The paddle from downtown Beaufort to the Rachel Carson Reserve offers “tranquility like no other” for guest columnist and N.C. Coastal Reserve Communications Specialist Jillian Daly.
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Offshore wind advocates weigh opportunities, uncertainties
Government officials, researchers and utility insiders shared their observations and concerns about the burgeoning industry during a recent symposium.
Onslow County’s rich coastal history often overlooked
In our county history series: Onslow is home to a sprawling Marine Corps base, but its two rivers were the center of growth for 200 years before.
Nags Head artist honors ‘checkerboard’ lifesaving crews
A recently unveiled painting depicts one of the “checkerboard” crews of the U.S. Life-Saving Service staffed by both Black and white members during the late 19th and early 20th century.
Woman turning family land into refuge for wildlife, herself
Sheba Shiver, who left a career as a clinical psychologist and returned to her family’s 50 acres in Pender County, was approved in 2021 for a conservation grant. While waiting for the money, she had more than 10,000 trees planted.
Cost-share funding for runoff management gains support
The state Environmental Management Commission has unanimously adopted a resolution calling for expanding and funding programs to help landowners manage and lessen polluted stormwater runoff.
Climate change making allergy season longer, worse: Study
Bad news for the sniffly: A new report finds that as warmer temperatures increase the length of growing season, plants are releasing pollen and mold spores for a longer period of time.
Inner Coast: Mattamuskeet project aims to restore ‘balance’
Wendy Stanton, acting refuge manager for Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, says Lake Mattamuskeet is “out of balance,” but officials behind the work say the community’s enthusiasm for cleaning up the lake continues.
‘Morass’ no more: Great Dismal could get new designation
The Great Dismal Swamp, already a national wildlife refuge, is being considered for designation as a National Heritage Area with new conservation, preservation and economic programs.
March fishing fix: Answers, friends, are blowin’ in the wind
While you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, March brings conditions that require anglers to plan, lest the idiot wind blows through the buttons of your coat.
PFAS testing: 1,000 homes qualify for filtration or tap, so far
As PFAS sampling continues on private drinking wells, nearly 1,000 households downstream of Chemours’ Fayetteville Works plant have levels that qualify for in-home filtration systems or a public water utility connection.
Solutions are few for imperiled oceanfront homes: Panel
Officials at the first public meeting of an interagency work group said that while prevention could be far less costly than cleanup, limited programs or funding options are available to deal with erosion-threatened oceanfront homes before they collapse.
Environmental Justice Board to assist on flood resiliency
The Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board has appointed a committee to advise the Division of Mitigation Services on including underrepresented communities in its development of a statewide flood resilience plan.
Salmon Creek seines: Shad, herring fisheries were once big
The historically significant site once saw significant river herring and shad fishing, back-breaking work done almost exclusively by enslaved and free Black laborers.
Ocean Isle Beach may test hay, pine straw bales to trap sand
The Brunswick County town has been granted a variance to use hay and pine straw bales as an alternative to sand fencing at six areas on the eastern end of the island.
Landowners find Black lifesaving hero’s forgotten grave
Retired Coast Guard Cmdr. Gavin Wente and his wife Renee didn’t know when they bought their property last year that it included the unrecorded gravesite of Capt. Lewis Wescott, who participated in one of the most daring ocean rescues in Outer Banks history.