fast,” and you have to plan early.

“Everything’s in place for an above average season,” Graham explained, including warmer surface temperatures.

With some of the factors associated with hurricane season, “we’re not really seeing any changes in the numbers or even the strengths when it comes to the warming of the planet,” but “we’re seeing heavier rainfall rates,” he said.

“That’s the biggest evidence that we see associated with the tropical season,” Graham continued about the heavy rainfall. “We’ve got to be really prepared for that,” especially as more people move to the coast.

In response to questions from reporters Thursday morning about staff changes at NOAA, Grimm explained that “weather prediction modeling and protecting human lives and property is our top priority.”

She added that “we are fully staffed at the hurricane center” and “we are really making this a top priority for this administration, for NOAA, for the Department of Commerce. We are very supportive of our national weather staff.”

Though Graham reiterated Grimm’s statement about staffing, he later said the administration “had some folks go, but we’re going to make sure that we have everything that we have on the front lines. Every warning is going to go out.”

Graham said that budget cuts at NOAA are not going to affect hurricane forecasting this year and that the center is working on some long-term solutions for staffing.

In North Carolina

Dare County Emergency Management Director Drew Pearson told Coastal Review in an email Thursday that he echoed “Ken Graham’s statement in the NOAA release where he says ‘This outlook is a call to action: be prepared. Take proactive steps now to make a plan and gather supplies to ensure you’re ready before a storm threatens’.”

Graham’s “words are true even when the predictions are for a less active season. No matter how many storms are being predicted, everyone needs to be prepared for that one storm that will put them in harm’s way,” Pearson continued.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t encourage everyone to never focus on just the category of a tropical storm,” he said. “Any storm system is dangerous and can bring life threatening impacts from storm surge, rainfall flooding, wind, tornadoes and rip currents. Just the other afternoon we had a tornado in Wanchese during a severe thunderstorm.”

North Carolina Emergency Management’s Chief of External Affairs and Communications Justin Graney also pointed out that it only takes one storm.

“We really want North Carolinians to know that it doesn’t matter if they’re calling for one storm this season or 45 storms, it only takes one to impact our state and only one storm to impact your community and your home. We want everybody to be prepared for hurricanes,” he said in an interview.

Graney said in coastal North Carolina, “storm surge is the number one killer” in tropical storms and hurricanes, “because the water levels will rise very rapidly.” Wind damage is also a concern, depending on the strength of the hurricane.

“It’s important to note, too, that the category of storm is misleading. People find a false sense of security” in the storm category, which is only based on the wind speed. “The storm may have substantial impacts beyond that,” he said.

Graney pointed to Hurricane Florence in 2018, a Category 1 storm when it impacted North and South Carolina. “But because of the rainfall amounts, we saw significant flooding, same with Hurricane Matthew. There shouldn’t be a sense of security with people when they say, ‘that’s just a Category 1 hurricane, we’ll be fine.’ They need to take them seriously, no matter what it is.”

Another concern for eastern North Carolina is inland flooding.

Residents need to be aware of what is happening to the streams and rivers in their area, adding that the region could see the same areas flood twice. The initial flooding from storm surge, rainfall and runoff, and, depending on the track of the storm, “you may see additional flooding several days after the storm, so it’s important to make sure you’re aware of those hazards,” he said.

Graney urged residents to make sure the information they rely on is coming from local media, the newspaper, National Weather Service and other trusted sources to make the best decisions to protect themselves and their loved ones.

“The next thing you want to do after being informed is, we want to make sure that you have a plan and that you’re prepared,” Graney said. “We want everyone that lives in coastal North Carolina to be familiar with the Know Your Zone Initiative, which is a storm surge-based evacuation map that is used by local emergency management to facilitate evacuation.”

He said to visit the website, type in the address and it will show your zone for if you need to evacuate.

Grady said that putting together a disaster kit at home is also extremely important. “We need to make sure North Carolinians are prepared to self-sustain for three to seven days per person in their home.”

There’s some resources at readync.gov “to help you and your family prepare at home, because it’s important, and it doesn’t have to be a huge financial undertaking. It can be done gradually. Right now, we have time. We can do this in parts, to build a disaster kit at home. So that’s not a huge financial hit to you and your family,” he added.

Warning Coordination Meteorologist Erik Heden at the National Weather Service office in Morehead City said in a telephone interview that coastal North Carolina is “one of the higher risk areas in the country. We never want to scare people, but we do live right by the ocean, and it’s beautiful most of the time of the year, but it’s just something we need to be prepared for when you live in an area like this.”

Heden also stressed that residents shouldn’t focus on the category but on the impacts, which include wind, storm surge, inland flooding, rip currents and tornadoes.

He said Thursday now is a good time to make that hurricane plan and stock up because there’s plenty of supplies available. “If you’re researching (your plan) on a beautiful May day like today, you’re going to make really good decisions where, if you’re trying to scramble at the last minute, you’re not going to make as good of a decision while being under stress.”

National Weather Service Meteorologist-in-Charge for the Wilmington office Steven Pfaff said that while there have been numerous hurricanes over the decades that have caused serious flooding, the coast is overdue for a high-impact, wind storm.

“When you look at statistics, every 23 years, Cape Fear should see a Category 3 or 4,” he said in a phone interview, “And here we are coming up on 29 years since Fran,” referencing Hurricane Fran that hit in 1996.

“You’ve got a segment of the population that has been through a lot of hurricanes, but not the wind aspect of it,” Pfaff said, referring to storms with winds over 100 mph. “We have a lot of people who’ve lived in the area since Fran that haven’t been through something like Fran, so it’s going to be new to them as well.”

Coastal Review will not publish on Monday, May 26.

An Outer Banks nonprofit that was created to preserve traditional Indigenous principles embodied by a late-16^th century Algonquian leader is concentrating on the roles of women during the organization’s annual two-day educational event scheduled for later this month in Dare County.

Called Secotan Alliance … And Beyond, the organization was formed in 2023 to honor Chief Wingina, leader of the Roanoke-Secotan tribe that occupied almost all of what is now called the Albemarle Peninsula, a five-county area in northeastern North Carolina, when the English first made contact in the 1580s.

The nonprofit’s mission “is to bring Wingina out of the shadows of history to a more prominent, respectful position, and to teach and promote the Indigenous Earth ethic that he and his people lived by,” Alliance Executive Director Gray Parsons told Coastal Review.

In addition to educating the public on the traditional indigenous principles of the Secotan Alliance under the leadership of Chief Wingina, “specifically in terms of their application and value in today’s world,” the organization works to “educate the public regarding the need and the methods to protect Mother Earth through individual, community, corporate and government actions based on the traditional indigenous earth ethic,” the website states.

The coming program, “In the Spirit of Wingina 2: Our Women, Our Words, Our Water” is set for May 30-31 in Nags Head and Manteo and will feature academic talks, oral tradition from Indigenous people, panel discussions and performances that are to highlight Chief Wingina’s Secotan Alliance, and general Indigenous environmental history, with a concentration on the roles of women.

Wingina’s Secotan Alliance was initially documented by the English during first contact in 1584, covering most of the Albemarle Peninsula which today includes Dare, Hyde, Beaufort, Washington and Tyrrell counties. Wingina tried to help the English during that expedition before sailing back to England. When the English returned to the area a year later, Wingina learned of their plans to establish the first English colony. Wingina then began working with nearby villages to unite and drive the settlers away from Roanoke, according to the organization’s website and state documents.

“Sadly it was Wingina’s attempts to expand the alliance inland in order to stop the English intruders that got him beheaded by the English military in June 1586,” the alliance’s website explains.

Parsons, who founded the nonprofit, is a descendant of the Machapunga-Mattamuskeet people of the North Carolina inner banks, and grew up in Washington, graduating from East Carolina University in 1972. He spent his career in various fields, including human services, medical sales and marketing, and the organic and natural foods industry.

“It’s our belief that everyone on the planet is ‘Indigen-US,’” which he said is different from the word indigenous. It’s spelled almost the same way, but by adding US, “that’s meant to be inclusive for everyone, to understand that all of their ancestors, at one point, lived in a sustainable relationship with creation.”

This means that when decisions were made to embrace new ideas or approaches, “there was always forethought given to seven generations ahead as to how those new approaches or adaptations would affect the next seven generations,” he explained.

The organization’s inaugural program was in May of 2024 in Manteo. “In the Spirit of Wingina … and Beyond” centered on the life of Wingina and his Secotan Alliance that he tried to expand in the mid-1580s with neighboring tribes when English expeditioners first arrived, and the traditional Indigenous approach to environmentalism.

Parsons, of Frisco, said that the two-day program will always be titled “In the Spirit of Wingina” but will have a different theme, with this year being the roles of women.

The program, appropriate for ages 16 and up, is being offered at no charge. Organizers ask that those who plan to attend register online ahead of the event for planning purposes. A full schedule, all program contributors and registration are available on the Secotan Alliance’s website.

About the 2025 event

The 2025 program will “focus on and celebrate the unique leadership roles of our women yesterday and today, all through the diverse use of interactive education, performing and musical arts, language and film,” according to the alliance’s website.

The programming begins at noon Friday, May 30, in the Virginia S. Tillett Center in Manteo, followed at 7 p.m. with a concert in Jennette’s Pier in Nags Head. The program will resume at 9 a.m. Saturday in the College of the Albemarle’s Dare County campus in Manteo.

The emphasis on day one is on Indigenous history and day two is more on the Indigenous Earth ethic, a chance for environmental organizations and Indigenous people to learn how to join forces, and begin effectuating change on a large scale, Parsons continued.

“Each year we will tell briefly the fundamental story of Wingina’s life framed in that critical 18-month period that he dealt as the leader of the entire, what we today call, the Albemarle Peninsula,” he said.

Parsons said that because the focus of this year’s event is women, the keynote speakers are female Indigenous historians. Dr. Helen C. Rountree, and Dr. Karen Ordahl Kupperman, professors emeritae at Old Dominion University and New York University, respectively, have been invited to speak.

Roundtree is scheduled to give her presentation, “Native American Life in Carolina’s Sound Country Before and After the Lost Colony” at 1 p.m. followed at 2 p.m. by Kupperman, who is to present “When Does American History Start.”

Roundtree is recognized for her scholarly work on Native American societies, and highlights the roles of Indigenous women in governance, community life and cultural preservation. Kupperman has written extensively on the interactions between European and Indigenous peoples in the 16th and 17th centuries.

“They’re both held in very high esteem,” Parsons said, and “are experts on indigenous history and specifically the role of women in indigenous history.”

Dr. Gabrielle Tayac is to take the podium at 3 p.m. to share “Piscataway Woman: Her Courage and Honor.” Tayac is associate professor in the history and art history departments at George Mason University, consult curator at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and contributing author for two books.

Also scheduled to speak are Dr. Crystal A. Cavalier, cofounder and director of the Piedmont-based 7 Directions of Service, Coastal Carolina Riverwatch Executive Director Lisa Rider, Dr. Arwin Smallwood, who is Dean of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at North Carolina Central University, David Rahahę́·tih Webb, executive director at Muddy Sneakers, Outdoor Classroom, and Sandra Hope, director of the nonprofit Saving the Circle.

Panel discussions with representatives from Dare County, Frisco Native American Museum, Peace Garden Project, Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, North Carolina Coastal Federation, and other organizations are also on the agenda.

That first day closes out with “An Evening of Indigenous Drum & Flute, Jazz & Indigenous Poetry.” Warren Perkinson of Yapatoko will perform Indigenous hand drum, song and flute, Coquetta Brooks will read Indigenous historical poetry about Wingina from the book “Pampico Blue,” and the Benjie Porecki Trio, out of the Washington, D.C., area, will give a jazz performance.  

“All three of these guys are excellent musicians,” Parsons said about the trio.

Perkinson, who will be performing on the flute at various times throughout the two-day program, will open the evening. Brooks is with the Pea Island Preservation Society, one of the event sponsors.

Programming is to resume at 8:30 a.m. May 31 with an emphasis on “The Traditional Indigenous Earth Ethic.”  Indigenous descendants and members of North Carolina tribes and coastal environmental organizations representatives will be giving talks or holding panel discussions throughout.

Parsons said that among the panel discussions planned, the “Historic Traditional Indigenous Earth Ethic” that begins at 2:50 p.m. May 31 will focus on defining the historic Indigenous Earth ethic, and the panel that follows at 3:30 p.m., “Contemporary Environmental Earth Ethic” will discuss it.

The second day will wrap up after the 4:30 p.m. discussion on the theme for 2026, which will recognize the anniversary of when Wingina was beheaded.

“June 1 of 2026, will be the 440th anniversary of that death,” which he said the event next year will acknowledge, Parsons said.

Parsons expressed his gratitude to the event sponsors, which include Outer Banks Community Foundation, Outer Banks Visitors Bureau, Dare Arts, North Carolina Coastal Federation, Friends of the Outer Banks History Center, Island Bookstores in Kitty Hawk, Duck and Corolla, Outer Banks Pest Control, and Pea Island Preservation Society.  In-kind donations were provided by The Fresh Market, Waveriders in Nags Head, Front Porch Café in Manteo, and Crumbl Cookie in Southern Shores.

Those from out of town can receive the group rate at the Comfort Inn – South Oceanfront in Nags Head. Call 252-441-6315 and mention “Secotan Alliance.”

RALEIGH — Historian David Cecelski didn’t mask the grief he felt while telling the “gruesome stories” littering eastern North Carolina’s past, or the mounting dread that those days will return and put the coast’s natural resources at risk of “plunder, pillaging and poisoning.”

“This may not be the kind of keynote address that you’re used to,” the mild-mannered Carteret County native told a crowd of about 150 people during the first morning of the 2025 Coastal Summit. “I’m an historian after all, a storyteller at heart, and you have to expect that I’m going to tell some stories. I’m also going to talk about our coastal history, and how we got here, and what we might learn from the past that might help guide us today.”

The April 8-9 summit, titled “Ripple Effect: Enhancing Oysters, Salt Marsh and Water Quality Together,” was organized by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review. The biennial event brought together elected officials, representatives from local, state and federal governments, conservation organizations, researchers and others invested in maintaining a healthy coast.

Board member for the nonprofit organization Allison Besch introduced Cecelski, who “divides his time between two places that he loves deeply”: Durham, and his ancestral home in Carteret County. A longtime contributor to Coastal Review, the historian has written several award-winning books and hundreds of articles about the history, culture and politics of the North Carolina coast.

“David’s writing focuses passionately on telling stories from his little corner of the world that emanates American history more broadly,” Besch said as she described his work.

Cecelski began his address, “Our Coastal Heritage: Past, Present and Future” with an illustration of the mullet fishing camp on Shackleford Banks where his cousins worked five generations ago. He also displayed photos of himself as a young boy on the family farm that bumps up to the Harlowe Canal west of Beaufort.

“When I stay at the house, like I did the other night, I sleep in the bedroom where my mother was born, and her father and his father and his father,” Cecelski said. “And in our neighborhood, people call our house ‘the new house’ because what they call the family homeplace is about a half-mile down the road on my cousin Henry’s land.”

Cecelski said that when his mother was born in the late 1920s, a New Bedford, Massachusetts, company was still trapping bottlenose dolphins in giant haul seines and slaughtering hundreds and sometimes thousands of them every year on the beach at Hatteras Island.

“The islanders would shut their windows so they would not have to hear the cry of the dolphins on the beach at night. The last haul of the day, they often didn’t have a chance to process so they would leave them alive,” he continued. “When they were old men, and I would go and talk with them, local fishermen who were hired to catch and butcher the dolphins would say they still had nightmares about what they had had to do on those beaches.”

When his grandfather was a young man, New York millinery companies, or ladies’ hatmakers, “were still paying the hunters at Cape Lookout to surround nesting colonies of seabirds and marsh birds — royal turns, oystercatchers, piping clovers, sanderlings, herons, egrets, among others,” he said. The hunters would wait until the eggs started hatching, because that was when the birds were least likely to flee, and then they would start shooting, sometimes killing 10,000,15,000, 20,000, 25,000 birds in a single day.

A century ago, the swans and snow geese did not come for Lake Mattamuskeet, and less than a century ago, sea turtles were being shipped in tin cans to four-star restaurants in New York City. A pulp mill in 1937, “without breaking any laws, began dumping untreated sulfur dioxide into the Roanoke River at a site 4 miles upriver of Plymouth. By the start of the Second World War, that mill’s waste had destroyed America’s largest and oldest herring fisheries, dating back at that site two centuries,” Cecelski continued.

And a century ago, one of North America’s great wetlands that covered hundreds of thousands of acres north and west of the Pongo River disappeared. “It was clear-cut, drained and its waters channeled into the Pamlico River. If there is an acre of it left, I have not found it. It’s ancient white cedar forest. It’s cypress glades and the entire body of the oyster grounds of the upper Pamlico River. All gone,” Cecelski said.

“When it comes to that devastating era in the history of the North Carolina coast, I’m afraid I could go on and on and on,” but everything that is loved about the state’s coast today has come about because of recognizing that path couldn’t continue, he said.

“We learned the hard way that the strength of our coastal communities, strength of our coastal families, the strength of our coastal economy, and the strength of the kind of coastal heritage that I grew up in — our traditions of fishing, of boatbuilding, of living off the land and the water, of oyster roasts and shrimp boils, of pilgrimages to the shore to restore our souls — we learned that they are all as entwined as anything can be with the health of our coastal waters, our coastal wetlands, our fields and forests,” Cecelski continued. “And we learned that we have to work together if we want to keep the North Carolina coast the kind of place that our children and grandchildren will hold as tightly in their hearts as we hold it in our hearts.”

Even though progress has been made over the last century with environmental laws and conservation efforts, “we also know that in a lot of ways, we have just got started, and I know when we see what’s going on in the country now, that things look bleak for much of what draws us and people from around the world to our shores,” he said, and the work taking place to care for the coast may be at risk.

“I know — I’m not naming names — that there are people in high office now who act as if, well, as if they never walked down the Kure Beach fishing pier on a Friday night in the autumn when the spots and bluefish are running and seeing the joy in the children’s faces and how nobody is a stranger and everybody’s helping everybody, and how much it means to all our state’s citizens to be there by the sea,” he said. “And they act as if they’ve never walked the shores of Cape Lookout when the sea is phosphorescent, the dolphins are playing in the waves and the fish are biting, and they act as if they’ve never traipsed along the edges of Currituck Sound and felt the beauty of the marshes stir their soul.”

The shackling of the Environmental Protection Agency “alone foreshadows the breathtaking descent back into the worst days of our coastal past, when our estuaries, our beaches, our fisheries and the sources of our drinking water were a free-for-all, open to plunder, pillaging and poisoning,” he said.

“I wish I had more words of comfort for you, but we all know the road ahead is not going to be easy,” Cecelski said, reminding the audience that the work of organizations like the Coastal Federation and its partners “will never, ever be greater than it is at this moment in our history.”

He closed by telling a story about how, in the Coastal Federation’s infancy, its founder, Todd Miller, recruited Cecelski as the first volunteer.

“I think that I was invited here today, hopefully not just to tell gruesome stories, but I think I was invited here because of my historical work on the North Carolina coast,” he said.

It was the early 1980s and Miller convinced Cecelski to spend a year in Swan Quarter spreading the word about a proposed massive strip-mining project.

“They wanted to mine the peat. A large, multibillion-dollar, extremely well-connected group of investors was planning to strip mine hundreds of thousands of acres of coastal wetlands stretching across Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell, Beaufort and Washington counties,” he said.

Cecelski continued that when he first arrived, he rarely met anyone who knew about the proposed plan and on the few occasions he did, they realized the project would leave their home a wasteland and devastate the region’s oyster beds and fishing grounds.

“Past experience had led them to conclude that nobody cared what they had to say, that nobody would listen to them, and there was nothing they could do about it, because it had always been that way,” he said.

His job was “a very small part of the puzzle” to let people know what was happening, and help their voices be heard.

“At that moment, I would not have bet five bucks on the chance of our success. Everything — money, power, time — was against us, but little by little, people of every background, every race, every political party and every little village, began to speak up. Hope flickered,” he said. People began to come together and believed they could make a difference, and in the end, the people of the North Carolina coast prevailed.

Though Cecelski was young at the time, he said the experience taught him that even when it looks bleak and “if we don’t give up hope, if we hold on to one another, if we look past our differences to what we hold in common, good things will happen, and sometimes even a miracle or two, even in the darkest of times.”

Cecelski said he knows he’s a terribly old-fashioned person and out of step with much of modern times.

“I still believe in the golden rule that we should treat other people the way that we would want them to treat us. I still believe what I was taught in Sunday school, that we are called to be good stewards of God’s creation and good caretakers of our lands and waters and the creatures thereof,” he said. “I still believe, and I will always believe, what I learned growing up on the North Carolina coast, that a neighbor is a neighbor is a neighbor, and we are all in this together. And I believe with all my heart that there are some things worth fighting for, and I believe that the North Carolina coast is one of them.”

The two agencies that enforce fisheries rules in North Carolina waters said they are ramping up their outreach to prepare commercial and recreational fishermen for the divisive mandatory harvest reporting laws that are to go into effect later this year.

Starting Dec. 1, all red drum, flounder, spotted seatrout, striped bass or weakfish recreationally harvested in coastal, joint and some inland fishing waters must be reported at the end of each fishing trip to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries, which manages coastal waters. Wildlife Resources Commission manages inland waters and the two manage joint waters together.

“The five species are among the most targeted fish in North Carolina coastal and joint fishing waters, and inland fishing waters adjacent to coastal and joint fishing waters,” according to the division.

The law affects commercial fishing license holders as well. In the past, those with a commercial fishing operation were required to report only what they sold to a dealer but starting Dec. 1, they must report everything harvested, including finfish, shellfish and crustaceans, no matter if it’s sold or kept for personal consumption.

“The mandatory harvest reporting system for both commercial and recreational fishing is due Dec. 1,” and the department expects the data collected to be “very useful as we estimate what the existing fish populations are and what the trajectory looks like for those populations,” NCDEQ Secretary Reid Wilson told the about 150 at the Coastal Summit held last week in Raleigh.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, hosted the summit April 9-10 in the Marbles Kids Museum.

Public outreach

Marine Fisheries Public Information Officer Patricia Smith explained during an interview that “we’re just really trying to get the word out.”

Division of Marine Fisheries staff have met with the for-hire industry, had a presence at fishing trade shows to bring people up to speed on the new requirements, have been passing out stickers with a QR code for the harvest reporting page during special events, and will post signs once they’re made at public boat ramps and other places where recreational fishermen gather.

In addition to pushing public awareness, Smith said the reporting webpage on NCDEQ’s website has been launched. So far, there’s background on the rule, a frequently asked questions section and the reporting tool that people can use now on a voluntary basis. The webpage is being continuously updated to make it as user friendly as possible, particularly for people using their phone to submit their form.

Anyone who would like to have division staff talk about to their group about the requirements should contact the division to set up an in-person or virtual meeting.

The hope for the program in the long run is that a “dynamic app of some kind with recreational outreach along with the reporting requirements” will be developed,” Smith said.

Smith said that another facet of the mandatory reporting is that it gives “fishermen a greater understanding of what their role is in fisheries conservation.”

For example, many fishermen ask how the one fish they harvest can affect an entire fishery. But if a million people catch just one fish, that adds up to a million fish being removed from the population. Plus, a certain percentage of fish that are caught and thrown back die.

“We do hope that this (program) is something that will help them realize their role in it,” Smith said.

The division is being supported in the outreach effort by the Wildlife Resources Commission.

The Commission’s Coastal Region Fishery Supervisor Ben Ricks told Coastal Review that the mandatory harvest reporting for red drum, flounder, striped bass, spotted seatrout and weakfish may provide an effective tool to better manage these fisheries.

“A critical component to its effectiveness is the participation of everyone. Accurate harvest data will lead to better overall estimates of mortality and more informed decision making,” Ricks said.

Enforcement will be phased in over the next three years. From Dec. 1​, 2025​, to Dec. 1, 2026, those who fail to report their harvest will be given a verbal warning. The next year, a warning ticket will be issued, and starting Dec. 1, 2027, the penalty for not reporting a harvest is an infraction with a $35 fine. Infractions can lead to having fishing licenses and permits suspended.

The division’s Marine Patrol and Wildlife Commission’s​ officers enforce the rules in their respective waters.

About the rule

The law was put in motion by the North Carolina Marine and Estuary Foundation a few years ago. The nonprofit said in 2024 that it had worked with state legislators and conservation partners to develop the language for the “groundbreaking” legislation that is “aimed to fill data gaps in order to provide a better understanding of how fish are harvested from our coastal waters.”

The North Carolina General Assembly approved the mandatory reporting requirements in 2023. The law set the effective date as Dec. 1, 2024, and the division was awarded a one-time allocation of $5 million to build the reporting system.

The legislature’s mandatory harvest reporting requirement reads: “Any person who recreationally harvests a fish listed in this subsection from coastal fishing waters, joint fishing waters, and inland fishing waters adjacent to coastal or joint fishing waters shall report that harvest to the Division of Marine Fisheries within the Department of Environment Quality in a manner consistent with rules adopted by the Marine Fisheries Commission and the Wildlife Resources Commission. The harvest of the following finfish species shall be reported: (1) Red Drum. (2) Flounder. (3) Spotted Seatrout. (4) Striped Bass. (5) Weakfish.”​

The Division of Marine Fisheries carries out rules the Marine Fisheries Commission establishes for coastal and joint waters and the Wildlife Resources Commission carries out regulations determined by its ​20​ or so commissioners for inland and joint waters.

There was pushback throughout the rulemaking process in 2024. Both agencies were inundated with thousands of comments, a fair amount laden with expletives, which Coastal Review reported at the time, during one of the public comment periods.

Division staff asked for a one-year extension​, which the General Assembly approved in 2024​. Then-Gov. Roy Cooper declined to sign the bill at the time because of unrelated provisions.

Smith explained that the division asked for the ​year extension to allow time to set up the reporting program and to allow for public outreach “because this is not just coastal folks. It’s coastal joint waters and any inland waters that are adjacent to coast to joint waters. So basically, it’s any of these waters in the state where you’re going to find these species.”

Coastal Review will not publish Friday, April 18.

​Dozens of carvers, collectors and exhibitors from North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Delaware are planning to make the journey later this month to Ocracoke Island for a two-day celebration of waterfowl carving heritage.

Hosted by the Ocracoke Island Decoy Carvers Guild, the Ocracoke Island Waterfowl Festival is scheduled for 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, April 11, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 12, in the Ocracoke School gym.

In addition to perusing the about 30 booths expected to be set up in the gym, festivalgoers will have the opportunity to bid on silent auction items, purchase locally baked goods, including Ocracoke fig cake, and buy raffle tickets for the canvasback decoy made by the 2025 featured carver, the late Mark Justice of Ocracoke.

The guild was founded in 2018 to “preserve, promote and carry on our waterfowl carving heritage which has been an important part of our island culture. It is our goal to continue the craft of hand carving decoys so our future generations may enjoy the same and that it will not be lost.”

Trudy Austin, founding board member and Ocracoke resident, said that the support the guild has received from the carving community “has been amazing” and that “there is something for every decoy enthusiast” at the festival.

Every year, the board votes on a carver from the community, and selected Justice in April 2024, Austin explained. Justice, who carved for more than three decades, finished the canvasback decoy before his death in October 2024.

Austin said the guild plans to honor Justice and his family, who donated the decoy after his death to be raffled at the festival.

Founding member Vince O’Neal said during an interview that festivalgoers will have an opportunity to learn about the carving traditions that are “a very important part of our history and still is today” and see different types of decoys.

“As we carry this on, this tradition of making decoys, we’re concentrating on the actual art of making the decoys. So we just encourage everybody to come (to the festival) and have a good time,” he said.

O’Neal has been carving for more than 30 years and prefers carving the traditional, working-style hunting decoys, though there are all types of decoys, and every region has its own style.

O’Neal describes Ocracoke decoys as “somewhat primitive, but stylish, and not a whole lot of detail.”

The decoys were rugged, versatile and practical because of the quantity needed for open waters. “You needed a big rig of them to attract the waterfowl as they were flying by,” he said.

He explained that when the country was growing, “bursting at the seams from late 1800s on, waterfowl was on the menu in practically any restaurant you went to — Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, all the cities” and was important for subsistence, a way for locals to put food on the table.

“There weren’t any Food Lions around, right? You had to eat. You ate what was around and the fowl were abundant,” O’Neal said, reiterating that waterfowl was important to the economy and for subsistence, to live.

Long in the works

Established in 2018, the idea to form the guild had been brewing for decades.

“In high school, John Simpson, Vince O’Neal and Scotty Robinson always talked about starting a decoy guild and festival to honor Ocracoke’s decoy heritage. Ocracoke has had many carvers over the years,” Austin said.

O’Neal said that when the guild started seven years ago, a bunch of local carvers and watermen got together and “we decided we needed to celebrate and preserve the history of and carry on the tradition of waterfowling and hunting, mainly, making the decoys for the hunting,” he said. “We wanted to educate the public on the history, how important carving was and still is today. We didn’t want to lose the art of making decoys.”

Simpson, who died November 2024, was president of the guild and the board is adjusting to the loss.

“He was one of our founding members,” O’Neal said. “He was very instrumental in getting (the guild) going. We talked about it for years, and then we decided, well, you know what, we’re going to do it. So we did, and glad we did so it will carry on. John was big in promoting it, and definitely our leader, but he left us in good shape.”

Hunting has been a big part of Ocracoke tradition, Austin said. “Like some of our board members, I am also a ninth-generation descendant. I collected decoys for years. Being part of the guild and serving on the board was very important to me. Preserving the heritage of decoys is our main goal.”

Donations, details

Donations are being accepted for the silent action and should be related to waterfowl and hunting, as well as baked goods. Contact O’Neal at beachbirds@embarqmail.com to find out more about the silent auction. Baked goods donations should be delivered to the gym by 9 a.m. April 12.

The fish fry to benefit Ocracoke Seafood Co. is to begin at 11 a.m. April 12, followed at 1 p.m. by a decoy head carving competition.

Because of limited parking, a shuttle will be available to transport visitors between Ocracoke School and the National Park Service parking lot by the ferry terminal.

Two University of North Carolina Wilmington professors are collaborating this semester on a documentary celebrating community resilience, adding a new perspective to the overall effort of the Down East Resilience Network.

The network, often referred to as DERN, evolved in the years after Hurricane Florence ravaged coastal North Carolina in September 2018. It’s a project of the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island, which was hit particularly hard by the slow-moving Category 1 storm.

Museum Executive Director Karen Willis Amspacher coordinated the network of government agencies, researchers, residents and nonprofit organizations.

The idea was to connect similar and overlapping research on flooding, saltwater intrusion, infrastructure damage and other risks associated with rising sea levels in the 13 Carteret County communities, and to offer resources to navigate the changes.

“Our DERN partners continue to work in the Down East area with mapping projects, continued flood monitoring, along with journalism and documentary students during spring semester and the 2025 class of interns this summer,” Amspacher told Coastal Review.

The network holds meetings a few times a year to discuss the research and projects that are carried out year-round. The most recent gathering was in late January on Harkers Island.

UNCW’s Jennifer Biddle, associate professor of environmental policy, and Laura Dunn, film studies professor, attended the Jan. 31 meeting — their first.

Biddle told Coastal Review that she and Dunn attended the meeting to identify how they “could plug in,” and after listening to the research and types of projects, she really appreciated the intention of the network, “to help the local people and local communities adapt to all these changes.”

The next morning, during a roundtable discussion, Biddle and Dunn recognized that their original plan to use a short documentary to help raise awareness had been done.

So, they worked with Amspacher on finding a new perspective, to identify what was missing, “and what was missing is the voice of the future — younger people’s voices. What have they heard and learned from the elders that they want to carry forward? And how do they do that in a changing political and economic society, as well as a changing landscape?”

The documentary became about the community’s resilience. It has “weathered a whole lot of big storms. This is just another big storm,” Biddle said.

The spent February organizing the trip then headed to Down East March 3-7 to film interviews. They stayed in a vacation rental on Harkers Island, where it “was so amazing was to be immersed in the community,” and the week provided a chance for the students to bond and meet people, Biddle said.

The 10 students divvied up into three teams. “We affectionately called them Nature, Culture and Resilience,” Biddle said.

The Resilience crew focused on what’s happening in the area, and how the people are resilient, with a focus on the Core Sound museum.

“The museum itself is a kind of hub of social activity,” Biddle said, adding that one morning there they had seen preschoolers learn about commercial and recreational fishing.

While observing a high school shop class build a skiff, Biddle said they asked the students what they saw for themselves for the future.

“They all had an answer. A lot of it was things they wanted to do, but maybe couldn’t do full time, like shrimping and building boats, because there wasn’t a lot of money there.”

Some said they wanted to work at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point and shrimp in the summers, or be a chef and build boats on the side. “They had these cool, but very realistic plans in terms of how they could make a livelihood,” she said.

On the Nature crew’s first day filming, Biddle said they stumbled upon an oyster farmer who had just pulled in bushels of oysters. He explained how he had grown the oysters, and then opened up a few. “We all got to cheers over half-shells that were really delicious.”

Residents and transportation officials talked to the students about the status of the roads, and a scientist gave an interview about visible signs of change, such as ghost forests and marsh migration, Biddle added.

The students met a father-son team and mother-daughter team of decoy carvers. Witnessing the “passing on of these beautiful traditions and the bonds it builds was really touching.”

Biddle said she joined the Culture crew for an interview with a shrimper and his daughter. The old-timer had described how his kin dated back to the 1700s in Carteret County and are a multigeneration commercial fishing family.

“What was really cool, especially for my policy students to hear, was he described how they self-regulated,” Biddle said. “Up until the ’80s, they were self-regulating their catches” by being assigned a night to catch certain fish, and the fish houses would only buy so much.

The man’s daughter had spoken “eloquently but passionately about her love of gigging flounder and how she would go out at night with her sister to spend time together and how impactful the moratorium” on flounder fishing has been, Biddle said. The state has limited or canceled flounder season altogether over the last few years because of overfishing and being overfished.

Seeing how policy affects people is why she takes students out in the field, to witness how rules can have unintended consequences, especially to those being the most impacted, she said.

Coastal and ocean policy graduate student Kennedy Huntsman is part of the documentary team who visited Down East. She said that policy and documentary film “share intrinsic goals.”

They “both serve as powerful tools for translating complex issues, like science, into accessible and meaningful information for the public. But effective science communication requires a deep understanding of the intended audience. Too often, the communities most impacted by these issues are left out of the conversation, their perspectives overlooked,” she said.

Being able to put this into practice Down East “was an invaluable experience, one that simply couldn’t be replicated in a classroom,” Huntsman said.

Abigail Schindler, a senior in the film studies department, said her favorite moment Down East was the boat ride on the last day of filming.

“This was a truly unique and impressive group of people who love the place they live,” she said, adding they had seen the wild horses, “which was such a cool experience.”

Her biggest takeaway from the experience was understanding why the people Down East love their home so much.

“It’s not just about one thing — family, nature, tradition — it’s everything combined about the place. I heard the phrase ‘why would I want to live anywhere else’ several times and by my last day I finally understood. It’s a place with so much natural beauty and land without hotels and chain restaurants covering its landscape,” Schindler said.

The next step for the documentary is to edit.

“We have probably 150 hours of footage,” Biddle said.

The documentary will likely be a series of vignettes focusing on commercial fishing, boatbuilding and decoy carving. The plan is to give the recordings back to the community and the documentary will be available to the museum.

The project is funded through the Seahawks Advancing Interdisciplinary Learning, or SAIL, program to integrate policy-rich content into short documentary films to help educate and raise awareness about the threats facing coastal communities and what can be done to help them adapt.

Another new face at the Jan. 31 meeting was Jenny Adler, who was getting ready for a stint as a visiting professor at the Duke University Marine Lab on in Pivers Island in Beaufort.

“Having never lived in North Carolina, I knew I had a lot to learn before teaching a course in Science Journalism at the Duke Marine Lab this spring,” Adler explained. “I felt confident I could teach the journalism part of the course and help students report on science, but it was unsettling moving to a place where I had no community connections.”

While writing a grant proposal to fund the students’ stories, she said she came across a ton of coverage in Coastal Review and also quite a few pieces by visual creator Ryan Stancil and photographer Baxter Miller, who are both members of the network and have worked extensively Down East.

Adler said she contacted the two, who then told her about the network meeting.

“So, a week before I started teaching, I drove to Harkers Island from Massachusetts and walked into a meeting where I knew nobody,” she said, and the next eight hours “were informative and inspiring.”

She said the connections she made that day held strong.

“Karen (Amspacher) and several other members I met that day have spoken with my class, been interviewed by my students, shared local knowledge, and provided guidance and stories that have made training the next generation of journalists in a new place such an incredible experience,” Adler said.

Haven Cashwell, a postdoctoral research scholar for the State Climate Office at North Carolina State University, has been coordinating communications for the network.

Over the last few months, she and other members have been working on a website. It wasn’t quite ready at publication, but those attending the Jan. 31 meeting had a sneak peek.

“The goal of the website is to have a place where community members and those interested in the Down East Resilience Network can access information about areas of concern,” which include saltwater intrusion and sunny day flooding, Cashwell said in an interview.

Plans for the website include providing resources, such as how to navigate Federal Emergency Management Agency, raising your home, obtaining a fortified roof, and updates about the network.

“We are currently asking researchers about information they think should be included on this website that community members should know about. We hope this will be used in the future by both community members and DERN members,” Cashwell said.

Dr. Kiera O’Donnell, another member of the network, is a postdoctoral associate at Duke University and is working on a study to better understand coastal water quality concerns in North Carolina.

Residents are being asked to fill out a survey “to help us understand the water quality concerns for surface and ground water throughout Carteret County. We are currently taking surface water quality samples to get a snapshot of the water quality throughout Down East and the surrounding areas,” O’Donnell said. “But we are looking for local perspectives and water quality concerns to help inform us about the current issues locals are dealing with and what they care about when it comes to water quality.”

First in a series on legacy and emerging water supply pollutants.

RALEIGH — Addressing PFAS and other emerging compounds is a “top priority” for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, Secretary Reid Wilson told the more than 300 attending the N.C. Water Resources Research Institute’s annual conference.

“We are spending a lot of time and energy” working on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, because it’s important, Wilson continued Thursday, adding the department wants to work with all stakeholders in addressing PFAS through a comprehensive approach in a systematic, organized way.

WRRI is a multi-campus program of the University of North Carolina System that provides resources, and supports junior faculty, and undergraduate and graduate students.

The 2025 conference was held March 19-20 in the McKimmon Center and featured talks about the latest research on stream restoration, water supply planning, stormwater management, water quality, groundwater dynamics, community engagement and other water-related issues.

Wilson began his remarks by thanking the room full of researchers, educators, students, nonprofit representatives, academics and others for their contribution to science.

“I’ve been in North Carolina for 22 years,” Wilson said, explaining that he and his family moved from Maryland. “My work in these last 22 years has taken me to all corners of the state, and as I travel around, it just reminds me of the importance of making sure that everybody who lives here has clean air, clean water, healthy land from which their food comes and that they can roam around on, if it’s a park or a trail.”

NCDEQ has made “great strides over the years to collaborate with the research community to better understand the state of science a range of issues,” he said, and to ensure residents are better informed and better protected.

“We can’t make good decisions without sound, solid and unbiased scientific data. If we don’t rely on science, we will make bad decisions, and people’s health will be harmed. We don’t want that. It’s that simple,” Wilson said. “We have to base our decisions on science.”

When it comes to the emerging compounds in North Carolina’s water, programs like the PFAS Testing Network Applied Research Fellowship bring together DEQ and leading scientific experts “as we work to improve our understanding of these forever chemicals and generate the data needed to protect our communities.”

There have been several rounds of cohorts each semester working with nationally recognized experts from Duke University, the UNC system and its schools.

“We’re also partnering with Duke University Medical Center to conduct cutting edge research on how PFAS breaks down in our bodies. So we are working relentlessly to learn about these chemicals, protect our environment and safeguard our public health,” Wilson said.

NCDEQ launched its PFAS action strategy in 2022 to clean up contamination, protect drinking water and to take action to limit discharges of PFAS, into air and waterways.

“Part of that is we are sampling water systems to determine the extent of PFAS contamination, and that includes not only larger water systems, but smaller ones, like schools and daycares as well. And we have just deployed a robust set of ambient monitors that sample PFAS in the air, groundwater, lakes, rivers, streams, land, everything we can do,” he said, adding they’re really trying to “determine the extent of contamination of these chemicals.”

Wilson explained that, earlier this month at the department’s direction, Chemours, the company linked to discharging PFAS into the Cape Fear River, agreed to “significantly expand testing” of private wells in a larger area around their Fayetteville Works facility. 

“In terms of infrastructure,” Wilson said the department has “significant funds available” for towns, cities, counties, and water and sewer authorities for construction and planning projects that address PFAS contamination, and other water infrastructure needs.

“This funding makes it possible to assess options, design a solution to address PFAS contamination, implement treatment and develop with necessary alternative sources of drinking water,” Wilson said.

And last month, the department announced $265 million in drinking water and wastewater infrastructure grants that included $13 million for PFAS-related projects.

“Over the recent years, we have allocated $345 million to PFAS-related water infrastructure projects,” Wilson said. These investments are important, and will help improve lives and safeguard public health.

In Gov. Stein’s budget proposal released Wednesday for the next two fiscal years, Wilson said that it “includes an additional $1.5 million and three more employees to work on PFAS issues, to expand our capacity to address this problem, which affects lots of people in North Carolina.”

Wilson said that in addition to protecting people from PFAS and other water quality issues, “another huge priority for us is helping western North Carolina clean up, recover, rebuild from Helene.”

Millions in state and federal assistance have been provided since the September 2024 storm decimated the North Carolina mountains to restore and rebuild the region. “I think we all know that this recovery will continue to take years,” Wilson said.

“I know probably everyone in this room is trying to figure out what happens next in terms of recovery and rebuilding. We really must raise our sights beyond the immediate recovery to rebuild more resiliently, because we know these storms will keep coming with increasing frequency severity,” he said.

“Obviously, planning and public engagement will be key to this process in the mountain communities as they recover and rebuild, but that’s equally true for all over the state,” Wilson said. “We have to engage the public. We have to plan for the future, and again, plan for more severe storms.”

In an interview with Coastal Review, Wilson encouraged all stakeholders to weigh in and share their thoughts with decisionmakers, whether that’s an agency like NCDEQ, or the legislature or Congress, as environmental regulations undergo changes.

“We want to hear what people think to make sure that we’re making the best possible decisions to help people be healthy,” Wilson said.

Next in the series: Ultra-short chain PFAS

The state is actively recruiting “experienced professionals interested in a career in public service,” especially those displaced due to Hurricane Helene or recent federal cuts.

Gov. Josh Stein’s office announced Friday a new website for those interested in working for the state.

The website encourages people “to consider coming to work with the state of North Carolina” and provides resources for servicemembers, their spouses, and veterans to apply for positions in the state government.

Interested public servants can apply on www.nc.gov/joinNC where applicants will be connected with an employment recruiter from Office of State Human Resources to help match their skills to a job in state government.

“If you have recently been displaced from your career of service, North Carolina encourages you to apply,” Office of State Human Resources Director Staci Meyer said. “My team at OSHR will help you find a job that matches your needs.”

Stein said in the release that North Carolina “is a great place” to live, play and work.

“Public servants help make our state everything that it is, and there are many talented people looking for work right now. The State of North Carolina is proud to welcome smart and dedicated public-spirited people to join our team,” he said.

In addition to the website, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality officials and staff took advantage last week of having an audience invested in the state’s water resources to recruit for the understaffed agency.

Secretary Reid Wilson told the more than 300 academics, students, researchers, state and local government representatives and others at the N.C. Water Resources Research Institute’s annual conference Thursday morning that the agency has jobs available, “good ones, everything from engineers to chemistry technicians to program environmental program specialists.” He added that there are also internships for students.

WRRI held the conference March 19-20 in the McKimmon Center in Raleigh. The University of North Carolina System’s multi-campus program funds and disseminates water research, educational programs and training opportunities.

The first day of the conference, NCDEQ’s Division of Air Quality Director Mike Abraczinskas said during a roundtable with a half-dozen other staff that his division has 203 positions statewide and about 25 are vacant. He added that there’s “great opportunities” currently and forthcoming in the division.

“As of March 2025, DEQ has 258 total vacancies. Engineering and environmental specialist positions remain among the highest vacancies at DEQ, at 16% and 14%, respectively. DEQ’s vacancy rate is currently 12%, a decrease from 18% in January 2023,” an agency representative told Coastal Review Tuesday.

NCDEQ Chief Deputy Secretary John Nicholson addressed concerns with the pay scale Wednesday during the roundtable.

He explained Wednesday during the roundtable that the agency’s top priority right now is investing in the staff and their wages.

“We have taken a hard look at the health of the department. Everybody works extremely hard on difficult issues. If we don’t have skilled people in our positions within the department, we can’t do our job, and we argue that we have good people and they should be paid a fair wage,” he said. “And so that’s a was our big push to the government for his budget that he just released today was the number one ask of us.”

Post has been updated to include a comment from DEQ on vacancies.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said last week that he plans to make good on a commitment to revise the “waters of the United States” definition, leading conservation groups to worry what will happen to federally protected waters and wetlands.

One advocate says the new administration’s approach turns a blind eye to science showing how all wetlands — most especially those to be erased from federal jurisdiction – serve vital protective functions.

Sworn in Jan. 29 to lead the federal agency with the mission to protect the nation’s human health and environment, Zeldin explained during a press briefing March 12 that while going through the confirmation process, he had spoken with senators who “were passionately advocating on behalf of their farmers, their ranchers and other land owners” about issues concerning waters of the U.S., often called by the acronym WOTUS.

He vowed that as soon as he got into office, he would do everything in his power to fix “WOTUS once and for all” and the agency is “pursuing a definition that is simple, that is durable and it will withstand the test of time,” Zeldin said.

The federal definition has been the focus of a fair number of lawsuits, since it was first approved as part of the Clean Water Act, which is administered by the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers. Enacted in 1972, the act prohibits discharging pollutants without a permit from a point source into “navigable waters,” defined in the statute as “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.”

The EPA calls “waters of the United States” a threshold term that “establishes the geographic scope of federal jurisdiction” under the Clean Water Act. The term “waters of the United States” is not defined within the Clean Water Act. Agencies were given the authority at the time to determine what qualifies, and the definition has undergone a few modifications since then.

The most recent change is the result of a May 2023 Supreme Court decision known by the plaintiffs’ surname, Sackett v. EPA. Judges ruled in favor of the Idaho landowners, who argued that the section of their property they were fined for backfilling was not considered “waters of the United States” because the wetlands were not adjacent to navigable waters. The case led to the federal definition of WOTUS being amended to exclude noncontiguous wetlands.

The EPA stated March 12 in a press release that the Sackett case, “which stated that the Clean Water Act’s use of ‘waters’ encompasses only those relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water forming streams, oceans, rivers and lakes,” will guide the review.

As part of the process, the agencies said in the announcement that there were plans to hold at least six listening sessions over the next few months both virtually and in person. Registration and dates are to be posted on the EPA website.

Zeldin said during the press conference that, “what we’re looking for is to simply follow the guidance from Sackett. It gave us a clear path in determining what waters are waters of the United States. It found that only those wetlands with a quote, ‘continuous surface connection,’ to a relatively permanent water are waters of the United States,” Zeldin said, adding that the court also struck down the long-used “significant nexus test, leaving only those wetlands that abut or are adjacent to waters of the United States as jurisdictional.”

Republican senators and representatives offered their support during the briefing as well as Farm Bureau President Zippy Duvall.

“WOTUS has been a pain in the side for our farmers and ranchers. Our farmers and ranchers want to do what’s right; they just want to know what right is,” Duvall said, adding that the last administration had “vague wording like ‘relatively permanent.’ Can anybody define that,” Duvall asked. “We look forward to that clarity.”

In a statement last week, National Association of Home Builders Chairman Buddy Hughes, a home builder and developer from Lexington, said the organization “commends the EPA for moving to make changes to the WOTUS rule that will protect our nation’s waterways and provide builders and developers the clarity and certainty they need in the federal wetlands permitting process to help house America’s citizens.”

Opposition in the week since the announcement has been at least as equally vocal and perhaps more strongly worded.

The Environmental Protection Network, an organization of more than 650 former EPA career staff and political appointees, said in a release that it “strongly condemns” the EPA’s “rollback of federally protected waters and wetlands, coupled with the release of a new guidance that significantly narrows the scope of the Clean Water Act.”

A former EPA office director Betsy Southerland warned in a statement from the network that “The ‘Sackett’ decision excluded about 60% of wetlands and all ephemeral streams from federal protection. With this guidance, Administrator Zeldin is now codifying an even narrower interpretation of ‘relatively permanent waters,’ which could strip protections from countless seasonal and intermittent streams. Scientific evidence is unequivocal: These waters are vital to maintaining the health of major rivers and lakes. Without them, drinking water quality will decline, and the nation’s waters will be further imperiled.”

Adam Gold, Coasts and Watersheds Science manager for the Environmental Defense Fund, told Coastal Review that with the Trump administration’s intention to narrowly implement the 2023 Supreme Court Sackett v. EPA decision was, “to collect public comment on ambiguous terms from the Sackett decision, like a ‘continuous surface connection.’ This process will likely further limit protections for North Carolina’s wetlands.”

Gold said that while it remains to be seen if there will be a new WOTUS rule from this process, the new EPA announcement seems to point toward “a potential wetness test or surface water requirement where wetlands may be excluded from Clean Water Act protections if they dry out, even for part of the year, and therefore do not have a ‘continuous surface connection’ to water bodies.

“This approach ignores the science that clearly shows how all wetlands, especially those that would be most likely to lose protections, provide essential flood reduction, water quality and ecologic benefits.”

On the state level

Around the same time the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Sacketts, the North Carolina General Assembly directed the state Environmental Management Commission in the 2023 Farm Act to align the state definition of wetlands with the federal definition. This removed any state wetlands protections beyond those meeting the federal definition.

The law required that the commission insert the sentence, “Wetlands classified as waters of the State are restricted to waters of the United States as defined by” the federal code as it was written into the state’s wetlands definition, and the wording may not be contested by the Rules Review Commission.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality began implementing the definition when the act was passed in June 2023 and the Environmental Management Commission has been going through the steps to codify the rule.

“The EPA guidance confirms that federal protection for wetlands will be limited and millions of wetlands, including coastal wetlands, will be at risk,” Grady O’Brien, water policy manager for the North Carolina Conservation Network, told Coastal Review.

“However, federal jurisdiction has no relationship to North Carolina’s interest in protecting wetlands for flood storage,” he continued. “In fact, the Sackett decision stated that the Supreme Court expected states to protect wetlands independent of federal jurisdiction. Now would be a good time for the North Carolina General Assembly to revisit state wetlands protections to prevent additional flooding.”

Gold, with the Environmental Defense Fund, said that if wetlands must have surface water connections nearly year-round to have Clean Water Act protections, the organization’s research published last year in Science estimates that this could leave up to 3.2 million acres of nontidal wetlands in the state without that layer of federal protection.

“The lack of state-level wetlands protections in North Carolina means that the only layers of protection left could be local protections or ‘protected’ public lands. With forthcoming changes to the WOTUS definition, we can expect increasing wetlands loss and increasing risks to people and homes due to more dangerous flooding, declining water quality and the loss of vital habitat,” Gold said.

Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Julie Youngman told Coastal Review that Trump’s EPA announced that it intended to roll back federal wetland protections even further, “endangering North Carolinians because the General Assembly has tied us directly to whatever the federal government does, no matter how harmful to North Carolinians. In light of EPA’s malicious actions, the General Assembly must protect North Carolina’s wetlands at the state level, to protect communities from flooding, hurricanes, and harm to our water supplies and seafood industry.”

Related: Commission OKs proposed wetlands rule for public comment

Jessie Ritter, associate vice president of water and coasts with the National Wildlife Federation, told Coastal Review that North Carolina’s wetlands and waterways are essential to the health of our coasts because they buoy our fisheries, support the economy and buffer communities from extreme weather.

“A Supreme Court decision in 2023 left many North Carolina wetlands and streams without federal protection and a state law passed later that year also eliminated state protections for these waters,” Ritter said. “The recent announcement from the EPA suggests the agency plans to remove federal safeguards for even more water bodies. If this happens, coastal communities will see increased development immediately upstream, leading to more flood-prone rivers that carry dirtier water to our bays.”

Coastal Carolina Riverwatch Executive Director Lisa Rider told Coastal Review that as a lifelong coastal North Carolinian, she knows firsthand that wetlands are more than just a word being debated over definitions.

“Wetlands are our first line of defense against flooding, acting like natural sponges that absorb stormwater before it can rush into our communities “One acre of wetland can hold up to 1.5 million gallons of water, reducing flood risks and protecting our homes and businesses. They also filter out pollution and prevent runoff from overwhelming our coastal waters,” Rider said.

The Environmental Management Commission voted to send to public notice and hearing a proposed amendment to “clarify the definition of wetlands” Thursday during its meeting in Raleigh.

Commissioners Yvonne Bailey, Marion Deerhake, Dr. Jackie MacDonald Gibson and Robin Smith all voted against the motion to advance new language that codifies reduced state protections.

The commission, which directs and creates rules for several divisions under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, was ordered close to two years ago in a law called the 2023 Farm Act to insert into the definition of wetlands one sentence that aligns the state’s definition of wetlands to the federal definition, which narrowed Clean Water Act jurisdiction.

The commission’s vote took place the day after Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced plans to revise the definition of “Waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, the acronym given to federally regulation waters.

Sue Homewood, senior branch coordinator with the Division of Water Resources, told the commission Thursday that the law required changing the definition in the state administrative code, “and it specified exactly the language to be changed, that ‘wetlands classified as Waters of the State are restricted to Waters of the United States as defined by’ federal regulations.”

NCDEQ has been implementing the definition since it was approved in June 2023, as directed by the North Carolina General Assembly, while the commission goes through the rulemaking process to add that sentence to the existing definition of “wetlands” in the general statute.

The order contains explicit directions that the amendment had to be included as written and couldn’t be challenged by the Rules Review Commission.

Smith said she was voting in protest against the motion because it was “extremely bad environmental policy to outsource decisions about protection of state waters to the decision of a federal agency about what federal jurisdiction is. So that’s just fundamentally not a good direction.”

Smith said that a process question also comes up, “that the General Assembly unfortunately has gotten into what I think is the very bad habit of doing what they did with this session law, which is to attempt to dictate the wording of an administrative rule and then cause the session law to expire when the rule is adopted, and without ever changing fundamental general statutes that actually do define what state waters are.”

The state already operates under an existing definition of waters in the statute, she said.

Smith said the existing state waters definition includes “any stream, river, brook, swamp, lake, sound, tidal estuary, bay, creek, reservoir, waterway, or other body or accumulation of water, whether surface or underground, public or private, or natural or artificial, that is contained in, flows through, or borders upon any portion of this State, including any portion of the Atlantic Ocean over which the State has jurisdiction.”

This definition in the statute has not been amended by the General Assembly, Smith said, adding that the law expires when the rule is adopted.

“I think it raises questions of whether, looking toward the future, whether the rule will be considered consistent with state law, given the failure of the General Assembly to actually amend the definition of waters in the general statute, and that’s just a bad practice,” Smith said.

She added that she thinks this rule amendment “creates a really unfortunate situation in terms of potential conflict” between Environmental Management Commission rules and the statutes under which the commission operates its water permitting programs. “For that reason, I’m going to vote against. It’s a protest vote. I think it’s just a terrible process legally and administratively.”

Commissioner Steve Keen asked Smith whether she planned “to vote to violate the statute” because the statute directs the rule change.

Smith said she was voting against adoption of the rule, “because I believe the rule will turn out to be inconsistent with a general statute that has not been amended, and the session law that directed the change in the rule will expire as soon as the rule is adopted. That’s in the session law itself.”

Commissioner Kevin Tweedy “completely” agreed with Smith, calling the logic behind the amendment poor in two respects: lost wetlands protections and diminished flood resiliency.

“We’re putting millions and millions of dollars into that,” Tweedy said. “It’s like one thing is fighting the other, and I just don’t think it’s good policy.”

Homewood, with the Division of Water Resources, said that the public comment period for the wetlands definition amendment will likely take place in April, and the public hearing would be between June 2 and June 16, when the comment period is expected to end. After that, a hearing officer’s report will be brought back to the commission in September and if approved, would go to the Office of Administrative Hearings, or OAH.

Related: Commission set to further curb state wetlands protections

Because the law exempts the rule change from Rules Review Commission review, its effective date would be pending a legislative review, she said, and that timing would be with the 2026 session.

“Because these rules are part of the water quality standards and the triennial review, the rule amendment post-legislative approval, would have to go to EPA for final approval,” she said, “so we cannot predict an implementation date. But as I said, we are implementing these right now.”

When the Environmental Management Commission was discussing the motion to amend the definition of wetlands on the state level, there was no mention of the EPA’s intention to overhaul the WOTUS definition.

The EPA and Department of the Army, which oversees the Corps of Engineers, announced Wednesday a joint memorandum issuing guidance to field staff on the implementation of “continuous surface connection” consistent with the Supreme Court’s May 25, 2023, decision in the case of Sackett v. EPA.

The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Sacketts of Idaho who argued that the wetlands they were backfilling on their property did not qualify as jurisdictional wetlands under the federal definition. The EPA adjusted later in 2023 its definition to conform to the Supreme Court decision.

The definition states that wetlands must have a “continuous surface connection” to federally protected waters to qualify as waters of the United States and be protected under the Clean Water Act.

The Clean Water Act was put in place in 1972 and prohibits discharging pollutants from a point source into “navigable waters” unless otherwise authorized. Navigable waters are defined in the Clean Water Act as “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.” WOTUS is not defined in the act itself but is in the code of federal regulations.

“We want clean water for all Americans supported by clear and consistent rules for all states, farmers, and small businesses,” Zeldin said in a statement. “The previous Administration’s definition of ‘waters of the United States’ placed unfair burdens on the American people and drove up the cost of doing business. Our goal is to protect America’s water resources consistent with the law of the land while empowering American farmers, landowners, entrepreneurs, and families to help Power the Great American Comeback.”

It has been nearly two years since the North Carolina General Assembly ordered the Environmental Management Commission to adopt a rule that aligns the state’s definition of wetlands with the federal definition, which was narrowed by a May 2023 Supreme Court decision.

Despite the vocal objections from conservation organizations and what the commission claims to be “differences” with the state agency it oversees, members are expected to consider during its meeting Thursday in Raleigh going to public notice and hearing for the proposed amendment to the state’s definition of wetlands, one of the many steps required in the rulemaking process.

The 15-member commission adopts rules for several divisions of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, including the divisions of Air Quality, Land Resources, Waste Management and Water Resources.

The General Assembly directed the commission in a 2023 law to implement the rule that reads, “Wetlands classified as waters of the State are restricted to waters of the United States as defined by (the Code of Federal Regulations).”

The current definition of Waters of the United States, or WOTUS, effective Sept. 8, 2023, includes navigable waters, its tributaries and adjacent wetlands, but excludes isolated wetlands, which are wetlands without a surface connection to the jurisdictional waters. The federal definition is part of a decades-long discussion, and, in some cases, disagreement, linked to the Clean Water Act enacted in 1972.

A DEQ spokesperson told Coastal Review in an email that the Division of Water Resources began implementing the new definition of wetlands following the General Assembly’s adoption of that law, also called the 2023 Farm Act, which included a revised definition of wetlands found in the state administrative code.

“The rules that are moving forward in the N.C. Environmental Management Commission are codifying the new definition in the rules. The process of codifying a rule requires approval by the EMC and a public hearing,” they added.

Grady O’Brien, water policy manager for the North Carolina Conservation Network, explained that the change to the wetlands definition rule the commission is considering is required by the law from the 2023 legislative session.

“Unfortunately, this means there’s no room to alter the language at this point; any further change would require legislative direction. It’s important to note that the state didn’t have to make this change — North Carolina had a state-level definition for wetlands that could have remained,” he added.

That definition covers wetlands not directly connected to other bodies of water.

“By passing the 2023 Farm Act that ordered the EMC to adopt this rule to gut North Carolina’s wetlands protections, North Carolina’s legislature failed to protect our water quality, communities, economy, and special natural resources. With this rulemaking, 2.5 million acres of flood-storing, water-filtering wetlands will be at risk of pollution and destruction,” Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Julie Youngman told Coastal Review.

During its Jan. 8 meeting, the commission’s water quality committee approved taking the request before the full commission. During the March 13 meeting, members are to be asked to consider initiating the rulemaking process by proceeding to public notice and hearing and to amend “Definitions” to comply with the 2023 session law, according to agenda documents.

“The revised definition of ‘wetlands’ in the rule proposed for amendment is applicable to all wetlands in North Carolina. Any effects of the changes are effects imposed by the Session Law and are not caused by the proposed rule amendments directly,” according to the division.

If the commission decides to move forward on Thursday and follows the staff’s suggested timeline, the public comment period could start April 15. A public hearing would be held no sooner than June 2 but before the comment period ends June 16.

But that public comment period might just be an exercise in futility.

Youngman explained that the way that section 15 of the 2023 Farm Act is written, “the General Assembly clearly intended to take away the public’s right to participate meaningfully in the rulemaking process and forbid anyone from challenging the elimination of wetlands protections in court.”

Section 15 states “The Commission shall adopt a rule to amend the Wetlands Definition Rule consistent with subsection (c) of this section” and “the rule adopted by the Commission pursuant to this section shall be substantively identical to the provisions of subsection (c)of this section,” which shows that the commission is being ordered to adopt the rule exactly as the General Assembly phrased it, she said.

The next sentence, the “Rules adopted pursuant to this section are not subject to Part 3 of Article 2A of Chapter 150B of the General Statutes,” is where the General Assembly is saying that no one can challenge the rule, she said. That state law refers to the rules review process.  

“DEQ will consider all public comments received during the public comment period for the EMC’s consideration prior to it adopting the final rule,” a DEQ representative explained.

Youngman said that “we hope that the time lag in the EMC adopting the rule has given the General Assembly an opportunity to realize how harmful the anti-wetlands provision of the 2023 Farm Act is and pass a new law to protect wetlands after all.”

According to the commission’s annual report about 2024 for the General Assembly, dated Jan. 1, 2025, members “began the rulemaking process per the statute; however, the rulemaking remained in committee due to differences between the EMC and DEQ over the regulatory impact analysis. It is noted that the statute made the changes in law and they are in effect until the new rule is approved.”

The Farm Act of 2023 was filed April 4 of that year and included a “Clarify Definition Of Wetlands” stating that “Wetlands classified as waters of the State are restricted to waters of the United States as defined by 33 C.F.R. § 328.3 and 40 C.F.R. § 230.3″ and was amended a few weeks later to add the exclusion of converted cropland from the wetlands definition.

The next month, the Supreme Court changed the federal definition to waters of the United States.

The court, in its decision in what was known as Sackett v. EPA, ruled in favor of the Idaho landowners. The Sacketts had argued that their property was not considered “waters of the United States” because the wetlands the EPA had fined them for backfilling were not adjacent to navigable waters. The court’s decision led to the federal definition of WOTUS being amended to exclude noncontiguous wetlands.  

Then-Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the state measure on June 23, 2023, because of the wetlands provision, but the veto was overridden four days later, with the law taking effect that same day.

“The provision in this bill that severely weakens protection for wetlands means more severe flooding for homes, roads and businesses and dirtier water for our people, particularly in eastern North Carolina. This provision coupled with the drastic weakening of federal rules caused by the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in the Sackett case, leaves approximately 2.5 million acres, or about one half of our state’s wetlands, unprotected,” Cooper said at the time. “The General Assembly has allocated tens of millions of dollars to protect the state from flooding and my administration is working to stop pollution like PFAS and other contaminants. This bill reverses our progress and leaves the state vulnerable without vital flood mitigation and water purification tools.”

O’Brien told Coastal Review that the effects of the change to the state wetlands definition were “further complicated” by the Sackett decision, which reduced the amount of wetlands protected under the federal definition.

“For instance, North Carolina’s isolated wetlands, previously protected by statute, will likely no longer qualify as wetlands under the new definition and thus not be protected,” he said.

North Carolina Coastal Federation Executive Director Braxton Davis told Coastal Review that, although the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Sackett case left millions of acres of freshwater wetlands unprotected across the nation, the court recognized the high value of these habitats in reducing flooding, improving water quality, and supporting important wildlife.

“Their decision left the states with the responsibility to protect these systems, but the EMC is now required to move forward with rules that leave vast acreages of freshwater wetlands unprotected in North Carolina. We are hopeful that the General Assembly will revisit this issue in this year’s legislative session,” Davis said.

The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

Coastal Carolina Riverwatch Executive Director Lisa Rider told Coastal Review that the Environmental Management Commission’s review of wetland definitions comes at a critical time.

“Federal rollbacks have left many of our wetlands vulnerable, and weakening protections at the state level will only make things worse,” Rider said.

“The EMC must not only maintain but strengthen protections for isolated and non-federally jurisdictional wetlands by adopting a state-specific definition that prioritizes coastal resilience,” she said. “The EMC should implement stricter stormwater management, prioritize wetland conservation over mitigation banking, and integrate wetland protections into broader plans. By implementing robust state-level protections, North Carolina can uphold its commitment to preserving vital wetland ecosystems for current and future generations.”

About the meeting

The commission’s committee meetings are scheduled for Wednesday and the full commission is to meet Thursday in the ground floor hearing room of the Archdale Building in Raleigh. The public can attend in person or join the meeting by computer or phone. Instructions to access the meeting are on the website.

Also during this week’s meeting, the full commission is expected to take up rules for air permitting and wastewater design flow rates.

During the water quality committee meeting scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, members are expected to hear a presentation of draft per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, monitoring and minimization rules for industrial direct dischargers and significant industrial users.

A full agenda and related documents are available on the website.   

This post has been updated.

NEW BERN — The commission that makes decisions about coastal development is moving ahead with public comment on proposed language to reinstate Jockey’s Ridge protections previously in place for decades.

During the Coastal Resources Commission’s first meeting of the year, which was held Wednesday and Thursday in the DoubleTree New Bern Riverfront, members unanimously approved setting a public hearing for a proposed permanent rule that would restore the area of environmental concern designation for Jockey’s Ridge in Nags Head.

What is often referred to as the largest sand dune system on the Atlantic Coast, the geological feature is the centerpiece of Jockey’s Ridge State Park, which was established in 1975. The Coastal Resources Commission designated Jockey’s Ridge in 1984 as a “Unique Geologic Feature Area of Environmental Concern” and put laws in place to manage activities in and around the park boundaries.

Daniel Govoni, policy analyst with the Division of Coastal Management, reminded the commission Thursday afternoon that it must go through the permanent rulemaking process because, during the periodic rules review, the designation for Jockey’s Ridge was removed from the North Carolina Administration Code. The division acts as staff to the Coastal Resources Commission.

The Rules Review Commission dropped in October 2023 the rule language, along with 29 other rules, in large part because of the wording. The Rules Review Commission’s objections centered on what it described as a lack of statutory authority, unclear or ambiguous language, that it was unnecessary and failed to comply with the Administrative Procedure Act.

“As the CRC explained in its verified complaint objecting to the removal of its rules from the North Carolina Administrative Code, ‘the removal of the rules at issue deprives DCM of the ability to determine whether a permit is required or available to protect a fragile coastal natural and culture resource areas, placing in immediate danger the stability of natural sand dunes in the coastal zone due to improper sand removal and development, including at Jockey’s Ridge,’” a division representative explained Friday in an email about the effort to get the rules reinstated.

The commission last year adopted emergency and temporary rules reestablishing Jockey’s Ridge as an area of environmental concern. The commission went through the permanent rulemaking process, approved the fiscal analysis, held a public hearing and then adopted the permanent rule in November 2024.

In December, the Rules Review Commission objected to the permanent rule again, claiming that the division didn’t follow the rules for a public notice.

Govoni said the division has now complied with the public hearing rules and can move forward with the public hearing.

While work was underway to reinstate these protections, the Coastal Resources Commission had a lawsuit in the works against the Rules Review Commission about the 30 rules that were removed from the code in the fall of 2023.

Related: Judge restores state’s 30 erased coastal development rules

Wake County Superior Court Judge William Pittman ruled on Feb. 12, “in the light most favorable to Defendants, that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that Plaintiffs are entitled to judgment as a matter of law” and that the “Rules Review Commission is ordered to approve Plaintiffs’ 30 rules.”

The defendant was ordered to return the 30 rules to the code. If there is an appeal, the Rules Review Commission “can identify those rules as ‘Under Appeal’ or words to that effect.”

During the meeting Thursday afternoon, the Coastal Resources Commission’s legal counsel, Mary Lucasse, shared that the Rules Review Commission had decided to appeal but didn’t know the time frame. She said that the trial had been scheduled for March 10 but that it was later changed.

Reid Wilson honors Mike Lopazanski

The commission was able to take a quick break from the agenda Thursday morning to welcome North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson and recognize former Division Deputy Director Mike Lopazanski with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine Award.

Commission Chair Renee Cahoon introduced NCDEQ Secretary Wilson, who she said “brings a wealth of experience in environmental protection, land conservation and government and nonprofit leadership.”

“I’ve been in this job for two months, and I’m loving it every single day,” Wilson told the commission, adding NCDEQ covers “everything from the coast to the mountains and in between.”

Wilson was on his way to Morehead City to visit the divisions of Coastal Management and Marine Fisheries headquarters there when he stopped in New Bern.

Wilson praised department staff for helping him transition to NCDEQ after serving from 2021 to 2024 as secretary of the state’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Gov. Josh Stein appointed Wilson to the NCDEQ secretary position and is waiting to be confirmed by the Senate.

“The Department of Environmental Quality benefits every North Carolinian’s life, every single day, in a lot of ways,” Wilson said, explaining that the agency protects air quality, water quality and human health and helps advance economic prosperity by funding water infrastructure projects “and not only making sure that people have safe drinking water, but that our rivers are clean, and also building the capacity of the business to come and grow and for those communities to thrive.”

Wilson commended the Coastal Resources Commission members for their dedication to protecting the coast. “I think all of us view our coastal resources as this incredible treasure,” he said, “and you all play a key role.”

While Wilson had the podium, he presented Lopazanski with the Order of the Long Leaf Pine. Lopazanski retired in December as deputy director of the division after more than 30 years in state government.

“This is the state’s highest honor society, and it is a huge accomplishment,” Wilson said. He thanked Lopazanski for his work to coordinate key acquisitions for the N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve system, and with the Coastal Resources Commission “to adopt common sense and science-based rules. Thank you for your dedication to your job and to the coast and to the people North Carolina.”

Before Wilson and his staff resumed their trip to Carteret County, he told Coastal Review that while the two departments are similar in size, staff and number of divisions, a difference is that Natural and Cultural Resources has 100 sites around the state that it oversees, whether it’s the zoo, parks or historic sites, while NCDEQ has around 10 offices around the state and they’re offices or labs.

“But the other thing that’s different is that our work at DEQ affects everybody. Making sure the air and the water and the land are clean and healthy,” he said. “So our work is in every county, in every town, whether it’s a drinking water plant or Brownfields cleanup or a permit for a business to come in and create jobs.”

When it comes to the ongoing uncertainty that surrounds federal funding, Wilson said his people “don’t actually know yet” about any particular programs within the agency that will be impacted.

“Every day we’re monitoring whether we have access to these federal grants,” he said. “I can’t tell you which ones are available, but we’re checking it every day and waiting to see how the Trump administration responds to various court orders that would require the release of these funds.”

Also during the meeting

Members approved a variance request from at The Shoals Club on Bald Head Island for a sandbag structure double the size of the allowed 6 feet by 20 feet. Petitioners requested permission to build a 12-foot-by-40-foot sandbag structure at the site in Brunswick County that’s subject to erosion.

The other variance from a petitioner to build in the setback in North Topsail Beach was put on hold while more information is collected.

Amendments to two different rules for ocean hazard areas were approved as well as the periodic review schedule for the Coastal Area Management Act land use planning public comment and final report.

Nelson Paul, who petitioned for a rule to add to the definition of estuarine waters “All the waters’ described herein includes man-made ditches” but withdrew his request because he plans take a different approach.

The board heard during public comment on a proposed rule to allow hay bales be used as sand fencing concerns from an attorney with Southern Environmental Law Center and a biologist form the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission that the bales would impede sea turtle nesting and could introduce invasive species.

Capt. John Mallette grew up fishing, but didn’t come from a fishing family.

Born and reared around Sneads Ferry and the Topsail area, he said his mother worked in real estate in Wilmington and his father was one of Ocean City’s original developers and bought a home there in 1950.

Ocean City was established on Topsail Island in 1949 and was “the first place where Black people could have oceanfront property” in the state, Mallette recently told Coastal Review.

The motel had a pier, and “I pretty much lived on the pier fishing as a little kid,” he continued.

“There was a lady who had One Stop Bait & Tackle in Surf City — Betty Warren, she’s long passed away now — but she would babysit me, basically, and I would sit there and help sell seafood and head shrimp and filet flounder. And then her husband, Preston, would take me out shrimping in the waterway with him, and that’s how I got started commercial fishing and just never stopped. I just grew into it, and started running boats.”

From there, he became a captain and spent several years piloting various commercial, private and charter vessels in Central and South America, Australia and Hawaii. While a fishing guide on a private island near Turks and Caicos, he learned his mother was ill and returned to the U.S. in 2008 to take care of her.

These days he co-owns Southern Breeze Seafood Co. on U.S. Highway 258 between Richlands and Jacksonville. He delivers fresh seafood all over the state, including to a handful of universities such as Elon and North Carolina Central.

“Wednesday, Thursday, Friday I’m on the road for the most part,” he said.

Stories like his are the backbone of an ongoing NC Catch Initiative to highlight African American contributions to the North Carolina Seafood Industry. Established in 2011, NC Catch is a nonprofit organization that aims to educate consumers about the state’s seafood industry.

Mallette and NC Catch President Barbara Garrity-Blake, a cultural anthropologist who teaches fisheries policy at the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, are heading up the project, “Recognizing African American Participation in the North Carolina Seafood Industry.”

The project is the center of a new traveling exhibit, “African Americans in North Carolina Seafood,” that will debut March 9 at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island.

Garrity-Blake told Coastal Review that NC Catch wanted to highlight the diversity of people and roles within the seafood supply chain.

“The seafood industry is made up of men and women of various races and ethnicities who harvest, process, transport, buy, sell, and cook North Carolina seafood. We are focusing on Black contributions because African Americans have a history and legacy in North Carolina fisheries since Colonial days, from herring to menhaden, blue crab, mullet, shrimp — all of it,” she said.

For the project, people from the Black seafood business community and researchers worked together to compile narratives, video and oral histories of Black fishers, wholesalers, chefs and others working in seafood to increase recognition of African American participation in the state’s seafood industry. These currently are being housed on the NC Catch website.

Garrity-Blake said that Mallette is a “perfect co-principal investigator because he delivers seafood all over North Carolina and knows so many people in the industry. Right away he had a list of Black practitioners for us to interview,” and the “stories we are documenting are so compelling.”

Among those who shared their story for the project is Tyrone Hightower of Apex Seafood. Also on the NC Catch board, he quit a career in veterinary science to sell seafood at triangle-area farmers markets because he loves interacting with people, Garrity-Blake explained.

“He had a tough time breaking in at first, but Brett Blackburn, a major seafood distributor out of Carolina Beach, helped him out and taught him ‘fishermen’s language,’ like what shrimp counts mean,” she said.

Another is a young shrimper named Nate Ellison, who lives in the unincorporated Carteret County community of Merrimon. He “talked about his determination to maintain working waterfront access at the end of Silver Dollar Road, which was infamously sold out from under his family,” Garrity-Blake continued.

A husband-and-wife team who fish out of Hertford, Herman and Quinetta “Mermaid Q” Manley of Crackn Crab Seafood are featured as well. They “had their crab pots cut, their boat sunk, and their business shunned. But they stuck to their guns and eventually earned the respect of the community. Today they crab, fish, and sell seafood in low-income neighborhoods to help combat food insecurity,” she said.

Project’s early days

Garrity-Blake and Mallette connected during the 2021 North Carolina Seafood Festival, held annually the first weekend of October in downtown Morehead City.

Mallette said he was there to give a cooking demonstration for Got to Be NC, a marketing campaign for North Carolina products under the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and they “just started a conversation.”

Garrity-Blake told Coastal Review that during this conversation, Mallette shared his experiences as a commercial fisherman out of Sneads Ferry, which she said she found interesting.

“Since the last menhaden fish factory in North Carolina closed in 2005, you don’t meet a lot of African American fishermen. Long story short, Capt. John joined the NC Catch board, and we applied for a NC Sea Grant’s Community Collaborative Research Grant — pairing researchers and practitioners — to do this project,” she said.

Mallette also recognized that “African American commercial fishermen are few and far between. And it’s always been that way. The question is, why?”

When he was the captain of larger vessels while traveling around the globe, he said only a few of the American captains were Black. “It was me and maybe two other guys. Literally the only ones.”

So, they started exploring and researching, looking into stereotypes like “Black people can’t swim” and “little things that people would actually take to heart, “Mallette said.

While talking with the old fishermen and fish house owners he grew up around, “It was never, ‘we didn’t have Black shrimp boat captains or Black guys running the boats, because they were Black.’ They tried to give them the jobs, but they wouldn’t do it because a lot of their grandmothers and moms would be like, ‘That water ain’t for us. You stay on the dock,’” Mallette recounted.

They’d pack fish or head shrimp but wouldn’t actually go out on the boats, “and it wasn’t that they didn’t have the opportunities given to them, a lot of it was they were just always told that that wasn’t for them.”

Mallette said he never understood that either, especially once he began traveling.

The best fishermen were Black when he was in Central and South America, the Caribbean, and West Africa. “All through the Caribbean, your commercial fishermen are Black,” he said, but not in the United States. “It’s the one place you just don’t see it.”

About the exhibit

During the exhibit opening that begins at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 9, visitors will have an opportunity to listen to a panel discussion, and a cooking demonstration with Chef Ricky Moore of Saltbox Seafood Joint in Durham, Chef Jamie Davis of The Hackney in Washington, and Chef Keith Rhodes of Catch in Wilmington.

The public is welcome at no charge and are asked to register online ahead of the event.

“NC Catch’s mission is to raise awareness about the superior quality of North Carolina seafood and the importance of supporting the people, families, and communities who provide consumer access to it,” Garrity-Blake said. “Through the lens of North Carolina’s African American seafood legacy, we are ‘taking it to the people’ so they can enjoy the exhibit, hear firsthand stories about Black experiences in seafood, and taste what it’s all about.”

Core Sound’s Exhibit Curator Pam Davis Morris told Coastal Review that the museum is proud to host the opening exhibition and is glad to have provided a supporting role in its development.

“This exhibition dovetails in well with and builds upon previous work produced by the Core Sound Museum such as the popular Menhaden Fishery exhibition, The Local Fisheries Knowledge Project, Community Exhibit displays and many other oral history and artifact-driven projects,” Morris said. “Built as a traveling exhibition, this display will not only be shown at the Core Sound Museum but will travel to other sites as well.”

The exhibit is a kick-off for the NC Catch Summit taking place March 10 at Carteret Community College in Morehead City. Also a no-charge event, the daylong program will look at the state’s fisheries and seafood industry. Register online to attend.

NC Catch held a preview of the exhibit at the University of North Carolina Wilmington Tuesday, followed by a “Chef’s Takeover” cooking demonstration with Davis, Rhodes, and Mallette. 

Garrity-Blake said Wednesday after the event that it “went great.” The program was well attended, there was good discussion and the “food was fantastic.” Mallette prepared shrimp and crabmeat etouffee, Rhodes made a “Soul Bowl” with salmon, black-eyed peas and plantains, and Davis prepared fried catfish with ham hock gravy.

You have probably seen someone do a little happy dance when they spot their waiter heading to the table, entrée in hand. Turns out, sea turtles have the same reaction to the promise of a full belly.

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill researchers found that captive loggerheads could be conditioned to “dance” by associating certain magnetic fields with being fed food. This test allowed the researchers to test if they use the magnetic fields like GPS, a compass or both.

The study, “Learned magnetic map cues and two mechanisms of magnetoreception in turtles,” was published Feb. 12 in the science journal, Nature. Magnetoreception means that an animal can perceive the Earth’s magnetic fields.

Lead author Kayla Goforth is a recent doctoral graduate from UNC and is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the biology department at Texas A&M University.

For the study, the team conditioned different groups of 2-month-old turtles over the course of two months to differentiate between magnetic fields. The team replicated in the lab magnetic fields that exist along the Atlantic coast, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.  

“Every other day they would experience one specific magnetic field in which they were fed. On the days they were not fed, they would experience a second magnetic field, but they did not receive any reward in this field. Eventually turtles begin to exhibit the ‘turtle dance’ in the field in which they were fed,” she said.

“The turtle dance is a food-seeking behavior that is characterized by the turtle lifting its head out of the water, opening its mouth, alternating its flippers and spinning,” Goforth said. “It’s super adorable.”

To produce the different magnetic fields, the team used magnetic coil systems. A magnetic coil is a large frame with wire wrapped around it, horizontally and vertically. When an electric current runs through the wires, a magnetic field is created inside the coil system, and “by increasing or decreasing the amps running through the wire, we can change the magnetic field.”

At the end of the conditioning period, the team tested the turtles in both magnetic fields and found that turtles danced more in the field in which they were fed.

“You can think of it like training a dog,” Goforth explained. “If you always ring a bell when a dog is given food, eventually they will begin to expect food when the bell is rung, and salivate or beg.”

The team then investigated the mechanisms underlying the turtle’s magnetic senses.

“Turtles have both a magnetic map and a magnetic compass. A magnetic map is a positional sense, like a GPS, while a compass provides directional information,” she said, and both are required for navigation. A map tells you where you are or where you want to be and a compass helps guide you.

For this part of the study, the team tested both the turtle’s magnetic map sense and magnetic compass. Meaning, the turtles had to recognize a magnetic field and had to orient in a specific direction.

“We tested whether these two senses were disrupted by radiofrequency fields,” she said, because these fields are expected to disrupt chemical magnetoreception, which is a theory that suggests complex chemical reactions enable animals to detect magnetic fields.

The team found that the compass sense likely relies on chemical magnetoreception.

“The map sense, however, does not seem to rely on chemical magnetoreception. This means these two magnetic senses, while similar, are distinct. Just like seeing and hearing are two distinct senses,” she said.

Goforth explained that the idea for the study sparked from the well-known fact that sea turtles return to where they were born to reproduce, “but what is less well known is that turtles also display really strong fidelity to their feeding sites, meaning they consistently return again and again.”

How turtles learn the locations of those feeding sites is unknown but the team thought that they likely use magnetic fields.

“A missing piece of this idea though was that we did not know whether turtles could learn magnetic fields, so I decided to try conditioning, or training them to do so,” Goforth said. “We were really excited when it worked, and that assay then opened the door for studies into the mechanisms underlying the magnetic sense.” An assay is a procedure in a lab.

The findings answered two questions: if sea turtles can learn magnetic fields, and if the magnetic map and magnetic compass senses of turtles rely on the same underlying mechanism.

And while the findings answered those two questions – yes and no, respectively — it brought up another: “How sensitive are turtles to magnetic map information, i.e., what is the smallest difference in magnetic fields they could distinguish between? And,” Goforth said, “the next big question is, if the map sense does not rely on chemical magnetoreception, then what is the underlying mechanism?”

Goforth conducted her doctoral research in Chapel Hill’s the Lohmann Lab, run by married couple and biology professors, Kenneth and Catherine Lohmann.

“Kayla began to wonder if we could get the turtles to associate the magnetic signature of a geographic area with food — and therefore act out this turtle dance behavior,” Kenneth Lohmann said in a press release from the university. “She really took the lead in this. I wasn’t at all sure in the beginning whether it would work, but we were happy to have her try, and it turned out remarkably well.”

Goforth said she began researching sea turtles while working on her undergraduate degree at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

“I’ve loved the ocean since I was young, and from the time I was about 5 years old, I was determined to become a biologist,” Goforth explained. “In high school I attended a sea turtle camp in North Carolina and that is what led me to pursue sea turtle research in college. I found them fascinating, and wanted to know how they were returning to the same nesting beaches every year, which is what drew me to Ken’s lab at UNC-Chapel Hill.”

Dana Lim is another doctoral student in the Lohmann Lab studying the function and mechanisms of magnetic sensing in sea turtles.

She assisted Goforth with the study by helping test the effect of radiofrequency fields on the orientation of hatchling sea turtles and with conditioning the turtles to “dance” in the lab.

“Something worth noting about all of these experiments is just the immense amount of work and time that went into them,” Lim said, adding that conditioning the turtles was not easy. For each set of turtles, the team had to commit several hours per day, every day, including weekends, for two months.

Lim continued that the behavioral test used for this research “has been a mainstay in studying sea turtle magnetoreception for decades. However, it requires turtles to use both their magnetic map and compass simultaneously and is carried out at a field site with wild sea turtles. Being able to create a behavioral assay that isolates use of the turtle’s magnetic map in a laboratory setting is a huge step forward in studying the different parts of this key sensory system.”

The payoff is evident “in this very paper,” she said, since it allowed Goforth to test and find evidence for two different mechanisms underlying the map versus the compass in sea turtles.

“This has been a major question in the field of magnetoreception and evidence for multiple magnetoreception mechanisms in a single animal has only been shown a couple of times before this,” Lim explained.

Tara Hinton, an environmental Studies student in her last semester at Chapel Hill, collaborated with Goforth on the research during summer 2022 in Melbourne, Florida.

“Our days began early with beach patrols for loggerhead sea turtle nests, followed by outdoor work in the Florida elements to construct a magnetic coil for our study. When the sun set, we transitioned to night experiments, fueled by Oreos and plenty of coffee,” Hinton said. “It was a rewarding experience to work with some of Earth’s most remarkable magnetic navigators, alongside a team of passionate and dedicated researchers.”

Clarification: Dr. Smallwood is a descendant of the Tuscarora people, not the Cherokee. During his presentation when he said “we were Cherokees” he was explaining that many Native descendants assumed that Cherokee was their heritage. This story has been updated for clarity.

MOREHEAD CITY — About 50 made their way to Mug Shot Caffeine and Cocktails on a chilly Saturday afternoon in mid-January to hear Dr. Arwin D. Smallwood explain “The History of the Coree and Neusiok Native Americans of Carteret County, North Carolina.”

Smallwood was the first to present for Coastal Carolina Riverwatch’s new initiative, “Cultural Perspectives Series: Coastal Indigenous Communities and Ecological Wisdom.” The nonprofit organization works to protect the water bodies, estuaries and coastline in the White Oak River Basin, mostly in Carteret, Jones, Onslow and Pender counties.

“I’m still just an ol’ country boy from eastern North Carolina, and that’s never left me, and it’s still a part of who I am,” Smallwood began. “I grew up in Bertie County in Indian Woods,” which was the old Tuscarora reservation established in 1717.

Now the dean of the College of Liberal Arts at North Carolina Central University in Durham, Smallwood has spent his career studying the relationships among African Americans, Native Americans and Europeans in eastern North Carolina during the colonial and early antebellum periods.

During his presentation when he said that while growing up in Indian Woods, “we were Cherokees” and “grandma was Cherokee, right?” he was illustrating that many Native descendants assumed their heritage was Cherokee because the Tuscaroras’ history had largely been erased.

Smallwood said that he never fully understood who the Tuscarora and other Native groups in eastern North Carolina were until he was a student at N.C. Central, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

“We didn’t know anything much about our community, other than we’ve always been from there,” he said. “I knew all my family and all my people, but we didn’t know very much about the history of the area beyond our family lore and family stories.”

In a class on state history he read “North Carolina: The History of a Southern State,” written by “two great professors out of Chapel Hill,” Hugh Talmage Lefler and Albert Ray Newsome.

They mentioned his community, Indian Woods, by name in the first chapter, and “I said to myself, if this is significant enough to be in this book from these two great Carolina scholars, then it must be significant,” Smallwood explained. This inspired him to commit his life to learning and researching as much as possible about Native peoples, particularly Tuscaroras and those in eastern North Carolina.

Smallwood went on to earn his doctorate in early U.S. and African American history from the Ohio State University, and has held positions at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in Greensboro, the University of Memphis in Memphis, Tennessee, and Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

Smallwood said that, because he was presenting in Morehead City, he narrowed the focus of his talk to the Coree and Neusiok of Carteret County, who are among several groups in the region of Iroquois origin and have a connection to the Tuscarora whom he studies.

The Iroquois are an ancient people who migrated from Central America and Mexico thousands of years ago, to what is now the Midwest, then to what is now the state of New York. Many moved south from there, following the valleys and rivers, eventually reaching eastern North Carolina.

The Coree, Neusiok, Tuscarora, Meherrin and Nottoway, who straddle the Virginia and North Carolina border, are Iroquois, or the Haudenosaunee people. “We call them Iroquois. It was a name given to them by the French, but their Native name is Haudenosaunee,” or people of the long house.

“The Iroquois said that they had a confederation,” Smallwood continued. “If you attack one of the Iroquois, you attack them all. If you attack the Mohawks, then all of the Haudenosaunee would attack you. If you attack the Tuscarora, all of the Haudenosaunee and the Allies will attack you. They were a family. They were all kin.”

The Tuscaroras were the largest and most powerful group at one time and were scattered all over eastern North Carolina, from Virginia to the Cape Fear River. The population began to decline as early as Spanish contact in the late 1400s and early 1500s. By the start of the Tuscarora War in 1711, disease and conflict caused the once-heavily inhabited region to depopulate.

There were a “host of other Indians in Coastal North Carolina,” Smallwood said, and while some were Algonquian-speaking peoples, they were allied with the Tuscaroras and Corees at the start of the Tuscarora War, “and that war was as much about control of this region.”

After the Tuscarora war in the mid-1710s, “we call it the Tuscarora diaspora,” large numbers scattered all over North Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia, Tennessee, eastern Ohio, Pennsylvania into Canada, and many returned to New York.

The Tuscarora had a sophisticated trade network spanning from the Outer Banks to as far south as Florida, as far north as Canada and as far west as Memphis.

The trading paths the Native people created are now the state roadways, like U.S. Highway 70 and N.C. 12, connecting old Native communities that are now North Carolina towns.

One reason the coastal areas were important for trade is the access to seashells. “Native Americans value seashells in the same way that Europeans value gold and silver, diamonds,” and other precious stones. Seashells had great spiritual meaning and were used as currency.

“And to trade, you had to speak Tuscarora. That was the trading language,” he said.

The maps Ralph Lane and John White illustrated when first reaching eastern North Carolina in 1584-85 show a well-established community with religious buildings, houses and gardens.

The Native people knew the land and cultivated for food or medicine different types of crops, many of which were introduced to the settlers and are still grown today. Smallwood gave the example of tobacco, which was originally ceremonial but is now a multibillion-dollar industry, corn, beans and white potatoes.

He recounted traditions from his childhood in Bertie County. Going out at night to fill up the bed of a truck with herring, having wild plums, strawberries, apples, pears and peaches, and watching his mother garden the way her mother did and her mother before her.

“I found that so many traditions and customs that we think are African American or European, are actually Native American and were transferred to us, and we have carried them on — cooking traditions, gardening habits and behaviors,” he said.

“We have passed them on from generation to generation. And we don’t even know why we did these things, but they were transferred somewhere when we were blending cultures,” Smallwood said.

The blending of cultures happened a handful of ways, including early white settlers marrying Native women, and white indentured servants and enslaved African Americans would run away places like the Great Dismal Swamp and intermix with the Native population.

“Our cultures are blended. Native, African and European, and it is what makes us Southern, what makes us American, what makes us North Carolinians,” but, “We’re different here in eastern North Carolina,” he said. “This is home, and we share a culture, and we share an identity, and that identity and that culture has been forged over hundreds of years.”

About the series

Riverwatch Executive Director Lisa Rider told Coastal Review that Smallwood’s “expertise in African American and Native American history, particularly in North Carolina, provides invaluable insights into the often-overlooked narratives that shape our understanding of the coastal communities we serve.”

The organizers launched the series that “recognizes the intertwined histories of African American and Indigenous communities in coastal North Carolina, emphasizing their shared heritage and contributions to ecological stewardship,” and are planning the next installment for this summer.

Secotan Alliance president and founder Gray Michael Parsons is scheduled to be the speaker Saturday, July 12, in Morehead City.

Riverwatch said that the Secotan Alliance’s inaugural symposium, “In the Spirit of Wingina and Beyond” held in May 2024 in Manteo inspired the cultural series. The theme for the 2025 symposium the last weekend in May is “Our Women: Leaders of Indigeneity.”

Parsons is a descendant of the Machapunga-Mattamuskeet people and has focused his efforts on honoring Indigenous leaders and promoting environmental stewardship. He is also the author of “Hope on Hatterask,” a work rooted in his Indigenous heritage.

Parsons founded the alliance “to educate the public on the traditional indigenous principles of the Secotan Alliance under the leadership of Chief Wingina.” The Secotan Alliance was first documented by the English at initial contact in 1584. The alliance territory included Dare, Hyde, Beaufort, Washington and Tyrrell counties. Chief Wingina was beheaded by the English military in June 1586 after an attempt to expand the alliance. 

Parsons told Coastal Review that his focus will be on providing a “functional definition and real world understanding of the ‘Indigenous Earth Ethic’ and the inclusive concept of what I refer to as ‘Indigen-us’.” 

He added that his goal is to empower all to see and understand their own deep indigenous ancestral identity as a part of the natural world.

“In doing so it is my hope that they will embrace and live a more sustainable life and thus one that is in what I call ‘Righteous Relationship with Creation,’” he said.

Heat researchers at Duke University will spend the next two years developing an interactive, web-based tool to help policymakers plan for extreme heat, especially in rural and coastal communities.

The U.S. Department of Commerce and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced earlier this month that $500,000 was awarded to the university’s Heat Policy Innovation Hub on the campus in Durham.

“Over the last 30 years, heat exposure has killed more people in the United States than any other weather-related phenomenon. The combined economic impacts of labor loss, hospital visits, and reduced agricultural yield — along with the health impacts of exposure — make heat among the most significant consequences of climate change for humanity,” according to the hub.

Funded through the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act signed in 2022, the hub is partnering on the project with the National Integrated Heat Health Information System, or NIHHIS. Under NOAA’s climate office, the system is a collaboration of 25 federal entities working to reduce heat impacts across the country.

“The economies of rural communities often rely on agriculture and other outdoor industries, while coastal communities exposed to high humidity tend to rely on hospitality, tourism and recreation,” hub Director Ashley Ward said in a release. “Extreme heat poses health and economic hazards in both types of communities, but the risks are different and require targeted solutions.”

Ward said in an interview that while there’s been a lot of research on how heat affects human health, there has been much less work on how it affects the economy.

“We have been so focused, and for good reason, on the health impacts of heat,” but heat’s impact on the economy is “going to have much bigger consequences than we’ve appreciated so far,” she said.

The World Economic Forum for the first time released in December its assessment of what climate change will mean for businesses globally. The report, Business on the Edge, predicts a 70% global loss in fixed assets from heat over the next decade.

That’s hundreds of billions of dollars, Ward said.

“They determined that most of that loss will occur in the communication sector and the utilities, and it will happen because of labor wage loss, labor productivity loss, and damage to hard infrastructure,” she said. “Personally, I think that we have not even begun to understand the catastrophic economic impact that heat will bring in the next 10 to 20 years.”

Ward explained the innovation hub is “very early” in the planning process and that researchers are thinking about what the web-based tool will look like.

The tool’s interactive map is expected to focus on localized heat impacts, offer guidance on developing heat policies, assess heat risks in rural and coastal communities, and facilitate private sector collaboration. The research team plans to work with policymakers to ensure the tool meets their needs.

“A good chunk of this work is going to be quantifying and looking at what the economic impacts of heat will be across six sectors, which are agriculture, transportation, health, energy, housing and labor,” she said.

While researchers won’t be able to cover the entire scope of heat-related impacts in this two-year period, the plan is to establish “the foundation for some really innovative work on pushing people to think about heat differently,” she added.

Ward said the researchers plan to take an in-depth look at extreme heat in rural and coastal communities.

A lot of research has been done on how heat impacts urban places, but “we have growing and greater vulnerability in rural areas, with fewer tools in the toolbox to address it,” she said.

In North Carolina, heat-related illness rates in rural areas are many times greater than in urban areas, and most of the solutions, like cooling centers or tree planting campaigns, don’t really translate into rural environments very well.

The same can be applies to coastal areas that are “plagued by some of the same challenges that rural communities are plagued with — real threats to their livelihoods — but also challenges with solutions,” she said. “We’re seeing a combination of increasing temperatures also destroying some of the economic backbone of coastal communities.”

Oyster farms, for example, are highly vulnerable, with some U.S. shellfish growers reporting 100% crop losses in the last couple of years, Ward added.

Ward’s work on extreme heat can be traced back to her days with NOAA, where she focused on the impacts of climate extremes in the coastal plains of the Carolinas.

In 2015, she was sent into coastal communities to talk to residents about issues of which they were particularly concerned.

“I thought that we would be talking about hurricanes. But when we showed up, a lot of the community partners basically said, we know a lot about hurricanes, we don’t know a lot about heat, and heat is really starting to show up in our communities. It was really the communities that started my interest and work in that topic,” Ward said.

When she arrived at Duke’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability in 2019, Ward said she noticed that researchers had done great work in identifying populations that are vulnerable to extreme heat and communities have responded by thinking about ways to mitigate the impacts of rising temperatures.

But, she said, those conversations were not being carried over to policymakers.

The heat hub was launched in 2023, “with the mission of bringing together a real cross-sector collaboration to try and think about ways to address heat and inform better policy, and sometimes that policy is public policy, but sometimes it’s also thinking about industry and the role that they play,” Ward said.

The hub’s researchers have worked with the state to develop a heat alert system and helped with county-level heat action plans. Last June, the hub held the HeatWise Policy Partnership Summit.

The hub is currently working with faith-based leaders in the Carolinas, exploring private sector and community-based solutions for heat and energy affordability. The hub is also working with the United Nations to develop a heat management system and is assessing readiness among UN agencies to deal with heat globally.

Update Feb. 5: The Fort Raleigh National Historic Site shoreline stabilization public meeting has been rescheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12. The comment period was extended to Feb. 21 because of the weather-related meeting postponement.

Update 8:45 a.m. Jan. 23: National Park Service officials announced Wednesday night that the shoreline erosion public meeting, originally scheduled for Thursday has been postponed because of hazardous weather conditions. A new date will be announced.

Original post:

For the first time in close to 50 years, National Park Service officials are looking to stabilize the eroding shoreline at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site that, if not addressed, could jeopardize the cultural and natural resources stewards of the 355-acre site in Manteo aim to protect.

Park service staff are considering three different structures to protect the about a mile of shoreline and invite the public to share their thoughts through Feb. 7.

Established in 1941 on the north end of Roanoke Island where the Albemarle, Croatan and Roanoke sounds converge, Fort Raleigh is the last known location of the 116 English settlers that disappeared in the late 1580s, referred to as the “Lost Colony.”

Before Sir Walter Raleigh led English expeditions to the “New World” in the late 1580s, the land was home to Carolina Algonquians. During the American Civil War in the 1860s, formerly enslaved people established the Freedmen’s Colony on the island nestled between Manns Harbor and Nags Head.

The alternatives detailed in the public scoping newsletter include a rock revetment against the shoreline escarpment with fill material to create a slope; a 5- to 10-foot-high rock berm with a 20- to 40-foot-wide base at the toe of the existing slope on the beach possibly backfilled with natural materials; or a site-specific combination of the two along the mile stretch.

Comments can be submitted electronically or by mail to: Superintendent, 1401 National Park Drive, Manteo, NC 27954. The comment period began Jan. 8. A public meeting on the project is set for 6 p.m. Thursday at the site’s visitor center, 1500 Fort Raleigh Road, Manteo.

Project documents indicate that erosion has been an issue since the park was established. Wooden groins were built in the 1940s along the shoreline, and in the 1960s, an offshore breakwater was installed.

In the late 1970s, around 1,500 feet of riprap was placed near the Dough Cemetery, which dates to the mid-19^th century and faces the Croatan Sound, and along the shoreline around the Lost Colony Waterside Theater, where “The Lost Colony” dramatization of the 1580s interaction between the Algonquian and English has been performed nearly every summer since 1947.

Mike Barber, public affairs specialist with the National Park Service, said that 1979-80 work was the last shoreline-stabilization project at the cemetery and theater, and no maintenance of existing shoreline-stabilization measures has taken place to since, as far as anyone seems to know.

“Erosion along the remaining exposed shoreline, including 4500 feet of unstable, undercut cliffs as high as 25 feet, poses a serious threat to potential archeologically significant sites and park facilities,” the scoping newsletter states. “Without action, the erosion will most likely continue, causing continued loss of park lands, vegetation, archeological resources, and ultimately park facilities such as roadways, parking areas, and buildings.”

Barber expounded that, right now, mature trees near the shoreline are falling, and potential archeological resources may be washing away without intervention.

Barber said that the Waterside Theater parking lot, Pear Pad Road and the utilities that run along it as well as the National Park Service employee housing on the southern side of the road are along segments of shoreline that have not been stabilized and are the most vulnerable.

The three alternatives were determined using data from previous related studies, evaluating existing topographic conditions, and assessing existing jurisdiction, and “A preferred alternative has not been selected to date,” he said.

He added that the environmental assessment “is being developed to analyze the impacts of each alternative to guide the selection of a preferred alternative based on environmental impacts to the historic site’s natural and cultural resources.”

An environmental assessment evaluates the potential environmental impacts of a proposed action and is required by the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA.

Barber said that the environmental assessment is expected to be released for public review this summer with a goal of publishing the final version before the end of the year.

Barber said that if all goes as planned, it may be several years before project work begins.

“Prior to starting a project to stabilize the shoreline, we will need to finalize — with public feedback — the environmental assessment, enter into a contract to design the stabilization based on the selected alternative, and hire a contractor to perform the stabilization work,” he said.

Michael Flynn, physical scientist for the National Park Service, explained that while they don’t have an estimate of shoreline change since the 1940s, a1972 study reported that the northern end of Roanoke Island may have receded by as much as 928 feet from 1851 until 1970, losing around 7.25 feet a year, and 158 feet from 1903 to 1971, or around 2.32 feet a year.

More recent shoreline change rate data is provided within a park service technical assistance report published in 2010. That report describes the segmentation of the shoreline that took place because of stabilization methods employed between 1950-1980, Flynn said.

The report cites a 2003 study that estimates erosion rates for unmodified bluff segments between highly modified sediment bank shorelines is as high as 21 to 23 feet a year between 1969 and 1975, which motivated the riprap placement in 1980.

Natural rates of erosion along unmodified segments are estimated to be between 2 and 3 feet a year, with more severe rates of erosion located down drift of stabilization methods, Flynn explained.

Flynn said that the park is generally planning for a foot of sea level rise in the next 30 years based on the Sea Level Rise Technical Report released in 2022. He said park officials recognize that sea level rise will increase the frequency and magnitude of flooding and storm surge, exacerbating erosion and its impacts to resources and infrastructure.  

“Specific sea level rise scenarios used for engineering designs will be selected following the completion of the (environmental assessment),” he said.

A recent U.S. Geological Survey study projects that rising sea levels and stronger, more intense storms will exacerbate four specific coastal hazards and associated management challenges for Cape Lookout National Seashore.

Rising waters and eroding or sinking lands may be unsurprising on the coast, but the findings are troubling for anyone on or near a barrier island, those slivers of sand so popular with visitors and vital to protecting mainland folks.

“Accelerating sea level rise (SLR) and changing storm patterns will increasingly expose barrier islands to coastal hazards, including flooding, erosion, and rising groundwater tables,” according to the study titled, “The projected exposure and response of a natural barrier island system to climate-driven coastal hazards,” published in Nature scientific reports.

The authors explain in the study that their findings illustrate “viability of this barrier island system will be compromised by increasingly severe flooding, rising groundwater, erosion, and land subsidence over the next century.”

Three of the paper’s authors, oceanographer Jennifer Thomas, coastal geologist Patrick Barnard and research oceanographer Sean Vitousek, told Coastal Review in a joint response that the study looks at the coastal hazards related to sea level rise and storms on Cape Lookout National Seashore, which is just a short boat ride from mainland Carteret County.

The scientists are based at the Geological Survey’s Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center in Santa Cruz, California.

“This study shows model projections of overland flooding, groundwater depths, and shoreline change for a series of plausible sea level rise and storm scenarios over the next century. Vertical land motion is derived from satellite observations,” the scientists said.

The team explained how sea level rise can increase the impacts of coastal hazards.

A higher sea level means that high tides can more easily cause sunny day, or nuisance, flooding, and that waves and storm surge can reach higher elevations, which can then lead to overwash, erosion and flooding farther inland. This can also cause groundwater tables to rise, they said.

Since the land is also sinking, that makes relative sea level rise even higher, intensifying these hazards.

Barrier islands, like those in the Cape Lookout study area, “buffer storm impacts for the mainland coast. However, the barrier islands themselves are at an increased risk compared to mainland coasts, as they can experience the hazards of SLR and storms on all sides. Vulnerable barrier islands can lead to more vulnerable mainland coastlines in the future,” the study states.

The researchers told Coastal Review that without intervention, flooding and erosion will be pervasive across barrier islands over the next century.

“As these islands are the first line of defense for mainland communities, reduction in this natural protection will create more hazard exposure in the future,” the team continued. “Managing coastal resources under a changing climate will be extremely challenging.”

Cape Lookout Superintendent Jeff West told Coastal Review that the report findings confirmed what the park staff has seen happening over the years: “an increased number of flooding events, and more devastation” from storms.

“Not only does it confirm what we have been seeing, but it helps detail what to expect in high visitor use areas — places we have infrastructure assets,” West said.

Managed by the National Park Service, Cape Lookout is made up of barrier islands off mainland Carteret County, and is home to several threatened and endangered species, a herd of wild horses, the still-operational 1850s Cape Lookout Lighthouse, historic villages, campsites and ferry landings.

Based on these projections, West said that he thinks the park service and visitors should expect to see places they love begin to disappear over the next two decades.

“They will have environmental impacts that change where and when they can visit, and I expect they will see a change in services they have come to expect and that the NPS provided.”

Cape Lookout Wildlife Biologist Sue Stuska monitors the horse herd along with management partners the Foundation for Shackleford Horses Inc. She told Coastal Review they are trying to determine how to plan for the herd with the upcoming changes.

Models project that emerging groundwater will likely not cause flooding on Cape Lookout National Seashore because, by the time sea level rises high enough to cause that, overland marine flooding will already be occurring, according to the study.

Stuska said that while she has not seen groundwater emerging at the surface, “I have documented three new places in the middle (between ocean and sound) of Shackleford Banks where the horses are digging for fresh water in swales where they never dug before. I have theorized that the water table is rising, giving them access there where it would have been too deep before.”

Rising sea level, higher risk

The Geological Survey team explained that the National Park Service requested summaries of recent research of the region relevant to coastal management concerns at Cape Lookout National Seashore.

The team pulled data specific to the national seashore and determined that with 0.5 meters, or 1.6 feet, of sea level rise, 47% of barrier island surface area would flood daily, and the type of storm nearly certain to strike each year would flood 74% of island surface area. During a storm of the intensity likely to come only once every 20 or so years, more than 85% of the island can be expected to flood.

Flood risk for extreme storm events doubles with just 2 to 4 inches of sea level rise, “and therefore, in the coming decades, hurricanes will likely cause more severe impacts than in the recent past for coastal North Carolina,” according to the study.

And a third of Cape Lookout National Seashore is currently sinking at a rate of more than 2 millimeters — about the thickness of a nickel – each year, further accelerating erosion and habitat loss.

With 3.3 feet of sea level rise, models project that shorelines will retreat an average of 178 meters, or 584 feet, if there’s no intervention. That would cover more than 60% of the current island width at its narrower locations. Shoreline retreat is what happens when an area experiences long-term erosion. 

Researchers note in the study that the results are relative to sea level rise values, not the amount of time those levels are anticipated to be reached, to “decouple the uncertainty of timing” from future sea level rise. “However, in the Discussion section, we relate results to time, using the SLR values closest to local estimates for the intermediate-high scenario for the years 2050 (0.46 m) and 2100 (1.60 m),” or 1.5 feet in 2050 and 5.24 feet in 2100. Authors cite projections that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released in 2022.

The researchers said it’s up to the National Park Service to make the difficult decisions on how to manage sea level rise and storm impacts. “Hopefully this study can provide valuable information as a guide to the short- and long-term coastal hazards to consider.”

Cape Lookout plans on sea level rise

Superintendent West said that while management is facing “mounting pressure to balance the needs of human safety and environmental preservation in a landscape increasingly shaped by climate change,” as the Dec. 4, 2024, press release states, he recognizes how much these changes will affect those fond of the national seashore.

Federal and state managers are facing pressure, “but people who live and work in coastal areas, people that visit and love these areas, well, they will suffer from emotional loss,” West said.

He added that while the park service has planning in place and is adaptively managing its resources, people tend to reject change.

“Gradual devastating change is harder to accept. You don’t see it unless you are living it, and even then, people can get use to things and then fail to see the bigger picture,” he said.

Cape Lookout changes every day. Five years from now it will be different than it is today, 10 years from now it will be dramatically different, West said.

The park service is taking action, West said, but, “I am not sure how humans truly plan for that which they do not know or fully understand. Still, we are trying.”

Park officials had already assessed Cape Lookout’s built assets, like the lighthouse and historic structures, and they know how vulnerable they are to storms, sea level rise, storm surge, wind and historic events.

“We know which buildings we are not going to rebuild in their current locations should they be damaged, we know the options we have for each asset,” which are to raise and rebuild with sustainable materials, move, or demolish and abandon the location, West said. “A number of structures that were continually battered by storm have been demolished and removed. We are not investing repair or rehabilitation dollars in structures that have that kind of exposure. There are currently five additional structures on that list that will not be reconstructed if they are storm damaged or flooded.”

New construction takes all factors into consideration, West said.

He said the camp on North Core Banks is an example. Long Point Camp was at one of the narrowest and most frequently affected parts of the island, with 7,000 feet of underground utilities, generators, and wooden buildings. It was subject to both ocean and sound-side flooding.

West said the park service replaced underground infrastructure routinely, and has done over 20 reconstruction or repair projects after storms between 1995 and 2019, when Hurricane Dorian devastated the camp yet again.

They found a site 5 miles to move the camp that’s north on one of the highest parts of the island. The new site sees little coastal erosion.

“The camp itself is designed to take environmental impacts yet be low-cost to build and maintain. Almost no underground utilities, all structures on raised platforms, buildings are principally oceangoing containers modified for residential or utility use, all power is provided by solar and wind generator systems,” West said.

Construction started in December.

To repair or rebuild docks, the park service elevates the structure and uses decking made of concrete that allows water to flow through without undermining the supporting structure, and pilings are driven to a minimum depth of 28 feet.

“We did a large beach nourishment project at the Cape Lookout Lighthouse to protect the lighthouse complex and are currently monitoring it for erosion. Once the data is in, we will look at options to try and hold that beach in place,” West said of the work completed early last year.

“Marsh restoration and protection are currently being planned,” West said. The state will lose about 85% of its current marsh area over the next 25 years.

“We are starting the process of protecting what we have and restoring some of what we lost now to try and stay ahead of sea level rise,” he explained.

West said that the park service approaches each project by posing a series of questions with sea level rise and storms in mind: “Do we need it? If we need it, is it in the right place and/or where is the right place? Can we build it better? Can we fund it? If we can do it, should we?”

This story has been updated to include funeral arrangements.

Avid birder, wildlife enthusiast and conservationist John Oliver Fussell III, 75, of Morehead City, is being remembered for his decades of contributions to raising awareness of often-overlooked environmental issues affecting the North Carolina coast, particularly its plants and animals, of which he had a deep understanding.

Fussell, who studied zoology at North Carolina State University, died Friday, Dec. 27, 2024, at home. His fellow environmental advocates and scientists have shared their fond remembrances in the days since Fussell’s death.

Paul Branch Jr., who retired last year from his role as park ranger and historian at Fort Macon State Park, shared some details with Coastal Review on Fussell’s early work.

Fussell first held an internship at the park in summer 1974, studying the Theodore Roosevelt Natural Area and its resources and doing preliminary work to lay out a nature trail.

Then, in fall 1975, he was hired under the Comprehensive Employment Training Act, or CETA, Manpower Program both to provide a “State Parks ‘presence’ at the Natural Area during the construction of the Marine Resources Center,” now the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, and to develop the nature trail, Branch said.

“Based on his previous intern work, he established a half-mile trail through the maritime forest along the northeast corner of the tract to the salt marsh along the sound and back,” Branch explained.

The trail was named the Hoffman Nature Trail in honor of Alice Green Hoffman, the relative of the Roosevelt family who had owned and managed the large tracts of land on Bogue Banks from which the Theodore Roosevelt Natural Area had been donated.

Fussell worked there through summer 1976, and that fall under the CETA program, he worked at Fort Macon State Park as an interpreter to give nature and history programs at the park year-round.

“In addition to giving the usual history guided tours and slide shows at the fort, Fussell also began giving bird and nature walks to the public, which were well received. He also created a birding checklist for the park. In the fall and winter of 1977, he worked sorting through and cataloguing museum artifacts at the park,” Branch said, adding that Fussell left the park in 1978 for other pursuits but returned periodically over the years to take birding groups around the park.

Coastal Review contributor and former Hammocks Beach State Park superintendent Sam Bland said he first met Fussell in summer 1978, when both were working at Fort Macon State Park.

“John was the historian/naturalist and I was a park attendant,” Bland said. “I was envious of John as he was always out giving tours of the fort or taking people on nature hikes while I spent most of my time mowing the mosquito-infested grasses of the fort. But we did get to spend some time birding together and he introduced me to the painted buntings. He was a birding mentor to many and I think that is when he was happiest, sharing his knowledge with others.”

Bland said he considered Fussell to be a friend, but, he clarified, their relationship was more on a professional level.

“During my years at Hammocks Beach State Park, we would collaborate to conduct bird surveys on Bear Island and the surrounding marshes. He was my go-to person, as he was to many, for any birding identification or related questions. Often, he would give me a call to see if I had seen a species of bird that he had recently seen further up the coast,” Bland explained. “If it was a specific species of interest, such as a rare, unusual or out of season sighting, he would quiz me about details as he wasn’t going to consider it a confirmed sighting unless he was sure. One winter, a fairly large group of red phalaropes, which is an offshore bird, were spotted close to shore. John wanted to know if I had seen them off of Bear Island, which I had. But it took some convincing to reassure John that I had actually seen this specific species.”

Bland also noted that while well known as an ornithologist, Fussell was also a skilled botanist who would arrive at first light on the days of planned maintenance and cleanups at the Hoop Pole Creek nature trail in Atlantic Beach to put flagging tape on the rare plants to make sure they didn’t get trimmed and were protected.

“He was a great advocate for preservation, protection and restoration of our coastal resources. His ornithological and botanical surveys were instrumental in documenting our natural coastal heritage, especially during times of rampant development. His knowledge was an invaluable resource that will be greatly missed,” Bland said.

The day after Fussell’s death, Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Adviser Derb Carter shared on an online birding forum that with Fussell’s death, North Carolina had lost a “giant in the birding community,” of which he had been a fixture for 60 years.

“He knew the birds and every birding corner along his beloved NC coast like no one else,” Carter posted, referencing Fussell’s book published in in 1994 by the University of North Carolina Press, “Birder’s Guide to Coastal North Carolina” which “remains the definitive guide.”

Carter noted that Fussell “cared deeply” about protecting important habitats and as an accomplished naturalist contributed his knowledge and observations to the identification and preservation of lands by state and federal agencies and conservation organizations.

Among Fussell’s many contributions to promoting birding in the state, Carter explained that Fussell regularly volunteered to lead birding field trips for Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count, Wings Over Water Wildlife Festival on the Outer Banks, and other birding events.

“The one thing you could almost be certain of on one of John’s trips is you were going to get your feet soaked within the first hour. If the shortest way was dry, John would take the long way through the marsh or tidal flats on the chance of flushing a rail, sparrow, or wren,” Carter said.

He led Morehead City’s Christmas Bird Count for more than 60 years and participated in the counts in Wilmington and Masonboro Island.

“Sun, wind, rain, or snow he would be dropped off on the north end (of Masonboro Island) by boat first thing in the morning and walk the eight and a half miles to the south end to be picked up late afternoon.  The gulls, terns, shorebirds, and pelicans will be looking for him on Saturday and will miss him. We will all miss him,” Carter said.

Peter Vankevich, co-publisher of the Ocracoke Observer on Ocracoke Island, is a bird enthusiast who founded and serves as compiler of the Ocracoke and Portsmouth Island Christmas bird counts. He’s also an active supporter of the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust’s longtime efforts to protect Ocracoke’s 132-acre Springer’s Point Preserve.

“I first met John some years ago when he led a spring walk for the N.C. Coastal Land Trust through Springer’s Point on Ocracoke Island —  not for birds, but to point out the native plants of which seemed to have an equal amount of passion,” Vankevich said. “He was a gracious field trip leader.”

In recent years, Fussell frequently visited the massive wetland restoration project at North River Wetlands Preserve in Carteret County, documenting the changing bird communities as the wetlands are restored, Carter said. The preserve is a 6,000-acre restoration project of the Coastal Federation.

When recognized in 2017 by the North Carolina Coastal Federation with a Pelican Award “For Enduring Commitment to Preserving the Spectacular Natural Heritage of Our Coast,” he said that for many years he focused on environmental issues for which his involvement is disproportionately important.

For example, “Issues that I know a lot about but which are mostly ignored by the general environmental community,” he explained. “I have mostly focused on protecting rare plants and habitats in a major reserve of native biodiversity in our backyard, the Croatan National Forest.”

Fussell told Coastal Review at the time that he spent countless hours documenting the amount and numbers of rare plants in the Croatan National Forest, and sometimes their disappearance, and then getting that information on the radar screen by providing it to the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program and the U.S. Forest Service.

He added that he monitored projects, often at several stages, to make sure information did not get ignored or forgotten.

“I find it rewarding to find that if you persevere, sometimes you can make a difference,” Fussell said.

In the mid-1980s, Fussell worked with the Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, on an effort to protect what is now Hoop Pole Creek Preserve area in Atlantic Beach from a massive development project.

“That effort turned out to be ultimately successful and it was a major milestone in the development of the Coastal Federation as an important factor in addressing environmental issues. I found out that sometimes you can make a difference,” Fussell said in 2017.

There was an outpouring of condolences and memories on the birding forum after Carter’s announcement.

Ross McGregor of Stirling, Scotland, previously of Beaufort, wrote that he joined Fussell on Sunday morning birding trips.

“What really struck me about John were two things. Firstly he wore his vast knowledge so lightly. He was a great communicator. He never bragged and was always wanting to learn,” McGregor wrote. “Secondly, he could ask questions like few I have met. He would quiz me about my research on red-cockaded woodpeckers asking questions that really made me think. I think the questions were coming from his desire to know more and understand better, rather than to demonstrate my lack of knowledge and understanding. I learned so much from these chats. For me, it was these things made spending time birding with JF such a joy. He was a thoroughly decent bloke and the world is a poorer place without him.”

Harry LeGrand, who worked for the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, said on the forum that he and Fussell were in some of the same classes at N.C. State University in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

“He was the premier naturalist for 50+ years for the central NC coast,” LeGrand explained. “Not just with his knowledge of birds but also of botany and various other biological sciences, such as ecology and natural communities. He provided the N.C. Natural Heritage Program, where I worked for 31 years, with numerous reports of rare plants, especially from his beloved Croatan National Forest.”

LeGrand added that Fussell’s 1994 guide “was a birder’s ‘bible’ and is still useful today” because so many public sites have not substantially changed since.

“I will greatly miss JF, as he called himself, as will so many other folks who knew him, went on his many field trips, and got to learn so much from him,” he said.

Bob Lewis of Durham called Fussell “one of the giants” of North Carolina birding of the last 50 years.

Walker Golder, previously with the National Audubon Society, said on the forum that with the death of Fussell, “North Carolina has lost a great person in the bird world.”

Golder said he came to know Fussell in the mid-1980s as part of North Carolina’s early waterbird surveys.

“I consulted him often in the decades thereafter about various areas of the coast. Rest assured, he had been there. He was always glad to chat and would share the unwritten history of the regular birds and the rarities at the site. Birders visiting the coast from other states would often call my office seeking information about where they could see a particular bird. John’s book- A Birder’s Guide to Coastal North Carolina -was (and remains) the source for finding birds on the coast. I always recommended John’s book and occasionally received a call back from folks impressed with the thorough and detailed information. But that’s who I found John to be.”

His funeral will be at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 8, at Noe-Brooks Funeral Home and Crematory in Morehead City. Visitation will precede the service, beginning at 2 p.m.

Editor Mark Hibbs contributed to this report.

The hundreds of cold-stunned sea turtles that washed ashore after temperatures fell earlier this month on the Outer Banks have been given a second chance.

Over the last few weeks, staff at the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation, or STAR, Center at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island have been caring for close to 600 sea turtles that were cold stunned, which happens when water temperatures quickly drop before sea turtles can migrate to warmer water. Cold stunning can lead to death if not treated. 

The Roanoke aquarium’s Animal Husbandry Curator Leslie Vegas told Coastal Review Thursday that most of the sea turtles are rescued in the Pamlico Sound. They enter the sound through inlets because they are foraging for food in the subaquatic vegetation, or seagrass, beds. A few wash up on the ocean side, but the vast majority are rescued from the sound.

Vegas is among the more than 135 aquarium staff and volunteers to care for the 553 cold-stunned sea turtles delivered to the aquarium between Dec. 1 and Dec. 7.

As of Dec. 17, the aquarium had received 576 sea turtles including the state’s most common species, the loggerhead, green and Kemp’s ridley, according to the aquarium.

“Because we are still ensuring our numbers are accurate, we don’t have exact species counts yet — and because the event is not technically over — but for this event so far, we have received approximately 580 turtles, with the most being 163 in one day,” Vegas said. So far, 399 turtles have been released as part of this event, some are being cared for at other facilities and about 50 arrived dead or died shortly after arrival.

As of Friday afternoon, the STAR Center was caring for 60 animals, and more releases were expected to take place in the coming weeks, Vegas said subsequently. With temperatures expected to drop again, aquarium staff are preparing for more cold-stunned turtles. 

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission manages the state’s sea turtles, which are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

“The great success in returning these turtles quickly to the wild is due to the combined efforts of many different volunteers and collaborators with the NCWRC Sea Turtle Project,” Commission biologist Matthew Godfrey said.

More than 20 different sea turtle project groups along the coast help monitor sea turtle nesting and stranding activities along the coast, including the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, or N.E.S.T, the National Park Service, North Carolina Aquariums, the College of Veterinary Medicine at N.C. State University, the Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.

For this recent cold-stunned event, aquarium staff, the STAR Center, and N.E.S.T. volunteers worked with Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the Wildlife Resources Commission, the Outer Banks SPCA, area veterinarian clinics, Phideaux fishing vessel, and the U.S. Coast Guard Stations at Hatteras Inlet and Fort Macon worked together to care for and release the sea turtles.

“Sea turtles are important to coastal ecosystems,” and because sea turtles are endangered species, any efforts to protect them are important, Vegas said.

Green sea turtles use sea grass beds as feeding grounds and they eat the subaquatic vegetation itself. “Just like plants on land, the SAVs and sea grass beds require ‘maintenance’ and ‘pruning,’ which the sea turtles provide. Without that maintenance, it’s possible that those beds would suffer enough damage to not thrive,” Vegas said.

Sea turtles use oceanic coastal shorelines to nest and lay eggs and these nests provide stabilization and nutrients to an ecosystem that is often nutrient depleted. These nutrients support the minimal plant life that exists on dunes, which also aid in shoreline stabilization, she continued.

Vegas explained that cold stuns occur naturally.

 “If the decrease in temperature is gradual, the turtles will naturally migrate to southern waters, but if there’s a rapid decrease, the turtles miss the environmental cue to migrate, and the stunning event occurs,” she said.

Sea turtles are exothermic and they cannot regulate their own body temperatures. When the temperature drops, typically below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the sea turtles become weak and lethargic, sometimes appearing deceased due to their extreme inactivity and lethargy. The turtles usually float to the water’s surface and from there, winds, tides or both can wash the turtles onto the shore, she added. Cold-stun events have been documented since the 1800s, and because it is not preventable, the response to these events is human intervention and rehabilitation to rescue as many as possible.

When temperatures drop, “our partners with the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, the National Park Service, and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission scout the soundside shore for turtles and transport them to us at the aquarium,” Vegas said.

NEST Director Jerrica Rea told Coastal Review that the volunteer-run nonprofit organization is thankful for partners in the NPS, ferry system and aquarium.

“Without the collective work from everyone, managing an event like this would not be possible,’ Rea said.

During the cold-stun season that takes place from December to around March, NEST volunteers patrol the soundside waters of Hatteras Island looking for sea turtles.

“We monitor different things like wind direction and water temperature to determine when the turtles may start to struggle. Sea turtles will generally migrate to warmer waters as our water cools in winter but occasionally we will have a perfect storm like this event,” Rea said, referring to the cold-stunning from earlier this month.

The sea turtles are typically juveniles who are content to feed in sound waters and don’t get the cue to leave when the temperature goes from warm to cold quickly. The sudden drop in temperature and the prolonged nature of it led to NEST finding over 560 sea turtles in one week.

Those turtles are taken to a staging site in Buxton where NEST volunteers take measurements, photos and document them, Rea said. They are then transported to STAR center at the aquarium, a more than 100-mile round trip ride.

“As an all volunteer organization, we are extremely proud of the efforts from our cold stun team. They work in the worst conditions-rain, snow, wind and freezing temperatures. We have over 20 patrol responders, 50 staging site volunteers and many more transporters,” Rea said. “The dedication our volunteers have to rescuing sea turtles is indescribable. It’s an honor to be part of such an incredible team and to see the community come together to help this endangered species.”

Turtle triage, treatment

Once the turtle arrives at the aquarium, staff administer fluid therapy since the turtles have likely been exposed and may have become dehydrated while stunned.

The length, width and weight of each sea turtle is recorded as well as any abnormalities or injuries. Blood work determines if there are nutritional or other deficiencies, like organ impairment. Because their organs are not functioning optimally while stunned, additional medication is not typically dispensed until they are gradually brought to healthy, warm temperatures, Vegas explained.

Bringing sea turtles up to the right temperature cannot happen fast, either. For this process, the turtles are moved to different sections of the aquarium, each set at a slightly warmer temperature, to ensure that the warming is gradual.

The Roanoke Island aquarium uses an incident command system and emergency response in the form of triage, like how humans are triaged in emergency care, to rehabilitate the sea turtles.

“We split the turtles up based on the level of care necessary to release them, as well as by species and size. Some species can be housed together and some cannot. In an event this large, those that are most likely to survive are prioritized to maximize our number of turtles released,” Vegas said. “We provide supportive care to those with more complicated medical issues until we can devote more time to them, after healthier turtles are released.”

The sea turtles that only needed to be warmed up were released within two to four days of rescue. “The more complicated medical cases could be here for weeks or months depending on their rate of progress and the care they may require,” Vegas said.

“If the individual turtle has additional medical needs, we keep the turtle in house for treatment, to go through the full rehabilitation process that addresses their specific medical needs,” Vegas added, but if no other health issues are identified beyond cold stunning, the turtles are released to the Gulf Stream as quickly as possible after they are at temperature, their bloodwork is cleared by veterinary staff, and they exhibit normal sea turtle behaviors.

“The releases are made possible through our relationship with the U.S. Coast Guard at Cape Hatteras, who are kind enough to transport our turtles to the Gulf Stream,” Vegas said.

The incident command system ensures that all departments within the aquarium are engaged to provide excellent turtle care and supportive care for humans,” Vegas said.

“This event involved many partners and staff, and that has been the highlight of it all for me. Seeing the dedication and teamwork that was fostered, along with the animals that were saved, are the things we are most proud to share,” Vegas said.

Sea turtles that appear still or sluggish in the sound water or on a beach during winter months should not be pushed back into the water or moved. Report any turtles under duress to the Sea Turtle Stranding Hotline via N.E.S.T. at 252-441-8622.

The N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island operates under the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Sea Turtle Permit No. 24ST46.

Coastal Review will not publish Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in observance of the Christmas holiday.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation can begin work on a temporary solution to protect a stretch of N.C. Highway 12 in Rodanthe that frequently experiences overwash, coastal flooding and erosion — but NCDOT officials are looking for a more permanent fix.

Earlier this week, the Coastal Resources Commission unanimously approved NCDOT’s variance request to repair 1,300 feet of primary sand dune and install 1,100 feet of sandbags on the oceanside right-of-way near the visitor center for the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. A variance, once granted, allows coastal development that would otherwise be prohibited by commission rules.

“We hope to start the project sometime in mid-January, and it will take roughly one week to complete,” NCDOT Communications Officer Tim Hass told Coastal Review Tuesday. He said that during the project, which should cost about $400,000, there will be temporary single-lane closures in the area on N.C. Highway 12.

After a storm last month forced transportation officials to close N.C. 12 near the refuge’s visitor center, NCDOT submitted to Division of Coastal Management staff on Nov. 24 a request to modify the existing Coastal Area Management Act permit issued in 1999 that allows for maintenance work along the Outer Banks highway.

The division is under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and acts as staff to the commission. Division staff make permit decisions based on commission rules.

Division staff on Dec. 4 issued a modification to NCDOT’s existing CAMA major permit but “conditioned out those aspects of the proposed sandbag structure which did not meet the Commission’s Rules, including the size and color of the sandbags, the size of the sandbag structure, and the impacts to existing dunes,” documents state.

If the division denies a permit request because the proposed project is outside of development rules, the petitioner can request a variance from the commission to allow the work, which is what NCDOT did, leading to the special-called meeting held Monday morning by web conference.

NCDEQ Assistant General Counsel Christy Goebel explained that NCDOT owns and maintains the public right-of-way easement through Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge on Hatteras Island in Dare County.

“As we know, N.C. 12 provides the only roadway connection between the mainland and Hatteras Island. Beach erosion, dune loss and risk to Highway 12 have been particularly severe near the refuge visitor center,” she said.

The area has been identified as a “hot spot” since at least 2002 and is characterized by low topography and low elevations. The 2020 average annual erosion rate at the visitor center hot spot is 7.5 feet per a year, and the total width of the island there is between 3,500 and 5,800 feet, though much of that area is the refuge ponds. The space between the ocean and refuge ponds that N.C. 12 passes through is as narrow as 245 feet.

“Because of storm and tidal events, and the geomorphology of this area, the hot spot is susceptible to shoreline erosion, overwash, coastal flooding, the loss of beach and dunes, and sand cover. These circumstances can undermine the integrity of the road, making travel by the general public unsafe and forcing DOT to close the road,” Goebel said.

The Nov. 15-17 storm that severely damaged the primary dune along N.C. 12 by the refuge’s visitor center prompted NCDOT’s move to put in the temporary sandbag structure.

Goebel said that ocean overwash removed around 1,000 linear feet of dune, exposing the highway’s pavement edge to the high surf. Roadway flooding and pavement drop-off produced hazardous traffic conditions, and NCDOT temporarily closed the road to all traffic. NCDOT temporarily rebuilt the primary dune as maintenance work after the storm, under the existing CAMA permit.

Goebel said that NCDOT proposed using temporary sandbags for the project that would be white, trapezoid-shaped, woven polypropylene, an alternative to the traditional tan sandbags. Plans call for the sandbags to be placed in two adjoining rows parallel to the seashore.

The row closest to the ocean would be 6 feet high with an 8-foot base, and the row closest to land would be 4-foot high with a 6-foot base. The rows will be adjacent to each other and have a combined base of 14 feet. Both rows will be placed 2 feet below the roadway and 10 feet away from the pavement.

NCDOT plans to bring in sand to fill the sandbags and cover the sandbags after they are installed with a 6-foot-high and 20-foot-wide dune. “Sand would not be dredged from the swash zone on the beach, and there would be no wetland impacts,” Goebel said.

About 950 square feet of the protective dune will extend below the normal high-water line, as well.

Existing rules require the sandbags be tan, between 3 and 5 feet wide and 7 to 15 feet long when measured flat, with a base width no wider than 20 feet and total height no more than 6 feet. Rules also dictate that no primary dunes can be removed or located, and no part of the dune should be placed below normal high water line.

This type of sandbag has been granted variances twice before. The commission allowed for this type of sandbag to be used at the north end of Ocracoke Island, but that project didn’t come to fruition because of funding, and again in February 2022, for the north end of Rodanthe, she said.

Goebel said that division staff agrees with NCDOT “that construction of the sandbag structure and the dune and the use of the alternative bags will secure public safety and welfare, and it will preserve substantial justice as it will allow the petitioner to protect 12 in the short and midterm with alternative sandbags, while continuing to work towards a long-term solution for transportation along Hatteras Island.”

Special Deputy Attorney General Colin Justice reiterated to the commission that NCDOT officials believe there are benefits to using the alternative sandbags.

Justice, who represents NCDOT and works for the North Carolina Department of Justice, said officials believe these sandbags will be more durable. Installation will happen faster than traditional sandbags and cause less of an impact because of the way the bags are filled from the top. No hydraulic pump across the beach to fill traditional sandbags is necessary.

“We think that applying the rule strictly would prevent NCDOT from being able to do this repair as effectively, as quickly and for minimizing impacts the setback requirements,” he said.

The Division of Coastal Management’s NCDOT Project Coordinator Stephen Lane said Monday that NCDOT is looking at long-term solutions for the hot spot, and has obtained funds to study “long-term comprehensive solutions to try to keep Highway 12 open for the future,” he said.

Lane is referring to the $1.8 million grant announced earlier this year to study the 11-mile stretch of N.C. 12 between Oregon Inlet and Rodanthe on Pea Island. “The project will identify future construction projects, streamline environmental reviews, include public engagement and establish detailed, long-term plans for keeping the roadway passable during and following major storm events,” officials said in the at the time.

NCDOT Division 1 Engineer Win Bridgers states in the permit modification request dated Nov. 24 that the sandbag project is a temporary solution for maintaining N.C. 12 on the Pea Island refuge.

“NCDOT has recently been awarded a PROTECT Planning Grant from (Federal Highway Administration) to conduct a Planning and Environmental Linkages (PEL) study that includes comprehensive resiliency planning, alternatives development and evaluation, and robust public engagement for NC 12 on Pea Island,” Bridgers wrote. “Also known as Solving Access for NC 12 in Dare County (SAND), this project will establish a solid foundation for future project development and construction, with the goal of streamlining subsequent environmental review, accelerating project delivery, and securing the long-term resiliency of NC 12.”

He said that NCDOT anticipations the SAND project will determine short-term and long-term solutions for maintaining N.C. 12 on Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.

“When those solutions are implemented, NCDOT would remove the temporary sandbags when no longer needed to protect the roadway of NC 12. With the stronger material and design, the Permashield bags can be more effectively removed when they are no longer needed. NCDOT anticipates quicker and more complete removal of Permashield sandbags as opposed to the challenging removal of traditional sandbags,” Bridgers said.

This special news feature is part of Coastal Review’s 12-month observance of the Coastal Area Management Act’s 50th year.

NEW BERN — Special Deputy Attorney General Mary Lucasse gestured to the projector screen behind her as she began her presentation to a couple dozen last month about the rules governing the last five decades of coastal development.

On the screen, a black-and-white photograph taken over a century ago depicting three, nattily dressed men in a rowboat, gliding across Bogue Sound with the expanse of undeveloped waterfront in the background a reminder of how much North Carolina’s coastline has changed.

When the photo was taken in 1912, the character of coastal North Carolina was “so different than it is today, 100 years later. We didn’t have bridges to the coast, people were not building on barrier islands,” Lucasse explained.

Lucasse joined the state Department of Justice in 2009, and works in the department’s Environmental Division. Her presentation, “50th Anniversary of the Coastal Area Management Act,” opened the daylong Shape of the Coast legal symposium, held in conjunction with North Carolina Sea Grant’s biennial Coastal Conference, Nov. 13-14 at the Riverfront Convention Center.

North Carolina Sea Grant, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Office of General Counsel and the National Sea Grant Law Center partnered on the symposium that featured speakers on concerns regarding homeowner’s insurance, oceanfront homes, wetlands, sand for beach nourishment and other aspects.

“Development really started on the oceanfront after World War II, and even later than that, and what North Carolina was experiencing was a destruction of wetlands, indiscriminate development, dredging, septic tanks that were improperly sited, declining water quality,” Lucasse said. “And as the population in coastal North Carolina grew, the governor at that time realized that we lacked the public infrastructure and regulations that would allow North Carolina the capacity to handle an increase in population and development.”

The governor at the time, Bob Scott, worked with legislature to put together the Dredge and Fill Act in 1969. Lucasse called the measure “the start” of the state’s work to protect its coastal and the natural resources. The act put limits on dredging and filling of wetlands. Scott also directed a committee to design what would become the Coastal Area Management Act.

When North Carolina was looking to protect its coastal resources, the federal level was doing the same, resulting in the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, which Lucasse called “an important partner as we protect and manage the coastal resources here in North Carolina.”

CAMA was first drafted in 1973 but there was a lot of pushback from utilities, agriculture and building interests.

“At first, CAMA was opposed by 90% of the coastal legislators,” which she said was in part because coastal stakeholders wanted a larger role in the process. Legislators in response reworked the proposed act to include their feedback.

CAMA was enacted in 1974 and created the Coastal Resources Commission.

The commission adopts rules, establishes procedures for processing and enforcing major and minor development permits, considers variances from coastal development rules and appeals of permitting decisions, and other development rules.

Lucasse has been legal counsel to the commission since 2011, In that role, Lucasse advises members on open meeting laws, meeting procedures, handles public records requests, writes the commission’s final decisions, represent the commission on any litigation, and works with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management. Division staff implement commission rules and issues CAMA permits.

“When I talk about CAMA, I always talk about the fact that this is a balancing statute. This is not about, ‘Let’s do everything we can to only protect natural resources.’ No, we balance the rights of development, the rights of property owners, with the need to protect natural resources,” she said.

CAMA protects the rights of neighbors, the public trust, the right to use ocean beaches, and to use navigable waters, she added.

A large part of CAMA is its land-use planning component. At the local level, the plans provide a blueprint for community growth and are used to guide development. At the state level, the plans review development requests and determine consistency both with state guidelines and federal regulations.

CAMA also gives the Coastal Resources Commission the power to determine areas of environmental concern. In the 1970s, the commission was directed to establish AECs.

They decided that all the barrier islands would fall under that designation, and there was “a lot of pushback for that,” Lucasse said. “They realized that really, the rules of the commission had to focus on critical areas. They began thinking about buffers, ocean beaches, not upland areas, but areas that are critical for protecting the North Carolina coastal resources.”

Now, areas environmental concern include estuarine system areas, ocean hazard areas, public water supplies, and natural and cultural resource areas. Examples are estuarine waters, coastal wetlands, beaches, frontal dunes, inlets and surface water and water supplies.

Another major aspect of CAMA is permitting and enforcement.

“I think of permits as the teeth of CAMA,” Lucasse said, because before any development in an any of the CAMA-designated areas, a permit is required, in addition to any required at the local or federal level.

CAMA grew to include in 1981 the Public Beach and Coastal Waterfront Access Program, a way to allow everyone to enjoy the shoreline.

“North Carolina realized that it was very important not only to protect the natural resources, but to allow the public to exercise their public trust rights. And this program was created to identify, to acquire, to improve and to maintain public access ways to public trust resources,” she said, noting that the legislature provided about $2 million in first-year funding.

In the decades since, appropriations have been at just over $1 million a year, she said. “Historically, the requests for funding have exceeded the amount of funding available. But since 1981, the division of coastal management has awarded over 500 grants that total about $45 million.”

Starting in 1982, the state began adding to CAMA reserve sites. Now, there are 10 coastal reserve sites making up the North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve that protects about 44,000 acres along the coast.

“The reserves are really important component,” Lucasse said, adding that the sites allow for stewardship of these natural resources, research and education. Students visit the reserve sites to experience the natural resources.

Lucasse, in her presentation, was joined by Zach Griffith, a second-year law student at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Griffith said that CAMA had undergone significant changes since 1994, including the exemption of floating structures associated with the shellfish industry from regulation, how lobbyists changed how the state interpreted sea level rise policy, the repeal of a ban on terminal groins to now allowing seven terminal groin permits that can potentially be issued.

Tradition is the foundation of the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island, as much as it is for the entirety of Down East Carteret County.

Every year, thousands from all over make their way to the museum’s Waterfowl Weekend held in early December to celebrate those traditions — decoy carving, hunting, boatbuilding, commercial fishing, waterfowl and fellowship — the way of life for the 13 unincorporated communities.

The Core Sound Decoy Carvers Guild‘s 36^th annual Core Sound Decoy Festival takes place the same weekend at the Harkers Island School. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 7, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8. The facility is filled to the brim with carvers, crafters and other artists. Competitions are planned throughout both days.

The three-day Waterfowl Weekend set for Dec. 6-8 begins with the Friday Night Chow Down at 5:30 p.m. Friday. Those with tickets for the cooking competition will be able to preview what the vendors, crafters and artisans will have for sale before the facility opens to the public 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. A church service will take place at 8 a.m. before doors open at 10 a.m. Sunday and close at 4 p.m.

“The first weekend of December has grown to be the Island’s homecoming weekend with the Decoy Festival at the school, craft sales all along the way, yard sales, fund-raisers and Down East hospitality every mile of the way,” Waterfowl Weekend organizers said.

Not only will visitors have a chance to meet with artists, carvers and crafters, Waterfowl Weekend is a way many begin their Christmas celebration by walking through the “Gallery of Trees: Telling Our Story,” when families, groups and businesses decorate trees to light up the museum through Jan. 10, and purchase their 2024 holiday ornament.

Johnna Brooks and the Della John

Each year the museum releases a collector’s ornament that celebrates Core Sound culture. This year’s numbered ornament features a painting of the fishing vessel Della John by Harkers Island native Johnna Brooks.

Currently working on her doctorate in biomathematics at North Carolina State University where she studies quantitative fisheries ecology, she has had a passion for art her entire life. Her father built the Della John in 1979, which the family later sold, but Brooks said she’s been painting the vessel on and off for as long as she can remember.

Waterfowl Museum Executive Director Karen Willis Amspacher said that the Core Sound ornament has become more than something to hang on the tree.

“It’s a glimpse of Core Sound that many of us hang in a special place all year long.  From decoys and black labs to crab pot trees, these ornaments have told the story of Down East,” Amspacher said. “Each year we have tried to select an artist that shares that deep commitment to our heritage and this year Johnna is that connection to tradition as well as an excellent career in the marine sciences. She’s our future.”

The ornament can be purchased on the website or from the museum’s gift shop.

Brooks graduated as valedictorian from East Carteret High School in 2016 and earned her bachelor’s at North Carolina State University.

Her dad’s side of the family has been on Harkers Island for several generations, spending their days commercial fishing and boatbuilding, Brooks said. The Della John is the first boat that her father built from start to finish. The 50-foot wooden trawler was built in 1979 and her family owned and operated the boat until 2019 when they sold it to another local business, Miss Gina’s Fresh Shrimp. Her father retired from commercial fishing in the 1990s and has been in marine construction since.

She said that she likes to go fishing but not in the way many of her peers do at state’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, or CMAST.

“Now, I’m in this marine lab with people who like to fish. I go out with them sometimes, and I think they’re a little bit surprised with how little I know,” about recreational fishing, she said. But she’s been fishing since she was young.

“My granddad, he’s 90 now, but I remember when I was, no older than 10 years old. Pa, he would take me and my little cousin out – he’s younger than me — and we would pull in a mullet net, and it was just me and my kid cousin on one end of the net, and then my 70-something granddad on the other end,” Brooks said. “I’ve been doing that as long as I can remember.”

She said she’s always been strong in math but has enjoyed art just as much, having taken art classes throughout high school. She realized she missed the creative outlet when she was working on her bachelor’s and ended up with a minor in art.

“I’ve always found that math was very concrete, it made sense, it was structured,” Brooks said, and art helped her with her math classes, along the way though she didn’t see it as a viable career option.

When she began her undergraduate, she said she knew she was going to get a degree in math, and that she wanted to stay in Carteret County, “that was the only thing I was sure about.” But she was concerned her career options were limited.

Growing up in the area, she was familiar with all the marine labs in the county, but didn’t personally know anyone who worked there, aside from her grandmother who had worked at the Division of Marine fisheries for many years.

“I thought they dissected dolphins all day,” she laughed about what she thought when she was younger, adding “I can’t use math to dissect dolphins.”

It was her junior year of college when Hurricane Florence was lumbering toward North Carolina, and one of her professors asked if anyone lived at the coast. She and another person raised their hands. Brooks learned that her professor had been a statistician at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Beaufort Marine Lab, and it dawned on her that if scientists are going out to collect data, someone has to do something with that data.

Once it clicked for her that this is a way to stay in Carteret County and use her math degree, she started looking into getting a master’s but was encouraged to work on her doctorate. She initially didn’t want to get a PhD, because she didn’t want to be in her late-20s, still living in Raleigh. “I wanted to come back, start my life, put down roots where I want to live. This is kind of the best of both worlds.”

She spends most of her days doing research for her doctorate on speckled trout management. In what little down time she has, Brooks paints scenes from her childhood on old charts her dad used while he was a commercial fisherman.

“Nobody uses charts anymore,” Brooks said. “I had to get my dad to explain how to use them. This is a whole way of fishing that people did in the past. And just like with the Harkers Island bridge, it’s a thing in the past. It’s not there anymore.”

Her career plans and her art are a way for her to preserve the way of life loved as a child and a way to adapt to how the world around her is changing, which she acknowledges is going to happen, regardless. But she’s trying to preserve the culture and the stories, how things were done, in her own way, she said.

Waterfowl Weekend highlights

For the Friday Night Chow Down, cooks from Down East and neighboring communities will bring several different recipes of stewed shrimp, clam chowder, seafood chowder, stewed redheads, stewed oysters with dumplings, fish stew with cornbread, gumbo and venison chili.

Area bakers will be competing as well for the 2024 “Best Sweet Potato Pie Down East” award during the Friday night event. Seafood market and restaurant chefs from across the state will judge the cooking competition.

Tickets are $35 for members and $45 for nonmembers. Save $10 a ticket by becoming a member now for $30 a year. Tickets are for sale online.  Each ticket includes four cups of your choice. Molasses Creek will perform that evening. There will be a cash bar

In addition to the grounds being covered with vendors, there will be scallop fritters and sweet puppies, online auction, and performances by Molasses Creek at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday. A church service with breakfast begins Sunday’s festivities.

Other highlights include book signings with local authors 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Raffle tickets are on sale for this year’s quilt, “Core Sound Kaleidoscope” by the Core Sound Quilt Crew, and there’s a Christmas cash giveaway raffle for a chance to win up to $5,000 cash.

​Second of two parts. Read Part 1.

By the time Chase Luker pointed the headlights of his king cab truck down a narrow country road that returned to Columbia, nighttime blanketed rural Tyrrell County.

A hunter safety specialist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Luker had spent his evening with Coastal Review meandering along farm tracks on private land, with permission, and the dirt lanes of the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, to catch a glimpse of American black bears.​

As the unofficial tour of Tyrrell County came to a close, Luker said that he’d never met anyone who hates bears.

“Everybody loves bears, but the people that love them the most are the people that hunt them,” Luker said, adding the hunters “care a lot about the bears and what they can do to protect the species.”

Bears also seem to be a source of pride for Tyrrell County residents and businesses. During an early dinner at the Mexican grill downtown earlier that day, two locals shared photos of bear sightings.

A longtime hunter, Luker manages the 13-county District 1 that spans from Currituck to Carteret County and Greene County is the farthest county west. He also enjoys writing, carving decoys and, when he has time, guiding private hunting tours.

Luker noted that 150 years ago “we didn’t use canola oil, butter, we used bear fat, bear grease, rendered down.” He said there are numerous layers involved in what draws people to bear hunting. There’s a lot of legends surrounding black bears, and it’s “part of our American fabric.”

Black bear hunting heritage in North Carolina dates back to early Native Americans and was adopted by early colonial settlers, “Bear hunting continues to be an important tradition in North Carolina, bringing together friends and families, providing food for the table, and teaching outdoor and naturalist skills, the commission’s Game Mammals and Surveys Supervisor Colleen Olfenbuttel told Coastal Review recently.

She was the black bear and furbearer biologist, when she was responsible for managing and conserving black bears and 17 furbearer species, from 2007 until earlier this year, when she took on her current role.

“For decades, most bear hunters used the assistance of trained hounds to pick up the scent of a bear and track it,” Olfenbuttel continued. “In fact, the official state dog of North Carolina is the Plott hound, which was bred for hunting bears in North Carolina starting in the early 1800s.”

For a long time, the state’s black bear population suffered. “Black bears were once restricted to remote areas and reached very low population levels in the mid-1900s,” according to the agency. Hunters and conservationists pushed for bear hunting regulations beginning in the 1930s and for the state to establish a wildlife resources agency to manage wildlife and enforce wildlife laws.

Hunters joined in the conservation effort when the commission began managing the species in the 1970s, she said. The bear hunting community contributed by providing data needed to make science-based management decisions, and helped fund conservation and research efforts through hunting license sales and the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937, which imposes an excise tax on firearms and ammunition.

Olfenbuttel added that “The restoration of black bears is also due to the reforestation that occurred, starting in the 1930s, and due to changes in human attitudes toward bears, as well as the remarkable adaptability of black bears. Black bears have adapted well to urbanization, human development and habitat fragmentation,” she said.

Public response

The North Carolina Bear Hunting Association, which formed in 1985, and past hunting clubs have worked with the agency over the decades, including on designating more thousands of acres of black bear sanctuaries, according to a March 2023 letter on its social media page.

In the letter, the organization notes that it has taken issue with how the agency has handled past investigations into illegal poaching, and the fact that the commission has online public hearing because “the anti-community has learned to take advantage of on-line public hearings and meetings.” The online meetings were in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the 2021-22 session, those who are against bear hunting announced their support of a bill to “disapprove a rule of the Wildlife Resources Commission allowing hunting of bears in certain areas previously managed as bear sanctuaries.” The bill had a first reading but didn’t go anywhere after being referred to the house rules committee.

The bill was in response to the commission changing in February 2022 the title of “designated bear sanctuaries” to “bear management areas” and allow permitted bear hunting in three western lands previous off limits.

The commission made the choice to open up a permitted season to stabilize the growing bear population in the western part of the state.

Bear Defenders said on its its website that on Feb. 25, 2022, “Despite the overwhelming public opposition that included 2,744 comments, 86% percent in opposition, and our petition with over 7,600 signatures, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) voted unanimously to open up the Pisgah, Panthertown-Bonas Defeat, and Standing Indian Bear Sanctuaries to bear hunting and hunting with dogs. In addition, they approved a regulation that changed the term ‘designated bear sanctuary’ to “‘designated bear management area.'”

During a public comment hearing in January 2022, Olfenbuttel said that with a restored and increasing bear population coupled with a diverse and increasing human population and their associated development, “the Commission recognized the need to change from restoration efforts to management efforts to ensure the long-term viability of the bear population as well as assure  and maybe even increase acceptance and support for the restored bear population to do so require developing a statewide Black Bear management plan.”

She added that the bear population had nearly doubled in size between 2005 and 2022, and one reason the commission has not been able to stabilize the bear population is that areas in the mountains where hunting is not permitted are increasing largely due to development.

In Defense of Animals said in a press release at the time that, “Despite public outcry, North Carolina has approved the violent killing of black bears in three of the state’s bear sanctuaries. With few exceptions, black bears have been protected throughout their natural habitats in North Carolina for decades. Thankfully, a new bill has been introduced to stop these shortsighted plans. We must urge North Carolina legislators to support House Bill 1072 to save vulnerable bear populations to agonizing deaths.”

Regulated bear hunting

With the state bear population recovered, Olfenbuttel said the commission’s objective is to stabilize the population so that growth is no more than 0-1%. “Basically, we want to maintain the number of bears we currently have on the landscape, with the bear population neither increasing or decreasing.”

She said that regulated bear hunting is an effective way to keep the bears healthy and reinforce a bear’s natural fear of humans, while allowing the animal to be used, particularly for its meat.

A survey of hunters shows that 99.6% use the bear meat​ they harvest, Olfenbuttel explained. Mostly they feed their household, share the meat or donate it.

“I estimated that the annual regulated bear hunting season provides over 610,000 plates of food for people, which is especially helpful for those North Carolinians that live in food deserts or who are on fixed incomes and have limited financial resources to purchase meat from a store,” she said. Adding that doesn’t account for other ways hunters use a harvested bear, such as rendering the fat, eating the organ meat, and using the bones to make bone broth.

She said that with the commission’s success in recovering the bear population, “we are seeing increased interest from all over North America, and beyond, to hunt bears in North Carolina, partly due to the number of black bears we have, but also due to the size of our bears.”

And bear hunting in eastern North Carolina has definitely grown in the last five or six years.

Luker has led guided hunting tours in the past. “There’s not much to do in Hyde and Tyrrell counties” and he stumbled across the opportunity. Though he enjoys guiding, he said the commission is his priority and “really believes in what the agency does.” In a quick exchange last week, he mentioned that he hasn’t had time to lead any tours this year.

While Luker drove during that recent evening through miles and miles of uninhabited, protected lands, he said that coastal North Carolina wasn’t even on the radar as a destination for black bear hunting until the last five or six years.

Some influential hunters were invited to the area, had a successful trip and put it on social media, and the industry has grown.

There are several outfitters that offer guided hunts on the coast, costing anywhere from $2,000 to $15,000 per person, and in some cases more. The amount depends on the company, length of hunt – usually from one to five days — and what is included in the package like lodging or meals.

Luker said the rates haven’t always been that way, just in the last four or five years, but seem to be leveling out. The guided hunts bring in what he called “high-net-worth” clients who “want to do something that they can’t do anywhere else in the world.” It’s becoming an economic driver.

“They contribute so much money to the local economy here,” he said.

License, e-stamp required

Luker reiterated that the hunter needs a big game license, which can be purchased through Wildlife Resources Commission, and a bear management electronic stamp, or e-stamp.

The license holder is only permitted to take one black bear a season. The bear must be more than 75 pounds and sows, or female bears, with cubs are off limits. The hunter must notify the commission of their take by calling 1-800-I-Got-One.

Bear hunting isn’t like deer hunting, though. “It’s not tricky,” he said. “Bears have a great nose, but they can’t see. Camouflage is not an important aspect of the hunt. You’ve got to wear blaze orange, and you have got to bring a firearm that’s capable of taking the animal clean.”

Luker said that for most hunts offered by an outfitter, the guide usually brings five to 10 hunters to approved land early and gets them ready to hunt by 30 minutes before dawn, when hunting is allowed to begin.

Some outfitters have a processing facility where they can weigh and dress the animal, though sometimes a hunter will remove internal organs on-site before moving the bear to make it lighter.

The hunt must be in a designated bear management area and the hunter must use approved methods only during bear hunting season, which is usually announced about nine months before it starts. Once the guides know the dates, the clients are contacted and told what to expect and what to bring.

“Generally, about every 10 years, our agency will do a bear management plan and make recommendations,” Luker said, but staff use data from year to year to establish the season.

Olfenbuttel is an author of the management plan, the most recent written while she was black bear and furbearer biologist from 2007 to 2024, and in the game and furbearer program.

She said the program works to ensure the long-term viability and sustained harvest of 71 game and furbearer species by providing the best possible scientific information on the status and management of each species and its habitats so that regulations and management are based on objective data and participate in planning and coordination of management directives based on sound science.

“For eastern North Carolina, that means monitoring the bear population using various metrics and surveys, such as harvest rates, age-at-harvest, sex ratio of harvest, number of vehicle-bear collisions, number of human-bear conflicts, as well as conducting bear research,” she said.

The commission is currently estimating the density and population of black bears across the 37 counties making up the Coastal Plain Bear Management Unit, which Olfenbuttel said is the first time the agency had conducted a study of this scale in eastern North Carolina for data to inform future bear management.

“The program uses all the data collected from multiple sources to monitor the status of the bear population and make informed, science-based management recommendations,” Olfenbuttel continued.

Because of regulated hunting, Olfenbuttel said the commission is meeting bear population objectives in eastern North Carolina, but as development increases, people and bears are living more closely together.

“Since bears can easily adapt to living near or in communities and neighborhoods, it will become increasingly common for people to see a bear in their neighborhoods and towns,” she continued. “This is normal, but people can do their part to live responsibly with bears by following the BearWise Basics, which mainly involves securing bird feeders, garbage, and not feeding or approaching bears.”

Note: Coastal Review will not publish Thursday and Friday this week in recognition of the Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Day holidays, respectively.

First of two parts.

The American black bear population is healthy on the North Carolina coast, but that hasn’t always been the case.

The species was in jeopardy in the 1900s for multiple reasons, but particularly habitat loss, and by the mid-1900s, bears could only be found in the most remote coastal swamps and mountains, according to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, which manages the species.

Since the commission stepped in 50 years ago, the population has been restored to nearly its historic range, Game Mammals and Surveys Supervisor Colleen Olfenbuttel recently explained to Coastal Review.

“The successful recovery of North Carolina’s black bear population was primarily due to conservation and research efforts implemented by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission from the 1970s to present,” she said.

The only kind of bear in the state — and in eastern U.S. — these omnivores are mostly found in the mountains and on the coast. In eastern North Carolina, bears usually prefer uninhabited lowland hardwoods, swamps and pocosins.

Where bears outnumber people

After an early dinner at the Mexican grill in Columbia and chat with the locals about bear sightings, Coastal Review met with Chase Luker, a hunter safety specialist with the commission, at the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge visitor center.

The goal was to cruise around the refuge, which has one of the largest concentrations of black bears found in the United States, according to its website, and some farmland, with permission, with the hope to see bears in their coastal habitat.

Luker, as he steered his king cab truck out of the parking lot and toward the refuge, said “this is Tyrrell County, where bears outnumber people two to one, but there’s only about 3,500 people in the county,” and it’s the same story for Hyde County. The bears probably outnumber people there two to one, as well.

Dusk is the best time of day to see a bear because, “Bears are smart,” Luker said. They have an aversion to humans because humans “mean trouble,” and “just try to avoid confrontation. But late in the day, you’ll see bears starting to come into these fields. They’ll stay in them as long as they possibly can, and will make their way out around daybreak.”

Luker is originally from Alabama, but has been in eastern North Carolina for decades. He has managed youth programs in the region and is currently specialist for the hunter safety program’s 13-county District 1, which covers the northeastern quarter of the state, from Currituck County south to Carteret County and Greene County being the farthest west. The program provides free firearm safety courses while it emphasizes ethics and responsibility, conservation and wildlife management, wildlife identification, survival and first aid, specialty hunting and tree stand safety, the website states.

Luker cruised down a narrow country road before turning onto a wide gravel lane that seemed to stretch for miles. As dusk crept over the refuge, he expertly maneuvered his truck along the network of bumpy dirt paths, taking turns only a local would know. His familiarity with the area also is in part because he’s led hunting tours on nearby private land for an outdoor experience business.

He stopped every 15 to 20 minutes to check out the different paw prints on the dirt tracks, or slow down with hopes to catch a bear as it pops out of the woods or skitters down a tree.

During one of these stops, he nodded toward a stretch of land the size of a few football fields and explained that the breeding season for black bears is in May and June. During that window, bears are everywhere. He added that when people spot a bear limping, it’s usually not because the bear has been run over or been caught in a trap. That bear has most likely been defeated in a fight.

“When they fight, they fight with their front feet, and they bite and chew,” and it takes them a few months to heal, he said.

After breeding, the sows, or female bears, have delayed implantation, which means the egg is fertilized but doesn’t begin to develop until late fall. The bears give birth in January or February, according to the agency.

Species management

The Wildlife Resources Commission manages all aspects of the species, including conservation measures, hunting regulations and seasons, as well as research, which has focused on bear habitat use and home ranges, procedures for estimating bear populations and reducing vehicle collisions.

Olfenbuttel helped write the agency’s current bear management plan that outlines how regulated hunting is key to achieving and maintaining black bear population objectives.

The current stated goal for the agency is to “use science-based decision making and biologically-sound management principles to manage black bear populations in balance with available habitats and human expectations to assure long-term existence and hunting opportunities.”

Olfenbuttel has been in the wildlife profession for nearly 30 years. Before taking on her current supervisor role earlier this year, she had been the black bear and furbearer biologist since 2007. She earned her bachelor’s in wildlife biology from Ohio University and master’s in wildlife management from Virginia Tech, and has been in the wildlife profession for nearly 30 years.

The commission has several rules the hunter must follow, which are listed on the commission’s website. Among those is a prohibition on taking sows with cubs or bears weighing less than 75 pounds.

Hunters must have a bear e-stamp, in addition to a hunting license and big game hunting privileges. “Bag limit is one bear, you must report your bear, and you must submit the premolar (tooth) from your harvested bear to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, in addition to other requirements and restrictions,” Olfenbuttel said, adding that there are further restrictions on game lands for hunting bears.

The commission determines rules and dates for hunting season, which is this time of year but exact dates vary by county. The commission allowed hunting for a few weeks earlier this month in Camden, Chowan, Pasquotank, Currituck, Gates, Perquimans, Beaufort, Bertie, Craven, Hertford, Jones, Martin, Washington, Dare, Hyde and Tyrrell counties and will reopen the season Dec. 14-29.

For Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Cumberland, Duplin, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico Pender, Robeson and Sampson counties, season is Nov. 11 to Jan. 1.

“Unlike other causes of bear mortality, such as vehicle collisions or disease, we can regulate levels of hunting mortality,” Olfenbuttel said, adding that regulated hunting is the primary cause of bear mortality, “and that is good, as we can control harvest levels based on our bear population objectives, plus the bear can be utilized by the hunter, hunting is a quick and humane death, unlike disease or starvation, and a bear dying from vehicle collision may also result in a person being injured or killed.”

When the commission began managing the bear population in the 1970s, there was “direct cooperation and help from bear hunters,” Olfenbuttel said.

Hunters help fund conservation and research efforts through hunting license sales and the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937, which imposes an excise tax on firearms and ammunition, as well as contributed data needed to make science-based management decisions.

Bear hunters also advocated for increased regulations on bear hunting, such as establishing bag limits, season lengths, minimum weight limits and license requirements, to assure the sustainable harvest of the bear population for generations to come.

Most recently, bear hunters joined the commission in calling for the state law that now requires hunters to submit the premolar tooth from their harvested bear, so that agency can use the data to determine its age at harvest and monitor bear population growth trends, Olfenbuttel said.

Luker said that “Hunting is the most reasonable conservation tool. Hunters are citizen-scientists on the ground, they know what’s going on out here. When they harvest a bear, they’re more than happy to send any hair samples, teeth samples, whatever’s needed.”

While bear hunting helps conserve the population, it also helps farmers.

Black bears in eastern North Carolina can cause tremendous agricultural crop damage and financial losses to a farmer, Olfenbuttel said. Regulated hunting allows farmers to offset their financial losses and address crop damage by having licensed hunters pay to access their land and harvest some of these bears.

“The regulated hunting season and the hunting leases that bear hunters are willing to pay landowners and farmers, helps maintain tolerance for bear populations on the agricultural landscape,” she explained.

Visible damage

As Luker guided his truck along the well-worn paths, he pointed out several times during that evening just how much destruction a bear can cause to crops.

“That was corn right there,” he said while pointing out the window to where bears had obliterated several rows of the crop. The closer the land was to the bear sanctuary, the more corn the bears ate.

“Bears typically don’t eat beans but they love corn, and as that corn grows, bears will move into the fields and not leave until the corn is picked,” he said. “It’s shaded. There are no bugs in there because of the pesticides and when they eat the corn, they get all the moisture they need, all the water they need.”

It’s a point of contention.

“Farmers can’t stand it, and I can understand why. Sometimes you can expect up to 20% loss.” For example, if a farmer plants 100 acres of corn, and expects to yield 200 bushels an acre at $5 a bushel, a 20% loss is substantial.

“The margins aren’t super high in farming, and bears literally eat into it,” Luker said.

He said many of the regional outfitters have working relationships with landowners who allow guided hunts on their property.

Next in the series: Bear hunting as heritage, conservation

Note: Coastal Review will not publish Thursday and Friday this week in recognition of the Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Day holidays, respectively.

The Environmental Management Commission has advanced proposed changes that would codify an existing, long-term agreement with a coalition of wastewater dischargers in the Tar-Pamlico River Basin.

The changes mainly include incorporating into the existing Tar-Pamlico wastewater discharge requirements rule the 1990 agreement between the state and the 15 municipal wastewater systems that make up the Tar-Pamlico Basin Association. The agreement is set to expire in 2025.

When the commission that adopts rules that protect the state’s air and water quality met Thursday in Raleigh, members voted unanimously to send the proposed amendments out for public comment early next year.

Since the 1980s, excessive amounts of nutrient-related pollution like nitrogen and phosphorus have been discharged into the Pamlico estuary, creating low oxygen levels, extensive fish kills and harmful algal blooms.

To address these water quality problems, the commission in 1989 designated the basin as nutrient-sensitive waters, and the state developed the Tar-Pamlico nutrient strategy, which went into effect in 2000-2001.

The strategy is a set of rules designed to “equitably regulate sources of nutrient pollution in the basin including wastewater, stormwater, and agricultural nutrient sources,” according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s nutrient strategy website. The rules also protect riparian buffers, mandate training for professionals that apply fertilizer, and seek to reduce nitrogen levels in the estuary by 30% and cap phosphorus levels at the 1991 baseline.

John Huisman of the Nonpoint Source Planning Branch of the Division of Water Resources explained Thursday that the agreement signed in 1990 by the commission, the association, Division of Soil and Water Conservation and a few environmental groups established collective annual caps for nutrients for the association and ways to fund offset for exceeding total allocations, if necessary. The agreement was renewed and revised in 1995, 2005 and the current agreement is from 2015 to 2025.

“The basic framework of that agreement was it established these end-of-pipe nitrogen and phosphorus caps for the association,” Huisman said. Adding that, “as long as the association remains under those group caps all the individual members are deemed compliant with their individual allocations.”

In 1997, the commission adopted a “non-association wastewater rule” that established a regulatory pathway for new and expanding dischargers not in the association, Huisman said.

Following that in 2000-2001, the nonpoint-source rule component of the Tar-Pamlico management strategy was adopted.

Point-source pollution is that which is discharged directly from a facility by a pipe, ditch or similar conduit into a water body. Nonpoint-source pollution, on the other hand, comes from stormwater runoff that collects and carries contaminants more broadly across surfaces to rivers and streams.

“Collectively, between the agreement, the non-association wastewater rule, and these nonpoint-source rules, this makes up the Tar-Pamlico Nutrient Management Strategy,” Huisman added.

The current wastewater rule adopted in 1997 and then revised in 2020 addresses new and expanding facilities and association members and provides regulatory path for allocating trading in nutrient offsets and updated treatment standards.

“I do want to impress upon you, we’ve had this agreement in place now for almost 30 years, and there’s been steady compliance with those nutrient caps,” Huisman said, with the association remaining below their nitrogen and phosphorous caps. “They’re currently at 70% of their nitrogen cap and 68% of phosphorus cap, and they’ve been holding steady there at those percentages for the past decade or so.”

The “biggest players” in the association are Rocky Mount and Greenville, with permitted flows of 21 million gallons per day, and 17.5 million gallons per day, respectively. Of the remaining members, nine vary from about 1 to 5 million gallons per day, Huisman said.

Their total permitted flow is 62 million gallons per day, and their current flow is at about half the permitted total, hovering around 30 to 32 million gallons per day.

Collectively, the 15 members over the past 15-20 years represent 98.7% of the permitted flow in the basin.

Definition of a rule

Codifying the agreement is important, Huisman said, because in recent years, the Division of Water Resources had faced increased pressure to ensure that any requirements that meet the definition of a rule should be placed within a rule, rather than “an agreement or some sort of policy document.”

Codifying the existing requirements, according to the fiscal analysis, would also provide better clarity, a way to avoid potential legal challenges, and an opportunity to modernize the language.

Huisman said that the division, throughout its two-year process of drafting the amendments, had worked in collaboration with the Tar-Pamlico Basin Association on the proposed revisions.

The changes now heading to public comment add definitions of key words and from the agreement, discharge allocation numbers for nutrient and phosphorous for the association and its members, and flexibility with reserve allocations and with nutrient offset.

Tar-Pamlico Basin Association Executive Director Adam Waters told the commission that his group recognized the need to codify the agreement.

“We have been working with the division extensively over the past probably year and a half, and I think we have come to an agreement with the language that is in the proposed rule that best represents the association, and we are supporting it,” Waters said during the meeting.

Huisman reiterated that the division’s goal was to offset the water quality effects of any future discharge increase.

The 60-day public comment process is expected to take place in January and February, officials said. Based on comments received, division staff may make revisions and present the final rule for commission approval in May.

Deep-diving whales that rely on sound rather than vision to hunt in the ocean’s darkest depths are confusing plastic marine debris for prey, new findings suggest.

For the study, “Acoustic signature of plastic marine debris mimics the prey items of deep-diving cetaceans,” researchers from Duke University as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, compared the way sound bounces off plastic that is floating underwater to that of typical whale prey, in this case, squid and squid beaks.

It is widely assumed that seals and toothed whales mistake plastic for food because of appearance, particularly plastic bags and films that look like squid and jellyfish, according to the study, but that doesn’t explain why deep-diving species like sperm whales and beaked whales that use echolocation are ingesting plastic. To echolocate, the whale emits sounds that reflect off an object. The whale then interprets the object’s target strength, or measurement of the intensity of the sound’s echo.

“Assuming these animals are ingesting plastic at depth and not at/near the surface, they are consuming plastic without visually identifying it. Deep-diving toothed whales may therefore be misinterpreting acoustic cues when echolocating; presumably plastic’s acoustic signature resembles that of primary prey items, driving plastic consumption,” the study states.

Researchers for the new study found that 100% of the plastics they tested that are typically found in stomachs of stranded whales — plastic bags, rope and bottles — have either similar or stronger acoustic target strengths, which is how strong a sound wave is reflected off an object, compared to that of squid.

The findings support the study’s hypothesis that deep-diving whales are consuming plastic because of “a misperception of acoustic signals.”

Duke University doctoral candidate Greg Merrill Jr. led the peer-reviewed study published a few weeks ago in Science Direct.

From California, Merrill has been at the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort for the past few years to examine the impacts of microplastics and large plastic marine debris on whales.

Merrill graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a bachelor’s in biological science in 2014. He then pursued his master’s at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where he worked with northern fur seals, trying to understand how climate change was impacting their breeding success. That experience planted the seed for this study.

While he was working on his master’s, Merrill said he spent many months on the remote Pribilof Islands of Alaska in the middle of the Bering Sea where the threatened northern fur seal breeds.

“All too common a sight was a seal entangled in plastic debris, such as packing bands and discarded fishing net. The animals often died as a result. This motivated me to study the impacts of plastic pollution on other marine mammals like the deep-diving sperm whales and beaked whales off the North Carolina coast,” he said.

Merrill explained that these animals, in particular, hunt especially deep in the ocean where there is no light to see. Instead, they rely on echolocation, or biosonar.

“In other words, they use sound waves to locate and identify food. Because we know from autopsies of stranded whales that they are eating plastic, it occurred to me that plastic may be causing whales to misinterpret their echolocation signals. So, we wanted to see if that was true,” Merrill explained.

He said in simple terms, the study was to see if plastic in the water confused echolocating whales into believing it was instead food.

“We collected plastic trash from the beach and then blasted those objects and whale prey with various sound waves at sea using an instrumented called an echosounder mounted to the bottom of our research vessel. The plastic objects were strung up on monofilament fishing line and held underneath the instrument while the measurements were recorded,” he said.

An echosounder is a device that uses sound waves to measure the water depth or where objects are in the water. The hull-mounted echosounder tested three different sounds at the same frequencies of whale clicks.

“Based on the measurements we recorded, plastic has similar or stronger echoes than the whale prey items we tested. The way an object reflects sound depends on what it’s made of,” Merrill explained, for example what the plastic is made of or (its) thickness. “Plastic unfortunately ‘sounds’ the same as whale food.”

The study notes that plastic pollution in the oceans is pervasive and increasing with more than 1,200 marine species known to ingest plastic debris. For marine mammals, there are hundreds of examples of whales, seals, sea lions and manatees “consuming plastic, ingestion of which constitutes a major threat to individual health,” the study states. “Consequences of macroplastic ingestion include abrasion and perforation of tissues, infection, reduced reproduction and growth, suffocation, clogging the baleen filter false satiation, occlusion of the gastrointestinal tract, starvation, and ultimately death.”

The finding underscores just how complex the plastic pollution issue is, Merrill said, adding the most common plastics found in whale stomachs are plastic bags, single-use packaging, and fishing gear such as nets, ropes, and lines.

“I’m not sure many people would have ever imagined that the way something sounds could have such big consequences as affecting large whales who hunt so very far away from human activities. The scale of the plastic pollution problem is enormous, a global issue that requires policy action at the level of local all the way to international governments. And it is having so many impacts on our planet and on human health, Merrill said.

He encourages “anyone who cares about this issue” to contact their elected officials and let them know you want to see action on this front.

Michael Cove, a conservation ecologist and mammologist, told Coastal Review that “this research was fascinating and provides some much-needed insights into how and why marine mammals might intentionally ingest plastic waste that could severely impact them and ultimately lead to their deaths.”

The research curator for the mammalogy at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, Cove explained that so much of our perception of food and foraging is based on visual cues, because humans use their eyes to find food, “and that has been shown in research with seabirds and sea turtles, but many deep-sea-diving marine mammals are going off of sound through echolocation and not sight.”

Studies like Merrill’s show that there’s still a lot to learn about how some of the sperm and beaked whales forage. In many cases, there’s still much to understand about what they forage because they are feeding at such great depths, Cove explained. He has often assumed that most plastic consumption is incidental or intentional based on visual cues, citing Mylar balloons looking like squid as an example.

But this study, “points to intentional consumption of plastics based on their sound, which spells trouble for deep sea diving whales since the accumulation of plastic in our oceans continues to increase and it persists for thousands of years.”

Cove said that this work highlights and renews that calls to end balloon releases, especially in coastal areas, should be revisited and policies to reduce plastics entering marine food webs will be critical to maintaining maintain diverse marine mammal communities into the future.

“After all, marine mammals along with sharks and large fishes make up the top of the food chain, which largely regulate the lower trophic levels (links in the chain) and the loss of any species and that top-down regulation can have cascading effects throughout the community that could even influence fisheries and ecosystem health processes well beyond the deep ocean,” he said.

Coastal Review will not publish Monday in observance of Veterans Day.

One of North Carolina’s most famous mysteries, the “Lost Colony,” is among the more than 30 tales, tragedies and legends from the barrier islands to get lost in — virtually — while using Dare County’s new interactive map, “OBX Folklore: Your gateway to Outer Banks Legends, Ghosts, and Folklore.”

The map allows users to “delve deeper into the many eerie and mysterious occurrences that have taken place over the years and have ultimately become legends that are passed down from generation to generation,” the county said in an announcement earlier this week.

Dare County GIS Specialist Kristen Stilson and county librarians Meaghan Leenaarts Beasley and Theresa Cozart spent the last year collaborating on the website that celebrates Geographic Information Systems Day 2024 on Nov. 20.

“The Outer Banks has a long history full of lore to choose from, from Native American tales to modern day frights. This made for a really diverse set of stories to educate and entertain both the readers and us,” Stilson said in the announcement.

Stilson explained to Coastal Review Tuesday that the county had been creating special maps to celebrate GIS Day since 2019. Past projects include the 2019 Look Back Map, the 2020 Shipwreck Map, the 2021 Trivia Map, the 2022 OBX Days Gone By Map, and the 2023 Pop Culture Map, all available on the Dare County website.

The idea for this year’s map on Outer Banks folklore came about through a conversation they had about a year ago.

Cozart said that when she was hired last November, she and Stilson began talking about the 2023 Pop Culture Map, which had just been released for GIS Day, and of the interesting places in Dare County. 

“Kristen was telling me about all the fun maps she had created and how I should check them out to help me get a feel for the Outer Banks. Kristen’s excitement about these maps was infectious,” Cozart explained.

Coming from Wilmington, Cozart continued, “I started talking about all the ‘haunted’ locations down there and fun ghost tours. Kristen and Meaghan then started telling me about folklore associated with the Outer Banks and I said that sounded like a fun map that everyone would enjoy.”

Stilson said that since she tries to make a fun map for each GIS Day, she drew inspiration from Cozart’s idea and they decided to collaborate on the folklore map.

“It took us a few months to make, with all of us working on it in our spare time and adding a few things here and there,” Stilson said.

The map is best viewed on a desktop for all the effects but will work on all devices. “You can read the stories in any order you like thanks to the dropdown menu but I ordered the stories from North to South,” Stilson added.

The earliest stories date back to the “Lost Colony of Roanoke” and the “Legend of the White Doe,” both late 1500s, Beasley told Coastal Review.

The story of the “Lost Colony” begins in the summer of 1587, when men, women and children attempt to establish Roanoke Colony, the first permanent English outpost in North America. About 115 English settlers arrived at Roanoke Island, welcoming a month later Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World. Later that year, Roanoke Colony’s governor, John White, returned to England for supplies, leaving the colonists behind.

White’s return to North America was delayed by three years because of war with Spain. When he made his way back in 1590, he found the colonists had disappeared and the only clues were “CRO” and “CROATOAN” carved on trees. “Though there are many theories about their fate, the colonists were never found and what happened to them remains a mystery to this day.”

One version of the “Legend of the White Doe” suggests that Virginia Dare was raised among the Croatoan. As she matured, she became a great beauty, drawing the unwanted attention of a young chieftain who, angry at her rejection, tricks her into drinking a potion that turns her into a white doe.

Stilson said in the press release that they chose stories for the map based on ones “we knew growing up or ones that we hadn’t heard that spoke to us.”

Stilson explained in a follow-up interview Tuesday that one of the legends from her youth is about the “goat man,” the most recent tale featured on the map.

The goat man legend began circulating in the 1970s, gaining momentum in the decades that followed. The story goes that a man lived in a yellow shack in Nags Head Woods with just his goats to keep him company. One night, teens vandalized his house while he was away, killing all of his goats. It is rumored that he kidnaps or chases teenagers, the map states.

Stilson continued that when she was growing up, she had always heard the story of the goat man. “Friends and I looked for him in Nags Head Woods.”

One legend Stilson had not heard before is the story of the magic lute, she said, “but for some reason I was really drawn to that one and wanted to write it up.”

The magic lute is a tale from the 1600s about two sisters in Currituck vying for the same man’s affection, and the musician who used strands of the chosen sister’s hair, who was drowned by the rejected sister, to replace the broken strings of his lute.

Cozart moved to Dare County in November 2023 from Wilmington. She said in an interview that she “really enjoyed learning about the local legends” since she’s new to the Outer Banks and “I love a good ghost story.”

She said she is partial to their very own poltergeist in the Kill Devil Hills Library. The branch where she is based opened 34 years ago.  

“I usually get here first thing in the morning and I’ve heard stuff. Usually it’s in the back areas — meeting room and kitchen. I’ve raced back there to see what was making noise and there was nothing there. It’s happened several times,” Cozart said. “Others here say they’ve had books found on the floor that were on the shelves when we closed up the night before. I haven’t experienced that yet, but I’m keeping on the poltergeist’s good side.”

Cozart said her favorite story that she came across is about the Whalehead Club. Built in 1922, the 21,000-square-foot house in Corolla was a winter home until 1933 when the original owners made their last visit. The couple died in 1936. Uneasy feelings are reported at the building and it has been investigated by paranormal researchers.

“So creepy that the original owners just abandoned that huge house,” Cozart added.

For Beasley, the Queen of the Sounds is “a perfect Halloween tale with witches, explosions and ghosts.”

The Queen of the Sounds was a riverboat commissioned after the Civil War that toured through the Currituck and Albemarle sounds. The owner supposedly fell in love with a witch, and their relationship ended when the riverboat exploded on a Sunday, after a ceremony to summon the devil.

Beasley said in a press release that it was a “natural fit” for library staff to work with Stilson on the interactive map.

“Not only do we have physical collections of celebrated folklorists, most notably Charles Harry Whedbee, but we also have little-known Outer Banks authors and locally written pamphlets of eerie tales and legends that often go overlooked,” Beasley continued. “While some of these items reside in our reference collections due to their age or rarity and can only be viewed in our libraries, many are available for checkout by the public.” 

Beasley told Coastal Review that they used about 20 resources, including books and digitized newspapers from the Dare County Library holdings, as well as outside sources such as a photo from the archives of the Outer Banks History Center to build the map. 

“It was a pleasant surprise to find a diversity of sources for these legends in our collections – we’re not a large place geographically but we’ve had some legendary events here,” Beasley said.

In each of the county’s three branches, the resources are on display along with a 24-inch by 36-inch framed poster of the OBX Folklore Map. Patrons can enter the raffle at the branches located in Hatteras, Kill Devil Hills and Manteo between Thursday and Nov. 19. A winner will be selected from each branch Nov. 20, on GIS day.

The science panel that advises the state Coastal Resources Commission is showing with a new report how the findings of a 2022 federal-level report projecting that sea levels will rise by more than a foot by 2050 apply to North Carolina.

Released in mid-October, the “North Carolina 2024 Sea Level Rise Science Update” is the product of the science panel following the commission’s 2022 charge to present any new or significant data and research on sea level rise projections.

The commission was put in place in 1974 when the North Carolina General Assembly adopted the Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA. The 13-member commission designates areas of environmental concern, adopts rules and policies for coastal development within those areas, and certifies local land use plans. The state Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management staff enforces the commission’s rules.

The U.S. Sea Level Rise and Coastal Flood Hazard Scenarios and Tools Interagency Task Force wrote “Global and Regional Sea Level Rise Scenarios for the United States,” that was published in February 2022 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Among the task force members are scientists from NOAA, NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Army Corps of Engineers, Department of Defense and Environmental Protection Agency.

“In recent years, confidence regarding the expected amount of sea level rise by 2050 has increased,” the science panel recaps from the 2022 technical report in its October 2024 update. Regardless of how much warming occurs by 2100, trajectories evaluated by the 2022 sea level rise technical report indicate sea level rise of 1 foot to 1.4 feet by 2050, relative to sea level in 2000.

“The actual amount will depend on future greenhouse gas emissions, and how much ice is lost from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets,” the science panel continues in its update. “Projections for sea level rise beyond 2050 are less certain because they depend even more strongly on future greenhouse gas emissions and rate of ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica. However, rates of sea level rise are expected to further increase toward the latter half of this century.”

On the science panel, Dr. Reide Corbett is the dean and executive director of the Integrated Coastal Programs at the Coastal Studies Institute on the East Carolina University Outer Banks Campus.

He told Coastal Review that sea level rise projections continue to improve as new data becomes available and as the scientific community gains a better understanding of global processes changing sea level on different spatial and temporal scales. 

The state’s science panel used the best available and most recent data to provide this 2024 Sea Level Rise Update, Corbett continued, adding that “It is critical that our communities are working with the most informed projections as they develop actionable plans for building more resilience across our coast.”

The strongest and most significant message Corbett said he sees coming from the 2024 update and other recent reports is that North Carolina must plan for at least a 1 foot rise in sea level by 2050. There is little deviation in this value whether projecting from tide gauges or using numerical models, Corbett added

“This is a reality that we need to start planning for today,” he said. “A 1 foot rise in sea level will significantly increase the number of days coastal North Carolina will experience high tide flooding. Communities need to start building these challenges into their land use plans, stormwater plans, and communicating the risks to residents.”

Division of Coastal Management Director Tancred Miller explained to Coastal Review that the science panel is defining sea level rise as an increase in the average height of the sea with respect to a specific reference.

Relative sea level is the combination of three primary factors: the global sea level, vertical land movement and oceanographic effects. These parameters are usually discussed in terms of their rates of temporal change, commonly expressed in millimeters per year, he said.

“Along the North Carolina coast, sea level is rising and the rate of rise varies depending on the location. There are two primary reasons for this variation along different parts of our coast: vertical land motion and the effects of ocean dynamics,” Miller continued.

He explained that this recent update emphasizes that tide gauge observations and modeling for all scenarios are nearly the same out to 2050, “indicating we are solidly on track for at least one foot of sea level rise by 2050.”

Miller noted that 2050 is just 25 years from now.

“To prepare for this, requires community involvement, planning, mitigation, and adaptation to start now,” Miller said.

To help better plan for sea level rise, the Coastal Resources Commission charged its science panel in 2022 with providing periodic updates to support what it called “informed planning and decision making.”

The charge includes a request for the science panel to review every year any “new and significant scientific literature and studies that address the range of implications of sea level rise at the State, sub-regional, and local scales.” If there’s enough new information to warrant an update, the panel is to present these findings to the commission.

Miller said for the science panel to follow through with the directive, the team of scientists held a series of meetings earlier this year to share and discuss any recent data related to sea level rise.

“Given that the painstaking work of preparing sea level rise projections based on the latest science has already been carried out” by the task force, the science panel recaps the key messages detailed in the 2022 technical report. The science panel also gives a brief summary of the regional sea level rise projections most relevant to North Carolina, and provides updated sea level rise projections and assessment of high-tide flooding frequencies for Duck, Beaufort and Wilmington, all based on data from the 2022 technical report.

The science panel sent out a draft of the sea level rise science update for comment this spring.

The document underwent a handful of changes based on public feedback, including the addition of a paragraph listing some of the key impacts of sea level rise, and adding the names of the different scenarios in the 2022 technical report — low, intermediate-low, intermediate, intermediate-high, and high — and referred to these throughout for clarity.

“The five sea level rise scenarios span the range of sea level rise that can be expected under the emissions and warming scenarios considered in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report,” or IPCC, the science panel states in its update. The IPCC was created by the United Nations to assess climate change-related science.

“We also added text to explain how these scenarios relate to the emissions pathways and warming scenarios used in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report,” the new update continues. And provided more detail on the longer-term scenarios out to 2100.

The science panel did note in its update that, although summarizing the latest science on how these impacts will affect the state “is well beyond the scope of the Sea Level Rise Update Charge to the Science Panel, we refer interested parties to the coastal aspects of the 2020 Climate Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan, and associated or similar documents (and updates), for a more comprehensive discussion of sea level rise impacts, based on the latest science, to facilitate effective adaptation and mitigation planning.”

The first report the science panel, along with six additional contributors, issued was in March 2010 titled “North Carolina Sea Level Rise Assessment Report,” at the direction of the commission. The science panel recommended the report be reassessed every five years.

In April 2012 the panel issued a follow-up addendum to the report in response to questions from the commission.

That report was met with pushback from certain groups, resulting in a June 2012 law that put restrictions on how the sea level data was collated and used by state agencies and local governments.

The panel released an update in 2015 of the 2010 report.

“The next update was scheduled for 2020. However, due to the COVID pandemic, the 2020 update was postponed. In 2022, the CRC issued a revised charge to the science panel,” Miller said.

The division continues to accept public comments on the newly released update. Send comments to DCMcomments@deq.nc.gov. List “2024 Sea Level Rise Science Update” in the subject line.

“Comments regarding the final report simply serve as an opportunity for citizens to provide thoughts on the finished work and will be provided to the panel for review,” Miller said.

Second part in a series.

While wildfires are almost always the result of human activity, climate change is altering wildfires and how they’re managed.

North Carolina Forest Service Public Information Officer Philip Jackson said that while nearly all wildfires in the state correlate with human activity, climate change is affecting the nature of wildfires different ways.

First, the way precipitation falls is changing and becoming more extreme, Assistant State Climatologist Corey Davis said in an interview. “Instead of rain evenly spread out throughout a season or year, heavier rainfall is happening on fewer days with longer dry spells in between.”

Warming temperatures are an important part, too, and are making dry spells more severe and prone to wildfire activity. This has been especially apparent within the past few years. Last fall and again in June of this year, the state slipped into drought after just a few weeks of hot, dry weather.

“At both times, parts of the state went more than 20 days in a row without a drop of rainfall all while we were dealing with unseasonably warm temperatures — above 100 degrees in some areas earlier this summer,” Davis said. “Just like in your backyard garden, forests and other fire-prone ecosystems dry out in a hurry during times like that, and that brings the threat of wildfires.”

The State Climate Office, based in Raleigh, uses a handful of tools to monitor climate change and its effects, including measuring and archiving weather observations from more than 350 weather stations across the state, almost half of which have at least 30 years of historical observations.

Davis said this helps with understanding not only what current conditions are like, but also how conditions are changing, “and we’re consistently seeing more extremes in all directions.”

Most recently, that has been record rainfall totals in from Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. Earlier this summer, conditions were extreme heat and dry weather. Davis’ office can use that kind of historical data to add context to those events. He cited Greenville as an example: The Pitt County city saw its longest streak of dry weather — 23 consecutive days without rainfall — since the fall of 2000.

The office is involved with research and partnerships that are helping explore climate change and its impacts, as well.

“Heat-mapping campaigns have shown us how much hotter certain parts of cities can get depending on their land use and land cover. There are applications there for forests, too, since we’ve found at a very micro scale on NC State’s campus, for instance, how bare ground and a lack of tree cover can affect surface temperatures,” he said.

That data, research and those partnerships all came together in the North Carolina Climate Science Report that the state climate office helped compile in 2020.

The report includes some key findings and projections related to wildfires, including a projected 300% or more increase in the number of weeks with the risk of very large fires, or burning more than 5,000 hectares – nearly 12,400 acres – by the middle of this century, compared to the end of the last century.

“And it notes that increases in temperatures and associated drying rates are very likely, with future droughts very likely to be warmer with a higher chance of wildfires,” Davis said.

Temperatures across the state are trending warmer in all four seasons, but it’s especially remarkable how much winters have been warming. According to the Climate Trends Plotter tool, the winter average temperatures in eastern North Carolina have been increasing by 0.5 to 0.75°F per decade over the past 50 years, and by more than 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit per decade in most areas since the year 2000.

“That’s having the effect of shrinking our winter seasons, and on the shoulders especially in February, we’re seeing more spring-like weather. That’s threatening to begin our spring fire seasons even earlier, and have them last even longer,” Davis said.

“We also see those changes reflected in future projections,” he continued, siting one study that projects a 74% increase in the area burned by lightning-caused wildfires in North Carolina between 2011 and 2060. “That’s a product of both longer fire seasons and warmer temperatures throughout the spring that make fuels more susceptible to burn.”

Other research shows more than a 200% increase in the number of days with suitable conditions for very large wildfires, which burn more than 12,000 acres, along the state’s coastline.

“Historically, these events have been very rare since they require all of those weather ingredients — extreme dryness in place with warm temperatures, low humidity, and high winds — for fires to grow that large in our region. But they’re expected to happen more often in the future,” Davis said.

Prescribed burns and climate change

Jackson explained that prescribed burns benefit forests and wildlife while reducing the risk and impacts of future catastrophic wildfires. The goal for these hazard reduction burns is to reduce the understory shrubs, vines, woody debris, needles and leaves that may be available to burn during unplanned wildfires.

“We will burn it in a planned manner that is of lower intensity, eliminating those fuel sources, helping prevent future wildfires or minimizing impacts from future wildfires. Low intensity prescribed fire also helps manage forestlands where many species require frequent burns to establish and thrive,” Jackson said.

The Forest Service also uses prescribed fire for site preparation purposes, also known as site-prep burns.

“These prescribed burns occur after harvesting to assist with reforestation activities. It allows for planting natural regeneration of tree seedlings, it’s less invasive and damaging than mechanical site preparation and is sometimes conducted as a pre-treatment to tree planting,” Jackson said.

Davis said that there’s been a lot of success with prescribed burns in North Carolina, and even though there’s still wildfires, those events are typically more manageable and less severe because of proactive prescribed burning practices, “But it’s already getting tougher to find windows to do this burning, and that problem is expected to become even worse in the future,” for a few reasons.

One, North Carolina is a fast-growing, fast-developing state, and we’ve got more acreage classified as wildland-urban interface than any state in the country, Davis explained.

“That means when we want to do burns in these natural areas, it’s more likely that people will notice it, so land and fire managers have to be very careful about burning when the wind direction is just right and making sure burns don’t linger overnight, when smoke can get trapped near the ground,” Davis said. “But climate change is also affecting our ability to burn. We’re getting fewer of those Goldilocks days when it’s not too wet or not too dry to have a successful burn, and the rapid changes from wet to dry patterns are making it tough to anticipate those periods.”

Historically, the most common times for burning in the spring and summer are becoming less suitable for burning as conditions then are hotter and drier, Davis said.

He explained that a study of the Southeastern United States looked at the suitability of prescribed burning based on projected weather conditions, and it found a sharp decrease in the number of suitable days in the transition seasons, or spring and fall, with the summer expected to become almost entirely unsuitable for burning by the end of the century.

“That’s largely driven by the warming temperatures, which makes the atmosphere less stable, the vertical transmission of heat and dispersion of smoke less predictable, and fuels drier so that they burn hotter and flames spread more quickly,” Davis said. “That’s all adding up to a big concern that we’ll see more frequent and more severe wildfires, with fewer opportunities to manage our forests in North Carolina to help avoid those events.”

Jackson said that the Forest Service predetermines weather and fuel parameters needed in order to safely execute a prescribed burn operation.

“If the weather doesn’t produce the ideal conditions that we need to safely carry out a burn, we simply won’t do it,” Jackson said, explaining that he has driven two hours to Stokes County, geared up in full personal protective equipment along with a dozen other personnel to conduct a prescribed burn, “only to cancel it before ever lighting a torch and putting fire on the ground. The weather either gives us what we need to carry out a burn safely, or it doesn’t. And if it doesn’t, we simply live to fight another day.”

First of two parts

As the fall wildfire season begins in North Carolina, the lead agency that responds to these uncontrolled fires in natural areas encourages residents be vigilant while burning outside.

“I’d like to remind folks about the importance of exercising caution with all outdoor fires, especially yard debris burns,” North Carolina Forest Service Division Public Information Officer Philip Jackson told Coastal Review.

Human activity causes 99% of North Carolina’s wildfires. Of that 99%, nearly half are caused by careless debris burning and escaped yard debris burns, which is the leading cause of wildfires across the state each year, Jackson said. The other 1% of uncontrolled fires are caused by natural ignition such as lightning.

“Fire activity has remained low over the last few weeks due to tropical storms and other rain events. However, as is the case most year’s during the month of October, we expect October to dry out some over the coming weeks, increasing fire activity,” Jackson said Wednesday.

Assistant State Climatologist Corey Davis told Coastal Review that there are three main components that each make for ideal wildfire conditions in eastern North Carolina: the time of year, the weather, and the ecosystem.

From late February through mid-April, grasses and other vegetation are coming out of their winter dormancy. Before the vegetation becomes fully green, they’re still pretty dry and flammable.

Deciduous trees are budding during this time, as well. But again, before the leaves have fully emerged, the leaves and trucks are fairly flammable. Without those leaves, they don’t offer as much shade for the vegetation beneath them, which helps it dry out even more, Davis explained.

These circumstances lead to the weather component.

“Warm and sunny days during the spring can cause environmental conditions to dry out more quickly, and as we receive more direct sunlight throughout the season, that can also cause fast-drying conditions in our forest fuels, which includes that not-yet-green vegetation and any dead woody material or litter covering the ground,” Davis said.

In addition to having those summer-like characteristics such as hot days with lots of sunshine, the spring is ultimately a transition season, and one feature of the winter climate that can carry over into the spring is lower relative humidity. “When we get one of those less humid air masses in place during the spring, especially after a warm period, then those dry fuels can be especially crispy and ready to burn,” Davis explained.

Last, there are a few different types of ecosystems in eastern North Carolina where we typically expect to see wildfires. Much of the southern and central coastal plain was once covered by native wiregrass pine savannas, where fires are a natural and common feature, happening every two to five years.

At low intensity, these fires are beneficial since they clear out competing vegetation and thin out the canopy so that native species like Carolina wiregrass and longleaf pines can thrive.

“Over the past century or so, the prevalence of these longleaf pine ecosystems has drastically declined across the region, Davis explained. This is because the trees were cut down initially for timber and naval stores such as tar, pitch, and turpentine, and more recently because of conversion to agricultural lands and other development.

“Where we do still have wiregrass ecosystems, the longleaf pines have been replaced by less fire-tolerant species such as loblolly, so fires may not be as effective. Historical fire suppression in these areas means that more fuels have built up within them, so when they burn now, it tends to be at higher intensity, which is both less beneficial and more likely to become difficult to control or contain,” Davis said.

The other major fire-prone ecosystems in eastern North Carolina are the pocosins near the coastline in places like the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties.

“These are fairly low-lying areas where the water table is usually very high, often submerging the soils and creating a peat swamp sort of environment. But during times of drought, the water table drops and that highly organic soil dries out, which makes it very easy to burn,” Davis said.

These types of wildfires are tough to contain because of how remote and inaccessible many of these locations are, and because the fire can burn into the ground and consume the soil itself.

“There’s no easy way to extinguish them except for flooding the soil with as much water as possible or waiting for help from the rain so the water table rises again. Until that happens, these fires can burn and smolder for weeks or months, all while releasing lots of smoke that can be carried by the winds to different corners of the state,” Davis said.

“For those reasons, these pocosin areas have historically seen our state’s largest wildfires, and continue to be an area of concern any time there’s a springtime dry spell,” such as the April 2023 fire in the Croatan National Forest.

“Putting all of that together, the perfect conditions for wildfires in eastern North Carolina would be in late March or early April following a month or so of unseasonably warm and dry weather.”

Davis continued that with vegetation either dormant, dead or not green just yet, the environment would be highly flammable.

“The spark for fires could come from human activity like debris burns, or on a larger scale from lightning strikes along a strong cold frontal passage. Behind that front, a dry and less humid air mass would move in, and gusty winds would spread any newly ignited fires quickly across the landscape,” he said.

By late September, “these same trends from the spring happen again, but in reverse. Our temperatures can remain relatively warm well into October, and once trees drop their leaves, they ramp up the fuel loading at the surface,” according to the climate office.

So far in 2024, the Forest Service has responded to more than 3,500 wildfires for roughly 13,000 acres, Jackson with the Forest Service said.

The 2023 fall wildfire season was extremely active with nearly 2,000 wildfires statewide, more than 1,200 of which burned in November 2023 alone, Jackson said. “That was during our traditional fall wildfire season where fire risk is elevated, but we had also experienced prolonged drought conditions for much of the fall last year.”

“This is consistent and on pace with what we typically see each year. We usually experience between 4,500 and 5,500 wildfires annually. Frequency and duration are heavily influenced by weather conditions and time of year,” Jackson said, adding that over the last two months, “we’ve seen 119 wildfires for less than 50 acres. That’s considered to be rather quiet in terms of new wildfire starts and minimal acreage, largely due to the amount of rain our state has received recently.”

Jackson said that there’s a common misconception that wildfires are only an issue in the Western United States.

“The American South experiences more wildfires each year than any other region in the U.S.,” Jackson said. “While wildfires in the Western U.S. tend to be more severe while consuming larger chunks of acreage, wildfires in the Southeast U.S. are becoming more common.”

North Carolina had the third most wildfires nationally in 2022, behind only Texas and California. That same year, Texas, California, North Carolina, Georgia and Oklahoma accounted for nearly half of the total wildfires in the U.S.

The wildland-urban interface a big reason why. The wildland-urban interface, or WUI, is where development meets forestland. Three of the top four states with the most homes in the wildland urban interface are states located in the South, with North Carolina in the lead.

“North Carolina remains the leading state in the U.S. relative to number of acres in the wildland urban interface. As North Carolina’s population continues to grow, we’ll likely see more people living and recreating in the wildland urban interface,” Jackson said. 

With almost all wildfires in the state correlating with human activity, as the population increases, more people living and recreating in the wildland urban interface, potentially resulting in an increase in the number of wildfires our state experiences.

Statewide, between 2010 and 2020, 41,551 wildfires burned 399,125 acres, and from 1990 to 2010, North Carolina saw an increase of 3,005,048 acres in the wildland-urban interface.

“North Carolina’s WUI Risk Index estimates 2.3 million acres are at risk for moderate to major impacts from wildfires to people and their homes,” Jackson said.

From oyster farm tours to seafood festivals, North Carolina is ready to “shellebrate” Oyster Month.

Oysters are more than just the centerpiece of a get-together, these bivalves improve water quality while filtering saltwater for food, protect and help restore shorelines, offer refuge for marine animals, and are packed with nutrients.

Organized by the North Carolina Sea Grant, North Carolina Coastal Federation, North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and the NC Oyster Trail, a tourism and promotion campaign, this is the fourth year the state has celebrated the ecologically and economically important mollusks.

Jane Harrison, a coastal economist with Sea Grant, told Coastal Review that North Carolina Oyster Month began in 2023. “We had been shellebrating NC Oyster Week in October since 2020, but expanded it last year because folks wanted to host events all month long.”

The purpose of setting aside the entire month to promote awareness of the state’s oysters is to highlight “the wonder of N.C. oysters and raise their profile,” Harrison continued. “We inform folks on where you can eat them, their role in the ecosystem, how we ensure a sustainable seafood supply, and opportunities to protect our treasured coastal environment.”

She said the Oyster Month events are “a blast,” and encourages attending as many “as you can.”

The state has recognized October as North Carolina Oyster Month, as well.

“North Carolina is home to a valuable and productive coastal ecosystem with many champions who work together to protect it and the keystone species that benefit the state’s marine and coastal environments with food provision, water filtering capacity, and fish habitat,” begins the proclamation Gov. Roy Cooper’s office released Tuesday.

North Carolina has taken action to promote and protect the oyster and the industry that depends on it.

The state has been working to restore and protect oysters since 1915, resulting in the creation of thousands of acres of harvestable reefs and nearly 400 acres of oyster sanctuary in the Pamlico Sound. The General Assembly commissioned in 2018 the “North Carolina Strategic Plan for Shellfish Mariculture: A Vision to 2030.” That same year, North Carolina became the first in the Southeast and sixth in the nation to join the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Shellfish Initiative and launch the N.C. Shellfish Initiative, according to the proclamation.

Two years later, the NC Oyster Trail was launched, an effort of the Coastal Federation, Sea Grant and North Carolina Shellfish Growers Association to promote oysters, and the “Oyster Restoration and Protection Plan for North Carolina: A Blueprint for Action” was released, now in its fourth edition.

Coastal Federation Oyster Program Director Erin Fleckenstein leads the blueprint effort.

Fleckenstein explained that the nonprofit plans to participate in many of the events scheduled this month, and expects to launch an outreach campaign. Those following the organization’s social media will be able to catch a video series with different “how-to” topics such as how to recycle shells, create the perfect wine and oyster pairing, and shuck an oyster.

Fleckenstein noted that during the month-long celebration and with the start of wild harvest season, a lot of empty oyster shells will be produced. It’s critical to make sure these shells are properly recycled so they can be used to create more oyster reefs.

The nonprofit has worked with government and community partners to provide a few dozen places coastwide for oyster lovers to drop off shells for recycling. Find the locations are listed on the organization’s website, nccoast.org/shellrecycling.

“We discourage using shells for anything other than building new oyster reefs,” Fleckenstein said. “Shells make a great substrate for new oysters to grow on. Currently, we don’t have enough shells to build all the reefs we want to. Oyster lovers can help ensure more oysters in the future by recycling their shells.”

Join the conversation on social media with #NCOysterMonth, #NCOysters, #GiveAShuck, and #KeepShuckin.

NC Oyster Trail provided the following schedule of events:

• Oyster Roast at Dune Street Raw Bar & Grill in Nags Head 3-11 p.m. Friday. The restaurant is celebrating its one-year anniversary. There will be drink specials throughout the day, and that evening, an oyster roast with Kinnakeet, Little Star and Ocracoke Oyster Co., oysters and live music by The Southern Split.
• North Carolina Seafood Festival in Morehead City Friday through Sunday. The three-day festival features cooking demonstrations, an oyster shucking steam bar, live music, food, vendors, artisans, children’s activities, rides, fireworks and the Blessing of the Fleet, which is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Sunday at Radio Island, between Morehead City and Beaufort. This ceremony honors the many commercial fishermen who have given their lives to their occupation, and to thank those who continue in the industry.
• Seraphine Oyster Fest in Durham noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. Reservations can be made for the noon seating or the 2 p.m. seating when special menu of 12 raw oysters, including oysters from White Oak Oyster Co., Crystal Coast Oysters and Cherry Point Oysters, will be served. Oyster growers will be on hand to discuss their farms.
• 23rd annual Oink & Oyster Roast at Jolly Roger Restaurant in Kill Devil Hills noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. Slow roasted pork, fresh roasted oysters from Lighthouse Shoals Oyster Co. and live music with Phil Watson. Preorder tickets, $50, online. Tickets are $50 the day of the event.
• University of North Carolina Wilmington Science Open House 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. UNCW Center for Marine Science, Wilmington Visit UNC Wilmington’s Center for Marine Science for a fun day of science adventure with hands-on exhibits, tours of the Shellfish Research Hatchery, a visit to their oyster farm and food trucks too.
• A Celebration of the Gilded Oyster at the Empty Nest Studio and Gallery in Frisco from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday. A raffle for oyster-inspired jewelry and a wine tasting with Lee Robinson’s General Store.
• Oysters and Brews with Wrightsville Brewing in Wilmington 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9. Wrightsville Brewing has committed to donating 11% of proceeds from its Beer of the Month to support the Coastal Federation throughout October.
• Outer Banks Seafood Festival in Nags Head 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. The festival that highlights the state’s fishing industry and heritage features local seafood, and live music.
• Oysterberfest 2024 Wrightsville Brewing in Wilmington from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday Oct. 20. The brewery’s annual wild oyster season kickoff party and Oktoberfest celebration plan to have live music by Back Pocket Buddha and Birdwell Beat and steamed and raw oysters for sale.
• Shellebration Sundays at Coquina Fish Bar in Wilmington. Oysters will be offered at $1.50 each all day each Sunday in October. The restaurant will feature special oyster dishes each week.
• Seabird’s NC Oyster Happy Hour $1 oysters from 5-6 p.m. each Monday in October at the Wilmington restaurant.
• Sea Level’s NC Oyster Happy Hour in October at the Charlotte restaurant. Oysters are priced at $1.50 each from 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
• $1 Happy Hour Oysters at Shuckin’ Shack, Surf City from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday for all of October.
• Seed to Table Oyster Trail Tours with Eco Adventures in Sneads Ferry. Meet working watermen and women at oyster farms near Permuda Island. Contact the company to book a tour.
• Oyster Farm to Fork Kayak Tours with the Coastal Federation Oct. 6, Oct. 23 and Oct. 30. Tours with Wanchese Paddle to the Coastal Federation’s oyster farm leave at 11 a.m. and will be followed with oysters from Dune Street Raw Bar & Grill. Register online.

Five years after developing and acting on a collaborative approach to preventing and removing marine debris along the coast, those behind the plan met last week to review accomplishments so far and discuss ways to expand the message over the coming five years.

The roughly 20 representatives of state and federal agencies, nonprofit and community organizations, and academia with ties to the 2020-24 North Carolina Marine Debris Action Plan spent last Tuesday in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Beaufort facility discussing the plan’s background, completed actions, the results from a recent survey and reviewing goals for 2025-29.

The plan is a multiyear collaborative effort of the North Carolina Coastal Federation, North Carolina Coastal Reserve & National Estuarine Research Reserve, North Carolina Sea Grant, North Carolina Marine Debris Symposium and Coastal Carolina Riverwatch.

Marine debris is a persistent and widespread problem. The human-made products like plastics, metals, rubber, paper, textiles, abandoned fishing gear, and other lost or discarded items littering waterways can negatively impact human and wildlife health.

The Coastal Federation initiated the work in January 2017 when it brought together a leadership team to assess marine debris and debris management along the coast. Between that first meeting and when the plan was released in January 2020, the team met several times, held surveys, and established strategies and actions.

Coastal Federation Executive Director Braxton Davis told the participants Tuesday that the nonprofit had been engaged in marine debris projects for over a decade.

“I think everyone, early on, recognized that this is a thorny, complex issue, and it’s of a pretty significant magnitude,” Davis said.

The Coastal Federation, which published Coastal Review, has been working to protect the coast since 1982 and has offices in Wanchese, Newport and Wrightsville Beach.

Understanding that the work cannot be done alone, the Coastal Federation looked at similar efforts by other states and regions, and brought together groups and organizations to develop a marine debris action plan, Davis explained.

With marine debris always being present and the origins being difficult to trace, the organization is considering additional research to tailor policies and programs around efforts that will lead to prevention.

“I think that’s going to take significant collaboration with stakeholders, and it’s going to require some multifaceted solutions,” Davis said. Adding the workshop “is just one stepping stone on the path over the next five years.”

Coastal Federation Education and Outreach Director Sara Hallas said that the nonprofit really became invested in marine debris management in 2014 upon launching its lost fishing gear recovery project. Commercial fishermen are hired to find and retrieve lost crab pots from the state’s waterways early each year, “And we would always plan a volunteer cleanup along with that, to build awareness and engage the community,” Hallas said.

“And then we started looking around and realizing, surely, we’re not the only the organization doing marine debris projects, and surely, we’re not the only ones that are going to be able to clean up all of this marine debris. So how can we be a little bit more comprehensive and a little bit more strategic in our approach to make sure that we’re meeting all the needs of the coast?” she said.

This spurred the first meeting with other organizations involved in marine debris, and the work began, leading to “the first ever action plan for North Carolina in 2020,” Hallas said.

The first statewide plan to address marine debris outlined five major goals, including engaging the public with education, prevention and removal of marine debris and abandoned and derelict vessels, and encouraging research to understand marine debris and its impacts.

While 2020 had its challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic, Hallas said the team was able to continue with the action plan and reached nearly all of its individual action goals.

The current plan detailed 86 individual actions to be taken. Of those, 77.9% have been completed, 11.6% are in progress, and another 4.7% are ongoing, leaving about 5.8% of those items that have not been started as of mid-September.

“Only about five or six items of those 86 actions that we have in our action plan,” Hallas said, adding that for each year of the action plan, the leadership team has released a report that summarizes the highlights and takeaways from each of the major goals.

Working toward prevention, partners have reached more than 27,000 students and 33,000 adults with various education programs, participated in the North Carolina marine debris symposium each year, created marine debris curriculums, and rolled out the Marine Debris Free NC social media campaign.

In terms of removing marine debris, more than 9,000 crab pots have been pulled from waterways, as well as more than 3 million pounds of debris from coastal shorelines, “all just in the past five years,” Hallas said.

Preventing and removing abandoned and derelict vessels is its own category in the plan and has been a hurdle, she said.

“At the launch of the action plan, we saw some of the largest vessel removal in North Carolina history. And since then, that number has continued to grow,” Hallas said.

Since 2019, 343 vessels have been removed, and “a lot of that is thanks to bringing these groups” and resources together to solve the problem. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission helps to maintain the database, and working with these organizations to allocate funding accordingly.

To understand the source of debris, research and assessment has been an important part of this work as well, Hallas said, “so that we’re not just in this endless cycle of cleanup.” One project by North Carolina Sea Grant and N.C. State University was to study the macro- and microplastics coming through the Neuse River into the Pamlico Sound. The team is also looking to increase the marine debris data by encouraging volunteers to log what they pick up in trash collection phone apps.

“But if you can take a second to imagine, if people and wildlife of coastal North Carolina never encountered a marine debris, what would that be like? And that was our initial goal for the action plan,” Hallas said. “How can we achieve to get to this vision?”

N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve Central Sites Manager Paula Gillikin explained that the team distributed a survey on marine debris in North Carolina in 2017 and again in 2024, with the same questions. The first survey had 111 respond and the latest saw 49 responses.

One question, Gillikin said, was to ask respondents to rank the goals of the action plan from most important to least important.

“‘Prevent’ came up as most important, followed closely by ‘Remove,” and then “Abandoned and Derelict Vessels’ came out third, and then ‘Research’ came out last,” Gillikin said, acknowledging that research often is ranked a low priority.

Possible actions the group discussed for the next five years include reaching underserved communities and incorporating environmental justice into all goals, working with government entities to improve public policy that prevents marine debris as well as managing abandoned vessels, and different ways to expand educating the public on marine debris.

North Carolina’s coast is made up of more than 2 million acres of estuarine habitat, transition areas where fresh water from rivers meet the salty water of the sea.

Restore America’s Estuaries, the National Estuarine Research Reserve Association and the Association of National Estuary Programs have sought to draw attention to these fragile ecosystems that are continually facing challenges by celebrating National Estuaries Week, Sept. 21-28.

National Estuaries Week is a time to appreciate “the countless recreational, economic, and environmental benefits that our estuaries provide while acknowledging that they are under threat from a warming climate and continued development that can damage these national treasures,” Daniel Hayden, president and CEO of Restore America’s Estuaries, said in a statement. “We hope you take time during National Estuaries Week to enjoy your local estuary and celebrate the benefits it provides.”

First held in 1988, National Estuaries Day later was expanded to a weeklong celebration. Last year, there were 36 events in 11 different states with more than 11,400 volunteers. This week, around 40 projects have taken place or are scheduled across the country, a handful of on the North Carolina coast. For a full list of events, visit the website.

The North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve Program Manager Rebecca Ellin said there is still time to take part in activities planned to celebrate North Carolina’s estuaries.

The reserve program is made up of 10 state-protected sites totaling more than 44,000 acres of estuarine land and water. Four of the sites are under federal protection as well, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management, the land acquisition program was established in early 1980s as part of the North Carolina Coastal Area Management Act that went into effect in 1974.

Taking place all week is the Bioblitz at three reserve sites: Masonboro Island, Kitty Hawk Woods, and Rachel Carson in Beaufort. Visitors are encouraged to take photos of flora and fauna and upload them to iNaturalist, a website for the public to record observations while out in nature.

“Documentation of species at reserve sites contributes to natural occurrence records and provides baseline data for existing species,” Ellin said.

Reserve staff will have booths 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Olde Beaufort Farmers’ Market in Beaufort for Celebrate Estuaries Day and at the Femme in STEM event 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher.

Femme in STEM showcases the variety of science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields that are open for career paths, and is a celebration of women in STEM fields. The event “reminds how important it is for young girls to see someone like themselves in science and other STEM subjects. Reserve staff will have a booth for the event and engage all ages in hands-on learning activities,” Ellin explained.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation is kicking off its weekend with an estuaries-themed movie night starting at 6 p.m. Friday in its Wrightsville Beach office. Staff will have a booth at the Olde Beaufort Farmers’ Market Saturday as well.

The nonprofit is a member-supported organization with offices in Wanchese, Newport and Wrightsville Beach, and is one of the 10 member organizations of Restore America’s Estuaries.

But first, what is an estuary?

Coastal Federation’s Education Coordinator Bonnie Mitchell in the Wrightsville Beach office said that estuaries “create a unique habitat abundant with life.”

“These coastal water bodies support a diverse range of species, filter pollutants from the water, and act as natural buffers against storms. They play a crucial role in maintaining healthy ecosystems that directly impact public health by improving water quality, supporting fisheries that provide nutritious food, and protecting shorelines from erosion and flooding,” Mitchell said.

Often called “nurseries of the sea,” Coastal Education Coordinator Rachel Bisesi with the central office said that “estuaries provide a safe haven for many baby sea animals to grow up, since there is a plethora of food and hiding spaces, and fewer large predators than in the open ocean. Almost all seafood spends part of its life in an estuary and keeping them healthy is important for coastal communities and the economy.”

Education and Outreach Director Sara Hallas in the Wanchese office added that estuaries are her “favorite habitat” and loves “that there’s always dynamics that keep the estuary ever changing and there’s always something new to discover. Just as the estuary is important for animals to rest and find refuge, it serves a similar purpose for people to reflect and connect.”

Hallas echoed Bisesi that these habitats are important nursery grounds for animals to find shelter in calm water from larger predators, and for aquatic wildlife to lay their eggs and raise their young, and swim out to deeper waters when they’re ready.

“This supports the Federation’s motto, ‘No Wetlands, No Seafood,’ as the majority of the seafood that’s harvested — commercially and recreationally — depends on the estuary at some point in its life cycle. Estuaries are also important areas for animals to rest and refuel during long migrations,” Hallas said.

Ellin said that there is a lot of diversity found in the coastal and estuarine habitats along North Carolina’s coast since it includes two different biogeographic regions — the northern extent of southern species and the southern extent of northern species — and different tidal ranges and types of sounds.

The reserve sites “protect a range of coastal habitats found in North Carolina and are representative of the diversity of these conditions. Example habitats protected by reserve habitats include salt marsh, maritime forest, ocean beach, mud flat, maritime forest, swamp forest, pond pine woodlands, adding that these coastal habitats comprise North Carolina’s estuaries.”

Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership, or APNEP, Director Bill Crowell said that preserving estuaries is crucial for several reasons, including estuaries’ ecosystem function and biodiversity, economic value, water quality, flood mitigation and cultural significance.

Like the reserve program, APNEP is under the state Department of Environmental Quality. APNEP is one of the first of 28 National Estuary Programs established by the Clean Water Act in the late 1980s, and protects around 28,000-square-mile watershed in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

The Albemarle-Pamlico region is one of the largest and most productive estuarine ecosystems in the United States, Crowell said.

“Estuaries are essential for functional ecosystems as they serve as vital habitats for a wide range of species, including fish, birds, and invertebrates. They provide breeding and nursery grounds, supporting both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems,” he said. “Estuaries support important economic activities such as fishing, tourism, and recreation. Healthy ecosystems contribute to vibrant local economies, providing jobs and supporting livelihoods.”

Estuaries improve water quality because they act as natural filters, by trapping pollutants and sediments,” Crowell said. “This is essential for maintaining the health of both the estuary itself and the coastal waters it connects to,” Crowell said. And estuaries help with flooding. “Healthy estuarine ecosystems can absorb excess rainfall and storm surge, reducing the risk of flooding in surrounding communities and enhancing resilience to climate-related impacts.”

There’s also the social connection. “Many communities have deep cultural ties to estuaries, relying on them for food, recreation, and heritage. Preserving these areas helps maintain cultural identities and traditions,” he said.

Ellin explained that the reserve sites that stretch from North Carolina’s northern border to the southern border are protected for long-term research, education and stewardship.

“Research and stewardship work informs management of our sites and North Carolina’s coastal resources as they face increased use and changing environmental conditions by monitoring change and testing and evaluating restoration techniques such as living shorelines,” Ellin said. “Teachers, students, and decision-makers learn about the importance of our estuaries through interpretive field trips at the sites and how to incorporate science into their classrooms and daily decisions that may impact the coast and estuaries.”

Estuaries not only protect habitat and provide platforms for research and education, estuaries offer storm protection and economic benefits for nearby communities. “Protecting estuaries protects coastal habitat and the contributions they provide to healthy ecosystems and communities,” Ellin said.

All three of the Coastal Federation’s educators recognized that these ecosystems are increasingly under threat.

“Habitat loss and development, as well as stormwater pollution and climate change impact the health of the estuary,” Bisesi said.

Mitchell said that pollution, overdevelopment and climate change jeopardize these vital resources. “If we don’t act now to protect estuaries, we not only risk losing critical wildlife habitats but also endanger the well-being of our communities. Protecting estuaries is essential not only for biodiversity but for safeguarding public health and ensuring the sustainability of coastal life.”

Hallas added that, in addition to the risks Mitchell mentioned, estuaries are also at risk from the recent ruling that drastically reduced protections of wetlands across the United States. “How could we not protect something that’s so valuable to all living things, including the source of life: clean water.”

Hallas said that because estuaries provide protection from flooding, storm surge, erosion and water quality, “I feel like it’s our job to protect them in return.” Estuaries are “a haven of beauty on the North Carolina coast, a refuge for both humans and wildlife.”

The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

The federal agency that identifies offshore wind energy areas is in the early stages of siting another possible commercial lease sale for the East Coast.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held an open house last week at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City, the first in the multiyear, multistep planning process for Central Atlantic 2. BOEM manages development of the U.S. outer continental shelf energy, mineral and geological resources.

BOEM Project Coordinator Seth Theuerkauf explained that the agency has just begun the work to identify lease areas in the Central Atlantic region.

“We’re at the call area stage, the first step of our process,” Theuerkauf said, adding that what’s really driving the effort is the remaining offshore wind energy needs for North Carolina and Maryland.

Officials on Aug. 22 published in the federal register the call area, which is 13 million acres off the coasts of New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, and launched the 60-day public comment period that ends Oct. 21.

BOEM has scheduled open houses over the coming weeks in the other states plus a virtual meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 2. Register for the Zoom meeting online. This meeting will feature presentations and offer a chance to comment.

North Carolina has a goal for 8 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2040 and need 3 more gigawatts of lease area to meet that goal. This process is intended to try to identify those lease areas – about 185,000 acres — that would help North Carolina meet its goals. Gov. Roy Cooper’s office established the goal in 2021 with executive order 218.

The call stage looks at a broad area, between 3 nautical miles offshore, where state and federal waters meet, “all the way out to 60 meters, which is basically as deep as you can go and have fixed foundations for offshore wind turbines,” Theuerkauf said.

The intent of this stage is to gather as much information as possible to help identify resource or use conflicts in the call area, Theuerkauf said.

BOEM is building the project on the momentum of the wind energy lease sale that took place in August and included two areas, one off Virginia and one off of Maryland and Delaware. The call area for that sale included offshore Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, between the Virginia line and Cape Hatteras.

For the second round, Theuerkauf said the boundaries are being extended.

“The state of North Carolina indicated interest in looking at areas further south from Cape Hatteras, down to that South Carolina, North Carolina border. Again, we’re really looking for enough lease area to meet those state goals. We know there’s a lot of conflict, there’s a lot of usage, military activities, vessel traffic, natural resource considerations. And that’s really the information we’re trying to gain to identify and narrow.”

Some of the activity in the ocean that could conflict with an offshore wind energy area are military training activities and are areas that are important to vessel traffic, called fairways. The Coast Guard is working through the process to identify fairways and once those are established, these paths will be “no-go zones for offshore wind energy.”

Theuerkauf said other conflicts include fisheries, in terms of avoiding areas where there’s higher levels of fishing activity.

In all, “there’s really a whole lot that goes into the process” of determining an offshore wind area, Theuerkauf added. “We’re partnering with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science to basically build a spatial model that takes all that information into account and is able to tell us on this sort of red-yellow- green scale, where are those areas that are best or worst based on all of that information.”

He said there’s also an expert focused on viewshed considerations. “We typically have applied coastal setback” for viewshed, Theuerkauf said, which is basically establishing a distance that wind energy areas had to be from land. “The state of North Carolina shared that 20 nautical miles is their recommended coastal setback.”

Theuerkauf said the next stage in the process is to identify draft wind energy areas. That process is essentially to narrow down the call area to smaller, less-conflicted areas. Those draft wind energy areas would go back out for public comment.

Along with Theuerkauf to explain the spatial modeling were Bryce O’Brien and Alyssa Randall with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. Randall said they gather lots of data on all possible conflicting uses and categorize that information into submodels to run a suitability model to determine the best spot is to site a lease.

O’Brien said the submodels — constraints, national security, industry, fisheries, wind, and natural and cultural resources — are combined and that’s how they determine the area with the lowest number of conflicts.

Mid-Atlantic Regional Council on the Ocean, or Marco, Communications Director Karl Vilacoba, said while gesturing to a map of the Central Atlantic region that MARCO has online a free, publicly accessible mapping site that shows “pretty much anything you can imagine at sea, including where vessel concentrations are, fishing grounds, sensitive habitat, real life distributions. People can use the portal to see how all these things relate to each other, and in some cases, conflict with one another, so that people in ocean management worlds can make better informed decisions.”

He said that the portal “gives the public a chance to look at a lot of the same information that the agencies are using to make their decisions.”

MARCO Executive Director Avalon Bristow added that while MARCO is not a program of BOEM, it works in partnership with BOEM and other federal agencies, states and other stakeholders “who are interested in the ocean to present information that might be useful to understand how decision making is made offshore.”

From a fisheries perspective, Thomas Moorman, a scientist with BOEM, said that different types of fisheries-related information is taken into consideration that would affect the suitability for a potential site.

For instance, data from the National Marine Fisheries Service that illustrates where commercial fishermen are going for specific species is incorporated.

“We look at like density of areas where fishing is occurring, and we do that by species,” which helps inform siting an area. “If we think about siting this area, what are the main fisheries that would occur here? And how does a potential sale interact with the fisheries that occur here?” Moorman continued. They take that information to form the question “is this an area where we should or shouldn’t consider for a lease sale?”

BOEM Marine Biologist Jeri Wisman said that when it comes to how offshore wind projects affect endangered species, she spends a lot of time explaining the impacts to marine mammals, particularly the related noise and vessel traffic, and mitigation strategies.

Another consideration, BOEM environmental specialist Lisa Landers explained, that is taken into consideration is how an offshore wind energy lease could impact cultural resources.

With the open houses and public comment period, “We’re looking for information, any recommendations regarding areas that we should avoid — or should we provide consideration to specific setbacks or buffers — anything that should be taken into consideration,” and that includes known shipwrecks, archeological sites “anything that is culturally significant,” Landers said. “Also, we are taking into consideration the visual impacts to historic properties. So, there are national historic landmarks, lighthouses, historic districts along the coast that could be visually adversely impacted future offshore wind energy development.”

To give an idea of what the viewshed would be like, John McCarty, a landscape architect with BOEM, had designed simulations of what the viewshed would look like for wind turbines at different offshore distances. By illustrating the potential visual impacts, McCarty said it gives the public an opportunity to comment on what distance is acceptable for them from a visual standpoint.

Getting the power generated by wind turbines to the shore is another part of the puzzle, particularly what uses exist between a possible lease area and land.

BOEM Renewable Energy Program Specialist Josh Gange said the wind turbines produce energy that is then transferred to an offshore substation. The power is transmitted from there by an export cable buried under the sea floor to a point of interconnection onshore, which is typically another substation, and that’s where that power is then distributed throughout the existing grid.

BOEM economist Jayson Pollock said that overtime as technology evolves, there’s bigger output and more efficiencies are created but, like with anything, there’s tradeoffs. The further away from shore that a project is developed, the higher the cost will be and “I think that’s a very important point.” It costs more money for boats to go the distance, to manufacture longer cables, for example.

Vessel traffic is another conflict taken into consideration. BOEM oceanographer Will Waskes said that the Coast Guard is in the process of codifying fairways offshore for large ships, especially those traveling to and from ports. Once the fairways are formalized through the rulemaking process, the highways for ships will be considered conflicts for wind energy areas.

Jennifer Mundt, the assistant secretary for Clean Energy Economic Development under the North Carolina Department of Commerce, was on hand to answer questions from the state level.

Mundt amplified that the state is appreciative of the “collaborative spirit that BOEM brings” and the effort to solicit feedback from the public. “I think this is really important for a transparent process.”

In a follow-up call, Brian Walch with BOEM’s communication office told Coastal Review that the reception was positive from the 40 or so that attended. They seemed interested in the information and wanted to know more about the lease siting process.

It can take as long as a decade to develop a wind project from when there’s the first review of a possible lease area to when there could be any project actually in operation.

“BOEM is meticulous,” and thoroughly looks through the public comments, Walch said. Adding the team puts a great deal of effort in public outreach, like the open houses. There are four more for this round and “it’s a pretty significant undertaking” to get the staff and representatives in one place but BOEM feels that it is a responsibility to communities and to individuals.

Comments can be submitted until 11:59 p.m. Oct. 21 in writing by using the portal at regulations.gov or by mail to Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Office of Renewable Energy Programs, 45600 Woodland Road, Mailstop: VAM-OREP, Sterling, VA 20166.

While potential tropical cyclone No. 8 was moving across the Carolinas Tuesday, parts of central and southeastern North Carolina were dealing with the aftermath — historic rainfall, road washouts and flash flooding.

National Weather Service forecasters began tracking the low-pressure system off the coast of the Carolinas late last week.

The center of the low pressure was onshore near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, by the 5 p.m. Monday update and did not develop into a subtropical or tropical storm as forecasters had said was possible. As of 1:40 p.m. Tuesday, the remnants of the low were “well inland over” South Carolina, forecasters said.

Several inches of rain associated with the low-pressure system dumped on coastal North Carolina Sunday and Monday.

“Brunswick and southern New Hanover counties measured 12 to 20 inches, largely confirming radar estimates,” forecasters said, adding much of that fell within a 12-hour period Monday.

“This storm brought historic rainfall totals and flash flooding to portions of New Hanover and Brunswick counties in Southeastern North Carolina. Climatological analyses preliminarily indicate local rainfall of this magnitude is expected to occur at a point, on average, once every 200 to 1000 years,” National Weather Service’s Wilmington office meteorologists said in an email Tuesday morning.

Southport and Carolina Beach were among the towns that experienced more than 15 inches of rainfall. Each had closer to 20 inches.

Carolina Beach Town Manager Bruce Oakley told Coastal Review Tuesday afternoon that it had been a “crazy” 24 hours.

“We rescued 115 people and 14 animals from homes and cars since yesterday morning, Things are improving, but we are still pumping water from our lake and other areas,” Oakley said. “There are also still a few roads under water including a section of the main thoroughfare through town. We did our initial damage assessment today and expect damages to residential, commercial, and public property to be well over a million dollars.”

Southport Public Information Officer ChyAnn Ketchum told Coastal review Tuesday afternoon that residents and visitors are urged not to leave their houses unless absolutely necessary.

The only way into and out of Southport as of this report was N.C. Highway 87. Officials fully closed N.C. Highway 211 and Moore Street because of collapsed road or bridges.

“There is still quite a bit of standing water around the city and in people’s yards, with many people experiencing flooding in their yards and homes. We are encouraging all residents, businesses, and property owners to document any damage with photos and videos and to measure water levels,” she said. “The devastation in Southport and Brunswick County is devastating, but Southport is resilient.”

Bald Head Island officials said Tuesday that several of the island’s main roads were unpassable, and they advised against traveling. The ferry that is the only link between the island and mainland had suspended operation.

Brunswick County and its towns and townships, Boiling Springs Lakes, Oak Island, Southport, Saint James, Sandy Creek, Bolivia, Bald Head Island and Varnamtown were under a state of emergency.

Brunswick County Communications Director Meagan Kascsak​​​​ said late Tuesday that the total number of damages is still being assessed as the response is ongoing and some damaged roads may still be under water.

“We will be able to make greater assessment of damages to structures when the period of threat is over and as we transition to recovery efforts,” she said.

Farther north, the National Weather Service Newport/Morehead City office forecasters reported rainfall in its coverage area as ranging between 1 and almost 8 inches over the past 48 hours. This office serves the area from the North Carolina-Virginia border to where Onslow and Pender counties meet.

Parts of Carteret and Onslow counties saw the highest rainfall amounts, with volunteers in Beaufort and Morehead City recording around 7.5 inches during that time, Atlantic Beach around 6.63 inches, and Jacksonville recording 5 to 7.88 inches. Counties in the northeastern part of the state saw no rain or only up to 4 inches.

The low-pressure coincided with one of this year’s king tides Sept. 15-23, which are the highest high and lowest low tide events of the year.

Storm response

State emergency response, highway patrol and transportation officials were still responding to closures and reports of damage in the southeast, the governor’s office announced Tuesday afternoon.

“Yesterday’s weather system reinforces why we prepare for the worst impacts of a storm and do not focus on the category or whether it is a named system,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement. “As we move into today, please be safe as there are many roadways impacted and unsafe conditions persisting around the state. Check on your neighbors, do not drive through flooded areas and do not let your guard down, as additional rainfall is expected through the afternoon.”

The storm compromised infrastructure, washing out roads and damaging culverts. Though the road closures were changing constantly, throughout the day Tuesday there were between 45 and 50 closures in the state.

More than two dozen closures were just in Highway Division 3, which covers Sampson, Duplin, Brunswick, New Hanover, Onslow, and Pender counties.

“Do not drive through standing or moving water. It does not take much water to cause a vehicle to lose control or float,” Cooper’s office said.

Visit DriveNC.Gov for the latest roadway conditions.

“North Carolina Emergency Management is continuing to support the impacted communities across our state, especially in Brunswick and New Hanover Counties, to ensure that any needs are met. A part of this support will include an assessment of damages when safe to do so that will help to inform recovery efforts as quickly as possible,” Emergency Management Director Will Ray said in the release.

North Carolina Department of Transportation Communications Officer Lauren Haviland said Tuesday that NCDOT was assessing roads to determine the repairs needed.

“While the weather has improved, the N.C. Department of Transportation continues to urge people to stay at home for their safety and the safety of others, including emergency responders. The Department is working as quickly as possible to assess the damage and repair roads,” Haviland said.

Division 1 Communications Officer Tim Hass said Tuesday the only closure in the region that includes the Outer Banks was N.C. Highway 12 at the north end of Ocracoke Island. That area was closed Monday night due to ocean overwash, but the road is expected to be reopened by noon Wednesday, according to NCDOT.

“Other than that, we’ve had some sand and water on N.C. 12 in places, but no other closures,” he said.

Post-storm advisories

State recreational water quality officials on Monday advised that the public avoid swimming coastal waters from Mason Inlet down to Shallotte Inlet, to include Holden Beach, Long Beach, Oak Island, Caswell Beach, Bald Head Island, Kure Beach, Carolina Beach and Wrightsville Beach that are being heavily impacted by Tropical Cyclone 8.

State recreational water quality officials advise avoiding the floodwaters being pumped to waters at two oceanfront towns to minimize the flooding damage and to ensure roads are accessible for emergency vehicles.

Emerald Isle began Monday pumping floodwater into the ocean at Doe Drive, and on Tuesday at Fawn Drive, Seventh Street and 15^th Street, and into the sound at Channel Drive. Oak Island has pumped floodwater into the ocean near Crowell Street.

Town officials will place signs at the discharge site along the ocean beach to warn the public of the possible health risk and will remove the signs 24 hours after the pumping stops. State officials will notify the public after the signs are removed.

Water consumers of Brunswick County Public Utilities in St. James on Cedar Crest Drive, Oak Bluff Circle, Glenscape Lane, Pinecrest Drive and Pine Bluff Circle advised to boil all water or use bottled water for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice. Periods of low water pressure and outages caused by a water main break, which can increase the potential for back-siphonage and introduction of bacteria into the water system.

Destructive flooding has plagued Carteret County’s underserved North River community for decades.

The unincorporated area between Beaufort and Havelock regularly experiences inundation linked to high tides and storms. The frequent flooding often disrupts daily life and causes significant damage to property and infrastructure.

Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, a nonprofit advocacy organization based in Morehead City, has been working with residents here since August 2023 on a comprehensive long-term plan to address these challenges. The group recently released its findings.

The “North River Resilience Project: An Assessment of Resiliency Projects Prioritized by the North River Community” is a 40-page report that “aims to highlight the significant initiatives undertaken to enhance the resilience of the North River community against environmental challenges, particularly flooding.”

The report includes an overview of the community and its residents’ concerns, a statement of goals, a summary of progress made to date and future steps that should be taken.

Riverwatch Executive Director Lisa Rider explained to Coastal Review on Monday that North River’s “critical environmental and quality of life challenges made it a key focus” for the organization’s resilience efforts in 2023 and 2024.

The project is “grounded in community-driven priorities, has identified and pursued solutions that enhance the well-being and sustainability of the area and its citizens,” and not only will “address pressing concerns but also build long-term community resilience and foster science-based solutions that align with the community’s vision.”

The community, its challenges

Demographics show that the North River community is primarily home to Black residents, with smaller percentages of white and other racial groups. The median household income is generally lower than the state average, and the poverty rate is higher than the national average, “highlighting the economic challenges faced by many residents,” the report states.

Because North River is unincorporated, the coastal community does not have access to any services offered by nearby Beaufort, although it is included in the town’s census data. The county provides limited services but “no communication from the County was provided, after several attempts (in writing and by phone) since November 2023,” the report states.

North River residents encounter “multiple flooding challenges, including sunny day flooding, storm flooding, and the long-term threat of sea level rise.” Also called nuisance or high-tide flooding, sunny day flooding happens when there’s high tides but no precipitation. Heavy rain events, like hurricanes, cause storm flooding, the report continues.

North River is particularly vulnerable to storm surges and heavy rainfall, which have caused extensive damage in the past, and “sea level rise poses a significant long-term threat to coastal areas, resulting in the permanent inundation of low-lying regions, increased erosion, and more frequent and severe flooding events.”

North River Resilience Project

The project was launched about a year ago, after staff had been asked to help with concerns about a proposed fire training facility, that many residents opposed, Rider said.

Residents have wanted their community center, which has been in disrepair for years, to be rebuilt as a “resiliency hub” that could house health and educational services and be an emergency shelter.

The community held a festival in November 2023 when residents discussed the frequent flooding that saturated graveyards, the neglected septic systems, homes and roads, and dilapidated community buildings. This gave insight into the priorities and helped shape a comprehensive approach to project funding and design, the report states. After that, the nonprofit began working with residents at forums, group discussions, events and during community-led monthly meetings that began in December.

“From those beginnings, (the project) evolved into the local community advocating for their needs relative to climate resiliency,” Rider continued. “We came to hear about the fire training facility, but what we learned was much more about the cumulative impacts of sunny day flooding, inequitable solid waste management services, and lack of support for infrastructure improvements.”

Several goals were accomplished and are noted in the report. Riverwatch coordinated with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to develop a StoryMap for North River that provides a centralized digital resource for ongoing information and tools designed to build resilience.

A nonprofit for North River was established to act as a dedicated entity that can apply for funding and manage projects prioritized by the community. Riverwatch provided $3,500 directly to the nonprofit for debris removal, a critical project addressing the accumulation of debris from years of flooding, and another $3,500 was allocated to establish a fund for cash matches required by federal grants, crucial for supporting the community’s resilience goals.

“Since initially reporting out the priorities from the community, these efforts are now serving as a guidebook to highlight projects in need of funding. Today, the community has a prioritized project that is now grant-funded, and the community has funds in the bank for any cash match requirement on future grants,” Rider said.

Rider continued that Coastal Carolina Riverwatch built strong connections with community members and leaders by participating in community events like festivals and hosting workshops. The monthly meetings and StoryMap/WIP tools help keep the community informed and actively engaged.

“One of the key benefits of this initiative is that it brings expert volunteers into the community to conduct the scientific work necessary to meet North River’s goals, whether it’s related to water quality, flooding, or environmental resilience,” Rider said. “Collaborative relationships with state agencies and academic institutions also ensure that North River residents have access to technical expertise and resources.”

Residents “advocated for change in their community, and we were listening. The community members’ dedication to protecting their quality of water and quality of life for now and future generations is a true testament to how projects like this can be successful,” Rider said.

Moving forward

Rider said the organization will continue working with to address environmental concerns and “we are looking forward to expanding our efforts within other communities in the White Oak River Basin that could benefit from such a partnership.”

Rider noted that the organization only goes where it is invited and works behind the scenes to support community members in the White Oak River Basin experiencing impacts to the quality of water and quality of life.

“I want to emphasize that the North River Resiliency Project is deeply rooted in elevating the voices of the community and addressing the systemic challenges they’ve faced for generations. Our goal is to ensure the people of North River are heard and empowered to lead the solutions,” she said. “Ultimately, this is about creating a more resilient future for North River, one that centers on the voices and needs of the people who call it home.”

North River residents can reach Rider directly, or simply learn more about the organization’s advocacy, by emailing Waterkeeper@coastalcarolinariverwatch.org.

North Carolina Sea Grant has revised and expanded its “Seashells of North Carolina,” a long-trusted guide to help everyone from beachcombers to graduate students identify the treasures they find along the Tar Heel State’s beaches.

The late Hugh Porter, who was referred to as “Mr. Seashell” during his nearly 55-year career at the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, and Lynn Houser wrote the guide that was originally released in 1997, was edited by Jeannie Faris Norris, and features images captured by Beaufort-based photographer Scott Taylor.

The revised and expanded edition published in June builds on the original and includes detailed descriptions and photos of 275 species, instructions for shell identification, introductions to the biology and geographical range of these animals, and an index of scientific and common names with updated scientific terminology, per the publisher, University of North Carolina Press.

Porter, who died at 86 in 2014 in Carteret County, began his career at UNC-IMS in the 1950s as a research assistant, then served as an instructor in 1957 and just a few years later, in 1963, became an assistant professor. He retired in 1996 but was a regular fixture through 2010, according to Sea Grant.

Porter started the shell collection in 1956 that was on display at UNC-IMS during his tenure. In the late 1990s, the specimens totaling more than 233,000 were donated to the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh to become part of the mollusks collection there. The collection is under the care of Research Curator Art Bogan, who is also on the team that updated the book.

Bogan, who said he primarily works with freshwater bivalves, joined the museum in 1997, when there was but a small shell collection at the museum. He learned shortly after moving into the role that UNC-IMS had donated its fish collection and Porter’s shell collection to the museum, and Bogan spent several years cataloging the thousands of specimens.

For the last 300 years, what everybody’s been using for identification is the shape, the sculpture, the color, the size to arrive at identifications, but within the last probably 25-plus years, with the advent of genetics and genomics, identifying shells has “gotten messy,” Bogan said. Researchers are going deeper by looking at comparative anatomy and dissecting the animals to see “how the plumbing all fits together” or how the organs are arranged.

Bogan, who has an obvious passion for mollusks, said that the great thing about malacology, or the study of mollusks, “is you can learn something new every day. It is changing. There are new discoveries, new species described, new resources becoming available.”

Katie Mosher, who retired earlier this year from her position as North Carolina Sea Grant’s communications director, said she started the research organization in 1998, about a year after Porter’s “Seashells of North Carolina” was published.

When she joined Sea Grant, she would witness firsthand how people could be drawn to the book.

“People would come up and just talk to us about what that book has meant to them or what it meant to their family,” Mosher said, adding that they would recount stories about taking their copies to the beach, or losing it in a flood during a hurricane, or that was at a parent’s house and unable to save it after the parent’s death.

“You hear these stories of true personal attachment that people had to a book, and it really was appealing to me,” Mosher said.

“We knew how popular (the guide) was,” Mosher continued, explaining that Sea Grant reprinted the guide several times over the past three decades, working with UNC Press for the last number of years to distribute the book.

When it was time for another reprint in the fall of 2021, UNC Press pitched to Sea Grant the idea of updating the book instead of just reprinting it.

That’s a move Sea Grant was considering at the time as well, Mosher said.

UNC Press offered to manage the printing and include the edition in its Southern Gateways Guides. 

Mosher told UNC Press it was a go, assembled a team of seashell enthusiasts, or conchologists, and got to work.

In addition to Bogan and Mosher, contributors include Jamie M. Smith, who works with Bogan at the museum, Shell Club members Edgar Shuller Jr. and Douglas Wolfe, and, with Sea Grant, Erika Young, Anna P. Zarkar and Carrie Clower. Georgia Minnich, who retired from the North Carolina Aquariums system, provided the illustrations, and the book includes new photos as well as Taylor’s from the 1997 edition.

Bogan explained that before Mosher called and asked him to help, he and a few members of the North Carolina Shell Club had been discussing the need to revise the guide, especially since the taxonomy of mollusks had changed significantly since the 1997 edition. The North Carolina Shell Club formed in 1957 and holds its annual show during May at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City.

Club members had been keeping notes like scientific name changes in their personal versions of Porter’s edition, Bogan said.

“They had already been gathering some of the information that we would need to have for the update,” Mosher added.

Shuller, former Shell Club president, said that after he retired in the 1990s he joined the shell club in 2000. That’s when he really began to get interested in shells. In the time since, he’s had a 20-plus-year education in malacology, “and not at any university, actually, just getting your feet in the sand and digging around trying to learn what you can.”

Through that, Shuller said he began to understand the amount of work Porter had invested in the guide. One thing the users complained about with the 1997 edition, however, was that it was organized by shell shape rather than the accepted taxonomic order at the time.

But that was done for “a very good reason, I’ve come to appreciate.” It was organized by the shape of a shell to make it easier for users. “That was one thing we were worried about, and of course there was the issue of the outdated nomenclature,” Shuller said.

Shuller said he had been commenting to Bogan off and on over the years about the guide needing to be revamped.

“I didn’t know he was paying attention. I was quite surprised when he called me about this and the Shell Club was quite anxious to help out on this thing,” Shuller said. “I mean, we really were. We knew that the book needed some work to bring it up to date, and we were hoping to be able to get some of our ideas into the book,” Including having the new edition arranged taxonomically correct.

Mosher explained that the emphasis being on the shell shape in the previous edition had its value, but they wanted to make the guide organized for multiple uses. “As we were putting the book together, I was trying to think about it from my kind of every person perspective,” Mosher said.

Shuller said that to help with identification, “We came up with a very unique pictorial indexing system, which I think is going to be very useful in helping people locate the shells within the book. We have high hopes for that. I think people are going to really appreciate this particular edition.”

Young, Sea Grant’s coastal and marine education specialist, began with organization in 2022, after teaching at UNC Pembroke for 13 years. She said she has been collecting shells since she was a graduate student at UNC-IMS in the 1990s and was excited when Mosher brought her onboard.

Throughout her career, Young has used field guides and, she said that this updated version is “rigorous enough for a graduate student that needs specifics but it’s easy enough to flip through while you’re walking on the beach. It should very easily get you to where you need to be to find out what you’ve collected. And I just love that.”

Following the shell path

The team all came to appreciate seashells along different paths.

Shuller found his way to collecting mostly because of curiosity, he said, and was particularly drawn in after seeing the “fantastic, amazing exhibits” the Shell Club members put together for its annual show.

He and his partner decided to participate in the show the following year, “still not knowing anything about shells. We had picked up small shells along the beach and didn’t know what they were,” Shuller said in explaining why they got in touch with the shell club in the first place. It was to learn the names.

They soon began collecting shells in earnest, then invested in a microscope to which they could mount their camera and began taking closeups of the shells. “These were film cameras, of course, so we spent an entire summer taking pictures, taking them down to have them developed, coming back, doing it again, over and over again,” Shuller said, but they ended up with “some beautiful photos,” and they did well at the show that year.

Mosher grew up in Ohio and did not see the actual ocean until she was 18. She moved to North Carolina after college and “I really found myself drawn to the ocean for many reasons, as we all are.” When she began collecting shells, “I was just mostly enamored with the colors and the shapes and knowing, knowing that there a lot of them that we were collecting didn’t have the bright color.”

Young said that while at UNC-IMS, she would often consult Porter’s shell collection or Porter himself about what she found on the beach. Now she recognizes “what a treat that was” to have that connection with Porter, and fast-forward, she’s helping to work on the revision for his book.

Bogan grew up outside Seattle and became fascinated with shells when he was at the Academy of Sciences in Philadelphia. He was responsible for putting material into the collection.

“It becomes a lifestyle. How much do you want to learn? How much do you want to invest? How much time do you have?” Bogan said. “We learn from each other, we share facts, we ask questions, and the biggest question is, how do you flip that curiosity switch in students? Get them excited about seashells, about shell shape, animals?”

Advocacy groups are asking the Environmental Protection Agency to revoke the state’s authority to regulate water pollution because of legislature interference.

The Southern Environmental Law Center filed Wednesday a 65-page petition requesting the federal agency withdraw North Carolina’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, authority because lawmakers have been “unlawfully stripping” North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality of its ability “to protect its waterways, drinking water sources, and communities from harmful pollution.”

The federal Clean Water Act implemented the NPDES permit program in 1972 to address water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants to waters of the United States.

“DEQ operates the NPDES program in compliance with the Clean Water Act as delegated to the State by EPA. Our staff is dedicated to carrying out our delegated authority in a manner that protects the resources and residents of North Carolina,” DEQ officials said Wednesday in response to a request for comment.

The petition, filed on behalf of Cape Fear River Watch, the Environmental Justice Community Action Network, MountainTrue, and the Haw River Assembly, “documents how the North Carolina General Assembly has systematically undermined the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and the Environmental Management Commission to the point that the state can no longer effectively protect its waters, including through the following actions.”

The petition also argues that the General Assembly has caused North Carolina to violate the Clean Water Act requirements and the memorandum of agreement between the state and EPA that governs how the state administers its NPDES program.

“The people of North Carolina deserve clean water, yet the state legislature is preventing the state from limiting toxic pollution of our waterways and drinking water,” Mary Maclean Asbill, Southern Environmental Law Center North Carolina offices director, said in a statement. “Legislative-induced failure is not an option when it comes to protecting North Carolina’s water and communities, so we are asking the Environmental Protection Agency to step in.”

The petition asserts that the legislature has systematically acted to block NCDEQ from effectively implementing its NPDES permit program and from protecting residents from water pollution, including chemicals like per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, and 1,4-dioxane.

“For instance, the legislature has amended the state laws governing the appointment and composition of the State’s Environmental Management Commission (“EMC”) and Rules Review Commission (“RRC”) such that these commissions have been effectively captured by a supermajority in the legislature that is hostile to environmentally protective regulation. Together these commissions are blocking the agency’s development and use of numeric water quality standards for PFAS and 1,4-dioxane, impeding its implementation of the narrative standards,1 and threatening to take permitting authority away from agency experts,” the petition states.

The petition continues that the legislature has enacted legislation that gives the Office of Administrative Hearings final decision-making authority over NPDES permits, “thereby stripping DEQ and the EMC of the roles assigned them by the Memorandum of Agreement and threatening DEQ’s ability to issue protective permits.”

The legislature has enacted laws prescribing specific permitting conditions for discharges from fish farms and wastewater discharges into small creeks and streams. “These laws unlawfully usurp the State’s environmental agencies’ authority to evaluate permit applications and issue permits tailored to the discharger and receiving waterbody. These laws also prevent the public from participating in the permitting process, and they violate the backsliding provisions of the Clean Water Act,” according to the petition.

And, the legislature-enacted state budget “has perpetually and systematically underfunded DEQ for over a decade, resulting in a backlog of expired NPDES permits and a lack of agency capacity to adequately develop and enforce protective NPDES permits.”

The law center agues that the “legislature has gone too far. To protect North Carolinians, EPA should withdraw North Carolina’s NPDES permitting program unless these issues are resolved and the State is returned to compliance.”

After a year of record coastal flooding, eastern North Carolina may feel a slight reprieve from high-tide flooding days between now and April 2025.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Ocean Service last week released its 2024-25 Annual High-Tide Flooding Outlook, which projects slightly fewer of these flooding days through spring 2025 than last year. That’s because El Niño conditions are transitioning to La Niña conditions, and these two opposing climate patterns in the Pacific can affect weather worldwide.  

“Bottom line: Over the past year, we’ve seen record coastal flooding, or high-tide flooding, along our coastlines,” Nicole LeBoeuf, National Ocean Service director, during the Aug. 6 online news briefing, said. “When the ocean runs hot, sea levels run high, and we see that playing out in our coastal flooding data.”

The outlook recaps high-tide flooding events from May 2023 to April of this year at 97 NOAA tide gauges along the U.S. coast, and it projects what to expect at these locations through April 2025.

High-tide flooding, which is sometimes called nuisance or sunny-day flooding, happens when tides reach anywhere from 1 to 2 feet above the daily average high tide, and cover what is typically dry land along the coast. “As sea levels continue to rise, high-tide flooding occurs more frequently, even without severe weather,” she said.

For the 2023-24 season, coastal communities in the United States experienced seven to eight flood days, LeBoeuf said. In 2023, 34 locations broke or tied their records for flood days, which she called “a dramatic increase” from the previous year.

Hot ocean temperatures led to the highest levels of sea level measurement on record. There were 44 NOAA tide gauge locations, mostly on the East Coast, that broke or tied their previously recorded sea levels to date. This means “we got an additional 6 inches of sea level rise and five median coastal flood days annually compared to the year 2000, roughly a 200% increase,” LeBoeuf said.

The recurring climate pattern called El Niño contributed to the record-breaking 2023-24 observations.

“El Niño typically raises ocean temperatures and can result in more frequent and intense storms hitting the coastlines, especially along the East Coast, where we saw many records break this past year,” she said. “With sea level rise and high-tide flooding increasing, El Niño simply makes things worse for coastal communities, home to almost 40% of the U.S. population.”

Because high-tide flooding can degrade infrastructure, damage property and disrupt coastal ecosystems and people’s daily lives, NOAA works to help communities predict this kind of flooding and its potential impacts, she said.

NOAA maintains the tide gauges across the U.S. and its territories that make up the National Water Level Observation Network. Some of the gauges have been recording water-level data for more than 150 years. Through this network, “NOAA monitors the unrelenting creep of sea level rise and the rapid increase of high-tide flooding,” LeBoeuf said.

The outlook brings together data about high-tide flooding events between May 2023 and April 2024. That time frame is used to “account for increased sea levels in the fall and increased stormy weather during winter months, so that we can most effectively predict the year ahead,” she continued.

There are four National Water Level Observation Network stations on the North Carolina coast. According to the annual outlook, Duck experienced 22 high-tide flood days between May 2022 and April 2023 compared to 13 the year prior. Oregon Inlet Marina encountered seven days, up two from the previous year’s five. High-tide flood days at the Duke University Marine Lab at Pivers Island in Beaufort increased from six to 11. At the Wilmington tide gauge, high-tide flood days increased from two to three.

“Almost every location we measure between New York and Georgia broke their sea level and flood-day records in 2023. It’s like El Niño had the US East Coast in its Bullseye,” she said.

In the coming year, NOAA projects that the country’s coastal communities will see a median range of four to eight high-tide flooding days between May of this year and next April, which she said is slightly down from last year “as we move away from El Niño and into La Niña conditions.”

The outlook projects that for Duck, there will be nine to 15 high-tide flood days, four to seven at Oregon Inlet Marina, four to six at Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, and two to six in Wilmington.

NOAA’s National Ocean Service researchers predicted that this year’s Atlantic hurricane season will increase the chance of significant flooding in some places, particularly along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Hurricane predictions are not directly factored into NOAA’s high-tide flooding outlooks, but the product “can provide situational awareness regarding baseline flooding that can compound the impacts from real-time weather events like hurricanes and tropical storms” she said. “Events like hurricanes get a lot of attention, but high-tide flooding is one of the most tangible impacts of long-term sea level rise, reminding us that while we brace for impact today, the United States must also plan for a wetter future.”

NOAA scientists project that communities across the nation will experience an average of 45 to 85 high-tide flood days per year by 2050, which means that “every four to eight days, Americans along our coast will face disruptive and damaging seawater inundation regardless of the weather at the time.”

The federal agency also produces a Monthly High Tide Flooding Outlook to provide flooding likelihoods each day of the year, up to a year in advance, offering windows of time where there’s increased flood risks.

“Together, these outlooks complement one another with information across time scales to protect lives, ecosystems and economies as towns, states, tribes and businesses are faced with increased coastal flooding,” LeBoeuf said.

Coastal Ecologist Dr. Christine Voss, who recently retired from University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences based in Morehead City, in response for comments about this high-tide outlook, explained that the trends in rising sea levels and the acceleration of global, regional and local water levels are sustained, and the data are clear. 

“If one examines the entirety of the data, there is some annual variation, yet the ‘big picture’ is unchanged. In its reports, including this one, NOAA makes clear that the Southeast US region, including coastal NC, is experiencing more high-tide flooding due to global sea-level rise, land subsidence, and regional oceanographic effects — compared to 2000 and the previous century,” she said in an email.

NOAA’s Aug. 6 article suggests that the expected development of La Niña is likely the reason that their models predict a lower number of high-tide flooding events from May 2024 through April 2025, compared to the previous year.

“So, this is the ‘regional oceanographic effects’ part of the equation. There are also numerous astronomical harmonic constituents that cause variation in our water levels,” Voss said. “Some of these harmonics have a period of up to almost 19 years,” pointing to the harmonic constituents at the NOAA Beaufort, Duke Marine Lab gauge and the Wilmington gauge.  

“Regardless of the flux in water levels, the major trend is the continued rising of sea levels and an acceleration of this trend. We, along the NC coastal region, need to proactively prepare for higher sea levels and do what we can to slow climate change,” Voss continued.

The morning of Aug. 17, 1899, a Category 3 hurricane plowed across Shackleford Banks, Diamond City and Portsmouth, then-inhabited island communities in Carteret County.

With 2024 being the 125^th anniversary of the storm that forced many of these families to pack up everything – even their homes – and move inland, descendants are planning a reunion for Saturday, Aug. 17, to commemorate the exodus.

The Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island is hosting the daylong Diamond City Homecoming that is held every five years to celebrate “our ancestors of the Shackleford Banks,” in partnership with the Cape Lookout National Seashore and Island Express Ferry.

The first gathering took place in 1999 to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the storms of 1899 that drove folks from the Banks to Harkers Island, Salter Path or the Promise Land, a community between 12^th and 15^th streets near downtown Morehead City.

The day begins with an 8:30 a.m. ferry ride to Shackleford Banks for a wreath-laying ceremony at the Wade’s Shore Cemetery, followed by an afternoon of discussion at the museum. Starting on Thursday and throughout the weekend, descendants will have on display family photos, scrapbooks and artifacts at the museum.

Carteret County native Shannon Adams has helped coordinate the homecoming, held every five years, since 2014.

“The original residents of Diamond City and their descendants were deeply connected to the sea, both because of its constant presence and its role in their livelihoods. They were a close-knit community, characterized by their strong wills, outspoken nature, and warm hearts. Their conversations are marked by a unique brogue,” Adams said.

He explained that Carteret County “has three distinct areas known for its unique mystique, reputation, and ties to Diamond City: Harkers Island, Salter Path, and Promise Land” in Morehead City.

They can trace their roots back to the seafaring folk of the Cape Banks, which are the Outer Banks islands extending west and north from Cape Lookout, including Shackleford Banks.

“Nearly a century after the last of their Ca’e Banker ancestors left these islands, their memories and heritage remain entwined with the land,” he continued. The name derived from Cape Banks, Ca’e Bankers were primarily fishermen, although they spent part of the year whaling.

“They pulled nets teeming with mullet and other fish, supplying both their own needs and the mainland market. The Banks once had abundant fresh water, supporting livestock and gardens, and their maritime forests were lush and widespread,” Adams said.

The shoals along the shoreline were treacherous, making navigation dangerous.

“Many ships ran aground before their crews could react, and the Bankers often launched boats to rescue shipwrecked sailors and salvage any floating cargo, from bananas to furniture, and even the wood from the wrecked ships. One of the most notable shipwrecks in the area was the Crissie Wright, a schooner carrying phosphate, lost off Wade’s Shore, Shackleford Banks, in a frigid January night of 1886,” he said.

Diamond City, the largest settlement on the Cape Banks, was named after the black-and-white diamond pattern of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse on the east end of Shackleford. At one time the population was nearly 500.

A series of devastating hurricanes in 1878, 1879, 1897 and two in 1899 battered the Cape Banks.

“These storms led to the maritime forest’s decline and the sand’s encroachment over the greenery, prompting an exodus from the area. By 1905, Diamond City had become a ghost town,” Adams said.

Adams said he is connected through all three areas tied to the migration from Diamond City.

His seventh great-grandfather was Ebenezer Harker, for whom Harkers Island was named.

“Many ancestors on my paternal side were born on Core Banks,” Adams explained. Bettie Gillikin Adams was a school teacher on Diamond City and moved to Salter Path in the early 1900s, after the storms of 1899. The community of Bettie is named after her.

“She met my great grandfather, Macajah ‘Cagie’ Adams and married him in 1910. They moved to the Promise Land in 1918. Cagie was a well-known boatbuilder in Morehead City in the early 20th century,” Adams said. “My wife, Cecilia, and I now own their original home on Shackleford Street in Morehead City. We purchased it in 2012 to bring it back into our family and my father restored it.”

Adams said it is important to keep this oral history alive.

“Descendants like me have a source of fierce pride and are committed to the preservation of this special place that no longer exists. My focus is The Promise Land since my recently deceased father and aunt were so proud of it and taught me well. It is my calling to keep those stories alive,” he said.

Also, a descendant, Camella Marcom, a resident of Harkers Island, has been helping coordinate the wreath-laying ceremony at Wade’s Shore Cemetery on Shackleford Banks.

Marcom noted that this is the 125^th anniversary of the 1899 storm that “made it necessary to move from that wonderful place.”

The purpose of the homecoming always is to link generations, “to remember those who came before us and help those descendants remember who they are and where they came from. Their strength in the storms and resilience is a legacy we can cherish and hold on to,” Marcom said.

She said her great-great-grandparents moved to Harkers Island from Diamond City in 1899-1900. Their names were Alfonzo “Fonzy” and Alice Hancock Guthrie.

They moved their house with them on two sail skiffs and set it up Harkers Island. They lived in it for years before it was torn down in the 1980s. One of their sons lived in it after they died until his death, Marcom explained. They have numerous descendants literally all over the world but many still here in Carteret County.

Her connection to the cemetery on Wade Share through her grandfather’s first wife Mollie Lewis Willis, who is buried there and is one of the few identified marked graves.

Marcom attended the 2019 homecoming that was rained out.

Scheduled for Aug. 17, of that year, the museum was undergoing repairs from damages associated with the September 2018 Hurricane Florence, but they made due and forged on with the homecoming.

They tried to weather the storm and took the short ferry ride to Shackleford Banks, but when they reached the island that morning, the rain was so coming down so hard, they couldn’t reach the cemetery. The ferries turned around and the ceremony took place in the museum, Marcom said.

“It was an emotional but beautiful day of remembrance when each name from the cemetery was read,” she wrote in a social media post about the ceremony at the museum, adding that though the wreath was damaged in the transport, “it stood as a reminder of the perseverance of those who came before us and our own perseverance we will hand down to the next generation.”

The next day, Sunday, Aug. 18, 2019, the wreath was repaired and taken back out to Wade Shore.

“Today, with the weather changed more favorable for an August day, the wreath got its second trip to Wade Shore. This time the sun was shining and the water was glistening. The cemetery could not have been more beautiful,” she wrote. “The stately cedars, hollies, dogwoods, and oaks with a hint of Spanish Moss stood tall reaching heavenward.”

The names were read and the plots were found. “Some of the tombstones had been broken over the years and the engravings were very difficult to read at best but each memorial still a tribute placed there by loving, grieving family members. We knew we stood on hallow, sacred ground. A place that had been revered for years as the final resting place of these sweet souls — our family,” she continued.

About the homecoming

Based at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island, at 8:30 a.m. ferries at the neighboring Cape Lookout National Seashore visitor center docks will carry passengers to Shackleford Banks. A wreath-laying ceremony is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. at Wade’s Shore Cemetery.

“There will be a new wreath this year and renewed feelings of love and belonging. Connections will be made and remembered,” Marcom said, adding that it only happens during these gatherings that take place every five years.

Ferries will head back to Harkers Island at 10:30 a.m. Reservations are required and can be made through www.CoreSound.com/dc-ferry. Cost is $10 a person. 

The museum and community center will open its doors at 10 a.m. when visitors can view family displays and videos.

A welcome is at 11 a.m. Lunch is from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. by Bring Back the Lights Committee/Harkers Island’s Christmas Decorating Project.

Cost for the barbecue and chicken plate from Fat Fellas is $15 each. Tickets for lunch can be purchased at www.CoreSound.com/dc-lunch. Hot dogs and desserts available for purchase on site.

Panel discussions are to begin at 1 p.m. with Promise Land Memories, followed at 2 p.m. with Stories from Salter Path, and at 3 p.m. the discussion will focus on the Camps of Shackleford Banks.

Those who make their way there can expect to be educated by a fiercely proud group of descendants through oral presentations, slideshows, and videos, Adams added.

The day will close out at 7 p.m. with the Diamond City Community Choir:  Music & Memories of our Shared Heritage at Free Grace Church.

Diamond City 125th homecoming shirts are available for sale on the museum’s website.

MOREHEAD CITY — The reverence for North Carolina Coastal Federation founder Todd Miller was palpable Saturday night when he was recognized with two awards, including the governor’s highest honor for service, during the nonprofit organization’s Pelican Awards ceremony.

About 200 packed into the Joslyn Hall auditorium on the Carteret Community College campus for the annual awards program that the Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, began in 2003 to recognize individuals, businesses, organizations and agencies that have shown exemplary coastal stewardship.

In addition to Miller, staff at the Coastal Federation’s Northeast, Central and Southeast offices recognized more than a dozen at this year’s ceremony. A handful of the recipients were connected to the North Carolina State Parks system for their work to protect environmental, cultural and resources.

Miller, after more than 40 years leading the organization as executive director, turned the reins over in February to Dr. Braxton Davis, who left his leadership role at the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management to join the nonprofit. Miller now acts as senior adviser to the executive director.

“We are really excited to honor this year’s Pelican Award recipients. Each has gone above and beyond in protecting the coast, and their dedication, partnerships, and achievements are truly inspiring,” Davis told Coastal Review.

Davis and Board of Directors President April Clark presented Miller with a Lifetime Achievement Pelican Award and The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, on behalf of the governor, at the end of the hourlong ceremony.

A Carteret County native who spent his youth in the marshes of Bogue Sound, Miller founded the Coastal Federation in 1982 after completing his undergrad and master’s degrees at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

“Todd is a man of vision,” Clark said, and he has been instrumental in bringing supporters and partners together to accomplish the organization’s work.

“When he announced that he was moving on last year, I think everybody’s heart sunk. He’s left a legacy of work and a coastline that’s better for his presence than ever,” she continued.

After a standing ovation, Miller told the crowd that “the last 42 years have gone by in a flash for me,” and it has been rewarding to work with so many great people and be inspired by their energy.

“There are things that I can still contribute, and I’ll continue to do that, but it’s time for new leadership and new ideas and new energy in this organization. And I’m very proud that Braxton was willing to step up and take on that role. We’re in good hands, and just expect great things to happen in the future,” Miller continued.

Other accolades Miller has received while leading the organization include The Old North State Award from the governor in 2007, the National Wetlands Community Leader Award from the Environmental Law Institute in 2012, distinguished alumni of UNC in 2013, and the Peter Benchley Ocean Award for Hero of the Seas in 2015.

Miller had been on the stage to present awards in a new category, the Distinguished Career Awards, to Bill Holman, senior adviser with the Conservation Fund of North Carolina, and Derb Carter Jr., senior adviser for the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Holman was recognized “for a Distinguished Career Dedicated to Public Service and Environmental Conservation.”

Holman began his career in the early 1980s as an first environmental lobbyist and “has always been a steadfast ally, supporter and friend of the coast throughout his career,” Miller explained.

Holman was at the first meeting in April 1982, when the idea of Coastal Federation was born. “His collaboration with us and other environmental groups has resulted in countless environmental safeguards,” and his career protecting the North Carolina environment is nothing short of remarkable, Miller said.

In addition to his time as a lobbyist, Holman’s was appointed in 1998 by former Gov. Jim Hunt to serve as assistant secretary, and later as secretary, of the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources, now called the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. Other roles include executive director of the North Carolina Clean Water Management Trust, policy program director at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute For Policy, and at The Conservation Fund as a state director.

“Today, he still has a hand in the game. He’s the senior adviser for the Conservation Fund, and his passion and commitment and impact on our environment continues to inspire all of us. His legacy protecting the natural resources will endure for generations to come,” Miller said.

He was not able to attend the ceremony but accepted his award in a prerecorded video.

“Receiving the Pelican Award from the NC Coastal Federation means a lot to me,” Holman told Coastal Review in an email. Adding he’s had the opportunity to work with members and staff of since its founding in 1982. “I’m proud to say I was there at the beginning.”

Holman said he knows the work of the Coastal Federation from his days as a lobbyist, and in his many leadership positions for the state.

“I admire, respect, and appreciate (the Coastal Federation)’s advocacy, its work in local communities, and its bold ideas,” Holman continued.

The Coastal Federation pushed for some of the first policies to reduce stormwater pollution, led the massive restoration of wetlands on the North River, has promoted living shorelines, and restored oyster reefs and the oyster industry, is helping clean up Lake Mattamuskeet and so much more, he explained.

“Our coast and our state are better places because of the Coastal Federation’s work, he said. “Thanks for the honor. Keep up the great work. I plan to spend more time enjoying our coast’s resources and people as I transition into retirement.”

After Holman, Carter was recognized “for a Distinguished Career Dedicated to Environmental Protection and Justice.”

Miller said he’s had the pleasure of working with Carter as long has he’s worked with Holman, since the 1980s, and “has had a distinguished career that has left his mark on the environment.”

Carter, who grew up in Fayetteville, began his career in 1980, when he worked to promote effective environmental advocacy that aligned policy with the everyday interests of residents, Miller said.

Carter’s vision “is best illustrated by the bumper sticker he allowed us to distribute for four decades now” which reads ‘No Wetlands, No Seafood’,” Miller said. The “simple, yet powerful message” circulated millions of times by the Coastal Federation “resonates deeply with our coastal communities” and is a “rallying cry for wetlands protections, symbolizing the direct link between healthy ecosystems and the livelihoods of countless North Carolinians.”

Carter began working closely with the Coastal Federation in 1982 to incorporate it into a nonprofit and help launch the organization.

“Understanding the importance of grassroots support, he was able to blend his legal work with a diverse coalition of fishermen, farmers, hunters , birders, scientists and environmentalists,” Miller said.

They worked to successfully stop the proposal to strip mine 120,000 acres of peat wetlands along our northeast coast. That effort led to securing permanent protection for those lands, which are now the Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes wildlife refuges, he said.

Carter’s notable legal actions include major federal lawsuits that enforce wetlands rules and successful petition on behalf because the Coastal Federation to designate 10% of coastal waters is outstanding resource waters. He played a crucial role in saving Bird Island from development, led the opposition to the PCS Phosphate expansion and helped block Mobil Oil’s plans to drill out the North Carolina coast in the 1980s and 1990s.

Carter told Coastal Review that it has been an honor to work with and represent the Coastal Federation since it was founded in 1982.

“I have met along the way many volunteers, staff, and board members committed to protecting what is special about the North Carolina coast. No organization has done more to protect coastal wetlands, oysters, clean water, beaches and inlets, and traditional ways of life,” he said. “I recall the first meeting with Todd Miller when he presented the idea that informing and engaging citizens in protection of coastal resources could make a difference. His vision and the accomplishments of the organization speak for themselves.”

Other winners were recognized by region.

Northeast

Outer Banks Kayak Adventures for Dedicated Partnership in Support of Coastal Environmental Education and Engagement

Outer Banks Kayak Adventures offers kayak and stand-up paddleboard ecotours for all ages and levels of experience.

Owner Eli Wisden partnered with the Coastal Federation in 2023 to lead “Oysters Uncovered: The Kayak Edition tours.” The tours that take place in the spring and October, which is Oyster Month in North Carolina, highlight the half-acre demonstration oyster lease and shoreline protection methods at the Coastal Federation’s Wanchese office.

“Eli’s in-kind donations of kayaks, gear and guiding expertise made these tours accessible and memorable for all who participated,” staff said.

Wisden told Coastal Review that he agreed to provide the tours because he thinks that people engage more if they have first-hand experience versus listening to a presentation.

You can sit in a room and listen to a presentation, see a few props but actually going out on the kayaks see the lease and the “different ways of protecting the shoreline, and show the effect that the oysters actually really have — you can go out and physically see that the water around the lease is noticeably cleaner than the other waters that are in the sound — a really cool way to get people that maybe get excited or feel like they want to get involved more.”

He said he’s flattered and honored to be chosen for the recognition, but he said Victoria Blakey, coastal specialist with the Wanchese office, is “as deserving of the award as I am,” Wisden said, because she approached him about the partnership, and put together the presentation.  

Daniel Pullen for Exceptional Efforts to Inspire Coastal Stewardship through Art and Actions

Coming from nine generations of Cape Hatteras Lightkeepers, Daniel Pullen grew up on the Outer Banks and has been documenting the realities of life on a barrier island for the past two decades.

“He makes his art available to the Federation so that we can better illustrate our story and inspire others,” staff said, this includes his effort to document the Hatteras Island Oyster Roast each year, litter cleanups and oyster restoration events, and his advocacy describing the impact of shoreline erosion along the Outer Banks.

Pullen has won countless awards for his work including being recognized by Time Magazine in its Top 100 Photos of 2020, and the North Carolina Press Association’s Photographer of the Year in 2021.

“I’m thankful to be recognized,” Pullen said at the event, adding he looks forward to the continued partnership with the organization in the future to preserve our coastal communities.

Central

Coastal Environmental Partnership for Outstanding Collaboration in Support of Oyster Shell Recycling

The public solid waste authority has collaborated with the Coastal Federation since 2021 to collect recycled oyster shells from Pamlico, Craven, and Carteret counties.

“We truly value our partnership with CEP and commend their efforts to go the extra mile in their commitment to oyster shell recycling,” staff said.

The partnership donates its time and energy to transport the oyster shells. Their commitment both mitigates waste and help revitalizes crucial oyster habitats that contribute to improving water quality and shoreline stability along the coast.

“Through community engagement and educational outreach, CEP fosters environmental stewardship by raising awareness about the importance of oyster reefs and their role in coastal ecosystems, and the importance of their preservation for future generations,” staff said.

“Coastal Environmental Partnership is honored to be selected as a 2024 Pelican Award recipient by the North Carolina Coastal Federation. We are excited to partner with them on the Oyster Recycling Program. As a public regional solid waste authority serving Carteret, Craven, and Pamlico counties, we have a firsthand interest in protecting the coast and advancing environmental initiatives,” Executive Director Bobby Darden said about the award.

Matt Windsor for Supporting, Promoting and Advancing the Use of Living Shorelines

Now superintendent of Goose Creek State Park, Windsor has worked at seven parks, including Hammocks Beach, during his nearly 30-year career with the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation.

Windsor reignited the partnership between the Coastal Federation and Hammocks Beach State Park, which allowed the organization to continue its salt marsh and oyster restoration efforts at the park in Swansboro through expanding living shorelines on the park’s mainland, Bear and Jones islands.

Windsor was involved with the education, funding, planning, permitting, research and monitoring effort to construct 6,578 additional feet of living shorelines at the park.

“The living shorelines Windsor helped put in place are working to reduce shoreline erosion, provide habitat, and are helping to improve the water quality of our coast. We are truly thankful for our long-term and valued partnership with Matt that will continue into the future,” staff said.

“I am really grateful to the NC Coastal Federation for being recognized for a Pelican award for living shoreline work along with so many other deserving award winners.  None of this would have happened without the assistance of the NC Coastal Federation central office, Native Shorelines, the staff of Hammocks Beach State Park, and hardworking volunteers from the local community,” Windsor said.

Claude Crews for Leadership and Dedication to Coastal Protection, Recreation, and Cultural Resources

The success of Hammocks Beach State Park in Swansboro is due in large part to the leadership of Crews.

Hammocks Beach was established as a state park for African Americans in 1961. Before this, there was limited access for Black residents and visitors to enjoy public beaches in North Carolina. The park integrated in 1964, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act, and Crews became its first superintendent in 1969.

Crews served as a leader both at the park and within the community. He left Hammocks Beach State Park in 1981 after being superintendent for 16 years, and was then promoted to superintendent at Cliffs of the Neuse State Park. Crews currently resides in Hubert and is still involved through the Friends of the Hammocks and Bear Island.

“By leading park management and development, he contributed to a broader awareness of the significance of preserving natural habitats and cultural heritage for all communities,” staff said.

“I would like to thank the North Carolina Coastal Federation for honoring me, I am humble to be one of the many recipients who have received this award. I am sincerely grateful for the recognition,” Crews said.

Southeast

Carolina Beach State Park for Dedicated Partnership to Protect and Restore Coastal Habitat and Water Quality

Carolina Beach State Park staff have collaborated with the Federation since 2014 on a range of projects, including a 200-foot living shoreline installed in 2015. Both worked with the Division of Marine Fisheries in 2017 to create the 5-acre artificial recreational fishing and oyster reef just off the shore.

In the following years, park staff, the Federation, state agencies, Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point, Army Corps of Engineers, and engineers combined efforts to implement a large-scale restoration project funded by the Kerr-McGee Navassa NRDA Restoration Plan.

Park and other state agency staff have worked to reduce and control invasive Phragmites on 10 acres of the park, which enabled the excavation of a 2,600-foot-long slough to restore the hydrology and wetland function of the area, and allowed for more than 100,000 wetland plants to be installed.

Staff is currently working with the Coastal Federation to install more than 1,500 feet of living shoreline and restore an additional 4 acres of oyster reef habitat in 2025.

“We are so excited to receive a Pelican Award! As the new Superintendent at Carolina Beach State Park, I love to see the park recognized for all the hard work the staff and volunteers have put in. I have to give a special shout out to park ranger Jesse Anderson for his passion and enthusiasm for protecting our natural coastal resources and sharing all of that knowledge with me since my arrival,” Park Superintendent Crystal Lloyd said.

N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission Law Enforcement Officers in Districts 1,2 and 4 for Exemplary Efforts to Remove Abandoned and Derelict Vessels from Coastal Waters

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission law enforcement officers transitioned from rescue and recovery operations after Hurricane Florence in September 2018 to assessing damage and boats displaced by the storm.

The commission provided staff time and resources to locate, assess potential pollution hazards, report, and investigate hundreds of vessels between Carteret and Brunswick counties, then eventually coastwide after storms since.

This effort along with support and authorization from the N.C. General Assembly led to the commission launching its Abandoned and Derelict Vessel Program while simultaneously working with the Department of Environmental Quality and Coastal Federation to conduct the largest coordinated removal of ADVs in the state’s history.

At the forefront of this effort, the law enforcement officers along the coast in Districts 1, 2, and 4 dedicated an estimated three months of their time investigating, contacting owners, and enforcing the rules of the ADV program.

“These officers went above and beyond their normal duties to enable the removal of over 350 ADVs by the Commission, its partners, and local governments,” staff said.

The Wildlife Resource Commission Law Enforcement Division “truly appreciates the recognition of our efforts with the Coastal Federation in collaboratively removing abandoned and derelict vessels from NC waterways. These vessels pose significant public safety hazards to boaters while also causing harm to the resources. It is always our priority to assist in these endeavors so boaters and other outdoor enthusiasts may safely enjoy wildlife-associated recreation on the waterways of NC,” Col. Ben Meyer said.

Capt. Kyle van Althuis with District 2 told Coastal Review that the commission is honored to receive this award.

“A major part of our core mission is to conserve North Carolina’s wildlife resources and their habitats and to provide safe boating opportunities to the public. Our work in removing abandoned and derelict vessels, in partnership with so many other excellent organizations, directly serves to accomplish this mission,” he said. “In particular, we want to highlight the extraordinary lengths our officers have gone to in order to address the ADV problem in NC. They truly are public servants and willing to go the extra nautical mile.”

DREAMS Center for Arts Education for Excellence in Community Education and Engagement

DREAMS Center for Arts Education in downtown Wilmington has provided arts programming at no charge since 1997 to youth and their families. The staff hold to their mission to “create a culture of confidence for youth and teens through equitable access to arts education supported by the values of respect, family, and community.”

While its primary focus is on visual, performing and digital arts, the center has embraced stewardship of the environment, transforming its grounds into an oasis for outdoor learning experiences.

When DREAMS grew out of their first facility they relocated and renovated a vacant 1939 former City of Wilmington bus maintenance garage. In May 2012, the Historic Wilmington Foundation honored DREAMS with the Adaptive Reuse Award.

DREAMS worked with N.C. Cooperative Extension to install retrofits at their parking lot to reduce polluted stormwater runoff from flowing to Burnt Mill Creek, and with Cape Fear Surfrider Foundation and Rainstorm Solutions to install a cistern to capture rain runoff from the building’s rooftop.

Most recently, DREAMS collaborated with the Cooperative Extension, North Carolina Sea Grant and the Coastal Federation to create an outdoor educational garden that not only adds beauty to the landscape but teaches students and their families about the value of native plants through hands-on learning.

“The Federation is honored to host environmental education programming with DREAMS youth and is in awe of every student we work with at the Center,” staff said.

“The DREAMS Center for Arts Education is deeply honored to receive the Pelican Award for Excellence in Community Education and Engagement. This recognition is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our staff, students, and community partners,” Executive Director Kimberly D. Lebby said. “We are proud of our commitment to not only nurturing young artists but also cultivating environmental stewards. By integrating arts education with ecological awareness, we believe we are creating a more informed and engaged citizenry. We are grateful for the Coastal Federation’s partnership and support, and we look forward to continuing our work together to protect and preserve our environment.”

Coastwide

The Inlet Inn’s Coins for Conservation program For Outstanding Community Leadership and Collaboration

As owners of the Inlet Inn in Beaufort, When Jay Tervo and Barbara McKenzie-Tervo felt it was their responsibility to ensure that the environment continued to flourish while helping visitors enjoy the coast.

They launched the online Coins For Conservation that allows businesses to support area nonprofits. Current partners are Atlantic Beach Sea Turtle Project, Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, Friends of Rachel Carson Reserve, and the Coastal Federation.

The Inlet Inn was the first business on board, leading the way for other businesses to join them in giving back to protect our coast. In addition to coming up with the idea, launching the program, and serving as a role model for other businesses, they continue to work tirelessly to recruit local partners, host events and encourage other businesses to give back.

“Jay Tervo and Barbara McKenzie are committed to going above and beyond for our coast,” staff said.

“Jay and I are very touched and honored to receive a Pelican Award.  We are joyous to have found a way to create a steady stream of resources for the NCCF and are very encouraged that Coins for Conservation has taken a foothold here, locally. We look forward to growing business participation throughout the entire coast.  Most importantly, North Carolina deserves a clean coast and NC Coastal Federation is a huge ‘mussel’ (pardon the pun) in getting the job done! We appreciate all the work you do,” McKenzie-Tervo said in an email.

Ryan Bethea for Exemplary Actions to Inspire Stewardship of Coastal Resources

Bethea has been raising oysters since 2015 in waters near Harkers Island in Carteret County. His interest in the oyster industry was piqued after reading about the up-and-coming oyster farming business in a magazine.

An eighth-grade teacher bartending on the side at the time, he decided to try his hand at growing oysters. A graduate of N.C. Central University, Bethea earned a certificate in oyster genetics and aquaculture from the William & Mary Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Bethea volunteers much of his time educating others about the environmental and economic benefits of oysters and the coastal habitats they depend on to thrive, hosts tours as a member of the North Carolina Oyster Trail, and teaches students at Boys and Girls Clubs and at Central University. He has been featured by Our State Magazine, PBS, NPR, Southern Living, and WRAL just to name a few.

“Ryan has used every step of his newfound career to inspire others to share his love and respect for the coast, ensuring a new generation of environmental stewards and coastal career professionals,” staff said.

“I’m honored to be recognized, and I’m proud to be able to spread the word about North Carolina oysters and our incredible resource we have here,” Bethea said.

Editor’s note: The organization provided the information on awards winners, which has been edited for length.

The Marine Fisheries Commission hasn’t wavered since announcing in May that there would be no recreational flounder season in coastal waters this year to compensate for the sector exceeding its 2023 allocation, and still plans to have a commercial season, despite the outrage from recreational fishers.

The Wildlife Resources Commission, which manages inland and hook-and-line fishing in joint waters, initially considered not having a recreational season this year to be consistent with Marine Fisheries.

But, last week, Wildlife Resources commissioners voted on a temporary rule to allow one fish per day, a minimum size of 15 inches, Sept. 1-2 and again Sept. 7-8, in the waters it manages. The commission’s existing permanent rule sets its recreational flounder season for Sept. 1-14, with the same limits.

Related: No recreational flounder season likely this year; here’s why

During the July 24 committee of the whole meeting, Wildlife Resources commissioners landed on the four-day season as an alternative to either closing the season entirely or keeping it open the full two weeks, as established by the permanent rule. The full commission approved the measure July 25.

Wildlife officials said Friday in an email response that the decision was made after considering public comments, most of which did not support the closure, “a lot of good discussion” during the July 24 committee meeting, and reviewing the data presented to the Marine Fisheries Commission on the recreational allotment available for a 2024 flounder season.

Commissioners determined that the “closure of the flounder season for 2024 is an unbalanced allocation issue. If that data suggested that closing the season was necessary as a conservation issue, the MFC would also close the commercial season. The Committee therefore recommended a 4-day season as recommended by staff,” they said.

Marine Fisheries Commission Chairman Robert Bizzell in a letter dated July 25 to WRC said he was disheartened to learn that the Wildlife Resources Commission is proceeding with a flounder season in inland and joint fishing waters.

“As you know, under Amendment 3 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan adopted by the Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) in 2022, there will be no recreational harvest in 2024 in joint and coastal fishing waters,” he wrote. “Please keep in mind that when joint and coastal fishing waters are closed to flounder harvest, MFC rule prohibits the possession or transport of flounder through those waters, regardless of where the flounder were taken. Consequently, Marine Patrol officers will be issuing tickets to recreational fishermen in possession of flounder in both the joint and coastal fishing waters of North Carolina while the no-harvest provision of
Amendment 3 is in place.”

The Marine Fisheries Commission voted on the allocations when Amendment 3 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan was adopted in May of 2022 “after a deliberative process that included numerous public comment opportunities and input from various advisory committees. Amendment 3 included management measures to end overfishing and rebuild the stock within state-mandated timeframes,” division officials said in a response Tuesday.

The management measures also are to meet the established separate quotas for commercial and recreational sectors, based on the historical take by each sector, beginning in 2022 with 70% commercial and 30% recreational allocations in 2023 and in 2024, “but gradually equalizing the allocation to 60% commercial and 40% recreational in 2025, and to 50% commercial and 50% recreational in 2026.”

The 2019 Southeast Regional Stock Assessment found that southern flounder is overfished and overfishing is occurring throughout the South Atlantic. Overfished means the population is too small and overfishing means the removal rate is too high. The 2019 stock assessment led to the development of the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3 that was approved in 2022.

The amendment is to “achieve a self-sustaining population that provides sustainable harvest” and “includes robust management strategies, such as commercial and recreational quotas with pound for pound paybacks if exceeded, options for commercial trip limits, and a spring Gulf and summer flounder season for recreational hook and line in the ocean,” according to the division.

Division officials continued that the recreational catch exceeded the recreational quota.

“After subtracting the recreational overage from 2023, the recreational quota remaining for 2024 is not large enough to allow for a season opening. The Marine Fisheries Commission, during its May business meeting, discussed holding a special meeting to consider alternatives to not holding a 2024 recreational season but ultimately did not move forward with that approach,” they said.

WRC’s 2024 season decision

When the Wildlife Resources Commission proposed in June a text amendment to close its flounder harvest season for 2024, it was said to be with the intention of being “consistent with the annual quota management measure of the North Carolina Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3 and with the NCDMF closure of the recreational season in coastal waters” announced in May.

Wildlife Resources’ Inland Fisheries Division Chief Christian Waters reminded the committee that Amendment 3 established the annual harvest quota for recreational and commercial sectors.  

“The whole purpose behind the quota was to end overfishing in two years and to allow rebuilding of the population, which is required by statute,” Waters said.

The management plan has an accountability measure for when there’s an overage in a sector, Waters continued. The overage is deducted from that sector’s total allowable catch for the following year.

“If you go over, the next year you get less fish,” Waters said in summation.

Division officials said Tuesday that this provision in Amendment 3 mandates any overages of the total allowable catch, which includes landings and discard mortality, must be paid back pound-for-pound the following year.

“This payback mechanism was discussed thoroughly, including public comment, during the development of the plan, and it is an essential part of rebuilding the population of Southern Flounder and ensuring a sustainable harvest for future generations,” the division said explained.

After reviewing the Marine Fisheries Commission’s May announcement that there would be no recreational flounder season in coastal and joint waters, Waters reminded the committee last week that at its June 6 meeting, commissioners decided to propose a temporary rule amendment to be consistent with Marine Fisheries.

“The proposal would be the closed flounder harvest season in 2024 in the WRC jurisdiction, which would be inland fishing waters and hook and line in joint fishing waters,” he said.

Waters added that the process to establish fisheries seasons is different for the two commissions. Marine Fisheries issues proclamations while Wildlife Resources has to go through the rulemaking process.

“We have a rule on the books that says there will be a season from Sept. 1 to Sept. 14,” Waters said, and that is why temporary rulemaking is required to close the fishery for 2024.

The notice of text was June 6, and the public comment period was June 10 through July 5. During that time, Wildlife Resouces held two hearings, one online and one in New Bern.

Of the 438 that responded, 89% did not support the rule for multiple reasons, including concerns about commercial fishing, the current allocation for commercial versus recreational, the data used from Marine Fisheries, and that flounder is a public resource, Waters said. And “There was some general displeasure in general, about just the fact that we were even considering not having a season, and then there was some that expressed distrust for DMF and DMF process.”

The commission can adopt the proposed temporary rule to close Wildlife Resources waters for flounder harvest this year, or “we have the permanent rule that is currently on the books and would be in place if you don’t take action,” Waters said. “Basically, if you do not adopt the temporary rule, or some alternative, this permanent rule is what would be in place in that case, that would open it to harvest, Sept. 1-14.”

Waters recommended as an alternative a four-day season between Sept. 1-14 for 2024. The four-day season being recommended was calculated “on the fact and the assumption that if Marine Fisheries did reallocate poundage to the recreational fishery, that fish could be harvested below the conservation (total allowable catch).”

After recalculating 2024 numbers by applying the different allocation scenarios, Waters said that a 60% commercial and 40% recreational split “would, in theory, give you just under four days. That’s also based on if that reallocation occurred coast wide,” Waters said.

Wildlife Resources Commission Chairman Monty Crump recommended the shift in a letter dated June 10 to the Marine Fisheries Commission, when he expressed that Wildlife Resources was “extremely disappointed the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) did not take action to open a recreational flounder season in 2024, while fully planning to open a commercial season.”

Crump continued that Marine Fisheries could do what was suggested during its May meeting and call a special meeting to take up shifting the allocation earlier than originally outlined in Amendment 3.

“The MFC should immediately conduct a special meeting to allocate 50% of the Total Allowable Catch to each sector in 2024 and not wait until 2026. Our recreational constituents should not suffer without a harvest season for something that was not their fault,” he wrote.

In a response dated July 12 to Crump’s Jun 10 letter, Bizzell said that the suggestion to immediately allocate 50% of the Total Allowable Catch to the recreational sector is not a new one.

“As you are aware, the MFC discussed at its May 2024 business meeting calling a special/emergency meeting to explore exactly what you suggest. However, it is very important to note the overage in 2023 was to such a degree that even with that shift in allocation now, the 2024 recreational flounder season would likely only be three or four days long,” he said.

During the discussion at the committee meeting July 24, Waters said you can’t compare how commercial and recreational seasons are determined.

Marine Fisheries monitors commercial sector in real-time because landings have to be reported daily. Once commercial sector is near filling its quota, Marine Fisheries has the option to issue a proclamation to close the season at any time. With the recreational fishery, that isn’t an option because there’s no daily monitoring.

He gave as an example a two-week recreational season. When the data comes back after the season is over, only then do you find out if there was an overage.

Waters added that Marine Fisheries studies flounder because much of the harvest occurs in coastal waters, and it’s a species that is mandated by state statute to be used when creating fisheries management plans. “And even though (flounder) do occur in our waters, and there is significant harvest that can occur in our waters, the bulk of it occurs in marine fisheries waters.”

Several commissioners voiced their frustrations at the meeting before the vote.

One commissioner said “this is the most inequitable and controversial subject matter that we deal with, and it needs to come to a head, find a solution here eventually” and several discussed the possibility of Marine Fisheries changing the allocation schedule.

Waters responded that if the original reallocation schedule that was set was followed, both sectors would be at 50/50 “and this wouldn’t be an issue. They postponed that in 2022, by two years to push that reallocation back.”

Current flounder trends

The division released its 2023 Fishery Management Plan Review Thursday that included summarizes long-term trends in catch, biological data and management through 2023 for a handful of state-managed species, including southern flounder.

An update to the 2019 stock assessment was completed this year, but the Division of Marine Fisheries and state partners had concerns, leading to the updated stock assessment not being approved for management purposes.

“In 2023, the recreational and commercial fisheries exceeded their total allowable catch, and paybacks were applied towards the 2024 seasons. The next scheduled full review of the plan will begin in 2027,” according to the division.

Currently harvest of any of the three species of flounder, which are southern, summer and Gulf, is not allowed, Division Public Information Officer Patricia Smith said Thursday.

“Flounder are managed as an aggregate for the recreational fishery. Regulations that effect one species effect the other two species,” Smith explained.

There is a possibility of a spring season written into Amendment 3, whether or not it occurs is based on the performance of the fishery the year before and at the division director’s discretion.

“An added nuance is that summer flounder is under the jurisdiction of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission,” she said. Overfishing is occurring for summer flounder, and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission required all states to implement reductions in harvest for the 2024-2025 fishing years.

“This means that the earliest a spring season could occur for summer flounder in NC would be 2026,” she said.

Editor’s note: Our special report, Agencies at Odds: Wildlife Resources V. Marine Fisheries, is an in-depth look at the conflict between the two agencies that has been building over the last several years.

Update: The Division of Coastal Management announced late Wednesday afternoon that it had been granted an extension to review NOAA’s federal consistency submission on proposed amendments to the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule. The comment period was scheduled to end at 5 p.m. Wednesday but has been extended to 5 p.m. Aug. 31.

Original post:

When it was veterinarian Dr. Craig Harms’ turn to speak during a public meeting Tuesday on the proposed speed rule to reduce North Atlantic right whale mortalities, he recalled being “waist-deep” while doing a post-mortem exam to determine what caused a stranded whale to die earlier this year.

He was one of the 19 who spoke during the public comment meeting the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management hosted in the Crystal Coast Civic Center.

Harms has been the director of the marine health program at N.C. State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, or CMAST, in Morehead City since 2000.

Harms explained during his allotted three minutes that he is involved in mammal stranding organizations and takes part in the post-mortem exams, or necropsies, of mammals that wash up on the beach.

Of the 41 dead right whales that have washed up since 2017, half of the mortalities were caused by vessel strikes, he said.

Over the last few years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been going through the rulemaking process to amend the existing North Atlantic right whale vessel strike reduction rule, “to further reduce the likelihood of mortalities and serious injuries to endangered right whales from vessel strikes, which are a leading cause of the species’ decline and a primary factor in an ongoing Unusual Mortality Event.”

State accepting public comments

The Division of Coastal Management staff is tasked with determining whether the proposed changes are “consistent to the maximum extent practicable with the enforceable policies of North Carolina’s Coastal Management Program,” according to its website.

As part of that, the division has been accepting public comments for the last month. The public can still submit comments. The deadline as of Friday afternoon is 5 p.m. Wednesday. However, division leadership asked NOAA for a deadline extension to allow more people to comment and were waiting for response as of deadline for this report.

Details on how to submit are on the NCDEQ website.

A division representative told Coastal Review that the state invites the public to review and comment on the proposed federal actions as part of the review process.

“These comments will be considered in developing the State’s federal consistency response to NOAA,” they said.

Division Federal Consistency Coordinator Daniel Govoni started the meeting by explaining to the roughly 30 attending that NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service had submitted to the state a federal consistency determination for the proposed amendments. This is a requirement for federal agencies that propose an activity that can affect a coastal resource or coastal use.

“The proposed actions include modifying the boundaries and the timing of seasonal speed restrictions of 10 knots or less to better align with areas characterized by the elevated collision or related mortality risks. It also will create a dynamic speed zone that will program to implement temporary mandatory speed restrictions when whales are known to be present,” he said. “This will be applied and also extend the size of the threshold of regulated vessels to include all vessels, or most vessels, 35 feet or greater in length. They will also update the speed fuel safety deviation provision.”

Currently, the rule states that most vessels 65 feet or longer must travel at 10 knots or less in certain areas along the East Coast during certain times of the year. For North Carolina, those areas are around Morehead City and from Wilmington to the South Carolina line, and the time of year is Nov. 1 through April 30.

With the proposed change, the rule would apply to a section of the northern Outer Banks Nov. 1 through May 30 and from Nov. 1 to April 30 for the rest of the North Carolina coast.

In addition to educators like Harms, commercial watermen, educators, conservation organization representatives, college students and researchers took the podium.

Some were in support of the speed reduction rule and some were against, but all spoke with conviction, and there was a handful of folks who appeared to misunderstand the role the division plays in the federal rulemaking process.

The speakers in support of the rule noted how critically endangered the north Atlantic right whale is as a species.

“So, what do we know about the North Atlantic right whales?” asked Penny Hooper, on behalf of the North Carolina Sierra Club, during her public comment.

They are one of the most endangered whales on the planet, with only an estimated 360 remaining whales are in the entire population. The 2008 vessel speed rule is meant to just slow vessels near the North Atlantic right whale to prevent devastating strikes that result in injuries and deaths. In 2022, NOAA proposed an update and protect these whales, she explained.

“What we have to think about is how critical it is to save this population,” Hooper said.

Many of the commercial watermen in attendance who were vehemently opposed to the rule change cited economic concerns.

Patrick Kennan of Morehead City called it “just a ridiculous rule” that will “affect more than the guy who owns the boat,” it will affect a lot of people all up and down the East Coast.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission also voiced its concerns with the rule in a letter to NOAA that it decided to send during its May meeting.

“While we fully support the protection of the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale, we have apprehensions about the potential impacts of these amendments on North Carolina’s fishing and boating communities,” according to the letter dated July 10. “The proposed changes could negatively affect the charter fishing industry, recreational boaters, the commercial fishing industry, and other marine operations in our state. We urge NOAA Fisheries to consider these potential impacts carefully and to continue engaging with local stakeholders to ensure that the regulations balance whale conservation with the economic and operational realities faced by our communities.”

‘Blunt-force impact’

Harms, who has spent his career studying marine mammals, told Coastal Review Thursday that his most recent experience with a right whale postmortem exam was in April. The whale was found dead offshore of the Virginia-North Carolina border and towed to shore in Virginia Beach for examination by a multi-state and multi-institution team.

“I was thinking specifically about this case when I mentioned being waist-deep in whale innards during my public comments. This whale had lower back vertebrae the size of a beer keg that had been shattered by blunt force impact, despite all of the thick blubber and muscle surrounding and cushioning them,” he said.

There are only about 360 right whales left in the world. Since the North Atlantic right whale unusual mortality event was declared in 2017, there have been 142 known cases, including 41 dead, 35 seriously injured,and 66 were slightly less than lethally injured or ill individuals.

“Of the 41 confirmed dead whales, 19 were first documented in the United States, and 22 were first documented in Canada. This does not account for offshore undetected injuries and deaths,” Harms said.

There were 24 confirmed, probable or suspected deaths as a direct result of human interaction out of the 41 whales. There were nine entanglements, 15 vessel strikes, three due to unknown causes, two perinatal deaths, one cause of death is pending, and 11 carcasses were not examined.

“It is not a simple task to retrieve a 10- to 20-ton dead animal for a postmortem examination. Nor is it a simple task to determine cause of death if they have been dead for any length of time that they decompose so much that they bloat and expel their stomachs out of their mouths. So ‘unknown’ is not due to lack of effort,” he explained.

Harms said these proposed rule changes could be a step in the right direction for right whales and other whales, including humpbacks, that suffer from ship strikes.

“But they will only help if there is compliance and enforcement, and reasonable loopholes aren’t exploited as a universal free pass. For instance, not every naval vessel transit of the Chesapeake Bay mouth is critical to national defense,” he said.

Harms said that he truly did appreciate hearing the perspective of charter boat captains and the challenges they face that are inherent in complying with speed limits.

“Although they didn’t acknowledge the seasonal or area restrictions attempting to reduce economic impacts, speed restrictions clearly will affect their livelihoods. I don’t have 100% win-win solution to offer,” Harms said.

One of the speakers at the public meeting alluded to offshore wind energy development being more responsible for the ongoing unusual mortality events of right whales, humpback whales and minke whales than vessel traffic, Harms noted.

“The wider geographic and time range of these unusual mortality events do not coincide with what is so far more limited scope of wind energy development,” Harms said. “There are justifiable concerns about potential impact of offshore wind energy development offsetting the critical need of addressing climate change impact of our current energy portfolio, but as of now, we know that vessel strikes and gear entanglements are far and away the primary causes of whale deaths along the US and Canada east coast, and we are not adequately addressing these known threats now, before worrying about potential future threats.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals this week dismissed a chemical company’s claim that the health advisory the Environmental Protection Agency issued in June 2022 for certain man-made chemicals found in drinking water was “unlawful and should be vacated.”

The 3rd Circuit three-judge panel in Philadelphia heard the argument Jan. 31 and filed its opinion Tuesday.

Chemours Co., which has a facility near Fayetteville, cited a section of the Safe Drinking Water Act that allows petitions for review of “any … final action of the Administrator under this chapter,” according to the ruling.

“Contending that the advisory was unlawful, the Chemours Company petitioned for review of EPA’s action. We will dismiss the petition for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the health advisory is not a final agency action,” the judges found.

The EPA estimates that there are thousands of different per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, chemicals used in a range of products like home goods and in manufacturing. PFAS have been detected in surface water, groundwater, rainwater and drinking water. Exposure to some of these widely used, long-lasting synthetic chemicals may be toxic to humans.

“This decision supports the very important Safe Drinking Water Act health advisory program,” EPA press secretary Remmington Belford told Coastal Review Wednesday about the ruling.

The Center for Environmental Health, Cape Fear River Watch, Clean Cape Fear, Democracy Green, North Carolina Black Alliance, Toxic Free North Carolina, Natural Resources Defense Council and five residents intervened a month after Chemours filed the petition for review in July 2022. Officials with the groups released an announcement Tuesday applauding the court’s decision.

“Through the years, our community has learned that when companies like Chemours are not actively hiding the science, they are usually attacking it. This is a win for public health and every resident harmed by GenX exposures. The courts got it right this time,” Emily Donovan, co-founder of Clean Cape Fear said Tuesday in a release.

“We were hopeful and cautiously optimistic; however, we’ve also seen a shift in court rulings recently that have not been friendly to environmental protections and public health. Yesterday’s verdict was refreshing,” she said in an interview Wednesday.

“We believe this ruling is significant for private well owners in the region dealing with Chemours-specific PFAS contamination,” Donovan continued, adding that DEQ adopted the EPA’s GenX health advisory when it came out in 2022 and the ruling Tuesday means DEQ can keep moving forward and require Chemours to provide remedies to private well owners who have levels of GenX exceeding 10 parts per trillion. Historically it was 140 ppt.

“DEQ has made addressing PFAS a priority and will continue to rely on science-based, peer-reviewed health standards to protect human health in North Carolina while implementing the Maximum Contaminant Levels set by EPA and pursuing state-level surface water and groundwater standards for PFAS compounds, including GenX,” NCDEQ Deputy Communications Director Josh Kastrinsky said Wednesday.

“The Court strongly and unanimously rejected Chemours’s attempt to kill EPA’s scientific guidance on how communities can protect themselves from toxic GenX contamination in tap water,” said Sarah Tallman, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Everyone has a right to turn on their kitchen tap and have safe water, so we will continue to fight the chemical industry and others who try to block efforts to protect our health from toxic hazards.”

Cape Fear River Watch Executive Director Dana Sargent said in the release that Chemours fought this health advisory level “for the same motivation behind all their actions: money. While the court did not acknowledge their smokescreen, we are grateful they rejected Chemours’ nefarious claim.”

Chemours said the ruling was merely a procedural loss.

“While we are disappointed with the Third Circuit’s dismissal of our appeal on procedural grounds, the decision means the U.S. EPA’s health advisory on HFPO-Dimer Acid (HFPO-DA) is not enforceable,” Chemours Representative Cassie Olszewski told Coastal Review Wednesday.

“Chemours has challenged — along with groups of drinking water providers and manufacturers — the EPA’s Maximum Contaminant Limits (MCL) for drinking water which utilize, in part, the same scientifically unsound analysis. We look forward to having the D.C. Circuit consider the merits of our arguments in connection with our pending challenge to the EPA’s MCL regulation,” Olszewski said.

Leading up to the judges’ decision

After news reports in June 2017 that several types of PFAS had been detected in the Cape Fear River, the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality identified Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility as the source.

Cape Fear River watch sued both the Department of Environmental Quality and Chemours, resulting in a consent order that has allowed the company to continue operating since February 2019. Since then, both the EPA and DEQ say they have been taking steps to address PFAS.

“Drinking water health advisory levels are non-regulatory health-based values that are provided for informational purposes,” according to the EPA. “On June 15, 2022, the EPA published final drinking water health advisories (HAs) for perfluorobutane sulfonic acid and its potassium salt (PFBS) and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA) and its ammonium salt (‘GenX chemicals’).”

The final health advisory values were based on the final EPA toxicity assessments published in 2021, the agency said.

Chemours uses HFPO-DA as a “patented polymerization aid in the manufacture of fluoropolymers,” the trade name for which is GenX, according to the company.

Chemours filed the petition for review in July 2022, saying the health advisory was arbitrary and capricious and that it was otherwise inconsistent with the law, because EPA incorporated grossly incorrect and overstated exposure assumptions―in essence, EPA used the wrong chemical when making its exposure assumptions, thereby resulting in a significantly less tolerant health advisory for HFPO Dimer Acid than is warranted by the data,” according to the petition.

The 3^rd Circuit found that Congress enacted the Safe Water Drinking Act to protect drinking water quality, and authorizes the EPA administrator to address contaminants in waters by taking various actions, such as putting a regulation in place or issue health advisories.

Once EPA officials have the final toxicity assessment, exposure factors and relative source contribution, the federal agency can then publish a health advisory “to inform decisionmakers of what it deems is a safe level of the contaminant in drinking water.”

In this instance, the EPA developed a health advisory. Advisories are not regulations, but “provide information’ about a safe level of a contaminant so that government officials and managers of public water systems can ‘determine whether actions are needed to address the presence of [the] contaminant in drinking water,’” the court found.

In August 2022, the nonprofit organizations and five residents intervened in the case.

The Center for Environmental Health represented Cape Fear River Basin community groups and individuals who have relied on the advisory to fight for health protective drinking water, Senior Legislative Counsel Tom Fox said in a release.

“The Third Circuit correctly found that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction because the GenX health advisory is not a final agency action. The court rejected Chemours’ attempts to convert the advisory into a reviewable action with examples of indirect consequences of the health advisory,” Fox said.

Donovan told Coastal Review Wednesday that Clean Cape Fear intervened because ‘We wanted the courts to see that the American people — especially those of us living in North Carolina, are hungry for strong enforceable protections the Biden/Harris EPA is implementing regarding PFAS. Chemours publicly claims GenX is safe but the best available science disagrees. We’re tired of Chemours attacking the EPA when it actually begins to do its job and serve the people.”

What’s next?

Chemours filed in June a similar petition for review in the Washington, D.C., circuit after the EPA issued in April the final National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for six PFAS, including perfluorobutane sulfonic acid and its potassium salt, or PFBS, and GenX chemicals, specifically, HFPO-DA.

“EPA expects that over many years the final rule will prevent PFAS exposure in drinking water for approximately 100 million people, prevent thousands of deaths, and reduce tens of thousands of serious PFAS-attributable illnesses,” the agency said in April. The drinking water regulation established legally enforceable levels for several PFAS.

Donovan noted Wednesday that Clean Cape Fear had learned Tuesday that the group was granted the ability to intervene in defense of EPA’s PFAS drinking water standards.

“Chemours, the American Chemistry Council and other groups sued the EPA earlier this year when the first-ever federal drinking water standards for PFAS were finalized. We joined forces with EarthJustice and other contaminated community groups across the nation to intervene in that lawsuit, as well,” she said.

A now-former Onslow County deputy has been arrested in connection with an altercation between residents and a group gathered for a Native American prayer ceremony in Cedar Point, but a group leader says the actions by law enforcement and media in the weeks after perpetuated a racist and biased narrative.

Last week, Carteret County Sheriff’s Office arrested James Gilbert De La O Jr. “for communicating threats, assault on a female and false police report” and was released on a written promise to appear.

“This case is still active and detectives are still in the process of reviewing new evidence and interviewing individuals that were present during the incident. Further charges may be obtained once all the evidence is reviewed and all interviews have taken place,” the Carteret sheriff’s office said in a statement.

De La O was employed at the time of the incident as a deputy for the Onslow County Sheriff’s Office. He has resigned from the position and his last day was July 12, according to Onslow County.

The incident took place June 23 where the Bridge View development had been on pause for several months because the site contains numerous human remains, which were disturbed during construction. Likely from the before European contact, the Office of State Archaeology believes it to be “a highly significant archaeological site.”

After the ceremonial prayer, American Indian women, children and elders “faced intimidation and hate-induced brutalization during an unarmed, peaceful prayer to honor exposed and desecrated American Indian burial grounds at the Bridgeview housing development in Cedar Point,” 7 Directions of Service said Wednesday in a statement. The Indigenous-led environmental justice organization is based on Occaneechi-Saponi homelands in rural North Carolina.

Shortly after the incident, Carteret County released a statement that said the disturbance was between residents and a group from the Chapel Hill area and New York.

“Deputies arrived on scene and discovered a physical altercation had occurred and one of the residents from the Bridgeview community was stabbed in the arm with a small pocket knife, along with sustaining other minor injuries,” the June 25 release continues. “The person responsible for the stabbing fled the scene as deputies were arriving.”

Native American leaders associated with the ceremony have said from the start that the attendees were unarmed, having agreed on the tradition to forbid weapons during the prayer.

Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck, cofounder of 7 Directions of Service, said earlier this month during one of a few press conferences that she is “outraged and speaking directly about the racism we are experiencing during and in the wake of the violence we experienced.”

Cavalier-Keck explained on July 3 that there was no protest during the prayer ceremony.

“An attack was made against American Indian women, children, and the elderly without provocation,” she said, adding that the dialogue “from the attackers constitutes ethnic intimidation and a hate crime,” and while those gathered were unarmed — no pocket knives were present and no stabbings occurred — the “attackers were armed and dangerous.”

She said that law enforcement had more than enough evidence to make an arrest, and is “delaying the process after issuing warrants for the victims without any delay, and announced this immediately in a press statement. Those warrants have now been recalled, but no press statement has been issued, which has contributed to a racist and biased narrative being perpetuated across media outlets.”

Members of 7 Directions of Service, 17 Rivers American Indian Movement Chapter of North Carolina and the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina, which has claimed the cultural artifacts and ancestral remains discovered at the Cedar Point site, coordinated and attended the June 23 prayer ceremony.

“We celebrate the win of our innocence being declared two weeks too late after the media has already painted a biased and racist imagery of our culture with some imaginary stabbing and knife-carrier and ultimately protecting nonindigenous dignity and culture,” Cavalier-Keck said during a press conference Wednesday about the charges against the former deputy.

“We do not accept this display of justice as it belittles our value and experience. We take it as a current reflection of the status quo and move from this point on for further healing, accountability and a collective understanding that this horror should have never happened in the first place, and it should never happen again,” Cavalier-Keck continued. “I ask you not to forget the real history nor turn a blind eye to all of that continues to happen. We must seek to eliminate the frequent violence that plagues nations, tribal nations, and bridge our divides, but we must also be warriors for the truth, because without truth, there can be no healing.”

Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina Public Relations Officer Rahnàwakęw Donnie McDowell told Coastal Review on Thursday that the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina “continues to support the shift in the media tone and overall charges being placed in the right direction.”

The site on the mainland by the Emerald Isle Bridge began getting attention in recent months because it was associated with House Bill 385. The provision that would have changed the permitting process for environmentally and archaeologically significant lands was removed from the bill on the Senate floor June 26 and was sent back to the House, where it waits in committee.

Both 7 Directions of Service and the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina spoke out against the provision, which could come back up in the General Assembly during the long session expected to begin in January.

Related: Legislature to revisit significant archaeological resources

“From our review of not only UNDRIP (United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples) and our treaties, but also with NAGPRA (Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act) and several state laws protecting Native American remains, artifacts and sites the Tuscarora Nation reserves the right to be consulted, informed, and provided the opportunity to repatriate the remains of our ancestors and their cultural belongings,” McDowell explained.

“We are reviewing NAGPRA and these state laws in order to better understand how our rights as Tuscaroras are continuing to be violated by the lack of consultation with the TNNC (Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina),” he continued. “Development continues with legislators having the intent to possibly reduce regulations and undermine protections for sites.”

Cavalier-Keck said Wednesday that she was asked why the site in Cedar Point is important.

“A burial site and village are the most important connections to our past, especially here in North Carolina, as we are first-contact tribes, and any tribe that steps up to protect burial sites and incorporates our past into our future is vital, and that is why I’m supporting the Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina, because they have stepped up to protect this burial site,” she said.

A video of the altercation was shown during the press conference Wednesday.

Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina leaders said in a statement Thursday that the long-awaited video evidence “challenges the preconceived tendencies of non-Native media outlets to report before properly investigating all parties involved and general fact finding” and is one example of the oppression that Indigenous families such as the Tuscarora have experienced while fighting to remain a free, sovereign people since colonial contact.

“The Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina stands strong with our tribal citizens and other Native communities, and we will speak against violence of any kind in favor of our community’s tradition to gather in a peaceful, lawful manner to honor our ancestors,” leaders continued.

Of the more than 250 freshwater fish species in North Carolina, there’s a surprising amount that venture into marine and estuarine waters.

Which ones? That answer can be found in the 464-page “A Guide to North Carolina’s Freshwater Fishes,” published in March.

“From Wolf Creek, the westernmost community in Cherokee County, to the small Outer Banks town of Buxton in Dare County, North Carolina’s fresh waters are home to forty families of fishes: Thirty-one families whose species are primarily freshwater, five families whose species are primarily marine and estuarine, and four families whose species are almost evenly split between freshwater and marine,” the introduction begins.

The University Of North Carolina Press in Chapel Hill published the guide that is an update to the 1991 “The Freshwater Fishes of North Carolina” by Edward F. Menhinick.

Authors are North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences Ichthyology Collections Manager Gabriela Hogue, museum adjunct researcher Bryn Tracy, Scott Smith and Jesse Bissette, both with North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, and Fred “Fritz” Rohde, a fisheries biologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Beaufort Lab.

Illustrated with 546 full-color images, the new guidebook has data on all freshwater fish families and 260 maps showing where to find them, the state’s ichthyological history, or study of fishes, a key to help identify fish, and an appendix that explains the meaning behind the scientific names. The paperback, $35, and the eBook, $9.99, can be purchased online from the publisher and in the museum’s gift shop.

The authors all expressed their commitment to educating the public about the often-misunderstood freshwater fish in all of North Carolina’s waters.

“This book is a culmination of my 50 years spent studying the freshwater fishes of our beautiful state,” Rohde told Coastal Review in an email response. “Unfortunately, too many people have no idea of the fish diversity that we have in the coastal area — it’s more than Largemouth Bass and ‘bream’ — and we hope that our book will enlighten them.”

The guidebook is to help people understand what’s in the state’s streams, see how beautiful the state’s fishes are, and then maybe “become an advocate to help conserve our waters,” Tracy said during a recent conversation with Hogue and Coastal Review.

Hogue agreed.

“We want people to be able to identify every fish where they’re at in the freshwaters of North Carolina, but also just fall in love with them,” Hogue said. “Most people think it’s just the marine fishes that are beautifully colored, that are intricate, that have weird features, and yes, they’re incredible, but we have incredible diversity and beauty, and strange, weird features and structures in our freshwaters too.”

Bissette and Smith explained in an email that this is a resource anglers and nature enthusiasts who frequent coastal areas can use to explore inland freshwater regions.

“Having a comprehensive guide to freshwater fishes can enhance their appreciation and knowledge of the diverse species they might encounter throughout North Carolina, including those freshwater fish that occasionally stray into brackish or coastal waters, such as Longnose Gar, and those saltwater fish that sometimes venture into freshwater, like Striped Mullet.”

Freshwater isn’t a misnomer for the fish families that spend time in waters with higher salinity.

“Fish don’t adhere to the boundaries we draw, often moving between ‘freshwater’ and ‘saltwater’ habitats. Many species also have life cycles in both freshwater and saltwater ecosystems,” Bissette and Smith continued.

For example, they said, an anadromous fish like striped bass and American shad spend the majority of their lives in saltwater but return to freshwater to spawn. Also, many rivers and streams flow into coastal areas, creating the estuarine environments those on the coast know and love.

“Understanding the freshwater species that contribute to these ecosystems helps to shed light on the broader ecological dynamics at play in coastal regions,” they said.

Tracy and Hogue both said they’ve spent decades studying fish.

Tracy took a few courses on ichthyology in the late 1970s while at University of Missouri-Columbia for undergrad and grad school. After graduating, he spent 13 years as an environmental biologist for a power company, then spent the rest of his career as an environmental specialist with North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Quality. He assessed the relationship between fish health and water quality until he retired in 2017.

Hogue, who has been at the museum since the late 1990s, said she’s always had a love for the water.

After a snorkeling trip with her father, which she called “just an incredible experience,” her interest in studying fish was piqued, but she never thought it was a career option. Unlike most of her classmates studying biology as undergrad at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, she did not want to go pre-med. She told her reasons to her academic adviser who encouraged her to find her passion, and she did while doing research at the Illinois Natural History Survey, which houses millions of specimens.

Once she finished graduate school there, she joined the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission staff to take aquatic inventories in state parks. Three years later in 1998, she moved to the natural sciences museum and has been there since.

Tracy said they first met to discuss the idea of a book in 2012, and began in earnest in 2020.

Tracy didn’t want to spend 10 years writing several-inch-thick tomes on fishes “that you could use as a doorstop,” so he, Hogue and Rohde wrote a short paper before publishing “An Annotated Atlas of the Freshwater Fishes of North Carolina” in October 2020, he said.

The roughly 200-page PDF had been downloaded more than 4,400 times as of last week and is available to anyone at no charge.

When the atlas was made available, Hogue said that almost immediately they were asked when the book would be coming out. As the number of downloads increased, so did the decision to “dive in and do this.”

They used data from the 2020 atlas and the Fishes of North Carolina project, which began in 2013 to identify all of the state’s known freshwater and marine fishes, to update the 1991 freshwater fish guide. Both the atlas and Fishes of North Carolina website are companions to the new guide.

A lot has changed since that early 1990s edition. There are new species, new distributions and even new names. “Even though this book was great in its heyday,” it was time for an update, Tracy explained.

Hogue explained that they had a few goals with the book, chiefly, making it accessible both financially and for all audiences.

“We didn’t want to just write a book for ichthyologists, or students who are hoping to be ichthyologists. We wanted to make it for anybody that wants to know more about fish,” Hogue said.

Hogue said that science doesn’t always seem accessible and she feels scientists need to just “take off that white lab coat” and dispel the belief that “we’re all geniuses because we’re scientists. No, I’m just a regular person that loves fish.”

Also, in terms of accessibility, Hogue was adamant the guide includes a photo glossary explaining how to use a dichotomous key and a glossary. A dichotomous key is a sequence of paired statements that help the user identify a species.

“In North Carolina, we are so lucky that we have these ecoregions,” Hogue continued. “We’ve got the mountains, we’ve got the Piedmont, we’ve got the coast, we’ve got the sandhills, and so that also creates incredible diversity in the habitats of these species, and that’s why I think we have such a rich diversity.”

The Wildlife Resources Commission published the 1991 guide, and Hogue approached the state agency for help with the update. The commission came through, providing a $15,000 grant that helped keep the book cost relatively low. The project also received a $950 photography grant to travel the state for better images from the North Carolina Chapter of the American Fisheries Society.  

The hope is to make downloads of a chapter or the entire book available at no charge. “But we haven’t gotten to that level yet,” Tracy added. “We’re not in it for the money.”

Hogue said the “incredible research collection” that she manages at North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences helped with data for the book.

The collection of about 1.4 million specimens focuses on southeastern United States because it is “such a hotspot for biodiversity.”

The museum’s sizable collection, most of which is available on a globally accessible database, is made up of smaller collections museums, researchers, universities and others donated for a variety of reasons. Either the institution didn’t have the funds any more to maintain a collection, or the department moved in a different direction, Hogue said.

When the museum was founded, the intent was to showcase what is in North Carolina, “but it’s not like a fish knows a geopolitical boundary,” so that focus has widened, she said. In addition to the Southeast, 67 are countries represented in the collection.

A contentious provision that would all but eliminate protections for archaeologically significant resources was stripped from an energy and environmental bill at the eleventh-hour last week, just days after an altercation at a site where Native American human remains were found during construction.

Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, asked the Senate late Wednesday evening to approve the amendment for House Bill 385, “Various energy/environmental changes,” that removed a section dealing “with all the archaeological situations that we have in North Carolina that have kind of sprung up on us recently.” Sanderson also represents Carteret, Chowan, Dare, Hyde, Pasquotank, Perquimans and Washington counties.

The bill first stirred up controversy when a provision was introduced June 6 during a Senate committee meeting that targeted the Coastal Area Management Act, which turned 50 this year. Among the changes were to restrict the Division of Coastal Management’s authority when issuing CAMA permits, including the division’s ability to consult other state agencies, such as the Office of State Archaeology.

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, in a June 10 response after the provision became public, explained that the language was “associated with a subdivision in Carteret County that is currently under construction where extensive Native American human burials and an undisturbed Woodland period (1000 BC – AD 1600) village site have been found.”

The bill’s language was edited after the June 6 meeting. The proposed CAMA overhaul was removed June 19, and then the attempt to simplify the Office of State Archeology’s involvement in development was tweaked during committee meetings June 25 and 26.

Sanderson continued that striking the section would allow more time to work on the language and bring in more stakeholders, to ensure that “this is an adequate bill and a very good bill going forward. We’ll do that in the long session,” he said, referring to the North Carolina General Assembly’s odd-year session that begins in January.

The Senate voted 29-18 to send House Bill 385 back to committee in the lower chamber. The measure still included controversial points, including a proposed terminal groin for Bald Head Island, and it appears stalled for now.

“We appreciate that the Senate paused legislative changes related to the Office of State Archaeology. We will continue to work with legislators as we seek to protect our state’s invaluable archaeological resources,” Cultural Resources Communications Director Schorr Johnson said Thursday.

Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina Public Relations Officer Rahnàwakęw Donnie McDowell told Coastal Review that while Tuscarora Nation considers the removal of the archaeological provisions was “a giant win,” he said that knowing that the issue will return again next session, “continues to drive our concern that developers and their legal allies will use their money and clout to grow their support for completely removing archaeological protections from all sites across the state.”

McDowell expressed his concern that “HB 385 has gained so much attention no one is talking about our tribal reaffirmation bill, HB 970.”

Tuscarora leaders are concerned that the attention to the archaeological provision has undermined the bill that would grant state recognition to the Tuscarora of Eastern North Carolina, add two members of the Tuscarora to the State Commission of Indian Affairs, and make Tuscarora people eligible for federal benefits and services.

House Bill 970 has been stalled in the House appropriations committee since early May.

Sanderson didn’t mention a specific archaeological situation last week during the Senate meeting, but the move to strike the provision came just days after a confrontation at the Bridge View development.

Tuscarora Nation of North Carolina, the Occaneechi Saponi and other extended Indigenous relatives, allies and supporters met in Cedar Point, “to peaceably honor the ancestors’ remains unearthed by construction and surveys,” Tuscarora leaders said in a June 24 statement.

Residents of the nearby development proclaimed that the 17 Rivers North Carolina American Indian Movement and Tuscarora participants “should get off the land across the road from the development, which is currently undeveloped,” the statement continues. “Tuscarora Nation members, witnessing this outrageous experience, report that a resident of the Cedar Point development physically assaulted a Native woman and her children.”

The Carteret County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement June 25 saying that when deputies arrived on scene, they discovered that an altercation had occurred and one resident had been stabbed in the arm with a small pocket knife. One suspect had been identified and warrants were obtained. The sheriff’s office said that this is an ongoing investigation and details would be released when appropriate.

Dr. Crystal Cavalier-Keck, a citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation and co-founder of 7 Directions of Service, an Indigenous-led environmental justice and community, explained during a press conference June 26 that she was in Cedar Point for the prayer.

“I am personally traumatized as one of the participants who escaped and naively waited for the others only to be told by legal, political, and spiritual leaders I trust that I could not rely on law enforcement protection in that county and to get my victims to safety. Because we were afraid for our lives, we drove three hours until we arrived safely at a place we trusted and a physician could see and address their physical damages,” said Cavalier-Keck.

Bridge View residents issued a statement June 27 that “As a community, we respect the ongoing archaeological efforts and the preservation of history. We ask that our safety, privacy and property investment, as well as the laws regarding trespassing on private property, receive equal respect from stakeholders and citizens and that these priorities are taken into account in future words and actions because they are at the forefront of our minds,” WRAL reported.

“We are discouraged to see inaccuracies being reported about our neighbors and the beautiful place that we call home. Bridge View residents are largely learning about archaeological finds within our subdivision alongside the general public through the media. We have little to no prior knowledge of what has been unearthed and where, or the future of development within our gates,” the statement continues. “Those questions are best directed to the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology and the residential developer, not the Bridge View residents who have been the subjects of unsolicited attention and aggression and placed in the middle of a debate beyond our control.”

If you saw middle schoolers at the helm of Marine Patrol skiffs gliding across Carteret County waters earlier this month, you caught a glimpse of the first group to participate in the first-ever North Carolina Marine Patrol Junior Academy.

Organized by the Marine Patrol, the camp brought together 11 youngsters aged 12 to 15, who met every day June 10-14 at the Division of Marine Fisheries headquarters in Morehead City. Spending their days both in the classroom and on boats, most of the campers were from Carteret and surrounding counties, and there were two brothers who made their way to Morehead City from Florida to join in.

The North Carolina Marine Patrol dates back to 1822, when oyster harvest gear restrictions were put in place. Today, the Marine Patrol monitors all coastal waters extending 3 miles offshore, 2.5 million acres of water and over 4,000 miles of coastline, according to the division.

Funded through grants and private donations, campers late in the morning June 13 traveled by skiff from the division’s docks on Bogue Sound to the Rachel Carson Reserve across from downtown Beaufort.

Once the skiffs reached the protected land, campers grabbed nets and wandered along the shore while patrol officers began grilling hot dogs. After lunch, campers were able to test their knowledge during a mock Marine Patrol inspection.

Enforcement Officer Erik Smith said while manning the grill that he came up with the idea to start the academy a few years ago, but the timing wasn’t right. He pitched the idea again last year, and everyone was on board.

“I grew up on the water and I got the opportunity to grow up crabbing and fishing and just enjoying the outdoors,” Smith said. After working for the division for two decades, he thought it was important to expose young people to what the Marine Patrol does and the importance of the job.

The junior patrollers learned about navigation rules, the different types of fishing licenses and gear an officer could encounter, fisheries rules and how to identify fish, and how to tie knots. There was a lot of time spent on the boat, and the campers practiced “their knots every time we pull up somewhere,” Smith said.

The academy has “not been a bootcamp, but we’ve been a little bit structured, and they’ve done a really good job,” Smith said.

Smith has a 13-year-old son, and he thought that age range would be good, and it turned out to be, he said. “We’ve not had any issues between like the 12-year-olds and 15-year-olds. Everybody’s really come together as a team.”

The camp stresses the importance of knowing navigation rules.

“Know your role on the water because most other people don’t. So, if you know what you’re doing, then you can avoid a collision,” Smith said.

As for next year, Smith said the Marine Patrol wanted to see how well the first camp went and make sure that it was successful and beneficial.

“I can tell you right now, my opinion is it absolutely was,” Smith continued. “The kids came in very nervous Monday and wouldn’t talk. Now, they’ve given staff nicknames and are bonding with each other. There’s been a lot of growth and a lot of progress.”

Smith rubbed his hand over his scalp and said his nickname was Mr. Clean, noting that his head wasn’t completely shaved.

He added that there might need to be some adjustments for next year.

“I really wanted this to be called an academy and have cadets and be really structured,” Smith said. “If we get to continue to do this, I think we may structure it more of a camp atmosphere, because the kids have really enjoyed the cast- and seine-netting that we did yesterday and, and some of the fun stuff.”

And along with the fun came learning, Smith said.

“I told them on Day 1 that my three goals and priorities were safety and fun and education. And I wanted to make sure that it was done in that order. And we succeeded so far.”

Marine Patrol Maj. Jason Walker told Coastal Review while waiting for lunch that he was surprised at how much the campers liked learning about “observed activity scenarios” typical of the Marine Patrol’s work.

The campers were shown videos of observed activities, such as hook-and-line fishing and trolling, and were “really excited about being able to tell what license was required, what the violation was, if there was one,” Walker said. “They were just as excited about that as driving a boat.”

The campers were broken up into four teams. After choosing a name, each team made their own flag and affixed it to their skiff. In addition to team Mr. Clean, other teams were Osprey, High Speed and the Harpooners.

The team flags were Marine Patrol Officer Candace Rose’s idea.

Rose said that the teams participated each day in competitions. They have to perform skills, and whichever team does so most accurately or the quickest got the points. The team with the most points that day received a prize, such as fishing gear.

Rose has been with Marine Patrol for six years. Before that, she was with North Carolina State Parks for a decade, and spent time as a 4-H camp counselor.

Rose helped plan the camp and came up with a lot of ideas and activities. For this year, they decided to keep it simple.

“I taught the fishing gear and licenses portion and also how to do a Marine Patrol inspection,” Rose said. “Working with these kids has been a combination of two of my favorite things: teaching people and marine fisheries. Having them here has been a wonderful experience as far as their energy and their interest to learn and being able to teach them about something that I love.”

One highlight for Rose was seeing the campers “learn something new that they’ve never done before, especially some of the skills like using a cast net, or learning how to tie knots, and then seeing their confidence grow as they learn how to drive a boat,” Rose said.

“I can’t wait for next year already,” she added.

If resources are available, Rose said she could see the Marine Patrol hosting a larger camp next year.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the biologists are looking at something,” she noted, adding that some campers showed more interest in biology than law enforcement.

A handful of campers, including Lukas, 12, from Winterville, paused exploring the reserve and casting nets to share with Coastal Review what drew them to the camp.

Lukas explained that the academy “looked like a really fun experience” and that he had learned a lot, from docking skills to knot-tying skills — “a lot of stuff I didn’t know before.”

Lukas said one violation he learned about was disposal of evidence upon inspection, which is “basically, if you were to have something that is evidence to a crime and something illegal that you committed, and you were to throw it over the side of your boat or something.” This will result in a ticket and a fine.

Ivy, 12, a student at Morehead City Middle School, said she thought “it would be really cool” to learn about marine fisheries. She also learned how to drive a boat, about fisheries laws, and how researchers tag the fish. From a law enforcement perspective, Ivy said she liked learning how to talk to boaters, including asking for licenses and about what is on board. Ivy also said she learned about different navigation aids.

Ivy was on team High Speed, which earned its name in jest, “Because we’re slow, and we got lost yesterday,” she said.

Bella, a rising freshman at West Carteret High School, said she “always wanted to do this.” She had previously met patrol officers and “marine stuff” was appealing.

“So I said, well, let’s try,” Bella explained.

Bella, who was on team Mr. Clean, said with a laugh that “the team got its name because that’s Mr. Erik’s nickname.”

Alexander from Clermont, Florida, said his mom asked if there was a camp he would like to go to this summer, “I said Marine Patrol camp and this is the only one available.”

The rising ninth grader said going to a Marine Patrol camp has been on his agenda for a few years, adding he plans to have a career with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, “and this was the closest thing that we could find,” he said.

Alexander said he learned how to operate a skiff, to identify different species in North Carolina, and how to use 30-foot seine net and a 6-foot cast net.

“This has been one of the best camps that I’ve ever been to, because of a lot of outdoor experience, a lot more knowledge than most summer camps. Especially if you live on the water, it’s really useful to learn how to operate a boat and learn different fish species and regulations and so you don’t get a ticket,” Alexander said.

Walker, with the Marine Patrol, told Coastal Review after the camp concluded that the response from students and parents was amazing.

“The hard work and teamwork of the students and staff are really what made the academy effective.  We are already discussing ways to improve the academy for next year. I do want to thank James River Equipment, Boardwalk Screen Printing and West Marine for sponsoring the event,” he said.

Changes to a controversial bill that would have allowed development to trump historical and environmental protections went before the Senate judiciary committee Wednesday for discussion, and the measure now features a new provision allowing additional hardened shoreline structures to be built on Bald Head Island.

Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico and also representing Carteret, Chowan, Dare, Hyde, Pasquotank, Perquimans and Washington counties, explained during the meeting that the previous language to change Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, permitting process rules was being replaced with directives for the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources regarding historically significant land.

With the new language, Sanderson said Wednesday, the department would be required, “upon request,” to inform the owner or prospective buyer of property “in an area of environmental concern of anything that may be of archaeological or historical significance,” Sanderson said.

The language also would prohibit the Office of State Archaeology, under the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, to add conditions to a CAMA permit restricting development for three years after its issued, and directs the state agency to apply for funding to purchase properties in an area of environmental concern that has archaeological or historical significance, he said.

The new language replaces, as Sanderson explained it during a June 6 Agriculture, Energy, and Environment committee meeting, an attempt to harness the Division of Coastal Management, which he said had “forced developers to conduct lengthy, open-ended and costly historical and archaeological investigations to obtain a permit or as a condition of a permit.”

The previous language, Sanderson continued on June 6, “to some degree reins in DCM’s historical and archaeological jurisdiction to develop activities that involve actual land disturbance, and so that specifies the circumstances under which an area can be designated as an Area of Environmental Concern based on cultural, scientific or scenic values, or natural systems.”

Cultural Resources Communications Director Schorr Johnson said Thursday that while the new language is an “improvement from the original proposal, the Office of State Archaeology already provides information to property owners and prospective property owners about archaeological resources on their property. The new language attempts to codify that practice while also undermining archaeological protections. We look forward to continuing to work with the legislature on this proposal.”

Regarding the new section on hardened shorelines, Sanderson told the judiciary committee Wednesday that the language modifies the decade-old statute that allowed a limited number of terminal groins as a pilot project along the North Carolina shoreline.

Bald Head Island was the first town to build a terminal groin after a former law banning hardened erosion control structures on the North Carolina coast was repealed in 2011.

The new language defines “terminal groin” as one or more structures constructed at the terminus of an island or on the side of an inlet, or where the ocean shoreline converges with Frying Pan Shoals, and changes the number of permits from six to seven to construct a terminal groin.

Bald Head Island has been working with the Department of Environmental Quality on the provision to allow the village to apply for a permit to build a second groin on the island nearest to Frying Pan Shoals, Sanderson explained.

“Upon passing, the village plans to do robust studies on the best environmental path forward for the new structure,” Sanderson said. “The section would also enable Bald Head Island to eliminate a number of geotextile sand tubes that have to be replaced every five to seven years at great expense to residents and replace them with permanent rock structures that are equal or less in number and size than the existing tubes.”

Southern Environmental Law Center North Carolina Legislative Counsel Brooks Rainey Pearson told Coastal Review in an email Thursday that the section added via proposed committee substitute Wednesday would change the definition of “terminal groin” to allow a new groin on the east end of south beach on Bald Head Island.

“We are against any expansion of the armoring (or ‘hardening’) of the coast, and believe that expanding the number of new groins allowed under state law will effectively open the entire coast to terminal groins on N.C.’s public trust beaches,” Pearson said in the email. “Groins are incredibly expensive to build and maintain, and encourage litigation as homeowners on the ‘wrong’ side of the groin lose sand/beach to properties on the ‘right’ side of the groin.”

Bald Head Island Public Information Officer Carin Faulkner said Thursday morning in response for a comment that the village council had not reviewed the proposed language, but village staff plan to present the information during the council’s 10 a.m. Friday meeting, which can be viewed online.

Division of Coastal Management officials said Thursday afternoon that the new provision would make the Village of Bald Head Island eligible to apply for a permit to construct another terminal groin near Frying Pan Shoals and it increases the cumulative number of terminal groins that the Coastal Resources Commission can permit from six to seven.

Sanderson, Lazzara want to ‘rein in’ regulatory authority

When the previous language, which was replaced Wednesday, had gone before the Senate agriculture committee June 6, both Sanderson and Sen. Michael Lazzara, R-Onslow, said the intention was to “rein in” the Division of Coastal Management and CAMA authority.

The North Carolina General Assembly passed the Coastal Area Management Act in 1974 to guide development on land near coastal waters. The Coastal Resources Commission adopts rules for CAMA that are carried out by the Division of Coastal Management, under the Department of Environmental Quality. The commission also determines for the 20 coastal counties area of environmental concern, which are those areas that are vulnerable to flooding or erosion, or may have environmental, social, economic or aesthetic values that make it valuable to the state.

State archaeology officials said in a June 10 response that the language was linked to a subdivision being built in Cedar Point where “extensive Native American human burials and an undisturbed Woodland period (1000 BC – AD 1600) village site have been found” and the bill as it was written then “would endanger some of North Carolina’s most significant archaeological and historical resources, including Native American village sites and human burials.”

Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Public Information Officer Michele Walker said Friday that two archaeological sites were found in the 1970s at the tract where Bridge View subdivision is now being developed.

Walker said that the department, through the Office of State Archaeology and the State Historic Preservation Office, is one of 10 state agencies that review CAMA major permit applications. These agencies may recommend specific permit conditions based on the permit review.

In response to the division’s CAMA Major Permit application review, the Office of State Archeology noted that the area of potential effect for the proposed Bridge View subdivision contained these two known and unassessed prehistoric archaeological sites that are adjacent to four other archaeological sites identified in a survey for the neighboring subdivision of the 1990s Magens Bay subdivision, she said.

“During construction at the site, the remains of at least five individuals were inadvertently disturbed in the developer’s Phase 1 area, which is outside the CAMA defined area of environmental concern,” Walker said. “And an initial archaeological survey within the AEC has identified 11 additional human burial sites, each of which may include multiple individuals. This initial archaeological survey included test trenches that, cumulatively, uncovered just over 1 acre of the almost 21-acre area of environmental concern.”

State Archaeologist Chris Southerly told Coastal Review last week that the “initial findings at this site indicate that this area was a pre-contact-era American Indian settlement which was occupied over multiple generations.”

Southerly said the site “is one of the most significant archaeological sites ever identified in North Carolina and could help us to understand more about these ancient people and their day-to-day lives. It’s important to recognize that this site contains multiple human burial sites – the ancestors of people living in coastal North Carolina today. These once-vibrant people deserve the utmost respect and care of their final resting place.”

Sanderson still could try to harness CAMA

Sanderson suggested at the agriculture committee meeting earlier this month that, during the legislative session most likely to begin in January, lawmakers can review CAMA parameters, “and see which ones are still good, which ones are outdated, which ones need to be changed or updated.”

“We welcome any opportunity to improve on our 50-year history of balancing the protection of coastal resources and the public trust with economic development. We all share a common desire to enjoy a healthy environment and economic growth. We support any reforms that are thoughtful, stakeholder engaged, and that will result in positive outcomes for a healthy coast and for the public,” division officials said Thursday.

It’s been a long time, Sanderson said in noting 50 years had passed since the landmark coastal measure became law. “CAMA has done a lot of great work on the coast, exactly what it was intended for,” but it’s time for a review “and we need to make sure that what we’re doing is still relevant for the coastal area, for the environment and for the people who want to take advantage of our areas.”

Division officials last week in response explained that eliminating its regulatory role does not improve the process for the public, “it simply replaces it with a much slower federal process, and certain permit applications that are now processed by DCM within two weeks could be taken over by the US Army Corps of Engineers and take six months or more to process.”

The division “serves as a permitting clearinghouse for coastal development so that one application to us covers all state and federal permits in most cases. Instead of having DCM guide applicants on necessary permits and standards, applicants will have to figure those out on their own and may inadvertently find themselves in violation of state or federal law due to a lack of awareness.”

The primary goal of CAMA is to balance protection of the public trust — environmental, cultural, aesthetic, recreational use — with private use and economic development, DCM officials said.

“DCM has a 50-year history of finding this balance, coordinating with other state and federal regulatory and resource agencies to continuously streamline the permitting process. This has made NC one of the most efficient coastal management programs in the nation. Some of the HB385 provisions stand to reverse years of progress to the detriment of the public,” officials continued. “Local governments may face heavier burdens on their staff time and resources to manage development activity that is currently handled by the state, including adopting and enforcing new ordinances, and resolving disputes and legal challenges.”

Sanderson also noted about the previous language discussed at the agriculture committee meeting June 6 that the provision would limit CAMA permits to development activities only within an area of environmental concern, and that Division of Coastal Management would be the only agency authorized to review and issue CAMA permits.

Division of Coastal Management officials said their agency collaborates with Cultural Resources staff throughout the permitting process if archaeological work on a project is requested, including after a permit is issued if there is a condition placed on the permit related to archaeological resources.

“Between 2020 and 2023, the Division of Cultural and Natural Resources reviewed 737 projects that were seeking major coastal permits and recommended archaeological work on 13 of those projects,” Walker said. The Office of State Archaeology “has limited to no statutory enforcement authority outside of its commenting responsibilities for environmental permits. Human burials, both marked and unmarked, do have statutory protections.”

The bill as it was previously written would have restricted the Office of State Archaeology, among other state agencies, from being consulted or recommending conditions on permits issued pursuant to CAMA.

“This sets an alarming precedent and could leave the permitting body or official unable to consult archaeological experts within state government when determining a project’s impact on archaeological and historical resources, including unmarked human remains,” she said.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission officials have proposed closing this year’s flounder season for inland waters, and are asking for feedback from the public.

The closure was proposed to be consistent with the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission’s plan not to open its recreational flounder season in coastal waters for 2024.

While Marine Fisheries has not announced when the commercial flounder season will be, Wildlife Resources officials are disappointed that it plans to open one.

Wildlife Commission Chairman Monty Crump wrote in a letter dated June 10 to Fisheries Commission Chairman Rob Bizzell that when the Wildlife Commission met June 6, “commissioners expressed their distaste for closing the recreational season while the commercial season remains open. They ultimately voted to notice temporary rule text for a closed flounder season so that the WRC could receive public input. If that input comes back in opposition as I imagine it will, I do not think there will be enough votes, if any, to pass a closed season.”

This isn’t the first time that recreational flounder season has caused conflict between the two agencies. Last year, for the first time in at least a decade, the recreational flounder seasons for coastal and inland waters did not align, causing confusion for recreational fishers, especially in the joint waters that both agencies manage, and drawing attention to an impasse between the two.

Last year, Wildlife Resources allowed a daily catch of four flounder, each no smaller than 15 inches, between Sept. 1 and Sept. 14. Marine Fisheries’ recreational season was Sept. 15-30 and allowed just one fish longer than 15 inches per day.

Wildlife officials are asking for public comment on the temporary rule for 2024, “Flounder shall not be taken or possessed.” Comments can be submitted until July 5 through an online form; by email to regulations@ncwildlife.org and including name, county and state; or by mail to Rulemaking Coordinator, 1701 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1701.

A virtual public hearing is scheduled on the proposed amendment for 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 26, and an in-person hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 27, at Craven Community College in New Bern. Registration is required for the online meeting.

The Division of Marine Fisheries announced that the Marine Fisheries Commission determined during its quarterly meeting May 23 not to open recreational flounder for 2024 “to preserve the southern flounder resource.”

According to the division, “Estimates from 2023 indicate the recreational catch exceeded the quota allowed under a stock rebuilding plan that was included in Amendment 3 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan and adopted by the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission.”

The division’s Public Information Officer Tricia Smith told Coastal Review last week that this year’s recreational flounder season closure is following the plan under Amendment 3.

Southern flounder is an overfished species, and overfishing is occurring, Smith said. Overfished means that the population size is too small, and overfishing means the removal rate is too high.

When Marine Fisheries adopted Amendment 3 in May 2022, they also adopted separate quotas for recreational and commercial sectors — quotas based on the 2017 stock assessment.

The sector harvest allocations approved in the amendment were 70% commercial and 30% recreational of total allowable catch for 2022 through 2024. Starting in 2025, allocations will shift to 60% commercial and 40% recreational, and then 50% commercial and 50% recreational 2026 and beyond.

Right now, the commercial fishery does have more of a quota, but that was based on historical landings, Smith said.

Amendment 3 also put into place a pound-for-pound payback. If the quota is exceeded one year, “then pound per pound, you pay it back the next year,” she said.

The 2022 recreational fishery went over its quota, which was subtracted from what was allotted in 2023. And 2023’s landings went over the quota again, “so what’s left this year with recreational is barely enough to cover what the estimates have been averaging for dead discards,” Smith said. “It’s just not enough to really open a season.”

The same applies to the commercial fishery, Smith said. If they go over their quota, whatever that number is will be subtracted from the next year’s quota, and that’s taking into account the length of the season.

To determine recreational quota, numbers from the Marine Recreational Information Program are used. All states participate in the federal program that surveys fishermen to collect data, which is then used to determine estimates.

Commercial fishermen this past year were required to report every day during the flounder season, which “gave us a much better idea of where they were at their quota and when to close it,” Smith said.

In his letter, Crump said that he understands that the recreational sector exceeded its quota in 2023, while the commercial sector did not significantly exceed its quota.

“This is because the commercial sector’s landings were monitored daily and the season was closed as harvest approached the total allowable landings. Had monitoring for the recreational sector been conducted similarly, the season could have been closed in time to prevent the quota from being exceeded so much that there could be a season in 2024. Additionally, if the recreational sector was allocated an equal share of the total allowable landings, as initially proposed in Amendment 3, the sector may not have exceeded its quota,” Crump wrote.

He suggested that the Marine Fisheries Commission do what was discussed during its May meeting and call a special meeting to consider shifting allocations earlier than originally outlined in Amendment 3.

“The MFC should immediately conduct a special meeting to allocate 50% of the Total Allowable Catch to each sector in 2024 and not wait until 2026. Our recreational constituents should not suffer without a harvest season for something that was not their fault,” Crump wrote.

Smith said that with recreational flounder season closed this year, and more of a quota next year, the hope is that there will be enough quota for a season in 2025, but there’s no guarantee.

“We realize that a lot of the recreational fishermen feel like ‘I only catch one fish a year, there’s no way that I can be impacting the resource’ but there’s more than a million fishermen out there. It’s not just that one fish that you caught. It’s the fish that everybody caught,” plus dead discards, Smith said.

One of the longstanding disagreements between the two commissions is how to manage joint waters, which Crump mentioned in his June 10 letter.

He wrote that the state Rules Review Commission approved and once again reaffirmed the Wildlife Resources Commission’s authority to set rules for hook-and-line fishing in joint fishing waters at its April 30 meeting.

“Therefore, when the WRC meets on July 25th we will vote to accept, alter, or reject the proposal to close flounder season in both inland fishing waters and for hook and line in joint fishing waters,” Crump wrote. “I call on you to do the right thing for North Carolina’s recreational anglers and the businesses that depend upon them — call a special meeting to modify Amendment 3 and reallocate the flounder quota so that it is finally equitable between the two sectors and allow a recreational season in 2024.”

An ongoing lawsuit has put on hold both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s plan to treat the toxic blue-green algae in Lake Mattamuskeet and state funding for the project.

On behalf of Defenders of Wildlife and the Sierra Club, the Southern Environmental Law Center challenged on May 20 the service’s decision “to allow the experimental use of an algaecide identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as toxic to birds in the 40,000-acre Lake Mattamuskeet” which has shown declining water quality since the early 1990s.

The 50,180-acre Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1934, providing habitat for hundreds of species of birds and is part of the Atlantic Flyway. The lake once filled with seagrass had none by 2017, and the declining submerged aquatic vegetation has led to poor water quality and clarity and contributed to large blooms of phytoplankton and cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

The North Carolina Collaboratory, under the direction of the General Assembly, in July 2022 awarded a $5 million contract to the vendor, BlueGreen Technologies, which has an office in Pennsylvania, to test out its Lake Guard Oxy product on 400 acres of the lake. Based on results of several toxicity tests, the maximum single dosage rate to be used was to be 50 pounds per acre of Lake Guard Oxy, according to the service.

Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney and Leader of the Wildlife Program Ramona McGee explained to Coastal Review that Mattamuskeet Refuge “is a revered bird sanctuary, so we’re very concerned about the impacts to birds from this toxic algaecide. This is a plan that resulted from the North Carolina General Assembly appropriating funds to the Collaboratory to conduct an experimental test of an algaecide. And for whatever reason, they selected Lake Mattamuskeet as their test site.”

The lawsuit is asking the court to block the plan until the Fish and Wildlife Service “conducts a full analysis that protects the mission and purpose of the wildlife refuge and takes a hard look at the toxic algaecide’s harms and the available alternatives,” the center said in its announcement.

The service, in a response to the lawsuit filed May 29, states that because of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s May 16 press release announcing that the “project would be ‘starting on June 1,’ Plaintiffs initiated this lawsuit and sought a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction. However, as a result of the lawsuit, the Collaboratory has halted funding and put the Project on hold due to this pending lawsuit.”

McGee with the law center explained that not all details of how the company was selected for the study are known.

“What we do know is that BlueGreen Technologies registered lobbyists in the North Carolina General Assembly, and then subsequently the North Carolina General Assembly appropriated funds for this study. The vendor had to meet very specific criteria, and those criteria” match up with BlueGreen’s Lake Guard Oxy product and, “kind of unsurprisingly,” when the request for bids went out for this product, BlueGreen won with its Lake Guard Oxy product.

“After that, through whatever decision-making process, they selected Lake Mattamuskeet as the test site and again, Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge is a bird sanctuary, and this algaecide is toxic to birds,” McGee said.

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service representative told Coastal Review that the service does not comment on active or pending litigation.

Emergency relief

The Fish and Wildlife Service released in March its final environmental assessment for the cyanobacteria treatment pilot study, and not long after, on May 16, the NCDEQ issued the press release stating that the department, under state water quality laws, had granted a certificate of coverage for the project to move forward as early as June 1.

“Because of that, the plaintiffs, the conservation groups here, went to the court seeking emergency relief,” McGee said, referring to the complaint filed May 20, motion filed May 24 that sought a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, as well as the court-ordered, expedited hearing which took place May 31.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, the defendants in this case, indicated in their response brief in opposition to SELC’s motion dated May 29 that the Collaboratory had temporarily “halted funding and put the Project on hold due to this pending lawsuit,” but that funding could resume at any time.

The service added that, despite the Department of Environmental Quality’s announcement that the trial study could start on June 1, there were several steps that needed to be taken before the first treatment could be applied. Those steps could take around 10 weeks to complete.

SELC, in its May 30 reply to the defendant’s response brief, said its clients welcomed the new information and agreed to withdraw their request for a temporary restraining order, but not their request for a preliminary injunction.

“Because, as Defendants note, the UNC Collaboratory could resume funding the project at any time and set the project in motion, the Conservation Groups maintain their request for a preliminary injunction,” according to the reply.

McGee said that now, because of the new timeline, “we’re back to briefing.”

This means that the defendants will need to respond to the the law center’s May 30 reply by June 21, and then the groups would have to answer within 10 days, McGee explained.

This is still a request. “We’re still asking, at this point, the court to issue an order ensuring that defendants won’t move forward with the toxic algaecide experiment during the pendency of the lawsuit, but it’s at a slightly slower pace than it was before, given that defendants have basically assured us and the court that they’re not going to be applying the algaecide in the next couple of months,” McGee said.

The Collaboratory, in a prepared statement in response to Coastal Review’s query, said the vendor was selected in accordance with state law and that an academic team from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill was working with the vendor to gather and assess baseline water quality data from Lake Mattamuskeet.

“The baseline data collection is ongoing, and the Collaboratory has made it clear to the vendor that subsequent phases of the project, including cost reimbursements for treatment activities, will depend on having all necessary State and federal authorizations in place. The continued collection of these data are important to better understand the impacts and effects of harmful algal blooms (HABs) in aquatic environments throughout our State,” according to the statement.

‘Evil plot of a comic book villain’

Plaintiffs Sierra Club North Carolina Chapter Acting State Director Erin Carey and Jane Davenport, senior attorney at Defenders of Wildlife, remain concerned about the algaecide study.

“An experimental algaecide that’s toxic to birds, targeted for use in a federal bird sanctuary, so a private company can collect proprietary information for its own profits –this whole thing feels like the evil plot of a comic book villain,” Carey said. “Common sense, public outcry, and even long-established mission priorities have failed to stop this misaligned and destructive project; our lawsuit is the logical next step. The stewardship inherent to the management of our preserves is paramount to the protection of thousands of species. We are proud to stand with our partners to protect the birds and other wildlife of Lake Mattamuskeet.”

Davenport reiterated that Defenders of Wildlife continues “to be very concerned about using Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge as a testing ground for an algaecide known to be toxic to birds. We are grateful that we have more time to fully lay out the legal issues with the Fish and Wildlife Service’s short-circuited environmental analysis that treated the experiment as a done deal.”

‘Little risk of negative impact to birds’

The EPA said in March 2023 that Lake Guard Oxy “is toxic to birds. Do not apply this product or allow it to drift to blooming crops or weeds while pollinating insects are actively visiting the area.”

The environmental assessment the Fish and Wildlife Service released in March 2024, notes that the statement, “toxic to birds,” on the label of Lake Guard Oxy, “must be considered in the context of the use of the product,” but concluded that the expected benefits offset the risk.

“The Service believes that use of Lake Guard Oxy in the manner and location in which it is proposed will have little risk of negative impact to birds. The potential long-term benefits of the proposed action for birds and refuge habitats outweighs the potential for negative impacts.”

A BlueGreen Water Technologies spokesperson told Coastal Review Monday that the company “has safely remediated water bodies around the globe using its Lake Guard Oxy technology to improve ecosystems for waterfowl and wildlife.”

While the EPA’s product label “advises for potential toxicity of the active ingredient under a variety of conditions on land and water, BlueGreen’s protocol is specific to harmful algal blooms and our dosage rates for Lake Mattamuskeet are below toxic thresholds as confirmed through proactive testing on waterfowl,” they said.

The product “was developed as a ‘leave no trace’ protocol for use in threatened ecosystems battling toxic, harmful algae blooms, like Lake Mattamuskeet. The peroxide-based product is fully biodegradable and breaks down into water and oxygen molecules. Compared to other peroxide-based treatments, Lake Guard Oxy has been found to provide higher efficacy at much lower doses due to the floating time-release formulation,” they continued.

In the weeks before this year’s hurricane season began, weather and safety officials worked to spread the same message: Because it only takes one storm to impact a community, prepare now.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center Director Dr. Michael Brennan said Friday that “we’re on the precipice of what looks to be a very active 2024 hurricane season,” which began Saturday and ends Nov. 30.

This is the most active seasonal forecast that NOAA has ever issued in May, with the forecast looking to be busy with 17 to 25 named storms and eight to 13 hurricanes, of which four to seven are expected to become major hurricanes, Brennan said during a press conference at the Miami, Florida-based center.

There’s a “very high chance of a very active hurricane season,” but the main message “is preparation has to be the same every year, regardless of what any seasonal forecast says. It only takes one storm affecting you and your community to make it a busy hurricane season,” Brennan continued.

Brian Haines with the North Carolina Department of Public Safety told Coastal Review that while the Climate Prediction Center calls for an 85% chance of an above normal season, “history has taught us that it only takes one storm to impact our state, which is why we encourage all North Carolinians to be resilient and prepare for any natural or manmade disaster.”

National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist Erik Heden with the Newport/Morehead City office shared a similar message. “It takes just one storm to make an impact on our life,” Heden said.

Assistant State Climatologist Corey Davis, speaking during a recent webinar about this year’s hurricane season forecast, said much the same.  

“An active hurricane season does not necessarily mean it’ll be an impactful one locally, but by the same token, it only takes one storm in your area to make it a very impactful and a very memorable season,” Davis said.

Tropical storms, hurricanes threats

Heden said Friday to “never, ever focus on just the category of the storm,” referring to the Saffir-Simpson Scale that measures only hurricane wind speeds, which determine a storm’s category, 1-5.

“The category tells us only the strength of the storm based on wind alone. It says nothing about how much rain we will see, what the storm surge will be, how long the storm will sit over us, whether or not it is a large or slow-moving storm,” Heden said. Adding, that Irene in 2011 and Florence in 2018 were Category 1 storms. “The category of the storm is part of the puzzle, not the whole puzzle.”

Brennan emphasized Friday during the press conference that it doesn’t take a major hurricane making landfall for there to be major impacts.

“Rainfall flooding has been the deadliest hazard in tropical storms and hurricanes in the United States over the last 10 years. It’s been responsible for more than half of the fatalities. The rainfall flooding is almost entirely unrelated to the strength of a storm,” Brennan said.

“It doesn’t matter what category it is, whether it’s a tropical depression, tropical storm or hurricane, all that matters is how long it rains and how hard it rains in a given location for a given amount of time, and again, that rainfall flooding has been the biggest killer,” Brennan added.

It’s water hazards in general have officials most concerned.

“The combination of rainfall flooding storm surge and surf and rip currents are responsible for about 85 to 90% of the fatalities we see in tropical storms and hurricanes across the United States,” Brennan said.

He called surf and rip currents “an underappreciated hazard” in tropical storms and hurricanes. These have killed more people than storm surge over the last 10 years in the United States, especially along East Coast-facing beaches like Florida, North Carolina and New Jersey. “They’re susceptible to dangerous ocean conditions that are spawned by hurricanes that might be hundreds of miles away.”

Post-storm safety is another increasing point of emphasis, Brennan said.

“We’ve lost almost as many people after tropical storms and hurricanes in this country in the last 10 years as we’ve lost from the direct forces of the storm itself,” he said. Indirect fatalities are those occurring from accidents, power issues, cardiac arrest, improper generator use, heat exhaustion and lack of medical access that are connected to storms.

To help communicate the hazards associated with hurricanes and storms, Brennan said that the National Hurricane Center is disseminating Spanish language products translated by artificial intelligence programs to reach those whose primary language is Spanish.

“The other thing we’re doing is rolling out an experimental version of the cone graphic by mid-August that’s going to show the inland extent of the tropical storm and hurricane watches and warnings,” Brennan said.

How, why preparing is critical

Knowing your risk is the first step to prepare for a hurricane, Brennan said Friday.

“Know if you live in a storm surge evacuation zone — that forms the foundation of your entire hurricane preparedness plan,” Brennan said. You may be asked to evacuate your home by emergency management or government officials and “you need to know where you’re going to go, how you’re going to get there, what you’re taking with you.”

And remember that in many cases, you only need to evacuate tens of miles, not hundreds of miles, to get to a safe place.

“Preparation is key. If you’re going to shelter in place for a storm, you want to have your emergency kit in place,” Brennan said, and you should start collecting now multiple days’ worth of nonperishable food, water, medicine, batteries — “anything you’re going to need to survive the aftermath of a major hurricane landfall” — taking into account that there may be power outages for days, with no access to medical or emergency services.

Federal Emergency Management Agency Deputy Administrator Erik A. Hooks said Friday during the press conference that officials were “getting down to the wire” when it comes to making sure communities are prepared.

“The time to make sure that you have a clear understanding of your unique risk is now,” said Hooks.

Things you should prepare for and take into account to be risk ready include the following:

• Do you have medication that requires refrigeration?
• Do you have a medical device that runs off electricity?
• Do you have mobility challenges that make it more difficult to evacuate in a time?
• When was the last insurance checkup, including flood insurance?

“Now is the time to ask yourselves these questions, understand your particular risk for you and your community, and put a plan together so that you are prepared when disaster strikes,” Hooks said. “Start getting risk-ready now.”

Heden said that while peak hurricane season isn’t until Sept. 10, eastern North Carolina has had storms in June and July.

“You should prepare each and every year for hurricane season, and please don’t wait,” Heden said. Preparedness is a three-step process, he said.

The first step is to know your risk, and “Vulnerability extends beyond weather risk,” Heden said. “Who lives in your home? Do you have young kids, elderly parents? Does somebody in your home rely on power for oxygen? Your vulnerability will help you determine the next two steps.”

The second step is to have a hurricane kit with at least three to seven days’ worth of food, water and medicine.

If you choose to stay during a storm, you may not be able to get out or first responders may not be able reach you.

“Life won’t be normal right away,” and you may be without help for at least three days, or longer, Heden said, also suggesting purchasing  items here and there to buffer the financial strain of preparing.

And the third step is to have an evacuation plan with at least two places to go, Heden explained.

“I like to have a northern and southern option. You want to go away from the storm’s path. Don’t just plan to go to Goldsboro or Raleigh. Sometimes impacts occur well inland,” he said. “Make sure your plan includes your pets and anybody in your house. Your last resort is a shelter. Those are stressful and packed. You will be more comfortable in a hotel or a family or friend’s house.”

Haines said to ensure multiple ways to receive information from reputable sources, such as area emergency management team and public safety agencies, local media outlets, or North Carolina Emergency Management.

Everyone living or vacationing in North Carolina’s coastal counties should also Know Your Zone. That’s the name of an initiative that established evacuation zones to streamline the evacuation process in the event of an emergency, Haines said.

From an insurance perspective, State Department of Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey said Wednesday during a press conference in Kinston livestreamed by Neuse News that preparation should include steps to protect important documents like car titles and deeds. Causey also recommended speaking with an insurance agent in advance of a storm, “and if you don’t have flood insurance, look at getting a flood policy, because you have to have a separate flood insurance policy to have that covered.”

Causey cautioned that companies won’t issue insurance when there’s a named storm heading in this direction.

“You’re not going to be able to buy insurance, and when you do buy flood insurance, there’s a 30-day waiting period, so you’ve got to think at least more than 30 days ahead to get that flood insurance coverage,” he said.

People really need to understand and know that homeowners policies do not cover floods, Causey explained. “We learned that lesson — hard lesson — during Hurricane Florence, when we had 23 southeastern counties underwater, and 88,000 people lost their homes and everything in it and found out they had no insurance because floods are not covered under a homeowner’s policy.”

He said the department is there to help and residents can call to speak to a representative or email with questions, disputes or claims. Contact information is on the department’s website.

Why an above-normal forecast?

“Human-caused climate change is warming our ocean globally and in the Atlantic basin, and melting ice on land, leading to sea level rise, which increases the risk of storm surge. Sea level rise represents a clear human influence on the damage potential from a given hurricane,” NOAA officials said when it released the May outlook.

NOAA Administrator Dr. Rick Spinrad, speaking during a press conference May 23, said that this season is looking to be extraordinary in a number of ways. Data and models show El Niño/La Niña weather patterns playing a significant role.

El Niño is the flow of warm ocean surface waters from the Pacific toward and along the western coast of South America. La Niña is the opposite: an upwelling of cold Pacific Ocean water to the surface along the western coast of South America.

“The key this year, as in any year, is to get prepared and stay prepared,” Spinrad said. “It’s the best way to reduce risk, especially the risk of potential loss of life.”

The Climate Prediction Center in May forecast a 77% chance of La Niña forming during the August-October time frame and “We know the development of La Nina can lead to weaker easterly tradewinds and below average vertical wind shear in the tropical Atlantic Ocean.” Such conditions can be more conducive for tropical cyclone development.

Additionally, Spinrad said, NOAA’s National Center for Environmental Information has reported record warm water temperatures for much of the tropical Atlantic Ocean.

“Forecast modeling indicates that above-average sea surface temperatures are predicted during the peak months of the Atlantic hurricane season from August to October,” Spinrad said. “We know warm sea surface temperatures are an important factor in rapid intensification of tropical cyclones to major hurricane status.”

NOAA’s outlook is for overall seasonal activity and is not a landfall forecast. NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center will update the 2024 Atlantic seasonal outlook in early August before mid-September, the historical peak of the season, officials said.

Visit ReadyNC.gov for more information from the state on preparing for storms or knowyourzone.nc.gov to learn more about the coastal evacuation zones.

A study on last year’s extreme heat and the National Weather Service’s most recent seasonal outlook both point to 2024 being just as warm or even warmer than 2023’s record-breaking temperatures.

Researchers behind the study, “2023 summer warmth unparalleled over the past 2,000 years,” found that not only was 2023 reported as the hottest year on record, for most of the Northern Hemisphere, the year also included the warmest summer in 2,000 years.

Dr. Jan Esper and Dr. Max Torbenson, geography professors at Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany, and Dr. Ulf Büntgen, a professor from Cambridge’s Department of Geography, wrote the study published this month in the journal Nature.

Esper explained during a recent online press briefing that the study places the 2023 temperature extremes into a long-term context, in this case the last two millennia.

They combined existing meteorological records with data from the nine longest temperature sensitive tree-ring chronologies to examine June, July and August surface air temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere extra-tropics, Esper said. This region is between the latitude line that runs through New Orleans and Cairo, or 30 degrees north, and the North Pole, 90 degrees north.

The researchers also found that the temperature baseline from the 19th century used to contextualize global warming for the Paris Agreement is cooler by a few tenths of a degree than previously thought.

This period is really not well covered with instruments, Esper said of the years 1850-1900, but at least for the region in the Northern Hemisphere that was studied, the tree rings “can do really, really well.” He said the tree ring data can be used as a substitute and show the early instrumental temperature errors.

The study also found that in the last 60 years, greenhouse gas emissions have caused El Niño events to become stronger, leading to hotter summers, and 2023 is consistent with a greenhouse gases-induced warming trend that is amplified by an unfolding El Niño event.

The current El Niño is forecast to end early this summer, and past data shows that there is a lag between extreme El Niño conditions and large-scale temperature deviations, making it likely that 2024 will see temperature records broken again.

“When you look at the long sweep of history, you can see just how dramatic recent global warming is,” Büntgen said in a statement. “2023 was an exceptionally hot year, and this trend will continue unless we reduce greenhouse gas emissions dramatically.”

Officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information explained in its global monthly report that April 2024 is the 11th-consecutive month of record-high global temperatures. The month ranked as the warmest April on record, suggesting that Büntgen is right that the heat trend is continuing.

According to the global annual temperature rankings outlook, “there is a 61% chance that 2024 will rank as the warmest year on record and a 100% chance that it will rank in the top five of warmest years recorded.”

And, “based on current anomalies and historical global annual temperature readings, it appears that it is virtually certain that 2024 will be a top 10 year, consistent with a strong propensity since 1988 for recent years to be initially ranked as a top 10 year,” NOAA officials said.

State relief programs

To help communities take action to reduce the health effects caused by extreme heat exposure, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office announced Tuesday that May 26-June 1 is North Carolina Heat Awareness Week, and reminded residents of the state’s heat-preparedness tools.

“As our summers continue to get hotter, today’s proclamation raises awareness of the many tools and resources available to keep our communities safe from extreme heat,” Cooper said.

On the state level, several programs have been launched to help communities weather the heat, especially for outdoor workers, infants and children, older adults, pregnant people, athletes, low-income individuals and people with underlying health conditions who are at higher risk for heat-related illnesses.

The N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency, N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, N.C. State Climate Office and the Duke University Heat Policy Innovation Hub teamed up to create the Heat Action Plan Toolkit for health departments, local governments and other community partners to develop their own plans specific to their needs.

Chief Resilience Officer Dr. Amanda Martin told Coastal Review Wednesday that the state wants everyone to know the signs of heat illness when they are enjoying the summer sun at the coast.

“Extended extreme heat is dangerous to the human body. Perhaps just as dangerous as the actual heat is ignoring the protective factors that reduce and eliminate heat illness and death,” Martin said. “Last year was the hottest year in 2,000 years, so it’s more important than ever for outdoor workers and indoor workers without air conditioning to take breaks, access cooler air, and drink water. Senior citizens, young children and people with health conditions are especially vulnerable to heat waves.”

Also, the state Health and Human Services’ Climate and Health Program launched its Heat Health Alert System this month to notify subscribers when the heat index is expected to reach unhealthy levels in their county. The program operates a Heat-Related Illness Surveillance System from May through September and documents weekly emergency department visits for heat-related illness in the state.

“We want all North Carolinians to enjoy a safe and healthy summer,” said Dr. Susan Kansagra, Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Public Health, in a news release. “With more than 3,900 emergency department visits for heat-related illness in North Carolina last summer, preparing for extreme heat at the local level is critical to protecting the health of North Carolina residents and workers.” 

The Office of Recovery and Resiliency announced last week its newest product, the NC Resilience Exchange website, an interactive resource to help local and state leaders find relevant information in the wealth of climate data available online.

“The Exchange offers funding opportunities, a directory of experts, interactive mapping tools, model ordinances and more in a one-stop-shop that is relevant to North Carolina communities,” according to the website.

Federal efforts

At the federal level, the Biden-Harris administration on May 20 announced it had committed $4.55 million for the interagency National Integrated Heat Health Information System  “to enhance community science observations and data collection on extreme heat, and provide assistance to communities planning for and evaluating equitable heat resilience projects.”

NOAA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention founded the system in 2015 to lead developing community resilience to the effects of extreme heat.

The Center for Collaborative Heat Monitoring based at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham will assist organizations conduct local climate and health studies. The Center for Heat Resilient Communities that will be based out of California and Arizona is to offer diverse expertise and knowledge-sharing hubs to identify and evaluate policies, protocols, and lessons for heat resilience.

“The impacts of extreme heat caused by climate change are an increasing threat to our health, ecosystems and economy,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in a statement, adding that this investment will support new Centers of Excellence “to help protect historically excluded communities from the dangers of extreme heat, boost climate resilience and increase awareness on best practices to tackle the climate crisis.”

The Durham center will work with the Arizona Science Center, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, and the Museum of Science in Boston to serve the entire country at a regional level.

Officials with the museum said the center will observe, monitor and evaluate factors influencing heat risk at a local scale in 30 historically disadvantaged communities over the next three years. The center is a broad collaborative effort leveraging these place-based institutions and supported by the technical capacity and expertise at CAPA Strategies, Utah State University, the North Carolina State Climate Office, and AQUEHS Corp.

“The past few years have shown us that we can work towards fixing what we can measure,” said Max Cawley, principal investigator for new center and the Museum of Life and Science’s Director for Climate Research and Engagement. “And when it comes to heat imperilment, how you measure also matters. We’re eager to convene a strong collaborative partnership towards expanding where we can measure heat and who’s involved in measuring it.”

Last month, the National Weather Service and the CDC released an experimental online tool called HeatRisk.

HeatRisk provides a color-coded forecast of risk of heat-related impacts that could occur over a 24-hour period. HeatRisk takes into consideration how unusual the heat is for the time of the year, the duration of the heat including both daytime and nighttime temperatures, and if those temperatures pose an elevated risk of heat-related impacts based on data from the CDC, according to the website.

“Climate change is causing more frequent and intense heat waves that are longer in duration, resulting in nearly 1,220 deaths each year in the U.S. alone,” NOAA Administrator Dr. Rick Spinrad said in April when the tool was released. “Last year was the warmest year on record for the globe, and we just experienced the warmest winter on record. HeatRisk is arriving just in time to help everyone, including heat-sensitive populations, prepare and plan for the dangers of extreme heat.”

CDC Director Mandy Cohen explained during a news conference that the tool will help “protect health and improve lives and to prepare for what we anticipate will be a very hot summer. Heat is a threat to our health. Heat can make underlying health conditions worse and heat related illness like heat exhaustion and heat stroke can cause serious illness and even lead to death. Heat can be especially dangerous for certain people, including very young kids.”

This special news feature is part of Coastal Review’s 12-month observance of the Coastal Area Management Act’s 50th year.

BEAUFORT – The state’s Rachel Carson Reserve protects more than its herd of around 30 wild horses.

The dedicated nature preserve’s five uninhabited barrier islands, totaling 2,315 acres, protect historic downtown Beaufort from the ravages of ocean winds and tides.

“You can see just how vulnerable the town of Beaufort can be during storms coming through that Beaufort Inlet,” Central Sites Manager Paula Gillikin said early Friday afternoon from the boardwalk on Carrot Island, one of the five islands making up the site.

Gillikin was speaking to North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality leadership, local, state and federal elected officials, fiscal research and governor’s office budget staff, partners, residents and volunteers, as part of a “Discover the N.C. Coastal Reserve Tour.”

The gathering of about 20 had met earlier that morning at Beaufort Hotel to tour the Rachel Carson Reserve. It was the third stop on a multi-year campaign launched in June 2023 when the Currituck Banks Reserve reopened after repairs. The second stop was at Bird Island Reserve in December 2023.

NCDEQ Chief Deputy Secretary Tim Watkins explained before the tour how 50 years ago, “North Carolina enacted the Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, as we all know it.”

“Passing CAMA in 1974 was a bold and important step that was intended to balance economic development and protection of coastal resources through coordination and planning under the umbrella of state and local partnership,” Watkins said. “CAMA was also intended to reflect the will of coastal residents in finding this balance.”

He noted how CAMA was amended in the 1980s to establish the state Coastal Reserve Program, which “provides public access to coastal areas, essential habitat, fisheries and wildlife, and a cleaner healthier environment for all. The reserve sites also strengthen our communities by developing a sense of place and creating opportunities to reconnect and recharge with our natural world.”

Coastal Reserve Program Manager Rebecca Ellin said that the reserve program protects more than 44,000 acres of coastal and estuarine habitats across the 10 sites.

These sites provide essential habitat for wildlife, educational opportunities for students, teachers and the public, living laboratories for scientists to inform the management of the state’s coasts and estuaries, public enjoyment for citizens and visitors and protection of local communities from storms and erosion, Ellin said.

“The reserve program in North Carolina started nearly 40 years ago with the designation of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve. This happened in 1985 via a state-federal partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Estuarine Research Reserve System and the Division of Coastal Management,” she said.

The designation of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve provided an inspirational model for the state of North Carolina to protect additional habitat areas, Ellin continued.

“In 1989, the General Assembly amended the Coastal Area Management Act to do just that and formally established the North Carolina Coastal Reserve, which includes the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve.”

There were a handful of past and current elected officials on hand, including Rett Newton, who was raised in Beaufort and is a former town mayor. He said that protecting the Rachel Carson Reserve is “personal for us. It is personal. It may not be personal for Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, or Washington, D.C., but I assure you it is very personal for us.”

Beaufort Mayor Sharon Harker, who is in her second term, added that the reserve has a lot of talents, and the town is working with the state programs to protect the island for future generations. “It’s a classroom, it’s a laboratory, it provides us information so that we can inform policies to be better and proactive caretakers of the island, but the reserve is a gem. It’s part of our character, it’s part of our history.”

Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, who also represents Carteret County, told attendees that the reserve is worth fighting for and worth protecting, “not only for its beauty, but its protection” as a barrier island.  “It’s up to us to save it for the next generation.”

Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, was on the coast for the tour, as well. A resident of Greensboro, Harrison said she spends her weekends patrolling the shoreline of the Rachel Carson Reserve and has for 34 years.

She extended her gratitude to those who have made the reserve “such a special place” adding, “I love this place. I’m going to do what I can save it.”

Rep. Celeste C. Cairns, R-Carteret and Craven counties, spoke briefly, stating she is “so proud of this district. It’s impossible to express how much I love it here.”

Gillikin, who grew up in Beaufort and is currently a town commissioner, has been with the reserve program since 2007, and oversees both the Rachel Carson Reserve and Permuda Island Reserve near Topsail Island.

Gillikin said she feels “privileged to coordinate the stewardship of this site and to work with all the passionate community members and commercial users and teachers and advisory committee members. It really is all about people.”

She echoed Newton in that the site is very personal to her, because five generations back, her family owned a lot of the land, and “I never thought that I would come back to Beaufort and be a steward of the land.” She left Beaufort to attend the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

“Their blood, sweat and tears are out there. And mine are too,” she said, clarifying “no big injuries, just some nicks and cuts.”

After the tour, Ellin expressed her gratitude for those who joined, “to celebrate the Rachel Carson Reserve, share their perspectives, and take in its beauty and the diverse roles the reserve plays for ecosystems and people alike.”

About the Carrot Island Living Shoreline Project

Part of the event included a quick peek by boat of the Carrot Island Living Shoreline Project, currently under construction.

A representative of consulting firm Moffatt & Nichol, which is a contractor on the living shoreline project here, told Coastal Review Monday that work began April 12. A joint project between Carteret County and the North Carolina Coastal Reserve, the work includes around 1,475 linear feet of living shoreline, extending along the east side of Carrot Island, which is adjacent to Taylor’s Creek. 

The design features two sills. There is a sill of wave-attenuation units, called ExoForms and manufactured by Natrx, a nature-based resilience and restoration company in Raleigh, and a sill with oyster habitat units called Oyster Catchers, which are manufactured by Sandbar Oyster Co. in Beaufort.

The footprint for the ExoForms is around 11,250 square feet, with a length of 1,250 feet, and the footprint for the oyster habitat sill is about 6,960 square feet, and about 1,270 linear feet.

The sills run parallel to one another with a gap of 10 feet in between. Both are 100-foot segments with 10-foot gaps between the segments to allow water and wildlife to move through.

Plans include planting marsh grass, both Spartina alterniflora and Spartina patens, to support stabilization of the shoreline and enhance the ecological value of the project, according to the company.

“The length of shoreline to be protected was chosen to provide maximum benefit to the Carrot Island shoreline based upon available funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the North Carolina Land and Water Fund, and the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality,” according to the company.

Gilikin said monitoring the project’s performance over time and sharing successes and lessons learned could inform future living shoreline design and estuarine shoreline management in coastal North Carolina.

About the reserve program

The North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve program initiative began in 1982 with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Estuarine Research Reserve System.

Three sites were dedicated in 1985 to be part of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve: Rachel Carson, Currituck Banks and the Zeke Island reserves. The fourth national site, Masonboro Inlet Reserve, was designated in 1991.

The state initiated the parallel program in 1987. This move, according to NCDEQ, was to protect other coastal areas that could not be incorporated into the national program. The state acquired Permuda Island near topsail Island that year and Buxton Woods in the southern Outer Banks in 1988.

In 1989 CAMA formally established the North Carolina Coastal Reserve Program. In the following years, the state program grew to include Kitty Hawk Woods Reserve in 1992, Bald Head Woods Reserve in 1993, Emily and Richardson Preyer Buckridge Reserve in Tyrrell County in 1999, and Bird Island Reserve, the southernmost site, in 2002.

A nonprofit organization founded late last year honors the Secotan leader, Chief Wingina, who was beheaded by the English in June 1586.

Wingina was chief of the tribes that inhabited modern-day Roanoke Island and the mainland across the Albemarle and Croatan sounds. Wingina was first documented by the English during their initial contact in 1584, according to the “Secotan Alliance … and Beyond” website.

A respected regional leader in the Algonquian tribe, early on, Wingina and the tribe helped the English, but soon they realized that the colonists intended to take over the land. Wingina then began using the name Pemisapan out of regret over having invited the English to settle here.

He started working with other tribal leaders to drive the colony away from Roanoke, but the English had learned from an Algonquian hostage of Wingina’s plan to unite the tribes. As a result, he was murdered, one of the earliest documented in North America, according to state documents.

Gray Parsons of Frisco, a descendant of the Machapunga-Mattamuskeet people of the North Carolina inner banks, had the idea to form the nonprofit, “The Secotan Alliance … and beyond” after spending several years “wondering how to create a way to show proper historical respect to Chief Wingina and his Secotan Alliance people, who had been historically marginalized. And also, I wanted to share his traditional indigenous values in a modern-day world that, in my opinion, was sorely in need of it.”

Parsons, who grew up in Washington, graduated from East Carolina University in 1972 with a degree in parks, outdoor recreation and conservation. He spent his career in various fields, including human services, medical sales and marketing, and the organic and natural foods industry.

Now retired, Parsons, in addition to heading up the Secotan Alliance organization, is on the Friends of the Outer Banks History Center board of directors, a volunteer at the Frisco Native American Museum and Natural History Center, and is vice president of the Pitt-GAP chapter of Epsilon Chi Nu Inc., the first Native American fraternity in the U.S. He is the author of the book, “Hope on Hatterask,” published in 2013.

Parsons explained that he launched the nonprofit with the help of Joyce Bornfriend, director of the Frisco Native American Museum, which was approved for IRS 501(c)(3) status in late September 2023.

“Although I had founded and managed my own business for many years before retirement, I had never created nor managed a nonprofit. It’s not an exaggeration to say that without her help and support (the alliance) would likely still be a fantasy rather than a reality,” Parsons said.

Parsons said the focus of the organization is “the indigenous Earth ethic of balance and sustainability, both of which are reflected in the alliance’s dual mission statement.”

After getting the nonprofit started, Parsons has been directing his attention over the last several months to coordinating “In the Spirit of Wingina … and beyond,” the alliance’s inaugural event scheduled for May 30-31.

The symposium is two full days of discussion with professors, environmental groups and authors and is to take place at The College of the Albemarle’s Dare Campus in Manteo. There is no charge to attend but Parsons asks that those who want to attend reserve a seat ahead of time.

“We hope this program accomplishes the initial stages of our missions with a myriad of leaders and grassroots workers from the Outer Banks and Inner Banks … and beyond,” Parsons said, “And that they will be motivated to share what they learn over the packed schedule of this two-day event.”

A kick-off event is set for 4-6 p.m. May 29 at the Frisco Native American Museum with two of the speakers. Seating is limited.

Discussion on the first day of the session will focus on “the consequential (yet often marginalized) life of Chief Wingina/Pemisapan and his Secotan Alliance during early contact with English expeditioners, the English military and the effects of his death on the failed colonization attempt … and beyond,” according to the event webpage.

The second day is to transition from history to Wingina’s and the alliance’s longstanding Earth ethic and a traditional Indigenous approach to modern-day environmentalism. Several area and regional environmental organizations and indigenous people are expected to be on hand.

The symposium has been designed, Parsons explained, to “offer a unique indigenous and ‘indigen-us’ approach to reaching the everyday citizen in terms of modifying our collective behavior in protecting our Mother Earth.  We hope to learn and teach each other in that regard.”

Parsons said the symposium was made possible through grants from the Outer Banks Community Foundation, Dare Arts and a handful of people who are dedicated to making it happen.

Outer Banks History Center Executive Director Tammy Woodward will be joining Parsons as a moderator for the event.

Woodward explained that when Parsons started the nonprofit, he approached the center for feedback.

“When he decided to do this event, he was looking for volunteers to help with some of the duties,” she said, including announcing the speakers, and she volunteered to help. Also, by being director of the history center, she can help answer questions about what records are available locally.

“I think, us being a part of it also lends credibility because Gray’s nonprofit is fairly new. We believe in his mission and we support his highlighting this era of history,” she said. “I’m really excited about this symposium,” adding she’s looking forward to hearing the different perspectives.

The keynote speaker for the two-day discussion is Dr. Michael Leroy Oberg, distinguished professor of history at State University of New York Geneseo, and author of “The Head in Edward Nugent’s Hand, Roanoke’s Forgotten Indians” published in 2010.

“Dr. Oberg’s book tells the story of Chief Wingina instead of subjugating him to a secondary and relatively inconsequential character in the often-told story of ‘The Lost Colony,’” Parsons said, explaining that Oberg did not ignore the events during that chaotic period regarding the role of the English colonists. 

“He simply told the story accurately with balance, including the perspective of both the indigenous population as well as the early civilian and military English expeditioners and colonists. And it was done within the constraints of the academic world as per appropriate citation and peer reviewed scrutiny,” Parsons continued, explaining that this is the only academically accepted work he’s aware of that gave equal time to both the English and Indigenous perspectives in that period.

“From that moment forward, Dr. Oberg became somewhat of a hero to me personally and thus the obvious choice as our keynote and primary speaker at our first event,” Parsons said.

Parsons said that Dr. Charles Ewen, Harriot College distinguished professor of Anthropology at East Carolina University, also is expected to speak May 30.  

Ewen will discuss methods and techniques of how archaeological artifacts are gathered, identified and pieced together in the coastal environment to help better understand parts of the various aspects of culture. 

Dr. Arwin Smallwood, Dean of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at North Carolina Central University, and descendant of the Tuscarora people of North Carolina, will speak on the relationship between the state’s Tuscarora and the Algonquin people of The Secotan Alliance before, during and after English contact.

Dr. Gabrielle Tayac is associate professor in the Department of History and Art History at George Mason University, as well as its faculty adviser for the Native American Student Association. She is a member of the Piscataway Nation, consulting curator for the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and a contributing author on “Native Prospects: Indigeneity and landscapes. Speaking Sovereignty: Powhatan’s Mantle.”

Parsons said Tayac will present “The Indigenous Atlantic: Ancestors Rising,” focusing on land and water ethics, drawing from both her formal and indigenous traditional education models to discuss examples and how they are still relevant today.

The panel planned for the afternoon of the first day is to include representatives from the indigenous tribes, museums and general indigenous diaspora in eastern North Carolina, including the Roanoke Hatterask Tribe, the Machapunga/Mattamuskeet Tribe, the Chowanoke Tribe, Frisco Native American Museum, The Piscataway Nation and other indigenous individuals, Parsons said.

Muddy Sneakers Outdoor Classroom Executive Director David Webb, award-winning author of “The Spanish Seminole” and lifelong environmental activist and director of environmental non-profits from Florida to New York state, will be on hand May 31.

The panel discussion for the second day is to include representatives of Sound Rivers, Peace Garden Project, Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, Frisco Native American Museum, North Carolina Coastal Federation, Hatteras Island Wildlife Rescue, North Carolina Oyster Trail, Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership, Ban Balloon Release NC, and from indigenous groups and individuals.

Aio Sifu, Cherokee descendant, will perform with indigenous flute, storytelling and a Women’s Eastern Blanket Dance demo at 5 p.m. May 31.

Parsons said the hope is attendees “walk away knowing that Chief Wingina was the first indigenous leader on the continent to give his life in resistance to the English destruction of a beautiful indigenous culture and their natural resources, and that Chief Wingina’s Secotan Alliance Earth ethic functioned sustainably for thousands of years and merits strong consideration for mainstream adoption.”