The busiest, most popular route in North Carolina’s vehicle ferry system — the first and, until recently, the largest system in the country — has been between Hatteras and Ocracoke islands on the Outer Banks. Until the state budget was signed into law last month, no proposal to toll the only vehicle access to Ocracoke Island had made it to the governor’s desk. Now it’s part of a provision in a bill that requires tolls be established and implemented for the state’s four free vehicle ferry routes.

The law provided barely six months to develop a plan, identify funding, build the physical and digital infrastructure and inform the public. Immediately, requests were made to extend the Jan. 1 deadline; letters were written, amendments were offered. And during last week’s North Carolina General Assembly sessions to adjust the budget bill, legislators who pushed the tolling provision refused to budge.

“There’s no way,” said Sen. Bobby Hanig, a Currituck County Republican, in response to Coastal Review’s questions regarding the majority’s refusal to consider an extension. “Everyone involved is working their tail off to make this happen … but it’s going to be impossible.”

As Hanig sees it, legislative leaders insisting on the accelerated schedule for tolling show they are “agenda driven” because so little thought has been put into addressing the impacts on the people who use the ferries, or even on the complexity of tolling the sprawling system that serves diverse needs and populations. For instance, school buses were exempted at the last minute, he said, but what about state-owned vehicles, student drivers, emergency workers, waste management trucks, delivery drivers, essential workers?

“You can tell it’s agenda-driven by how it’s probably the worst-drafted provision in the budget,” said Hanig, adding that he had drafted seven amendments to address the deficiencies, including the implementation date for tolling, but legislators at last week’s session wouldn’t hear any of them.

Even the purported reason for tolling doesn’t measure up, he said.

“You know they’re doing this under the ruse of putting it toward new ferry purchases. Well, the best-case scenario, from talking to people that are working on this is, ‘Probably the best we will net is $5 million a year.’ Well, you know, a sound class ferry costs $60 (million). So do the math.”

Telephone messages and emails to Sen. Vickie Sawyer, R-Iredell, and Sen. Mike Lazzara, R-Onslow, both proponents of the tolling measure and its Jan. 1 implementation, yielded no reply.

At the very least, Hanig said, it makes sense to wait for the state auditor to complete the audit of the Ferry Division that is underway and is expected to be presented to the legislature at the start of the 2027 session in January.

Signed by Gov. Josh Stein on July 7, the budget bill’s ferry provision requires tolls be set to fund vessel replacement and upgrades as specified by the Ferry Division’s schedule. The tolling infrastructure and technology must be covered by funds in the division’s operational budget. In addition, the law included an annual systemwide pass for residents and active-duty military to be set at $150 per vehicle, but provided no exemptions or discounts.

Also, Stein noted after signing the bill that he had found the ferry toll provision problematic. “North Carolina’s ferries for many are not a luxury; they’re an essential part of our state’s transportation system that residents rely on for daily life,” the governor said in a statement. “In many cases, ferries are the only practical way for families to access jobs, schools and health care.”

The Ocracoke Access Alliance, which advocates for the ferries, had sent a letter to legislators asking for the tolling to be delayed for a year to provide a more realistic timeframe to set up a program. Alliance Executive Director Justin LeBlanc told Coastal Review that the group had requested an allowance for a free annual residential pass for full-time residents of Ocracoke, “so that we would have at least one route available to us to be able to go to from our homes for free.”

Neither request was granted.

Until recent years, islanders had successfully fought back each time tolling of the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry bubbled up in Raleigh. Since the only way to “drive” on and off the island is on a vehicular ferry, islanders contended ferries are to them the same as a highway like U.S. 64, which is not tolled in northeastern North Carolina, is for other state residents.

But this time, LeBlanc said that it was better to work with the state to find a reasonable way to help keep the ferry system operational. As stated in the 2024 Ferry Division Vessel Replacement Study, many of the 23 ferries in the state’s fleet are old, with an average age of 26 years in 2023 and the vessel Silver Lake at 55 years old. In today’s dollars, the ferries, which are categorized from small to large as river class, Hatteras class and sound class, cost anywhere from $25 million to $55 million per vessel.

LeBlanc said that the alliance had suggested rates of $20 per round trip, or $10 each way, for the Hatteras ferry, with adjustments for inflation over time.

“There is no established tolls in the legislation now,” he said.

The bill directs the Board of Transportation to develop the tolls under the Ferry Division’s advisement. Boiled down, LeBlanc said, the toll comes down to how much of ferry vessel replacement costs should be covered by tolls, and what is the replacement schedule?

“Because if you want to try to cover 100% of vessel replacement costs, tolls are going to be exorbitant,” he said.

In addition to the Hatteras-Ocracoke route, the Currituck-Knotts Island, Bayview-Aurora and Cherry Branch-Minnesott Beach routes have to date been free to ride. The Cedar Island-Ocracoke, Swan Quarter-Ocracoke and Southport-Fort Fisher routes, as well as the Ocracoke Express passenger ferry, are tolled. According to the ferry report, the 70-year-old North Carolina ferry system transported more than 1.5 million passengers and 700,000 vehicles in 2023, making it the second-largest state-run ferry system in the U.S., behind only Washington state.

While discussions continue behind the scenes, Ferry Division officials said they are fully engaged in the process and remain committed to providing access to the state’s coastal communities.

“The N.C. Department of Transportation Ferry Division will work closely with the N.C. Board of Transportation and stakeholders to execute the state budget requirement that tolls be established on all ferry routes,” Tim Hass, Ferry Division communications officer, said in an email. “In the coming months, we will begin discussions about the pricing system, method of tolling and other infrastructure that will be required for this implementation.”

A California-based company has been awarded a multimillion-dollar dredging contract for the Morehead City Inner Harbor.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District tapped Curtin Maritime Corp., which is headquartered in Long Beach, to clear shoaled sediment from the navigation channels within the harbor for $4.3 million. The Corps awarded the contract on July 30.

“Maintaining safe navigable waterways is central to our mission at the Wilmington District,” Wilmington District Commander Col. Ken Porter stated in a release. “This investment ensures that the Morehead City Inner Harbor remains fully operational, supporting regional commerce, maritime industries, and the local economy.”

Curtin Maritime Corp. will, under the direction of the Wilmington District, dredge the channels on a schedule “to align with regional environmental windows to minimize impacts on local marine life and coastal habitats,” the release states.

Sea Tow Wrightsville Beach has added a new vessel to its fleet, one that is expected to decrease response times along the Cape Fear and Northeast Cape Fear rivers by about an hour.

The addition of the 26-foot Twin Vee vessel brings the fleet to a total of seven boats providing on-water assistance in the greater Wilmington, Hampstead and Jacksonville areas.

The new boat operates from Port City Marina.

“This addition represents a meaningful evolution for the Wrightsville Beach franchise, which has operated under the ownership of Chris Willis since 1993,” according to a Sea Tow Wrightsville Beach release. “Willis’ team, led by General Manager Captain Ryan Saporito, consists of a dozen Coast Guard-licensed captains with over 100 combined years of experience, who are ready to respond day or night.”

Sea Tow Wrightsville Beach strategically positions its fleet of purpose-built Sea Tow boats at marinas in Wrightsville Beach, Wilmington, and Carolina Beach in New Hanover County, and Hampstead in Pender County, and on trailers to help minimize response times.

“We are proud to work with Port City Marina to further enhance the boating experience near downtown Wilmington,” Saporito stated in the release. “The addition of this new vessel improves our on-water capabilities by cutting response times which allows for even better assistance to our members and boaters in the community.”

Boat captains patrol high-traffic waterways like Carolina Beach, Masonboro, Mason, Rich, New Topsail and New River inlets daily throughout the summer season.

Boat owners who join Sea Tow pay an annual rate of $249 for Gold Card membership, the benefits of which include unlimited boat towing in the member’s home area, jump starts, fuel delivery, scheduled dock-to-dock tows, and more.

Sea Tow earlier this year released a fully redesigned mobile app that offers a faster, more accurate way to request assistance, and includes intuitive navigation, real-time wind, tides and weather. The app may be downloaded on iOS via the Apple Store and on Android via Google Play.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has opened the public comment period for proposed changes for 2027-28 hunting, fishing and game land regulations.

The agency reviews and adjusts seasons, bag limits and land management rules, as needed, annually to comply with changes in the law, achieve conservation management goals, and respond to constituent requests and suggestions.

The proposed changes are broken down by category, including wildlife management, inland fisheries, land and water access, wildlife education (shooting ranges), and endangered, threatened, and special concern species.

Comments will be accepted through Sept. 14 online, by email to regulations@wildlife.gov, include name, county and state of residence, or by mail to Rulemaking Coordinator, 1701 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1701.

The commission has also scheduled virtual public hearings on the proposed changes.

The first hearing is set for noon on Aug. 20. Participants must preregister, after which time they will receive a calendar invitation and link to the webinar. To join by phone, dial (833) 568-8864 and use Webinar ID:165 897 7256.

A second hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Aug. 25. Preregistration is also required to attend this hearing. Participants who wish to join by phone may call (833) 568-8864 and use Webinar ID:165 787 2139.

The proposed changes will be discussed and considered at the Wildlife Resource Commission Commissioners’ October meeting.

Most of the rules, if adopted, will take effect Aug. 1, 2027 in time for the 2027-28 inland fishing, hunting, and trapping seasons.

“A few approved rules would have a January 1, 2027 effective date,” according to officials.

Current state hunting and fishing regulations are available in the commission’s Regulations Digest.

Geologist Dr. Stan Riggs quoted the scientist Loren Eiseley, who said, “If there’s magic on this Earth, it’s contained in water,” to the more than 150 gathered Saturday for the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s 23^rd annual Pelican Awards.

“And water, if you think about it, is everywhere,” Riggs continued. “It’s everything. It’s what we’re made out of. It’s what drives our coastal system. Where the water comes in contact with the land, that’s a high, high-energy environment. Not on a pretty, sunny day, but when the storms come in, you know there’s energy there. There’s wind. There’s water. There’s power, and we have to learn to live with that. Doesn’t mean we pack our suitcases and walk away. We have to understand it.”

Riggs, professor emeritus of geology at East Carolina University, was at the podium inside Carteret Community College’s Joslyn Hall accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award “For Distinguished Leadership and Lifetime Excellence in Coastal Research, Science, and Stewardship.”

He was among the 13 individuals and groups recognized this year by the nonprofit organization’s staff in its office in Wanchese, headquarters in Carteret County, and office in Wrightsville Beach.

“Today we honor extraordinary people and partnerships that are making a lasting difference for North Carolina’s coast through collaboration, dedication, and shared commitment. Our honorees are helping to ensure a healthier coast for generations to come,” April Clark, president of the organization’s board of directors, said early in the program.

Riggs, who has been studying the coastal environment for more than 60 years, told the crowd that he had spent his career working with others to take a holistic approach in understanding the planet. About 15 years ago, he and other researchers representing a range of disciplines began pooling their resources to learn about North Carolina’s coastal systems.

“In 2010, there was a big change in North Carolina,” when some laws put in place in the 1970s and 1980s were threatened, and there was a population surge putting pressure on the coastal system and “we understood the science, but the science doesn’t do a darn bit of good for anybody if it’s just in a scientist’s head. And one of the things that became clear was that we weren’t making the science available to the public.”

He and a group of partners decided to start a foundation called North Carolina Land of Water, or NCLOW, that focuses on the education and application of science and its dissemination to the public. Then, in the late 2010s, he realized that there was a lot of information and data that nobody would ever see.

“So, I decided to sit down and start writing a book. One book led to two books, led to  — all of a sudden, I was up to number 10,” books that “I didn’t know what to do with.”

He then approached a bunch of publishers, but with the first book being around 850 pages, and wanting lots of photos, maps and history, a mixture of everything in the book, these companies “finally pointed their finger at me and said, ‘We’re in a business to make money, and you’re talking about a $200, $300 book,’” he said, in describing the rejections.

“I finally realized that ‘OK, if we’re going to make this happen, we got to do it ourselves’ but then it means we need a team of people who know how to do this,” he said, and a team appeared, leading to the recently published volume 1, “Cape Lookout National Seashore: Paradigm for a Coastal System Ethic.”

Riggs closed with words written by photographer and poet, John Riggs: “If water is life; abundant water is abundant life. And abundant life is abundant Spirit. She not only thrives in these wild places, she dances, she sings aloud, and she rages. My how she rages!”

Coastal historian

Historian Glenn Blackburn, professor emeritus of history at University of Virginia’s College at Wise, was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award “For Excellence in Coastal History and Conservation Writing.”

Blackburn, author of “Saving Great Places” and “A Spectacular Coast and Its Guardians” spent the last two decades researching the Coastal Federation’s growth from when it was founded in 1982 to becoming a leader in coastal protection and restoration.

Blackburn told the audience that he first learned about the organization 20 years ago when learned how the organization spent 10 years fighting the development of an undeveloped island that was habitat to birds and turtles. Then he learned about a fight early in the organization’s history to stop peat mining on the Albemarle peninsula, saving thousands of acres of wetlands.

“Shortly after that, the Stump Sound fight,” when the organization teamed with the community to stop a developer from ruining oysters and fishing in the Onslow County waters.

It “began to hit me,” Blackburn continued. “This is an environmental group that wins. That’s unusual. This is a story that needs to be told. That’s what got me started on these two history books.”

During his opening remarks, Executive Director Braxton Davis shared a list of the organization’s milestones, including that later this year the organization plans to have a grand opening for its new headquarters called the Coastal Protection and Restoration Center and event venue, Pelican Landing, located on N.C. Highway 24.

The effort to raise the funds to build the new center began in 2020, construction began in February 2025, and staff have moved in over the last month.

With the grand opening planned for this fall, the organization recognized its Capital Campaign Cabinet with a Coastal Visionary Award “For Extraordinary Leadership and Commitment to Establishing the Coastal Protection and Restoration Center.”

Chief Development Officer Sarah King, when presenting the award, said the “truly inspirational” group’s steadfast work “allowed us to raise over $10 million to establish new coastal protection and restoration center.”

As part of the Coastal Visionary Award, King recognized honorary chair, Hugh Cullman, who “was actually the very first person that we shared this idea with, and he was so encouraging.”

Vic Medlin, speaking for the family members attending, accepted the posthumous award for Cullman.

“He loved the North Carolina coast,” and “completely believed in the federation’s vision of providing a better place to live, work, and visit, and he believed in that vision, and he showed it in his donations,” Medlin said. “And on behalf of the Cullman family, we’d like to say thank you again.”

Cabinet Chair Charles C. Meeker said the campaign was a team effort and reminded him “that the federation has a lot of friends, friends who care about the federation and its work, friends who are willing to give substantial donations to make the campaign a success.”

Northeast coast awards

Joy Cook “For Leadership and Dedication to Coastal Protection, Recreation and Cultural Resources.”

Now retired, Cook dedicated nearly 30 years to North Carolina State Parks, including nine as superintendent of Jockey’s Ridge State Park, thanked the organization and its staff for being “one of the easiest and most wonderful relationships that I’ve had the honor of working with.”

Jayne Young “For Outstanding Volunteer Service Advancing Coastal Environmental Education.”

The retired educator, who was recognized for volunteering her time supporting coastal environmental education and inspiring students, told the audience that it is “an honor to be recognized for something we just have so much fun doing.” Having been an educator, “you never know the one that’s going to come back to you years later and say, ‘Well, remember when we did this, and because of that, we’re doing this now.’”

Sean Ellis “For Exceptional Volunteer Contributions to Coastal Stewardship and Community Service.”

The organization said Ellis is being recognized for his countless hours supporting the oyster shell recycling program and maintenance projects around the Wanchese office.

Ellis, who was unable to attend, said in a recording that the award means a lot to him, and thanked his family for their support, his friends at the Coastal Federation, and “most of all you, the sponsors and people who are here today, who keep this program going. Thank you for your continued support and confidence.”

Central coast awards

North River Laurel Road Ladies Outreach Committee “For Grassroots Leadership Advancing Coastal Resilience and Community Action.”

Based in Carteret County’s North River, Laurel Road, and Merrimon communities, the grassroots group was recognized for being trusted leaders and advocates who have “united neighborhoods, amplified local voices, and built partnerships that are helping these historic coastal communities respond to increasing coastal hazards,” according to the organization.

President Matilda Stewart and Vice President Mary Ann Monroe told the crowd that they were truly honored to receive the award on behalf of their community, adding that the “achievement belongs to us as a whole group. If there’s one thing that I’ve learned, it is that our big goals are only achieved with the help of others.” 

Jason Vanzant “For Inspiring Future Coastal Stewards Through Education and Partnership.”

The schools in parks specialist for Hammocks Beach State Park was previously a classroom teacher who focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, that has partnered with the Coastal Federation to connect students with nature-based solutions.

Vanzant said that he is both honored and humbled to receive the award that represents so many others, including the staff, rangers and superintendent of the state park.

Thomas L. Kirmeyer and Nan Bowles “For Dedicated Partnership and Commitment to Advance Watershed Restoration.”

The Coastal Federation recognized the couple for demonstrating “extraordinary conservation leadership” for selling their 8.25-acre waterfront property along Ward Creek in Carteret County at half its market value.

Bowles said that when she is asked what she does, “I respond, I’m a member of the marsh community of Ward’s Creek, along with my husband Tom and our dog Spot. We live on the edge of the forest, on the edge of the marsh, on the edge of Ward’s Creek, which flows in two directions, on the edge of North River, on the edge of Back Sound, on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, with water that flows around.

“In the 37-plus years we have lived here, we have gained interconnections with members of the community. Community members such as the other people who live on our road. Leaping lizards, jumping frogs, the mosquitoes who remind us of the importance of, that we can offer respect and honor, even when someone irritates Us. Dragonflies who are skillful at changing direction. Great blue herons who show us how to see the bigger picture. The marsh grass, black needle rush, and vibrant green spartina grass, both of them having strong, firm roots, and the jumping mullet bringing us healthy humor and laughter. And when we dig beneath these interconnections, we discover stories and lessons that have to point us the way to being the best humans we can be.”

Southeast coast awards

Lindsay Addison “For Dedicated Partnership Advancing Coastal Habitat Conservation and Restoration.”

The coastal biologist for Audubon North Carolina has spent more than a decade protecting coastal birds and their habitats.

Addison told the audience that she is appreciative and honored that the Coastal Federation selected Audubon North Carolina’s Coastal Program for this award and recognition.

“I would be remiss if I didn’t say Audubon North Carolina manages 40% of the state’s nesting coastal waterbirds, and the way I feel about that is I feel to be a very fortunate, very lucky observer of these of these birds, these habitats, and in these landscapes,” Addison said, adding birds are an important part of the overall coastal ecosystems, and important indicators of the health of the coast.

Conserve the Point “For Community Leadership in Protecting and Stewarding the South End of Topsail Island.” 

The nonprofit organization based on Topsail Island formed in 2022 to preserve and protect the south end of Topsail Beach, called The Point, from development. In 2024, the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust purchased the 150-acre property to save the undeveloped property.

The group’s secretary Nancy Pettens, said on behalf of the board, that the award is a “tremendous honor” that belongs to every donor, every volunteer, everyone who thought this place was worth saving. “Most of all, I think it belongs to the Topsail Beach community, near and far, whose passion and generosity made it a reality for us and for future generations.”

Warren Darrell “For Outstanding Volunteer Leadership in Coastal Resilience and Community Engagement.”

The organization called him an “exceptional volunteer whose passion for learning and sharing coastal science inspires communities across southeastern North Carolina.”

“I love this coast,” Darrell said. “The work of the Coastal Federation helps to mitigate the harmful effects of global warming by absorbing atmospheric carbonate our shoreline from erosion and by providing his biological habitat.”

Coastal media partnership

Coastal Review, which is published by the Coastal Federation, this year recognized the Hatteras Island-based online news service, Island Free Press “For Excellence in Collaborative Coastal Community Journalism.”

The two publications have partnered for the last decade to expand coverage of critical coastal issues affecting Hatteras and Ocracoke islands.

Editor Joy Crist said she and owner Donna Barrett were “beyond honored to receive this award” and thanked the Coastal Federation for “allowing us to cover so many stories that are positive or hopeful in a news cycle that’s busy and sometimes discouraging.”

The North Carolina Secretaries’ Science Advisory Board is tentatively set to hear a series of presentations related to PFAS during its meeting scheduled for Wednesday.

The board’s draft agenda includes a presentation by Dr. Virginia Guidry with the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on a recent methodology for calculating fish consumption PFOS advisories, a review by Dr. Frannie Nilsen with the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality on available PFMOAA toxicity, and an overview of available literature on dermal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

The board includes experts in toxicology, public health, ecology, engineering, and other related fields, who assist DHHS and DEQ by recommending reviews and evaluations of contaminants, act as consultants on DEQ’s determinations to regulate contaminants, and help the agencies identify contaminants of concern and determine which contaminants should be further studied.

The online meeting is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. The webinar password is D3fJKEmGd26 or 33355364 when dialing from a phone or video system.

Those who wish to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting must register in advance.

An in-person listening station will be set up those who cannot attend online in the Ground Floor Hearing Room at the Archdale Building, 512 N. Salisbury St. in Raleigh.

To join by telephone, dial 415-655-0003 or 904-900-2303, access code 2427 860 8803.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will begin accepting public comment on Monday for a proposed Atlantic bonito recreational bag limit.

The proposed rule would establish a bag limit of five fish and also authorize the Division of Marine Fisheries director to implement by proclamation additional management measures with the commission’s prior consent.

Written comments may be submitted through an online form or by mail to N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission Rules Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28577.

Written comments must be posted online or received by 5 p.m. Oct. 2.

Comments will also be accepted during a virtual public hearing scheduled for 6 p.m. Aug. 26.

Anyone who wishes to comment during the hearing must register to speak by noon on the hearing day. Registration opens Monday.

The division will set up a listening location at its central district office at 5285 Highway 70 West in Morehead City. Those who wish to speak from the listening location may sign up upon arrival.

The proposed rule will be presented to the Marine Fisheries Commission for final approval in November. If approved, the earliest the rule would become effective would be in 2027, pending legislative review.

Questions about the commission’s rulemaking process may be emailed to Catherine Blum, division rules coordinator, at Catherine.Blum@deq.nc.gov.

Technology used to track COVID-19 in municipal wastewater is now being used to track populations’ dietary habits, according to a new paper released last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Rachel Noble, a professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, has a history of sampling wastewater as part of her research. In 2020, she used DNA sequencing technology to test wastewater samples for the coronavirus. Now, Noble and her colleagues, including those from Duke University, are using that same wastewater surveillance system to study what people eat.

Researchers employed a technology that the paper’s authors describe as something that “transforms municipal wastewater into a real-time window on population nutrition” to gather data from wastewater samples collected at 21 different wastewater treatment plants across the state.

Called Food Landscape Observation in Water, abbreviated to FoodSeq-FLOW, the technology was developed from a previous version used to track COVID-19. The new version targets the DNA markers of certain plants and animals found in human feces and identifies them, giving researchers a detailed overview of each population’s diets. FoodSeq can identify these DNA markers down to the specific species of plant or animal that was eaten.

“The first thing that I tell people, the very shortest of it, is that this is an exciting kind of silver-lining outcome that came from our wastewater surveillance that was initiated during COVID-19,” Noble said. “We were responding to obviously a global pandemic, but there’s much more that wastewater surveillance can be useful for in terms of a snapshot of a community.”

Wastewater has never been able to provide this level of dietary information on this scale before, and Noble said it could lead to significant improvements in policies related to health and nutrition.

Traditionally, population-wide dietary information was gathered through questionnaires, which are time-consuming, costly and often inaccurate. It can be challenging for people to remember exactly what they ate, and sometimes they are reluctant to talk about their diets in detail. Noble said that this technology is also helpful when it comes to understanding the diets of children within a population, particularly those who are too young to accurately answer questionnaires.

“To me, this work has even greater value because you’re you’re able to peer into the nutrition of a community, but in a way that actually includes all demographics,” Noble said. “Whoever’s using the sewage system, they’re included.”

In communities struggling with nutritional health, a more accurate picture of dietary habits could lead to the creation of more accurate nutritional guidelines. This is especially relevant for people living in food deserts, where healthy food, particularly fresh produce, isn’t readily available.

“This paper is all about the fact that we can do this. The next effort really is going to be how you use this information to help people make better choices, and maybe provide some education where it’s needed at the community level and resources,” Noble said.

The implementation of FoodSeq technology into current wastewater infrastructure would be simple, Noble said. The issue lies with the funding required to get it started. FoodSeq-FLOW itself is cost-efficient. In this most recent study, researchers gathered data from wastewater samples that serve more than 2 million people, all at a rate of less than a cent per person. But actually gathering that data on a regular basis and putting it into action is another story.

“FoodSeq, from a practical perspective, could start being done in North Carolina tomorrow if someone came in and had resources to do it. A better question, I think, is what are the ways that we could use the data to actually benefit the nutrition — and maybe education on nutrition — at the community level,” Noble said.

The accuracy of data for a specific community is subject to a number of confounding variables, however. Sewage water is regularly contaminated with environmental and industrial runoff. The DNA samples can suffer degradation due to the varying temperatures, salinity and acidity levels in sewage pipes.

Noble also mentioned that people like herself, who use a septic tank system for their sewage, are not connected to wastewater infrastructure, and therefore will not be regularly measured in studies such as these. This is especially problematic because septic tanks are commonly used in more rural areas, and these are populations that are traditionally underrepresented in nutritional and dietary studies.

“It is a disadvantage of the study that we’re missing out on a portion of the population that is in the most rural areas, and that would persist across the whole United States if you designed the study the whole way,” Noble said. “So another great study would be to actually figure out a way to study septic systems.”

“To me, the next thing to do would be to do it like for a year or two years across the entire state of North Carolina, and see what the seasonal patterns are,” Noble said. “The patterns that we observe should just literally be thought of as snapshots. They’re not necessarily the patterns that you would observe over the course of a year, and then over the course of all communities in North Carolina at all times.”

Even disregarding all of these other confounding factors, data gathered with FoodSeq is not always a perfect snapshot of a single population. Wastewater samples from small coastal towns that experience a large boom in tourism during the summer will naturally include waste from the tourist population as well as the locals. But as a resident of Beaufort, Noble was able to recognize specific species of fish that are popular among local fishers. The study documented 60 species of fish.

“I do a lot of fishing, and I work with a lot of local people in both the shellfish and fishing community, and it was really interesting to me to see some of the fish that are locally found represented in our sewage here, but not represented anywhere else in the state,” Noble said. She mentioned seeing drum, triggerfish and Spanish mackerel, all of which are species usually caught and eaten locally.

Noble said that data gathered from wastewater samples can be used as a snapshot of many different things. Before the development of FoodSeq, she had considered using DNA sequencing in wastewater testing to measure the correlation of meat consumption and cardiac diseases.

“I had thought in the past about community patterns of all kinds of things. When we started our wastewater surveillance work in 2020, you know, I often thought to myself, ‘wow, these wastewater samples would be exciting to work on from a variety of different standpoints’,” Noble said.

Overall, Noble simply hopes to find ways that this information can be used to improve the nutritional health of the average person in North Carolina.

“We have food scarcity issues well across all of eastern or across North Carolina, and the interesting thing is that those food scarcity issues are irrespective of race, background, demographics,” she said. “Yes, we could do this in the state of North Carolina or in any state tomorrow if someone came in with unlimited resources and wanted to do it. You know, what’s the path forward for actually making strides in nutrition and wellness? That, to me, is the next open door that we’re walking into.”

The North Carolina Aquariums Marine Mammal Stranding Team has been recognized for its efforts to advance the recovery of the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, of which it is estimated that less than 400 remain.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, awarded the 2025 Partner in the Spotlight to the team often referred to by its acronym of NCAMMST for continued support of the species, the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, which oversees the N.C. Aquarium system, announced this week.

“Congratulations to our North Carolina Aquariums Marine Mammal Stranding Team for the award and for their success in contributing to the recovery of the North Atlantic right whale,” aquarium Director Hap Fatzinger said in a release. “We are honored to work with so many passionate and dedicated professionals all making a difference to save this amazing species.”

The mammal stranding team, which responds to whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and manatees in northern and central coastal and estuarine waters, works with partners such as the University of North Carolina Wilmington, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, N.C. State University, and Bonehenge Whale Center.

Dr. Victoria Thayer, marine mammal state stranding coordinator, leads the team and Jill Sullivan, marine mammal stranding biologist, make up the team that responds to strandings in the central coastal and northern and central inland regions. Jennette’s Pier marine mammal stranding coordinator, Marina Doshkov, responds to stranded marine mammals in the northern part of the state.

These three marine mammal stranding positions were previously funded by federal but beginning in September, will be exclusively supported by the aquarium’s nonprofit partner, North Carolina Aquarium Society.

The southern area is the primary responsibility of UNCW’s Marine Mammal Stranding Program where Dr. Tiffany Keenan is the university’s marine mammal stranding coordinator, according to the aquarium.

If you spot a stranded dolphin, porpoise, whale, seal, or manatee, call one of the 24-hour North Carolina Marine Mammal Stranding Hotlines:

• Northern coast: 252-455-9654
• Central coast: 252-252-5119 
• Southern coast: 910-515-7354

Editor’s Note: After Sam Bland retired from his position as superintendent at Hammocks Beach State Park, he joined the staff of the North Carolina Coastal Federation. While a coastal specialist in the 2010s, he would periodically write about his time in the field for Coastal Review. Now traveling the country, Bland drops a line every once in a while to share a new adventure with his readers, such as the following:

Many years ago, as a teenager, I was driving through Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Onslow County. This was pre-9/11 when civilians could take the shortcut through the base to bypass the heavier Jacksonville traffic.

On one of the lonely roads that travels through the lofty pines and scattered wetlands, I was well away from the main base area. I came upon a traffic jam of cars parked helter-skelter on and off the road. It looked like an apocalypse, or maybe the rapture had just happened.

People were abandoning their vehicles and gathering down the road.

Thinking it was some type of car wreck, I parked and trotted up the road to see if I could help. There, in the middle of the road, was a gargantuan snapping turtle holding the road hostage. With its long neck extended and snarling mouth agape, it defiantly stopped traffic. It could have easily been mistaken for a low coffee table that had fallen out of the bed of a pickup truck.

An early summer downpour had put this snapper on the move, seeking new habitat. Or maybe it was a female looking for a nesting site. Thinking that I could easily save the day and get traffic rolling, I cautiously approached the island-sized turtle. With its belly on the pavement, it slowly rose up on its tippy toes with the poise of a ballerina. Standing tall on its feet, it turned its colossal shell in my direction and established a fighting posture. I was now put on notice.

Sneaking up behind the impressive snapper, I tried to grab the back of the shell with my bare hands. Its thick, meaty tail slapped my arm forward toward the head of the turtle. I released the shell just a whisper before its long neck, tipped with a razor-sharp beak, whipped around, snapping at my fingers. The gathering crowd roared with laughter, cheering on the turtle.

The horde, now standing with their arms crossed, waited for the trainwreck to leave the station. Undaunted, I taunted the beast into biting onto a small tree branch. With the branch now clinched between its jaws, I tried to drag it off the road. The snapper then snapped the branch as if it were a No. 2 pencil.

Throwing me a lifeline, someone from the crowd tossed me a ratty old towel, saying “try this.”

Now, like a matador with a cape, I faced the monster. I dangled one end of the towel above the irritated reptile like a fishing lure. As it lunged after the bait-like rag, it moved closer to the edge of the road. Continuing to tease the snapper, it had soon moved itself onto the grassy shoulder of the road. It then latched onto the towel and was sort of hooked like a fish.

At this point, I was able to drag the turtle off the road and down into a low, wet, marshy area. As I walked up the slope and back onto the road, the crowd greeted me with a round of polite applause. I headed to my car, fingers intact.

Prehistoric beasts

Surfacing amid the Cretaceous Period, these prehistoric-looking beasts have been around for 90 million years. Hearty as can be, they even outlasted the dinosaurs, avoiding all the mass extinction and destruction caused by that devastating asteroid. Like the horseshoe crab, they too are called “living fossils.” Their physical makeup has been expertly designed for their habitats and has changed very little from ancient times.

Known scientifically as “Chelydra serpentine,” the common snapper is found in the shallow, mucky substrate of ponds, lakes, creeks, canals and freshwater wetlands. With their long snake-like neck and tail, the scientific name accurately describes their serpentine features.

These aquatic reptiles are quite content to spend their days saturated in their watery home in search of food. Digging into the mud, with only their eyes and snout exposed, they will patiently wait to ambush prey. With algae often growing on their shell, they blend in, looking like a submerged log.

Like nature’s version of DoorDash, they stealthily wait for a fish, water snake or frog to drift within striking distance. With speed much faster than the blink of an eye, their long neck and head launch as if spring loaded at close to 170 mph. Violently powerful jaws that some have described as “Vice-Grip pliers with razor blades” and their hooked beak secure the prey. They will also eat plenty of aquatic vegetation, algae and scavenge on dead animals.

After heavy rains, I once waded into an ephemeral wetland to rescue a fledgling blue jay. The bird had been feeding on water insects from a branch floating on the surface. Frantically calling and flapping its wings, I thought its foot was caught in the tangle of branches. When I reached down to pull up the jay, I saw that a small 4-inch snapper had chomped down on its foot. As I pulled them both out of the water, the turtle dropped away and the bird took flight in a splash and dash. This is when I learned that snappers like to eat birds as well.

A moment of paralyzing panic

As a young teenager growing up in rural Beaufort County, many scorching August afternoons were spent cooling off in the slow-moving tributaries of the Pamlico River. Tagging along with my older brothers and their friends, we would launch from the bridges that spanned the creeks along dusty country roads. One after another, we exploded into the water, expertly demonstrating the cannonball dive. Someone usually brought along a few pilfered field-fresh watermelons that were plunked into the water to cool down. The sweet red flesh that had been roasting in the hot summer sun would be perfectly chilled for a refreshing post-swim treat. We had to keep tabs on the melons and push them back and forth to make sure they didn’t drift away with the current.

I know that every kid splashing in that tea-colored creek had their own life issues, perhaps even demons, that they were dealing with. But this was a moment of all-is-forgotten, dog-paddling, carefree freedom. An idyllic, Southern, coming-of-age scene. Reflecting on it now, it reminds me of the Jimmy Buffett song, “Life is Just a Tire Swing.” That is until the snapping turtle showed up.

Under the golden glow of the sun low on the horizon, our blissfully innocent summer swim was suddenly interrupted with a blood-curdling cry, “Snapperrrr!” A moment of paralyzing panic seized each swimmer. With just our heads bobbing above water like the watermelons, we stared at each other in silence. And then mayhem ran rampant. Flailing at the water, we all made a desperate dash to the lone makeshift ladder of two-by-fours nailed onto a support piling of the bridge. The ladder was clogged with kids scrambling up and over each other before tumbling off the bridge railing and back onto the blacktop. There I was, frantically dog paddling, the last one still in the water, waiting to go up the ladder. Curling my toes, I could feel the snapper closing in.

Despite their reputation, snappers are quite meek and easygoing while in the water, rarely aggressive toward humans. Out of the water, however, these relics have the looks of a scoundrel itching for a fight. On land, these anciently handsome creatures can become quite defensive if they feel threatened. Feeling vulnerable, because they are unable to fully retract their head, legs and tail into their shell, they become fighters.

Extending their legs, they will jack up their shell high into the air, looking like a sturdy workbench. With this stance making them appear bigger, they are now emboldened enough to gape open their flesh-shredding beak and let out a startling hiss. Come too close and the neck will launch towards you at an inescapable velocity. Those untrained in handling a snapper will soon learn that their neck can reach half the length of their body.

A persistent mother

When I lived in Emerald Isle, my property had two small, marshy, organic wetlands within the surrounding maritime forest. Every spring, during April, the same female snapping turtle emerged from the muck to lay eggs in the backyard. In the loose, sandy soil of an ancient sand dune she would dig a shallow pit and deposit close to 30 eggs.

During my first year on the property, I didn’t see her nesting, but I discovered the aftermath of a marauding raccoon: Leathery eggshell casings littered the ground, ripped open by a hungry bandit devouring the yolks.

The following spring, my wife, Bright, saw the turtle heading to the backyard with the weight of the world on her back. When the turtle had crawled out of the wetland, she carried with her a big hunk of mud complete with dead leaves and vegetation on top of the shell. Looking like a moving atoll, perhaps this is what inspired the Native American legend of Turtle Island.

We watched as she peppered the yard with false nests to frustrate and discourage predators. Then, she finally dug a proper pit and dropped around 20 eggs. Sand was flying everywhere as she meticulously covered the nest. Her head was coated in a sand mask with her eyes barely poking through.

To protect the nest from gray foxes or raccoons, I anchored a four-foot wire mesh over the nesting area. I removed the mesh after a few weeks and once the scent of the nest had evaporated. About 70 days later we found baby snappers searching for the marshy bog.

Each spring, almost to the day, she would return to nest in our backyard.

Even through an adult snapper can occasionally fall victim to an alligator or river otter, these ruggedly armored reptiles have little to fear. Young snapping turtles don’t fare as well. They must face a gauntlet of predators such as raccoons, foxes, herons, minks and even owls. Since they aren’t physically able to defend themselves yet, they deploy a chemical weapon.

When threatened, they will emit a most putrid musk to repel any predator intent on causing harm. I learned this lesson the hard way when I rescued a small snapper off a busy roadway. It thanked me by releasing the gag-inducing musk that would quickly ensure its freedom from my hands.

Folklore, mystique

For some reason, snapping turtles have often appeared during my life. Throughout time, cultures around the world view animals as signs, messages, symbols and even omens. The coyote is known as a trickster and can be viewed as a warning, the eagle is seen as power and the wolf signals loyalty. The snapping turtle carries with it, patience, tenacity, survival, perseverance and integrity.

Along the way, this ancient relic has developed a larger-than-life mystique. For generations their reputation has steeped and marinated in the hypoxic waters where they live. Folklore, myths, legends and outright lies have been dredged up from the muddy wetland bottoms.

One of my favorite myths is that if a snapping turtle bites you, it will not let go until it hears thunder. As a child running barefoot and feral through the swamps, I was often cautioned by the old-timers. With a wag of a finger, they would lecture, “Beware the snapper, its bite will linger until the sound of thunder.” I guess they thought it was an effective strategy to keep kids from wandering into and getting lost in the marshy woodlands. I thought it was a bunch of crap. Yet, this country folklore persists today.

While the origin of this legend can be debated, it appears to have solid standing in Native American storytelling. Two publications, “Kickapoo Tales” (1915) and Ojibwa Texts (1917-19), tell the story of an otter that gets bitten by a snapping turtle. This Algonquian folklore saga has been titled, “When Snapping Turtle Went to War,” or “Snapping Turtle on the Warpath. Told by the Ojibwe storyteller, Glistening Footprint, the story was documented by the Native anthropologist William Jones around 1905.

In the story, otter was sent to kill snapping turtle. But the snapper was on the otter’s plan and hid to ambush otter. Snapping turtle chomped down onto the otter’s private parts. The pain was unbearable and the otter begged to be released.

Recounted in different Native variations of the story, the snapper replied:

• “When the Thunder-god has come back, I will let you go.”
• “Not till the Thunderers come resounding will I release you from my mouth.”
• “I won’t let go till the thunderbirds come.”
• “Verily when the Thunderers cry then will I let thee go.”
• Or, “Not until a great thunderstorm will I release him from my mouth.”

The Thunderers, thunderbirds and Thunder-Gods all represented the storm spirits that had the power to conjure up thunder, lightening and rain. Otter implored snapper to be liberated from its steely grip. Then, the story continues: “Sure enough, the Thunderers began to cry. Then indeed was the Otter let go.”

After jumping off that bridge, I was now the otter, a frantic kid with a snapper bearing down. Was the myth true? I didn’t want to take any chances and get into a delicate predicament like that of the otter. Without a thunderhead in sight, I leapt out of the water and onto a bridge piling as if a frog being chased by a largemouth bass. Free from being mauled by the snapper, I bear-hugged the creosote-soaked pole with my legs and arms. I slowly shimmied my way up the timber for the final push onto the road.

Gripping with all the strength my lean 12-year-old body could muster, I pushed upward. Immediately, pain literally sliced through my fingers. The cap of the piling was covered with thin sheets of tin to prevent water from seeping into the timber. Years in the elements had caused the edges of the tin to curl up creating a sharp blade perfect for gashing open flesh.

Red ran thick down my forearm as I kept my right hand above my heart to slow the bleeding. My left hand was somehow unscathed. The swim party was now over and I needed to go get stitches in my ring and middle fingers. In a borrowed car, my older brother peeled out with barking tires as we raced off to a clinic.

As we crossed the bridge, I glanced over the railing, looking for the predacious snapping turtle in the waters below. The only thing I saw was the watermelons as they made their leisurely escape down the stream. Like the popular song at the time, this was my “Bridge Over Troubled Waters.”

Sitting in the exam room, clothed only in my dripping wet cutoff blue jeans, I could smell the oily creosote that now stained my shorts, arms, legs and chest. Taking pity on me, the kind doctor stitched me up and sent me on my way without charging me a dime.

The beak of a snapper didn’t injure me that day, but the fear of a powerful myth did. Time has absorbed and faded the scars from my fingers, but I can still feel the thickened skin from the cuts. Whenever I rub my fingers over the old wounds, the memory returns as vivid as if it was yesterday. I think of that phantom snapping turtle from time to time and I can’t help but smile knowing that the experience has made my life richer.

 The deadline to apply for a standard commercial fishing license is fast approaching.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries standard commercial fishing license, or SCFL, eligibility board is to meet Oct. 14 to consider license applications that are deemed complete and submitted by the Sept. 21 deadline.

The division, under the state Department of Environmental Quality, acts as staff to and carries out the rules and regulations mandated by the Marine Fisheries Commission.

The standard commercial fishing license is issued annually to an individual or business that allows the commercial harvest of fish, shrimp, crab and other marine species from state coastal waters and the sale of that harvest to a licensed dealer. The SCFL Eligibility Board meets two to three times a year to consider license applications.

For directions on applying for a commercial fishing license, visit the Division of Marine Fisheries website and click on the Eligibility Pool Application link.

For more information on the meeting, contact division License Eligibility Clerk Ann Bordeaux-Nixon at 910-796-7261 or Ann.Bordeaux-Nixon@deq.nc.gov.

The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission’s water quality committee is to hold a special virtual meeting at 2 p.m. Tuesday to consider proposed amendments intended to clarify existing rules for the Division of Mitigation Services.

The Environmental Management Commission oversees and 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.

If the committee approves the draft language, the changes are to go before the entire commission at its next meeting sometime in September.

The Division of Mitigation Services is a DEQ initiative that “restores and protects wetlands and waterways for future generations while offsetting unavoidable environmental impacts from development projects,” the website states.

As part of the rules review process, which is required by statute every 10 years, staff recommend minor technical and administrative changes to “improve clarity, consistency, and update references to URLs and rules in other subchapters. This should make understanding the rules easier for program customers who elect to use the DMS (in-lieu fee) programs, without imposing new costs, rates, or substantive requirements,” documents state.

The in-lieu fee is the division’s appropriate stream or wetland rate multiplied by the total number of stream or wetland compensatory credits.

Meeting information, including the link to join, agenda and supporting documents are on the commission website. An in-person listening station will be set up in the Archdale Building in Raleigh for those unable to view the water quality committee meeting online.

The state’s long-term strategy to support coastal fisheries by improving and protecting habitat is currently undergoing the required five-year update.

With the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, or CHPP, steering committee’s approval Wednesday during a web conference, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries staff are to present over the next few months the draft 2026 amendment to the Environmental Management, Marine Fisheries and Coastal Resources commissions.

The three state commissions that adopt rules for air and water quality, state fisheries, and coastal development, respectively, are to decide at their next meetings on sending the draft chapters out for public comment.

The commissions adopted the first CHPP in December 2004, a directive of the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997. The plan is to provide “information on the habitats’ distribution and abundance, ecological functions and importance to fish production, status and trends, threats to the habitats, and includes recommendations to address threats,” according to the division. The steering committee is made up of members of the three commissions.

Charlie Deaton, habitat protection supervisor with the Division of Marine Fisheries, explained to the steering committee that the four draft issue papers address ecosystem-based management, strategic habitat areas, planning for multi-decadal wetland change, and seagrass protection and restoration.

The 2016 CHPP serves as the base plan and was updated in 2021. The goal for the final adoption of the 2026 amendment is in November, he said.

Division of Marine Fisheries biologist Michelle Brodeur explained that the 2021 CHPP amendment established the foundation to improve monitoring coastal habitats.

Some progress has been made but the actions put forward were largely dependent on acquiring new, long-term funding and “that’s brought us in this cycle to look at alternative ways to incorporate our ecosystem data into our management decisions with the resources that we do have,” Brodeur said.

“In this issue paper, we discuss how DMF currently uses ecosystem data and management and then describe a framework moving forward for using what ecosystem data we do have to inform our decision-making,” she said. Some of the recommendations include determining management goals, determining ecosystem indicators and establishing appropriate thresholds. From there, work through the process of creating a progress report to fulfill “our 2021 CHPP action of providing a public-friendly ecosystem report card for our stakeholders.”

The draft paper on strategic habitat areas, Brodeur continued, looks at confirming that certain locations qualify as the locations described as having high-quality, connected habitats.

The process to identify these areas began in 2006 in order to “protect the biodiversity and ecological function of coastal habitats through non-regulatory approaches,” according to the presentation. Researchers and staff nominated locations from 2009 to 2018, and the sites recommended in the central and Cape Fear area, called regions 3 and 4 in the paper, were evaluated in a four-year study completed in 2021.

The study validates “our initial goals of identifying areas that provide exceptional habitat function by supporting a higher abundance and diverse fish populations,” Brodeur said. The results of the validation study, in combination with the findings that the strategic habitat areas had a more diverse estuary landscape, higher abundance of structured habitats, and less alteration in areas outside of the strategic habitat areas, lend further support for the designation of the nominated areas.

Due to the time and cost of the 2021 study, staff plan to explore the possibility of using existing independent sampling for proposed strategic habitat areas in the northern two regions, which are the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds, Brodeur said.

Fisheries Resource Specialist Derek Detweiler told the handful connected via the web conference that the chapter for planning for wetland change concentrates on thin-layer placement, or TLP, which is a “coastal wetland restoration or enhancement strategy whereby material (often dredged sediment) is intentionally placed on a wetland to increase its elevation while maintaining hydrology and inundation durations necessary for native (targeted) wetland vegetation to persist,” according to DEQ.

Detweiler said thin-layer placement was selected because of its potential to promote sediment accretion and restore impaired habitat by increasing marsh elevation and surface area through what is known as the beneficial use and placement of dredge material.

“For the purpose of this CHPP amendment, TLP is viewed strictly as a tool for the restoration and enhancement of existing wetlands, and not for the disposal of dredge material, not for the creation of new wetlands, or not for the mitigation of other wetland impacts,” he said.

The draft paper goes into extensive detail about the process Detweiler called “relatively unexplored” on a large scale in the state, highlights different case studies across the Eastern United States, includes site assessment and monitoring guidance the Division of Coastal Management developed in 2022, and regulation, policy and permitting aspects.

“We are interested in how TLP is viewed under the North Carolina Coastal Area Management Act and Dredge and Fill Law,” he said. The Coastal Resources Commission adopts rules for both CAMA and Dredge and Fill that are carried out by the state Division of Coastal Management, part of DEQ.

Any permit application for TLP would be denied under current regulations but could still be eligible for a variance from the Coastal Resources Commission, he said, adding that the growing interest in the process could lead to a need for rulemaking.

Detweiler noted that the projects in other states have varying degrees of success.

“The most important consideration with successful thin-layer placement is placement thickness relative to the local tidal frame,” he explained, “Ensuring that any elevation you raise within the existing marsh retains an elevation between sea level and mean high water to really promote native species growth within those marshes.” Those factors vary specific to location and the best past forward would be to evaluate projects in North Carolina on a specific case-by-case basis.

The goal for the paper, Detweiler said, is to highlight failures and successes. What they don’t want to do with this section is offer any endorsement of thin-layer placement or imply that the state must have a certain number of these projects completed within the next CHPP cycle.

“We just want to provide that information as an option moving forward because it has sparked interest in the state,” he said. “Commissioners and other stakeholders can use that information to kind of make that decision moving forward for each project.”

Marsh migration continues to be a priority for the CHPP, he added, and continued efforts will build on guidance from the 2021 CHPP, such as continuing to support and collaborate with the North Carolina Coastal Federation on marsh migration planning. The nonprofit Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review

The draft submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV, protection and restoration chapter considers the progressive loss of seagrasses in North Carolina waters and what can be done to slow the process.

The findings in the Albemarle Pamlico National Estuary Partnership’s recently updated report to a 2021 study on high salinity seagrass extent to “continued loss of high salinity seagrasses coastwide at a rate of a little over 1% per year, and we’ve lost 50% of our continuous meadows,” Deaton said about the report using data from aerial surveys conducted from 2006 to 2020.

Related: North Carolina’s seagrass habitat continues to decline: Study

“A lot of those are converting from continuous coverage to patchy coverage, and notable losses on the western, deeper side of the seagrass beds, particularly those that blanket the Outer Banks. So, in short, our seagrass beds are disappearing, and they’re becoming patchier over time. And this is a trend that’s been holding up for a while,” he said.

CHPP’s 2021 update proposes actions to protect seagrass, including proposed water quality standards. Researchers determined how clear the water needs to be for sunlight to reach the plants, a necessary part of the photosynthesis process. Getting the Environmental Management Commission to approve the standards is running behind though.

Deaton said the intent is for DEQ staff to continue facilitating “progress on the proposed water clarity standard to protect SAV, and we anticipate this coming back to the EMC sometime next year.”

The second part of the seagrass chapter, Marine Fisheries Habitat and Enhancement Section Chief Zach Harrison said, considers seagrass physical protection. The push to investigate what authority the Marine Fisheries Commission has to protect seagrass was spawned by a request in 2023 to look at trawling. The commission then in 2024 directed division staff to look at more comprehensive seagrass protections that the commission could mandate.

Staff found that the commission’s authority includes impacts to the entire ecology that supports marine and estuarine resources, and that most habitats addressed in the CHPP can be managed by the Marine Fisheries Commission.

Deaton said that the final section of the seagrass protection draft addresses proposed permitting for the growing interest in active seagrass restoration from the private sector.

“We’ve put together in this CHPP the pieces of what we think kind of the most common upcoming SAV restoration techniques might look like,” he said, and details a permitting framework.

“We’re going to call for a work group to continue to explore both some ecological concerns surrounding the practice and potential barriers and identify research needs,” he said. “One of the potential downsides that comes with sourcing from a broader area is increasing the likelihood of an incidental import of an invasive species. So, trying to manage some of those concerns with transplanting will be important moving forward. And additionally, coordinating with aquatic reed control treatments, because the last thing you want to do is restore your SAV bed in an area that might get sprayed for invasives.”

Featured Image

Humidity fills the air west of the Jonathan Robinson Bridge, creating a series of summer squalls that shower eastern Carteret County. Forecasters with the National Weather Service on Tuesday advised of hazardous weather conditions, particularly for eastern Carteret County, Ocracoke Island and Hatteras Island with scattered strong to severe thunderstorms possible late Tuesday in advance of a cold front. Photo: Dylan Ray

Celebrate the strength and resiliency of Hatteras Islanders at this year’s annual Day at the Docks, a free, two-day event in September.

Now in its 23rd year, Day at the Docks showcases the traditions of Hatteras Island watermen and those who live in the community by sharing with visitors how the fishing industry works. The event highlights the community’s recovery from Hurricane Isabel in 2003.

The “Spirit of Hatteras” celebration is set to kick off Friday, Sept. 18, with Seafood Under the Stars, a chef prepared, five-course dinner with optional wine pairings featuring locally sourced seafood. This year’s dinner includes an nonseafood option for those who don’t fancy seafood.

Seafood Under the Stars is $60 or $80 for those who prefer to add a wine pairing. The dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Hatteras Civic Center and is limited to 120 seats.

Reservations and tickets for the dinner may be purchased online. Anyone with dietary concerns may email hatterasuninterrupted@gmail.com.

On Saturday, Sept. 19, the celebration begins at 10 a.m. where festivalgoers are invited to witness the Blessing of the Fleet, tour boats, see exhibits and competitions, sample local seafood, and shop for unique gifts for sale by vendors. Kid-specific activities include a fishing tournament, games, crafts and a bounce house areas.

Participants may register for the Fishy 5K Fun Run, which begin at 8 a.m.

The festival will be held at Oden’s Dock, 57878 N.C. Highway 12.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District has issued a public notice of a proposal to establish a wetlands mitigation bank and site in the Cape Fear River Basin.

The Northeast Cape Fear Umbrella Mitigation Bank – Quinn Farm Site in Duplin County would be used to offset unavoidable environmental damage to natural wetlands associated with Department of the Army permit authorizations.

The Quinn Farm site consists of historically farmed land with an extensive ditch network that has effectively removed characteristic wetland hydrology across much of the site, according to the notice. The network of ditches directly discharge into the Northeast Cape Fear River.

According to the applicant, Cal Miller of Shaw Highway Properties, LLC, the proposed project would restore 59.7 acres of riverine wetland habitat and 3,380 linear feet of zero-order stream valley.

“Restoration activities will involve the backfilling and/or plugging of the existing drainage network, re-contouring of a zero-order stream valley, and planting of characteristic wetland trees and shrubs in select areas of the tract,” according to the notice.

The project will reestablish natural wetland hydroperiods associated with headwater forest, bottomland hardwood and riverine swamp forest communities, the notice states.

The nonprofit Broad Water Innovations will serve as a long-term steward for the mitigation property, which will be placed under conservation easement in perpetuity.

The proposed project initially went out to public notice in March 2025, but was withdrawn due to processing delays. It was resubmitted March 31 of this year.

Everybody pretty much agrees that pollinators are important, but why are they important?

Not merely important, pollinators are vital. As vital as pollinators having something to nosh on.

Which begs another question: Why do plants have flowers in the first place?

Certainly not just to make humans happy, although they do. Flowers have been beloved by generations upon generations of humans, everything from dandelions clamped in a sweaty toddler’s grubby fist right on up to a bouquet of high-dollar roses.

For many of us, flowers mark rites of passage, from a boutonniere pinned to a groom’s lapel to a flower girl’s scattered petals to the bride’s bouquet. A handful of wildflowers on a first date, a bouquet tossed on stage in appreciation for a grand performance.

Often flowers mark a remembrance of a loved one, or grace the altar at church, or beautify the dining table.

Pressed flowers or potpourri extend the memories.

Flowers come in all shapes, sizes, and colors, delighting the eye. And the scents — from honeysuckle’s light sweetness to gardenias and magnolias perfuming summer air to the cinnamon scent of a bank of wild roses in a tangled hedge — can be irresistible.

Like humans, pollinators are attracted to pretty colors and enticing scents.

While seemingly flitting or buzzing around like a scatterbrained flower fairy, pollinators perform an absolutely essential job.

Parts upon parts

Flowers are composed of many parts.

The petals are brightly colored/scented to attract pollinators. And humans!

Sepals are the little green leaves that wrap around and protect the unopened bud and often become the small leaves just under the opened flower.

The receptacle is the thickened part of the stem which acts as the foundation and anchor for the organs.

A filament is a slender stalk that supports the anther, the pollen producing tip of the male organ.

Designed specifically to trap pollen, the stigma is the sticky, often hairy top surface of the female reproductive organ. Next comes the style, a slender tube that connects the stigma to the ovary.

Just like a human womb, the ovary is where a lot of the magic happens. The enlarged base of the ovary contains the ovules, or egg cells. After fertilization, which is where the pollinators and the pollen, not to mention the birds and bees come into play.

The ovary develops into fruit while the ovules become the seeds for the next generation.

Ever seen a teeny-tiny baby squash or cucumber form and then just drop off? Chances are that it didn’t get pollinated. Same thing if your cukes develop into a C shape instead of being long and slender. It got pollinated some, but not enough.

The reason pollinators buzz about, checking out this flower and then that one like an amorous alley cat is, they’re spreading the love. Literally. While some plants are wind pollinated — think corn — most plants need just the right mix of bees or butterflies or moths or bats getting pollen stuck to their legs and carrying it to the next blossom. Comingling, as it were.

“Take some, leave some,” takes on a whole new meaning.

If there aren’t any pollinators, then the magic doesn’t happen.

Starting to get the picture now?

All the flowers in the world won’t be anything but pretty if the rest of the cycle isn’t completed. Flowers, pollen, pollinators, fruit, seed.

If seed isn’t produced, there won’t be a next generation.

The next time your kid wants to pick flowers out of your flowerbed, let them. A flower’s job is to make seeds and ensure the next generation. If, instead of deadheading you let a flower keep its flowers once they’ve fizzled, the flower figures its job is done. It made a flower, made seeds or fruit, done. When you keep picking the flowers or vegetables, the plant goes into high production mode because it feels like it needs to produce more flowers in order to make seeds.

Made for one another

There are absolutely tons of pollinators out there, some so small you may have never noticed them. We all know honeybees and bumbles, but wasps and moths and butterflies, even bats, abound. While there are many different varieties of pollinators, only honeybees make honey.

Some flowers have developed in such a way they can only be pollinated by certain pollinators, while others don’t care. Some flowers, such as hibiscus, are huge. Others, like the itsy-bitsy ones on hollies or elaeagnus, are so small you hardly notice them. While we are more familiar with daytime-blooming flowers, just like bats are active at night, some blooms only appear at night.

Some pollinators do double duty. Wasps, for instance. They like sweets, as we all know from watching them hover around our food and sodas. They also enjoy sipping the nectar that flowers produce. More than just a picnic nuisance, wasps are effective predators. They scour cole crops such as cabbages and broccoli, or even warmer-season crops like field peas, looking for caterpillars. They then either sting the caterpillar, paralyzing it, so they can carry it back to their nest to feed their young or they bite the caterpillar into pieces and carry their prey back to their nest, also to feed their young.

Kinda gruesome, but wasps eating the insects that are eating our food is a great thing. Birds and small critters eat pollinators, and bigger critters eat the birds and small critters. So on and so on, right up to humans. Everybody’s got to eat something.

Involving endless partners, all of which are constantly changing direction and intent with all the skill and grace of professional Flamenco dancers, the connection between flowers, pollinators, and humans forms an extremely intricate web of life.

Food becomes prey, prey becomes food.

Pollinators ensure flowers become fruits or seeds, fruits and seeds feed animals and humans.

The seasons turn and the cycle begins all over again with Spring and blooming things. Seeds germinate and grow, flowers bloom, pollinators pollinate, and the seeds and fruits feed the next generations …

… as long as there are pollinators.

About a tenth of a mile of beach and swimming area in Buxton will be temporarily closed to the public starting Aug. 3 while the southernmost groin is repaired.

The work is taking place in conjunction with a beach nourishment project in the Hatteras Island village expected to begin this week.

Dare County commissioners, during a special meeting June 15, voted to award $8.6 million to repair the groin to SJ Hamill Construction Co. “which has the experience, resources and project history necessary to successfully complete this type of coastal construction,” according to the county. The marine and heavy civil contractor is based in Charleston, South Carolina.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials said Monday that the 600 feet of beach flanking the site where the work is taking place, as well as the adjacent ocean area to the east, will be closed until repairs are complete. The county anticipates that to be by the end of the year, but if weather or material lead times cause delays, the contractor must have the project fully completed by June 1, 2027.

The groin being repaired is one of three the U.S. Navy constructed in 1970 in response to coastal erosion adjacent to Naval Facility Cape Hatteras, now known as the Buxton Beach Access or Buxton Formerly Used Defense Site. Two groins were built to the north of the former location of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse and one just south.

The park service granted the permit in April for the permitted repairs that include the removal of deteriorated materials and installation of new steel sheet piles, with stone scour protection at the base to help prevent erosion.

For the beach nourishment project intended to protect N.C. 12 from ocean hazards, the Houston, Texas-based Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. is to begin this week the roughly three-month project to place 2 million cubic yards of sand along Buxton’s beachfront, according a county July 14 update.

While driving around the roads that parallel the waterways along our coast, you will see canals and channels formed by spartina grass (pronounced: spart-eye-na). As the currents wend their way into and out of these channels, great numbers of aquatic life forms are flushed in and out with the tides. Many of these creatures are moved around at the mercy of the water. The ones we are interested in are not.

A basic understanding of tides is mandatory for success. At the bare minimum it is necessary when fishing these creeks because if you don’t, you can easily run out of water and get stuck for hours. Don’t ask me how I know. But beyond that, the flow creates angling opportunities for the knowledgeable.

Let’s start with this simple example: It’s late September. As the water starts to cool into the 70-degree Fahrenheit range. Speckled trout will begin to gather in schools. If you are fishing on the wrong tide stage, you may be in the middle of dozens of fish but not catching any. Specks feel comfortable in water that is rising. They like a nice roof over their heads. Most of the time they will bite better on an incoming tide that’s been running for a while in these creeks. The narrower the creek, the more important this can be. Oftentimes you can be in the middle of a really nice bite, and it will shut right off with a click. Check your watch. Usually this will coincide with the change of the tide.

Of course, in fishing, the only absolute is there aren’t any. So, of course, there are certain places where the best trout bite is going to be on the ebb. The only way to find out is to go.

A very popular target to pursue in the creeks, during the open season time of year, is the southern flounder. These are notable for being susceptible to a well-placed live mullet or mud minnow. The preferred tide will be outgoing. If the bottom is smooth, relatively snag-free and deeper than 8 feet, a Carolina Rig with ¼- or ½-ounce sinker will put your hook in the zone. Of course, the problem with fishing in a spot that’s free from snaggy spots usually means fewer flounder. If the water is shallow and full of oysters, rig your bait under a popping cork. These will allow you to stay above the fray, if you will.

Set up in a spot where a current flows through a cut or past an oyster outcrop. When the cork goes down, you have a customer. It’s best to have a few locations. Give it a half hour or so per location, then move on. Coincidentally, this is a heckuva way to catch red drum in the same places. According to Capt. Rick Patterson of Cape Crusader Charters, a good way to target them is to substitute cut mullet or menhaden for the harder-to-get livies. Of course, the biggest southern flounder that I ever caught in a spartina creek was with a jig during the incoming tide.

Often when we target red drum in spartina, the fish are scattered in small groups or singles and we will have to cover water to find them. There are many popular options for doing so. The gold Johnson Minnow spoon is probably the oldest and most traditional. The original patent was issued in 1923. It’s a great choice for casting around weeds. It has a built-in weed guard. However, if there are a lot of oysters in the waters you’re in, because the tie-in point is directly in line with the hook, they tend to get hung up and are susceptible to being broken off. It’s kind of sad to leave 30 dollars’ worth of tackle in the water. A better option is a tandem spinner bait like those used for bass fishing. It too gets through the weeds nicely. A bonus is the offset tie-in point allows them to bounce off the oyster rocks and come back relatively unscathed.

If the creek is quite shallow (and the best fishing is usually on a falling tide) a topwater plug may be the only lure style we can find that will enable us to catch fish and not get hung up. My favorites are the Walk-The-Dog styles like the original Heddon Zara Spook, but I’ve had better luck personally with the Rapala Skitterwalk. Something about that dance gets them to smack it.

I was given a lesson by Capt. Rick one day (well, he usually schooled me when we fished together). I was using my typical topwater plug and he used a popping cork with a DOA plastic shrimp. He caught numerous citation-sized trout on a grass flat, and then we went into a creek and he did wonders on above-legal-sized redfish, which were gently released, all while I did not receive a strike … at all. (I’m not bitter). So be prepared to change your strategy if things are not working out at first. Again, the only constant in fishing is there aren’t any.

The last thing I’m going to mention is what to do when the tide is extra high. Sometimes we’ll get the “king tides” and the water gets so high that the fish spread into inaccessible places. That was when I would get in my skiff and pole as far back as I could and see redtails in places that most people don’t think ever have water in them.

That will take an entire story of its own. Since I can’t go myself anymore, I plan to help someone out that wants to try for themself. But that’s for the next time.

An advocacy organization created to improve transportation access to Ocracoke Island and the Outer Banks is urging state lawmakers to the North Carolina Ferry Division’s deadline to begin collecting tolls on all of its ferry routes by one year.

In a July 23 email to members of the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee, Ocracoke Access Alliance Executive Director Justin LeBlanc wrote that the Jan. 1, 2027, deadline to implement tolls is less than six months away.

“Initial analysis suggests that this deadline is unrealistic and is neither technically nor operationally feasible,” LeBlanc wrote. “The Hatteras-Ocracoke route and several other ferry routes have never been subject to tolls. Unlike the Ferry Division’s existing tolled routes, the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry operates on a high-volume, first-come, first-served basis. The current reservation and toll collection system is not designed to accommodate these operations. Implementing tolls on these routes will require the development, testing, and deployment of a new collection system – potentially utilizing E-ZPass or comparable technology – to ensure efficient operations and minimize disruptions to residents, businesses, and visitors.”

Legislators included the new tolls in Senate Bill 257, the first state budget to be passed since 2023. Gov. Josh Stein signed the long-awaited budget on July 7. The law does not set fare amounts.

LeBlanc stated in a release Friday that the organization is not requesting the General Assembly reconsider its decision to authorize the tolls of all seven ferry routes.

Extending the deadline to Jan. 1, 2028 would give the Ferry Division sufficient time to build the infrastructure needed to implement tolls and the Board of Transportation time to “complete a transparent public process, and ensure that the toll collection begins in an orderly and efficient manner,” LeBlanc stated.

“Rushing implementation benefits no one and increases the likelihood of operational problems for residents, businesses, and visitors alike,” he said.

Sen. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, and, and Sen. Norman Sanderson, R-Pamlico, expressing their opposition to the tolls, initially voted against the budget. Both men voted for the budget in the final tally.

Hanig plans to seek legislative language to delay the tolling implementation date and other ferry provisions.

Recent rainfall over much of North Carolina has not been enough to make up for double-digit precipitation deficits counties are experiencing throughout the state.

Some parts of the state are suffering rainfall deficits of more than 20 inches, according to North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council officials.

“The big concerns are the reservoir levels,” Klaus Albertin, the council’s chair and water resources engineer with the N.C. Division of Water Resources stated in a release. “Forecasts have called for 3 to 5 inches of rain in the next week, and we’ve seen some areas get significant accumulations already on Thursday. It’s not going to bring everything back up to full, but it’s going to make a difference. Even if areas get 4 inches of rain, some will still be a dozen inches behind. Some of the water will be captured by reservoirs, and some won’t. It’s going to take a while to really get out of this one.”

As the advisory council’s July 23 drought conditions update, the state’s southernmost coastal county, Brunswick County, remains in exceptional drought, which is the highest drought classification.

All of New Hanover and portions of Pender and Onslow counties are in severe drought. The remainder of the state’s coastal counties are classified under moderate drought or abnormally dry.

Rain that fell between July 14-21 improved drought conditions in some parts of the state, but all 100 counties are experiencing drought or abnormally dry conditions.

In all, 32 counties are in extreme drought, 48 are in severe drought, seven are in moderate drought and 11 are classified as abnormally dry. Rockingham County is under exceptional drought.

Reservoirs and groundwater levels across the state are below normal.

The recent precipitation trend may be bringing more regular rains and significant precipitation, Albertin said in the release, though he cautioned that water is typically used more this time of year through the hot summer.

“All of our reservoirs are still challenged,” he said. “The last few weeks have really helped them stabilize, but we’re not seeing improvements yet. It’s a good thing, but we’re going to need more rain for them to start filling up.”

North Carolinians are encouraged to conserve water and check with their local water supply system for information on water use restrictions that may be in place. Those systems may also have tips for conserving water, including washing only full loads of laundry.

Water systems in counties in exceptional or extreme drought are advised to follow their water shortage response plans, adhere to water use reduction measures, and are required to report weekly water use and conservation status at the Water Use Reporting website.

The Drought Management Advisory Council is a collaboration of drought experts from government agencies in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia organized by DWR. Council members meet weekly and submit their drought condition recommendations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and National Drought Mitigation Center for updates to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Guest Commentary

To stimulate discussion and debate, Coastal Review welcomes differing viewpoints on topical coastal issues.

Few public projects have generated as much discussion in southeastern North Carolina as the proposed replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. Citizens have raised thoughtful questions about the bridge’s cost, the possibility of tolls, impacts on surrounding neighborhoods, and perhaps most notably, one simple question:
Why does the replacement bridge need to be 135 feet high?

It is an entirely reasonable question.

Recent public discussions, including a white paper published by the Brunswick Forest Residents Civic Association (BFRCA), have suggested that the bridge could be substantially lower if Congress simply eliminated the federally authorized navigation channel north of the existing bridge. Some have argued that doing so could reduce project costs and perhaps even eliminate the need for tolls.

Those ideas deserve thoughtful consideration. Public participation has always been one of the strengths of our democratic system, and citizens should never hesitate to ask difficult questions about major public investments.

As someone who spent more than four decades with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers working in navigation planning, environmental review, and water resources development, I welcome that conversation.

At the same time, I believe an important piece of information has been largely missing from the public discussion.

A federal determination that changes the conversation

Recently, the Wilmington District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed its review of the proposed bridge replacement under Section 14 of the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899, commonly known as Section 408.

Most citizens have never heard of Section 408, yet it may be one of the most important laws affecting the future of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. Section 408 requires the Corps to determine whether a proposed alteration would impair the usefulness of a congressionally authorized federal Civil Works project. In this case, the authorized project is the Wilmington Harbor Federal Navigation Project.

After completing its technical review, the Corps reached a clear conclusion. A replacement bridge providing less than 135 feet of vertical clearance above mean higher high water would negatively affect the usefulness of the federally authorized navigation project.

Under the Corps’ own regulations, once that determination was made, the evaluation of lower-clearance alternatives had to stop.

Whether one agrees with that determination or not is almost beside the point. It is now part of the official administrative record.

That changes the discussion.

The debate is no longer simply about whether a lower bridge might cost less or appear more practical. Before that question can even be answered, another question must first be addressed: Should Congress change the federally authorized navigation project itself?

That is a much broader public policy question than bridge height alone. It involves navigation, interstate commerce, transportation planning, environmental review, economic development, emergency preparedness, and federal law.

Understanding that broader framework is essential if we hope to make informed decisions.

Why this matters

Many residents have moved to southeastern North Carolina only within the past decade. They understandably may not be familiar with the many decades of congressional authorizations, navigation studies, environmental reviews, transportation planning, and public investments that have shaped the Cape Fear River and the Port of Wilmington.

That history matters.

The Cape Fear Memorial Bridge was never simply a highway crossing.
It has always been part of a larger transportation system connecting maritime commerce, regional highways, railroads, emergency evacuation routes, military facilities, and the communities on both sides of the river.

Looking at the bridge by itself is a little like trying to understand an airport by examining only the terminal building.

The bridge, the harbor, the port, and the transportation network all function together.
That is why replacing the bridge is considerably more complicated than choosing a preferred height.

Understanding the federal navigation project

One of the most common misunderstandings in the current discussion involves the nature of the federal navigation project itself.

Many people understandably assume that because relatively few large commercial vessels travel north of the bridge today, the federal navigation channel above the bridge is no longer necessary.

On the surface, that seems like common sense. If the ships are not using the channel, why preserve it?

The answer lies in understanding what Congress actually authorizes.

Federal navigation projects are not created by the Corps of Engineers. They are established by Congress to serve long-term national interests, including interstate commerce, navigation, economic development, and, in some cases, national defense.

The Corps is responsible for administering those projects within the authority granted by Congress. It does not possess unilateral authority to redefine or eliminate them simply because navigation patterns change.

That distinction is critical.

Changes in vessel traffic may certainly justify future studies. They may even support recommendations for congressional action. But they do not automatically change the existing federal authorization.

Transportation infrastructure has always been planned with a long-term perspective. We do not widen highways only after congestion becomes unbearable. Nor do we abandon airports because air traffic temporarily declines.

Similarly, federal navigation projects are intended to accommodate both present and future needs.

That does not mean existing authorizations should never be revisited. It simply means that changing them requires careful analysis rather than assumption.

The relationship between bridge and harbor

The recent Section 408 determination illustrates something that planners have understood for decades. The bridge and the navigation project cannot be evaluated independently. The navigation project establishes engineering requirements that directly influence the bridge.

Likewise, the bridge affects navigation, freight movement, emergency response, regional mobility, and economic development.

This relationship is not unique to Wilmington. Throughout the country, ports depend upon highways. Highways depend upon bridges. Bridges support freight movement.
Freight movement supports regional economies. Each component influences the others. That is why transportation planning increasingly views infrastructure as interconnected systems rather than isolated projects.

When citizens ask whether a lower bridge is possible, they are really asking whether the entire transportation and navigation system should operate differently. That is an important discussion. But it should be recognized for what it is. It is not simply a bridge design question. It is a regional planning question.

Where current discussion raises important questions

One reason the current public discussion has been valuable is that it has encouraged citizens to look more closely at decisions that will shape our region for generations. Those questions deserve thoughtful answers.

The cost of replacing the bridge is substantial. Taxpayers have every right to understand why a particular alternative has been selected and whether it represents the best long-term value.

Questions about tolls are equally understandable. Thousands of Brunswick County residents depend upon this crossing every day. Any recurring toll would affect commuters, businesses, retirees, and working families throughout the region.

Neighborhood impacts also deserve careful consideration. Transportation projects influence homes, businesses, churches, historic districts, and community character.
Every reasonable effort should be made to minimize unnecessary impacts while meeting legitimate transportation needs.

These are not obstacles to progress. They are exactly the kinds of questions responsible citizens should ask.

Public involvement has improved countless infrastructure projects throughout this country. Engineers identify technical issues. Environmental scientists evaluate ecological consequences. Transportation planners assess mobility. Residents contribute local knowledge that professionals may overlook. Good public policy benefits from all of these perspectives. The goal should never be to determine which side wins the argument.

The goal should be to make the final decision better because every important question has been asked — and every answer has been grounded in evidence rather than assumption.

That is the standard our community should expect as this discussion continues.

Where I reach different conclusions

While I believe the recent public discussion has been healthy, I reach different conclusions on several important issues.

The first concerns the assumption that eliminating the federally authorized navigation channel north of the bridge would naturally result in a lower bridge and substantially lower project costs.

Perhaps it would. But no one can responsibly make that claim without first completing the technical, environmental, legal, and economic analyses necessary to support it.
Changing a congressionally authorized Federal Navigation Project is not simply a matter of drawing a new line on a map.

Congress certainly possesses the authority to modify or even deauthorize portions of an existing navigation project. However, exercising that authority has historically required far more than a legislative amendment. It would require detailed engineering studies, navigation analyses, environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), economic evaluation, consultation with affected federal and state agencies, and careful consideration of the long-term interests of interstate commerce, military readiness, and the Port of Wilmington.

That process exists for good reason. Federal infrastructure projects are intended to serve not only today’s needs but also those of future generations.

The Corps’ recent Section 408 determination illustrates precisely why that process matters. Unless and until Congress changes the authorized navigation project, the Corps has concluded that a bridge with less than 135 feet of vertical clearance would impair the usefulness of the existing federally authorized navigation project. That determination does not prevent Congress from changing the project in the future, but it does establish the legal and engineering framework within which today’s bridge replacement must be evaluated.

The idea of ending the federally authorized navigation project at the bridge or eliminating the authorized navigation channel north of the bridge has become part of the public discussion. Congress unquestionably has the authority to modify or even deauthorize portions of a federal navigation project. The more important question, however, is not whether Congress can do so, but whether Congress should.

Such a decision deserves far more than a simple legislative amendment or a reaction to current navigation patterns. It would require comprehensive engineering, navigation, environmental, and economic analyses, together with consultation among federal and state agencies, the maritime industry, local governments, and the public. It would also require careful consideration of the long-term interests of the Port of Wilmington, regional transportation, interstate commerce, military readiness, and public safety.

That is not an argument against changing the navigation project if future studies ultimately demonstrate that such a change serves the public interest. Rather, it is an argument that decisions of this magnitude should be based upon a complete technical and public policy record — not upon a single objective such as reducing bridge height or construction costs.

The discussion should therefore begin not with the question, “Can we build a lower bridge?” but rather with the question, “Should the nation modify a congressionally authorized navigation project that has served the Cape Fear River for decades?”
Those are fundamentally different questions.

The question of tolls

One issue on which my position is unequivocal is tolling.

I do not support tolling the replacement Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. My opposition, however, is not based solely on the financial burden tolls would place on local residents. It is based on a broader principle of fairness.

The Cape Fear Memorial Bridge is not simply a local bridge. It is one of southeastern North Carolina’s most important transportation assets.

Every day it carries commuters between Brunswick and New Hanover Counties. It serves as a principal hurricane evacuation route for thousands of residents and visitors. It supports military readiness through its connection to Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point. It carries a substantial share of the freight traffic serving the Port of Wilmington, one of North Carolina’s most important economic engines.

The replacement bridge will also provide something the existing bridge has never offered: a safe, dedicated pedestrian and bicycle connection across the Cape Fear River. That addition will reconnect the two counties in ways that encourage walking, cycling, recreation, tourism to our fledgling Eagles Island Park, and healthier transportation choices, while creating new opportunities for residents and visitors to experience both communities. It is an investment in quality of life as much as in transportation.

These combined benefits demonstrate that the bridge serves far more than motorists. It serves commerce, public safety, emergency preparedness, military logistics, recreation, tourism, and community connectivity throughout the Lower Cape Fear region.

The economic benefits generated by the Port extend far beyond Wilmington and Brunswick County. They benefit manufacturers, agricultural producers, retailers, businesses, and consumers across North Carolina.

When infrastructure supports statewide commerce and statewide economic prosperity, it should be viewed as a statewide responsibility. That is why I believe the Town of Leland acted wisely in adopting Resolution R-26–032, encouraging equitable participation by the North Carolina State Ports Authority in funding the replacement bridge.

The resolution does not suggest that the Ports Authority should finance the entire bridge. Nor do I. Rather, it recognizes a principle of sound public policy: When major public infrastructure produces broad statewide benefits, the costs should be shared equitably among those who benefit.

The port depends upon the transportation system. The transportation system depends upon the bridge. The bridge, in turn, supports statewide commerce, local communities, military readiness, emergency preparedness, and regional mobility. Those relationships are inseparable.

Accordingly, I believe discussions regarding project financing should include the State of North Carolina, the North Carolina State Ports Authority, and other beneficiaries of statewide commerce — not simply the commuters who happen to cross the bridge each day.

A bridge that serves the economic interests of an entire state should not be financed primarily on the backs of local motorists.

Planning for the next century

Another issue often overlooked in public discussions is time.

The replacement Cape Fear Memorial Bridge is not being designed solely for today’s traffic. It is expected to serve southeastern North Carolina for the next 75 to 100 years.
No one can predict exactly how the Port of Wilmington, regional population, freight movement, military requirements, or transportation technology will evolve during that period.

History teaches us that infrastructure frequently shapes economic growth rather than simply responding to it. The interstate highway system transformed American commerce. Container shipping transformed global trade. Ports expanded because transportation systems were built with future opportunities in mind.

Likewise, the pedestrian and bicycle facilities planned for the new bridge recognize that transportation needs evolve. Communities increasingly value safe, multimodal connections that improve mobility, encourage recreation, reduce reliance on automobiles for short trips, and strengthen relationships between neighboring communities.

Current navigation patterns are certainly relevant. But they are only one part of a much longer planning horizon. Responsible infrastructure planning requires us to think not only about today’s conditions, but about the needs and opportunities of future generations.

What every citizen should expect

Whether one supports the current bridge proposal, favors a different design, opposes tolls, or believes Congress should revisit the navigation project, every citizen should expect the same thing from government. Transparency.

Citizens deserve to understand why particular decisions are being made. They deserve to see alternatives evaluated objectively.

They deserve to understand the assumptions underlying cost estimates, traffic forecasts, environmental analyses, and funding proposals.

They deserve clear explanations — not slogans.

Likewise, public agencies should welcome informed questions.

Some of the best improvements to public infrastructure projects have come from citizens asking questions that professionals had not fully considered.

Public involvement strengthens projects. It should never be viewed as an obstacle.

At the same time, informed public discussion carries its own responsibility. Questions should be answered with documented evidence.

Engineering judgments should be supported by technical analysis.

Legal conclusions should be grounded in applicable law.

Public policy decisions should reflect long-term public interests rather than short-term political pressures.

When those principles guide the discussion, everyone benefits — even when reasonable people ultimately disagree.

Building the future together

The Cape Fear Memorial Bridge debate is about far more than bridge height. It is about how southeastern North Carolina prepares for the future.

Reasonable people will continue to disagree about navigation requirements, project costs, neighborhood impacts, and funding mechanisms. Those disagreements are healthy.

What should unite us is a commitment to making decisions based upon evidence rather than assumption, thoughtful analysis rather than speculation, and long-term public benefit rather than short-term convenience.

The recent Section 408 determination does not end this discussion. It does, however, remind us that major infrastructure decisions are shaped by decades of congressional authorizations, engineering analysis, environmental review, and transportation planning.
Understanding that framework allows us to ask better questions and make better decisions.

If North Carolina recognizes the Port of Wilmington as a statewide economic engine — and I believe it should — then the transportation infrastructure that allows that port to function should likewise be recognized as a statewide responsibility.

The replacement Cape Fear Memorial Bridge will connect neighborhoods, counties, businesses, cyclists, pedestrians, emergency responders, military installations, and one of North Carolina’s most important seaports. It will serve the people of this region for generations.

It should unite our communities — not divide them over who should bear the cost. That is not simply a transportation policy. It is a matter of sound planning, regional partnership, and fairness.

Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of Coastal Review or our publisher, the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher is “looking for out-of-the-box exhibits that inspire wonder and curiosity” to take part in its annual daylong program that highlights science, technology, engineering and math fields.

The eighth annual “Femme in STEM” program is taking place 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 26, in the aquarium’s temporary location in Independence Mall in Wilmington. Leaders in STEM fields are encouraged to apply as exhibitors at Femme in STEM.

“This event is special to us and the community for so many reasons, especially because of the immediate connection and excitement that happens when children engage in the immersive hands-on exhibits curated by the exhibitors,” said Karissa Bearer, Fort Fisher aquarium’s education curator.

While the existing facility just south of Kure Beach is undergoing a yearslong renovation and expansion, the aquarium has opened “Discovery Bay” in the JC Penney wing of the mall across from the arcade. The mini-aquarium features poison dart frogs, a carnivorous plants ecosystem, seahorses, lionfish and scorpionfish, an aquaculture habitat with blue-striped grunts and copper sweepers, and an environmental education corner.

“Now that we’re hosting Femme in STEM at the mall, we anticipate that we will have more exhibitors join us and they will engage in meaningful ways with even more children and families,” said Fort Fisher aquarium Director Joanna Zazzali.

The NC Aquariums are a division of 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 State Archives of North Carolina will explore the historical events and archival records that inspired the North Carolina storylines in “Outlander.”

“Outlander,” a television show based on a series of books by Diana Gabaldon, is about a World War II nurse who travels through time to 18th-century Scotland, where she meets a young Highlander. The historical fiction series follows the couple through time and on their travels, starting in 1740s Scotland and eventually to the colony of North Carolina in the 1760s, where the pair take part in the American Revolution. The first episode of the show premiered in 2014 on Starz and the finale for the eight-season series aired in May.

In recognition of the series conclusion, archivists Josh Hager and Alison Thurman will discuss their 25-part blog series, “Documenting the World of Outlander,” which highlights historical documents that reveal the real people, places and events behind episodes set in North Carolina during an hourlong webinar scheduled for noon Tuesday, Aug. 5.

Participants must register for the free program through Zoom.

“Intended as a ‘bonus feature’ for fans of Outlander who want to explore more of the world of Jamie and Claire, it expands on the historical context of the show through original documents housed at the State Archives of North Carolina,” according to the blog that began in 2018, when the Frasers first set foot on North Carolinian soil in Season 4 of Outlander.

During the webinar, Hager and Thurman will examine topics including the Committees of Safety, the flight of Royal Governor Josiah Martin and the Battle of Kings Mountain using colonial maps, criminal trial records, Revolutionary-era newspapers and other primary sources.

Published on the State Archives’ “History For All the People” blog from 2018-23, the 25-part series connects memorable scenes and plotlines from Outlander to original records preserved by the State Archives.

The State Archives is a division of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, which has coordinated America 250 NC, the state’s official commemoration of the United States’ 250th anniversary.

For more information, contact Outreach Coordinator Adrienne Berney at adrienne.berney@dncr.nc.gov or 919-814-6863.

Funding has been cut for a state-run environmental education program and the two-member team that manages the 30-plus year outreach effort, a move widely criticized by educators and environmental groups.

Gov. Josh Stein on July 7 signed the $34 billion 2025-26 budget, the first full budget in more than two years, but it did not include the $275,000 needed to run the North Carolina Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs.

The office’s Environmental Education Program Manager Lisa Tolley and Environmental Education Program Consultant Marty Wiggins told Coastal Review during a conversation last week that, just days before the Fourth of July holiday, they had confirmation that their program and positions had been eliminated.

“We’re trying to figure out the path forward for the program,” Tolley said. “That’s where we are.”

There had been talk about the office within the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality being axed during summer 2025 when the North Carolina General Assembly attempted to draft a budget, but when the process stalled, a mini budget was passed that didn’t address the program.

In addition to establishing the first Environmental Education Certification Program in the nation, the now-eliminated office is a hub of environmental education information that connects educators with resources, events, grants, jobs and facilities through the website, online calendar, and email lists.

In a 12-month window, more than a million have interacted with the office through its website, event calendar and social media, which its website states.

Since finding out that the Office of Environmental Education, often called the O of EE or OEE, was eliminated, the public has been rallying behind the office. They’re showing their support by sharing their stories online and with representatives ahead of the legislature reconvening Monday. That’s when committees are rumored to begin reviewing budget corrections.

The nonprofit Environmental Educators of North Carolina, which collaborates with the state-run program, encouraged the public to reach out to House and Senate members “about how the resources and programs provided by the Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs supports your work, your job training, your classroom, your community, or your business. Ask them to propose a technical correction to the state budget that will reinstate funding to support administration of the EE Certification program and the technical support and resources they provide.”

This is not the first time funding has been in jeopardy. “We have faced this challenge before — in 2011 and in 2017 — and work from the EE Community and supporters saved this vital office, and we can do it again,” the nonprofit states.

Wiggins said Wednesday that he and Tolley both were overwhelmed by the support for the program.

“Several program participants have shared how participating in the Environmental Education Certification program has changed their lives and has helped them find jobs, start their own businesses or create new career pathways. North Carolina has the strongest environmental education community in the country, and we are proud of the work we have done to support educators, schools and communities,” he said.

NCDEQ leadership has spoken out about the program being eliminated. NCDEQ Secretary Reid Wilson explained to the Environmental Management Commission during its meeting July 9 in Raleigh that the budget was overall “very positive for this department,” but there are concerns.

“One, the budget eliminates the Office of Environmental Education and the two employees who work there,” Wilson said, noting that the “incredibly successful and helpful program” had been around for 30 years, “and it is no more. So, we are trying to figure out what to do with that.”

He told the commission that the program has certified more than “1,600 educators and that knowledge has been spread to thousands and thousands of children, K through 12.”

The department also noted its concern in a press release the day prior about the budget eliminating the office, which has a long history of supporting K-12 educators to advance science education, and improving “public’s environmental literacy and stewardship of our natural resources.”

A DEQ spokesperson told Coastal Review that, as of Wednesday, there had been no update on the program’s status.

Tolley explained how the office got its start in the mid-1990s to reduce inefficiencies in the state government. At the time, there were smaller environmental education programs offered throughout the state, and the Office of Environmental Education was set up to streamline access to these resources.

“In the late ’90s, when the fish kills happened on the Neuse River, the staff got an appropriation to do an education campaign on river basins. I was hired to do that, and so the river basin highway signs you see are part of that campaign around the state,” Tolley said.

More program managers were brought in who focused on K-12 education, adult education, and then partnerships with business and community, but over the years cuts have brought the staff down to the two, she said, adding that they have worked really hard “to form partnerships with other groups so that we could operate a large statewide program with just two people.”

Tolley said that the office partnered with 10 other states to develop the custom form to add events to the calendar, jobs board and grants.

“The main program we run is the Environmental Education Certification Program, and that’s for classroom teachers, informal educators like park rangers or those at science centers, science museums, or botanical gardens, to name a few.

“We really are set up to serve teachers and educators throughout the state, and we kind of have used the program to build the capacity across the state for other small counties and big counties to offer environmental ed programming,” she said.

Tolley said last week that there were 600 currently working to earn certification, and there are more than 700 who maintain active status with the program.

The self-paced effort requires educators to complete seven instructional workshops, 50 hours of outdoor environmental education experiences and 30 hours of experiences that promote awareness of the state’s environmental education resources to earn the certification. Certified educators are required to complete 50 hours of continuing education every five years to maintain an active status.

The office also has partnered with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences to host livestreamed talks, and with the state Department of Public Instruction to cohost gatherings of classroom teachers and nonformal educators like those at science education facilities and offers a K-12 environmental literacy plan for teachers.

The state office collaborates with the Environmental Educators of North Carolina, an organization that has tailored many of the programs and workshops to meet certification requirements.

Wiggins said that, since it’s just him and Tolley, they don’t have the capacity to teach workshops, but the nonprofit has designed what it offers to meet certification program guidelines, “That’s been a great partnership.”

Renee Strnad, Project Learning Tree state coordinator whose office is housed in N.C. State University Extension Forestry, is a past president of the nonprofit. She directs the environmental education curriculum, which provides professional development to K-12 educators to help them implement environmental education in their classrooms.

Strnad was hosting a Sustainable Forestry Teachers Experience workshop Tuesday in Alamance County when she took a few minutes to speak to Coastal Review about how much she values the environmental education office.

“For me, the whole idea that the office serves as this clearinghouse, as a one-stop shop, helps me advertise my programs to educators broadly. It’s very difficult to get information out to teachers directly.”

She added that the office has close ties with the Department of Public Instruction, which ensures that nonformal educators are aware of the newest language or pedagogy that they need to help teachers include environmental education in their classroom. The office serves as a “connection point for all those state agencies that are also trying to reach K-12 educators, kind of that bridge to the Department of Public Instruction,” she said.

Strnad acknowledged that there is criticism about the intentions of environmental education, but the certification program “outlines what good environmental education is, that you’re not taking a stance.”

The educator learns how to offer information that helps people think critically about issues and understand that a solution to an environmental problem in their community might not work in another community because of varied factors. The program also helped legitimize environmental education as a field, and many states have used North Carolina’s EE certification program as a model and a basis for theirs.

“We were the first state in the country to actually do an environmental education certification program, which was mandated by the state with the Environmental Education Act,” in 1993, she said. The environmental education program formalized a way for people to call themselves environmental educators.

It’s sad knowing that the state has this amazing history and other states have looked to North Carolina as a model program, and the funding is completely being cut, Strnad said.

The education team at the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, are all certified. Education Director Sara Hallas, who joined the nonprofit organization in 2008, said that the state program helped shape her as an educator.

“Since I moved here from out of state to start working, it greatly impacted my ability to refine my skills and knowledge about the NC coast and its unique habitats. It was a tremendous resource that helped me build a set of teaching tools when I was just starting my career; these tools are still useful today,” Hallas said in an email. “Additionally, they provide continued support through networking with other EE professionals across the state. The certification is well designed and requires continued education hours, which have helped me stay sharp and continue learning new things! I hope they can find a solution to continue being a resource for North Carolina.”

The Multistate Environmental Response Trust is hosting a community meeting Tuesday, July 28 to provide updates to ongoing and upcoming work at the Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp. – Navassa Superfund Site.

Topics to be covered at the meeting include the removal of contaminated soil temporarily staged in an area of operable unit 4, or OU4, of the former wood treatment facility. The pile of contaminated soil is expected to be removed and disposed of in a federally approved landfill by November, according to a release.

During the meeting, which is being held in coordination with the Environmental Protection Agency and N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, officials will also discuss upcoming OU4 cleanup work, the proposed cleanup plan for OU3, updates on the proposed Moze Center land donation and conservation easement, local contracting, and other site updates.

The contaminated soil is being removed because it could potentially impact groundwater. The pile staged in OU4 also contains soil that does not pose a risk of leaching into groundwater. That soil will be consolidated in the on-site former fire protection pond disposal unit. A copy of the staging pile remedial action workplan is available online.

After the EPA finalizes the plan for cleaning up OU3, which is the 32-acre southern marsh, the agency will schedule a public meeting and update the site’s profile page.

The meeting will be held 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. in-person at the Navassa Community Center, 338 Main St., or online by Zoom or by typing tinyurl.com/Navassameetings into a browser, or by telephone at 301-715-8592, meeting ID 946 584 8922, passcode 664564.

An in-person only drop-in session will be held 6:30-7:30 p.m. in the community center.

Elevated levels of a federally deemed likely cancer-causing substance were detected in a sample collected earlier this month from a municipal wastewater treatment plant that discharges into the Cape Fear River Basin.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources announced Wednesday it had been notified that elevated 1,4-dioxane levels were discharged from Asheboro’s wastewater treatment plant into Hasketts Creek, which empties into the Deep River.

A sample collected by the plant July 10 detected a concentration of 2,010 parts per billion, or ppb, of 1-4 dioxane, an industrial chemical used for a variety of purposes.

For downstream water supplies to remain safe, DEQ has determined the Asheboro plant should keep its monthly average 1,4-dioxane discharge at or below 22 ppb. DEQ uses U.S. Environmental Protection Agency toxicity calculations for lifetime exposure to determine safe levels of 1,4-dioxane discharges.

State water resources officials have taken additional sampling since July 10 and are awaiting to confirm the results of those samples, according to a release.

The Division of Water Resources has notified several downstream drinking water utilities about the elevated levels. Those utilities include Bladen Bluffs Water System, Brunswick County, Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, the city of Dunn, Fayetteville Public Works Commission, Harnett Regional Water, International Paper Co., Pender County, Pilgrim’s Pride Water System and the city of Sandford.

“DEQ continues to monitor the levels of 1,4-dioxane discharged by wastewater treatment plants in the Cape Fear River Basin,” according to a release. “Significant reductions have occurred at one wastewater treatment plant through a collaborative effort with municipal operators. DEQ continues to work with the remaining municipal operators.”

Asheboro and division officials are in an ongoing court battle over the division’s inclusion of 1,4-dioxane discharge limits in city’s August 2023 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, permit.

In early February, a Wake County Superior Court judge ruled that the limits set by the state were properly included in the plant’s discharge permit. Asheboro appealed and the limits are stayed until the case is heard by the Court of Appeals.

Water has carried Tatiana the Trash roughly 70 miles downstream from where it and dozens of other reusable bottles were released into a Northeast Raleigh creek more than a year ago.

Dan the Debris doesn’t appear to have made it far from where it was placed into Marsh Creek in the spring of 2025.

Today, there are 60 cheekily named bottles that can be tracked as they journey, or not, from the freshwaters of the creek and the Neuse River and into the brackish waters of the Pamlico Sound.

They’re part of an ongoing study examining how stormwater flushes litter into local creeks, how far that litter travels downstream, and the direct link between urban trash and plastic pollution in our waterways.

“Even though we’re up here in Wake County, the Neuse River carries a lot of our pollutants down to the coast, where our coastal neighbors, unfortunately, have a cumulative impact of our river in the watersheds upstream,” said Christy Perrin, sustainable waters and communities coordinator with Waters Resources Research Institute and North Carolina Sea Grant, and co-principal investigator of the study.

To get an understanding of how litter gets into our waterways and travels downstream, researchers are digging deep to pinpoint litter hotspots and identify correlations between storms and how much trash enters individual streams during those storms.

Researchers will use their findings to guide location-specific interventions to help prevent litter from reaching waterways.

The study was funded in 2024 through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant Office.

As part of the study, researchers installed three litter traps in Marsh Creek, a small watershed that flows into Crabtree Creek near Interstate 440 and into the Neuse River. After each rainfall, the team removes trash captured in the traps, counts each piece of litter, and documents the different types of litter collected.

“Every time it rains, stormwater will wash trash and pollutants from sidewalks and roads and streets into our local streams,” said Madison Haley, a doctoral student in North Carolina State University’s Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department. “Here, we’re able to understand from specific storms how much trash is entering and then moving through watersheds. What we’re finding is that the higher the peak of that flow, the more trash we see.”

Researchers have found a clear link between the amount of trash captured by litter traps and the size of the nearby human population.

“The less populated a watershed is, the less trash we see typically. And the more urbanized a watershed is, the more trash we see typically,” Haley said.

Researchers teamed up with volunteers of The Great Raleigh Cleanup, a nonprofit founded in 2020 that has removed more than 45,000 pounds of litter from the city’s landscapes, to take stock of the amounts of litter along roads within the Marsh Creek watershed and identify litter hotspots.

“We do notice that roads that see higher traffic have more litter,” Haley said. “Roads that see lower traffic have less litter. Roads that are more industrialized tend to have more litter. Roads that are residential tend to have less litter.”

There is no perfect formula for pinpointing exactly what creates a litter hotspot, she said, but researchers have uncovered a definite pattern.

And they’re trying to find patterns in how litter is carried by waters downstream – how long it takes litter to get from headwaters into the river and all the way down into the Pamlico Sound.

That’s where the bottles, with a little help from citizen scientists, particularly those recreating in waters closer to the coast, come in.

Each 1-liter Nalgene bottle holds a GPS tracker and a bright-colored note with a QR code that links to the project website.

Eventually GPS tracker batteries run out of juice.

“If you ever see a bottle, there’s a chance it could be one of ours” with a tracker that has lost power, Haley said.

She asks anyone who spots a bottle while recreating on the Neuse River or Pamlico Sound to check to see if it is one of theirs. If you find one of their research bottles, simply scan the QR code, log its location, and then place it back in the water.

“It’s a good time for folks to be out there paying more attention and recreating and seeing if they can find our bottles, but also picking up trash in the process,” Haley said, noting that this month is Plastic Free July. “The point is that folks can connect more than what we do here in Raleigh, and what we do in these urban areas can impact our neighbors downstream, and everything that we do here doesn’t necessarily stay in our own community. The plastic persists for a very long time, and it moves through our waterways and our environments.”

Researchers initially released 40 bottles into Marsh Creek in April and May 2025.

Haley explained that the bottles traveled slower than researchers anticipated and they wanted to understand how bottles moved in different areas of the Neuse River. So, last February, they placed 10 more bottles into the Neuse River just upstream of Goldsboro. In April, they released another 10 bottles into the river in Kinston.

“We’re finding that the Neuse River is not just a conduit of water from Raleigh to the ocean but also is turned into this place where we’re storing lots of our trash,” Haley said. “Trash is just sitting there in the Neuse River for potentially long amounts of time, and so this study, we can see those bottles if they are sitting and staying in certain places for a long amount of time. We can see where trash is being stored within the river itself.”

She said she understands how it might be easy to get disheartened about the issue of litter.

“We all see it everywhere,” she said. “But to know how many people are interested in our work and how many people are interested in helping us is incredibly – it’s exciting and hopeful. There’s a lot of work to be done.”

Officials with the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor announced Tuesday that the organization had recently received $150,000 in funding from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund.

The money will be used to support the organization’s hiring of a preservation director for a two-year term.

“The Director will be instrumental in creating the infrastructure needed to preserve The Corridor’s cultural heritage and lands,” according to the announcement.

The corridor, which stretches from Florida up the East Coast to North Carolina, is one of 27 sites granted $3 million in funding to advance ongoing preservation activities for historic sites, buildings, and landscapes that represent African American cultural heritage.

Congress established the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor as a National Heritage Area in 2006. The corridor includes 12,000 miles of area recognizing the unique culture of the Gullah Geechee, descendants of West and Central Africans who were enslaved and brought to the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida to work on coastal rice, cotton, and indigo plantations.

The corridor includes 437 distinct coastal communities in the four states.

The African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund is a program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the largest U.S. resource dedicated to the preservation of African American historic places.

Dare County officials are asking residents, property owners and visitors to help shape safer streets.

County officials are asking for suggestions on locations where crosswalks or other pedestrian crossing improvements are needed as it explores opportunities to apply for funding through the N.C. Department of Transportation’s 2026 Pedestrian Safety Project Call.

The state transportation department’s Pedestrian Safety Project Call supports pedestrian safety improvements in smaller urban and rural communities. Municipalities within the state may also apply for funding for projects within their jurisdictions.

Eligible projects must be on state-maintained roadways within unincorporated areas of the county and may include marked crosswalks, curb ramps, visibility enhancements, traffic control improvements at crossings, pedestrian signal enhancements and improved crossings at unsignalized or midblock locations.

Suggestions may be submitted through an online survey through Aug. 14, which will give Dare County staff sufficient time to review them before the department’s Aug. 28 application deadline.

Feedback submitted to the county will help Dare officials identify and prioritize potential pedestrian safety improvements that address community needs.

The Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District has awarded a multimillion project to address severe shoreline erosion along Snow’s Cut in New Hanover County.

The project to stabilize the bank along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway was awarded to heavy civil marine construction and highway bridge construction firm Cape Romain Contractors Inc. of South Carolina for $7,015,897.42, the district announced Tuesday.

“This project addresses ongoing, severe shoreline erosion along Snow’s Cut, a vital engineered waterway that connects the Cape Fear River to the sound waters of the AIWW,” Corps officials stated. “Erosion poses long-term risks to local infrastructure, navigation safety, and neighboring parklands.”

The shoreline will be stabilized through targeted measures designed to prevent the bank from failing further, protect public property, and “ensure the continued resilience” of the channel.”

Work is expected to begin in the heavily trafficked maritime channel in the coming months. The Corps said it will manage project oversight and quality assurance.

The Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership has found that the amount of seagrass the state has lost over a 14-year period totals about 25 square miles.

The federal-state program that manages the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System located in northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia recently published these findings, an update to its 2021 report on the extent of high-salinity underwater grass in the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary.

APNEP Quantitative Ecologist Dr. Tim Ellis, an author of the study, explained that, although the study confirms that North Carolina has the largest amount of seagrass habitat along the U.S. Atlantic Coast, the critical coastal resource is declining, with an estimated loss of approximately 16,000 acres, or 16%, from 2006 until 2020.

Using data from three aerial surveys of soundside, high-salinity estuarine waters, or where seagrasses would most likely be expected to grow, between Manteo and Bogue Inlet, researchers found that the real extent of seagrass in 2006-07 was 109,607 acres, in 2013 was 95,157 acres, and in 2020 was 88,531 acres. That is a decline of about 1% a year, “despite suitable habitat available for expansion.”

These flowering plants that are fully submerged and are completely dependent on sunlight to flourish are often called subaquatic vegetation, SAV, seagrasses or underwater grasses. In addition to keeping “waters healthy by providing habitat, food, and shelter for aquatic life, sequestering carbon, protecting shorelines, absorbing and recycling nutrients, filtering sediment, and acting as a barometer of water quality,” seagrasses “enrich shallow aquatic environments around the world, providing sanctuaries for mollusks, crustaceans, and finfish as well as sustenance for waterfowl and other herbivores,” according to the report.

The declining trend is seen worldwide, “primarily due to water quality degradation, coastal development, dredging, fishing, boating, and other related aquatic activities, sea level rise, warming water temperatures, and tropical cyclones.”

North Carolina is experiencing annual rates of seagrass loss at or below the global average, but that’s cold comfort. “Because seagrass is sensitive to water quality, including nutrient and sediment pollution, a continued decline in the acreage of these underwater meadows indicates that the overall health of North Carolina’s estuaries may be declining,” APNEP states.

Ellis said that seagrass is a sensitive indicator of estuarine health because of its direct and complex associations with its surrounding environment. Seagrasses are also ecosystem engineers, meaning these plants modify the areas they inhabit by trapping sediments and absorbing nutrients to improve water clarity and by creating habitat to support biodiversity and biological productivity.

The study notes that the decline in North Carolina is not evenly distributed. “In the central portion of the study area, from Hatteras Inlet to Barden Inlet near Cape Lookout, seagrass acreage decreased 2.0% per year compared with a decline of 0.8% and 1.4% per year in the northern and southern portions of the study area, respectively.”

Over the 14 years there were three notable changes in the estuarine system’s seagrass meadows that were identified in the study, including that the total area of seagrass meadows is declining, the rates of change in extent vary, and coverage is shifting away from continuous toward more patchy and fragmented meadows.

Related: Work begins for periodic update of state coastal habitat plan

These “seagrass meadows are becoming more fragmented, meaning large, continuous beds are transitioning to more isolated and disconnected patches,” Ellis said. “This affects how well seagrass can provide critical habitat for fisheries and wildlife, stabilize sediments and protect shorelines, contribute to good water quality, and endure and respond to environmental changes, including major storm events.”

Over the period that the three surveys were conducted there were 10 tropical cyclones that directly impacted the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary, physically disturbing meadows, water quality and the stability of the barrier island inlets and flood deltas, APNEP notes.

Impact on marine life

Study co-author Jud Kenworthy, who researched seagrass for his more than 30-year career before retiring from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, said in an interview that “what we’re seeing in the patchiness is that we’re losing the cover of grass. Not only are we losing the total amount (of seagrass) in the entire coastal system, the increase in patchiness is also a decrease in cover where the seagrasses are actually occurring in those patches.”

The implications of seagrass patchiness and reducing cover cascade through everything, especially all the fisheries that depend on this habitat at some point in their life stage. “They’re exposed to less vegetation and a tendency for less cover due to the increase of patchiness,” he said.

Although some species will be affected by that process more than others, it could result in changes in food availability for different commercial and recreational fisheries cherished in North Carolina as part of the social and economic fabric, Kenworthy said.

When asked what species will see the biggest hit, Kenworthy said there’s probably a list of at least a dozen, including the keystone commercial and recreational fisheries like red drum, spotted sea trout and flounder, any species of shrimp, plus any marine life that use the estuary as a nursery and depend on the resources in seagrass beds.

Kenworthy added that many species totally dependent on the seagrass beds are not harvested but are food for larger predators.

“The one that comes to mind is the pinfish,” which consume seagrass. “Nobody that I know of eats pinfish, but a lot of people use pinfish for bait, and of course, pinfish are a major source of food for a lot of the larger species,” Kenworthy said. If there’s no seagrass for pinfish or other prey for larger species, the foundation of the food chain is going to be affected.

Kenworthy explained that if estuaries lose SAV, all the important ecosystem services like capturing, trapping and recycling nutrients, stabilizing sediments, storing carbon in the soil and providing habitat places for plants and animals, especially their food, are going to be affected.

“How dramatically these services are affected is going to depend on whether we find some sort of balance where the seagrasses reach an equilibrium or whether they tend to continue to decline,” he added.

Continued monitoring

Ellis said continued monitoring of seagrass allows APNEP and partners to closely track changes in the estuary to evaluate the effectiveness of existing conservation and management strategies and to adapt those strategies quickly as needed to meet desired protection and restoration goals.

“Based on the experience gained during these three surveys and our better understanding of the ecology of the seagrass ecosystem in North Carolina, APNEP and partners have intensified and expanded seagrass monitoring efforts, completing new subregional surveys of the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary in 2021-2025,” Ellis said.

In addition to aerial surveys, he continued, which are now conducted during both spring and fall each year to better capture the different peak abundances of the state’s temperate and subtropical seagrass species, monitoring also includes in-water sampling to collect information on species composition and abundance, depth, and water quality.

“Analysis of these additional survey data are underway and will enable APNEP to provide a more complete picture of seagrass status and trends in the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary,” Ellis said.

Ellis said It takes a lot of funding and coordinated effort to monitor seagrass in North Carolina, especially given its widespread distribution across the coast. APNEP relies on regional partnerships with state and federal agencies, universities, and others to build and maintain the collaborative network and leveraging of resources needed to address the many financial and logistical challenges of conducting a long-term seagrass monitoring and assessment program.

What’s causing the decline?

Why it’s happening though, that “is the $64,000 question,” Kenworthy said. “I don’t think you can pin any one thing on seagrass decline.”

Ellis agreed that understanding the causes of the changes they’re seeing is complicated “because seagrass in North Carolina faces many challenges, including rising and warmer waters, more frequent and intense storms, varying and marginal water clarity that limits the amount of sunlight that reaches the plants, and physical damage from human activities.”

Regardless, “the situation warrants the attention of managers to both better protect the resource where it remains and to evaluate restoration opportunities in areas where it no longer exists but could potentially thrive again.”

Kenworthy points to water quality, especially water clarity, as the biggest issue right now that can be managed immediately and reasonably. The plants in this warmer environment​ have high light requirements​,​ and when there’s turbidity and phytoplankton in the water from nutrients or sediments ​released from the land, the actual clarity of the water declines,​ and the plants get less light​.

​”Our biggest manageable challenge is to at least sustain or improve the clarity of the water.”

The National Weather Service‘s Newport office continues to host hurricane preparedness forums along the coast over the coming months.

Hurricane season begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30, with August, September and October typically being the most active for tropical systems in North Carolina.

Dare County Emergency Management Director Drew Pearson and National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist Erik Heden are scheduled to host forums at 6:30 p.m. July 28 at Hatteras Civic Center, 10 a.m. July 29 at Kitty Hawk Town Hall, and 2 p.m. July 29 at Dare County Emergency Operations Center.

Forums are also scheduled for 6:30 p.m. July 30 at Havelock City Hall and 6 p.m. Aug. 17 at Oriental Town Hall.

Individual links to register for the forums as well as recordings of past presentations are at weather.gov/mhx/hurricanecommunityforums.

These public discussions include a presentation from a meteorologist on hurricanes and the impacts on eastern North Carolina. 

“We will go over why you should never just focus on just the category of the storm, what the hurricane path track means, the various impacts tropical cyclones can bring and why you should NEVER let you guard down, even after the storm passes,” organizers said on the website. “We will also cover the hurricane outlook for the year while emphasizing that it only takes one storm to make an impact on your life.”

This is the eighth year this office has offered the program, which has already been offered this summer in Ocracoke, Pine knoll Shores and Washington.

Publisher’s Perspective

North Carolina’s coast is one of our state’s greatest assets. It is an economic engine, a source of food and livelihoods, a natural defense against storms, and an irreplaceable part of our heritage.

That is why the budget recently approved by the North Carolina General Assembly deserves recognition. It makes meaningful investments that will benefit the coast, and the entire state, for years to come.

At a time when bipartisan accomplishments can seem increasingly rare, legislators came together to protect our waters, strengthen coastal communities, and ensure that future generations inherit a healthier, more resilient coast.

Among the important achievements is the establishment of permanent funding for the removal of abandoned and derelict vessels. These boats are more than eyesores. Left unattended, they pollute coastal waters, damage marshes and oyster habitat, threaten navigation and become even more hazardous after hurricanes.

For the past several years, the North Carolina Coastal Federation has partnered with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, and other organizations to build the state’s largest abandoned vessel removal program. Hundreds of vessels have been removed from public waters in the years following Hurricane Florence. That work has relied on a patchwork of temporary state, federal and private funding. Without a permanent solution, the program was in jeopardy.

The General Assembly changed that in this year’s budget by providing recurring funds to remove abandoned and derelict vessels. With stable funding, North Carolina can respond more quickly after storms, attract additional federal dollars and keep dangerous vessels out of our coastal waters for years to come. Sen. Michael Lee of New Hanover County deserves special recognition for his sustained efforts and support for this funding.

The budget also supports projects that improve water quality, strengthen coastal resilience and help preserve the natural resources that sustain both our economy and our quality of life. Healthy coastal waters and habitats support commercial and recreational fishing, tourism, military readiness, property values and local jobs throughout coastal North Carolina. Taken together, these investments recognize that protecting the coast is not simply an environmental priority, it is an economic one.

These accomplishments did not happen by accident.

They reflect years of collaboration among legislators, state agencies, local governments, conservation organizations, fishermen, business leaders and coastal residents who understand that good stewardship and a strong economy go hand in hand.

Sen. Norm Sanderson and Rep. Celeste Cairns, both representing Carteret County, also deserve particular praise for their leadership on the Coastal Federation’s budget requests this year.

And I want to recognize the many members and supporters of the North Carolina Coastal Federation. Our ability to advocate effectively — in coastal communities and in the halls of the Legislative Building in Raleigh — is possible only because thousands of citizens, businesses, foundations, and other partners invest in our mission. Their support gives us the expertise, credibility and persistence to work across party lines and help turn good ideas into public policy.

Advocacy is often measured by what makes headlines. More often, however, it is built through patient relationship-building, sound science, practical problem-solving, and a willingness to find common ground. This year’s budget demonstrates what can happen when those ingredients come together.

Of course, our work is far from finished. North Carolina continues to face growing challenges from storms and flooding, aging infrastructure, development pressures and changing coastal ecosystems. Meeting those challenges will require continued partnership, innovation, and sustained investment.

This budget reminds us that protecting North Carolina’s coast is not a partisan issue. It is an investment in our economy, our communities and the natural legacy we will leave to future generations. That’s something every North Carolinian can celebrate.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality staff are in the process of updating the state’s long-term strategy to protect coastal habitat, a necessity for a sustainable seafood industry.

According to the strategy called the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, or CHPP, the need for a coastwide habitat plan came about in the 1990s because of growing concerns about fish populations, declining coastal habitats, and deteriorating water quality.

The CHPP was mandated by the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997, and the first plan was adopted in 2004 by the Marine Fisheries, Environmental Management and Coastal Resources commissions. The document, which was designed to “achieve the long-term enhancement of coastal fisheries by identifying, protecting, restoring, and enhancing critical fish habitats,” and is updated every five years.

CHPP is to provide “information on the habitats’ distribution and abundance, ecological functions and importance to fish production, status and trends, threats to the habitats, and includes recommendations to address threats,” according to DEQ’s Division of Marine Fisheries.

The Division of Marine Fisheries staff that make up the CHPP team, with guidance from a steering committee, have been working on the 2026 update. Charlie Deaton, habitat protection supervisor with the division, presented an status update to the Environmental Management Commission during the July 9 meeting in Raleigh.

He said the staff are drafting issue papers for the 2026 update that are broadly organized under three different themes: ecosystem-based management for coastal habitats, seagrass protection and restoration, and planning for multi-decadal wetland change, all of which build on previous editions of the CHPP.

The outlines of these papers are to be presented to the steering committee by web conference 1-3 p.m. Wednesday, the division announced July 15. The full agenda and link to the meeting are on the NCDEQ website.

Deaton said that the last full rewrite of the plan was in 2016. New issue papers were added to the 2016 CHPP as the 2021 update, and “we are continuing efforts on these issue papers and introducing a few more with this edition of the CHPP.”

Deaton reminded members that the 2021 CHPP prioritized submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV, protection and restoration through water quality improvements. The chapter on seagrasses “had 13 different recommended actions, but the big one that this commission has heard the most about is the recommended water clarity standard to ensure that adequate light penetration allows for seagrass growth.”

According to that document, seagrasses are “critical for healthy fisheries, such as shrimp, blue crab, red drum, and flounder and provides valuable ecosystem functions.” The state has one of the largest seagrass habitats on the East Coast, but water quality impairment coupled with climate change stressors can limit their growth, reproduction, and distribution.

The chapter for the 2026 update on seagrasses will use data from the Albemarle Pamlico National Estuary Partnership’s recent findings on seagrass decline. APNEP, a partnership of NCDEQ and the Environmental Protection Agency, has been fundamental in CHPP development in some capacity since its inception.

From 2006 to 2020, the state’s estuaries continue to lose more than 1% per year of its seagrass extent, which “might not sound like a lot, but that’s 15% in the time period. And if you look 30 years into the future, that’s another 35% that we would be losing if we continue at this rate. So, it’s a concerning rate of loss,” Deaton said. “We’ve lost 50% of our continuous seagrass meadows, and the losses have been most notable at the deep edge of the seagrass beds. So that implies a connection to water quality and decreased water clarity, light not penetrating deep enough.”

This new seagrass chapter is to build on the 2021 CHPP’s proposal to develop a water clarity standard, which was referred to the Environmental Management Commission’s water quality committee where it’s on hold. 

Turbidity “remains the biggest threat we see to seagrasses, and so it’s something we really want to get some action on,” Deaton said. Staff are also going to work on a permitting framework for active seagrass restoration projects, which could be planting seeds or transplanting seagrasses in areas that no longer have seagrass but should still have the conditions to support it.

The paper is also to explore habitat protections under the Marine Fisheries Commission authority. The commission considered restrictions for shrimp trawling in 2023 but decided against those. Instead, staff was asked to look into what that rulemaking might look like.

For the ecosystem-based management chapter, Deaton said that staff are reviewing how the Division of Marine Fisheries uses mapping and monitoring data to guide species management work. Staff will determine goals and targets on how to better integrate the research, as well as create indicators with data from the North Carolina Collaboratory’s study on 25 years of the Fisheries Reform Act.

“The other half of the ecosystem-based management chapter is advancing strategic habitat areas,” Deaton said, that were identified in the first edition of the CHPP as a priority. “These are areas that are defined as high quality, connected habitats that were identified to protect biodiversity and ecological function through a nonregulatory approach.”

The “Planning for wetland change” chapter concentrates on laying the groundwork for thin-layer placement. Other states are exploring this method to accent natural sediment accumulation by taking dredged material and placing it directly on the marsh in a layer of 6 to 18 inches.

North Carolina doesn’t have a permit for the process, meaning any applications for thin-layer placement must be approved through the Coastal Resources Commission’s variance process for rule exceptions.

“We have a couple projects in the hopper right now that may reach the variance process in the coming year or two and seeing those as potential pilot projects. If they show promise, this is something we could explore to make a little easier to for restoration practitioners to implement,” Deaton said.

“The other half of the sea level rise and coastal wetlands picture is marsh migration,” he said.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has announced opening dates for the 2026 commercial flounder season in internal coastal and joint fishing waters.

Opening dates for pound net management areas are as follows:

• Tuesday, Sept. 15 in waters north of Pamlico Sound.
• Wednesday, Sept. 30 in Pamlico Sound and its tributaries.
• Wednesday, Sept. 30 in waters from Core Sound to the South Carolina line.

Trip limits will not apply to pound net management areas.

The opening date for commercial fishers who use mobile gears, which are all gears other than pound nets, is Wednesday, Sept. 30.

Mobile gear management areas are split between the northern coast and the southern coast. The northern management area runs from waters south of the North Carolina/Virginia border to a line in Core Sound that runs approximately from the Club House on Core Banks west to a point on the shore at Davis near Marker 1. The southern management area extends from waters from the line in Core Sound described above the south to the North Carolina/South Carolina border.

For large-mesh gill nets, waters in both of those management areas will open for the harvest of flounder one day per week beginning Sept. 30 and every Wednesday thereafter while the quota remains available. Nets may be set no sooner than one hour before sunset on the prior Tuesday.

Waters for all other mobile gears will open seven days a week beginning on Sept. 30 in both the northern and southern management areas.

Division officials will announce closings by proclamation as necessary during the season. Harvesting periods for each management area and gear category will close “when the allowable landings are approached to maintain harvest within the landings sub-allocation,” according to division officials.

The size limit for flounder is 15 inches total length. Commercial flounder landings, including fish kept for personal consumption, must be reported on a trip ticket through a licensed fish dealer, who must report landings daily to the division.

These management measures follow requirements under Amendment 4 to the N.C. Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan. Additional information will be available in a forthcoming proclamation.

N.C. Department of Transportation contractor crews are set begin relocating utilities starting Monday for the project to replace three Wrightsville Beach bridges.

Officials announced that, starting Monday, July 20, crews will begin moving power poles near the West Salisbury Street, aka U.S. 74, bridge over Lee’s Cut. Most work is to occur outside the travel lanes and is not expected to impact traffic.

“Should minor lane closures be required, they will be scheduled at night, and the public will be notified,” officials said.

The department called utility relocation a “critical step in preparing the area for the replacement of the bridge.” Work is expected to be complete by mid-August, weather permitting. Drivers should slow down and watch for crews working in the area, officials advised.

To receive updates regarding the Wrightsville Beach Bridge Replacement project, residents, media and local partners are encouraged to sign up via the project webpage.

Dr. Ryan Emanuel said he has always been drawn to water, long before becoming a hydrologist.

“I grew up in and around water,” Emanuel recently told Coastal Review. “Even though my parents migrated from Robeson County to Charlotte and raised my brother and me there, we spent a whole lot of time in eastern North Carolina, down in Robeson County. And because Charlotte’s kind of centrally located, I also grew up spending a lot of time in the mountains.”

While in college, he would head to the coast to surf in his whitewater kayak as often as possible.

A Duke University professor since 2022 and member of the Lumbee Tribe, his research group, which is based in Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment, “studies complex relationships across academic disciplines, including ecohydrology, watershed science, environmental justice, and Indigenous rights.”

“I am trained as a water scientist, a hydrologist, and I work kind of at the interface of water ecosystems and climate. That’s what I was trained professionally to do, and that’s what most of my work has revolved around for my career as a scientist,” Emanuel said. But about 12 years ago, he began “moving more intentionally into research that engaged with the kinds of questions that people are asking, and in my own community. I am a citizen of the Lumbee Tribe, and I also interact with folks from other tribal communities in North Carolina.”

Duke is also his alma mater, where he graduated in 1999 with his bachelor’s in geology. He then went on to earn his master’s and a doctorate at the University of Virginia. Before Duke, he instructed at North Carolina State and Appalachian State universities. 

“I am just really, really drawn to water, and increasingly I’m interested in how Indigenous peoples in this part of the world relate to their culturally important waters. What does it look like to carry our connections forward into the 21st century?”

These questions began steering Emanuel’s approach to research, and ultimately, resulted in his 2024 book, “On the Swamp: Fighting for Indigenous Environmental Justice.”

Emanuel will be in Carteret County next week to talk about his book as guest speaker for a special program, “Where Water Holds Memory: Dr. Ryan Emanuel on Indigenous Environmental Justice in Eastern North Carolina.” Hosted by Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, the program is set to begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 23, at Promise Land Market in downtown Morehead City.

Tickets are $20, which goes to support the nonprofit organization’s work to protect Carteret County waters, the White Oak River and the New River. Reserve a ticket on the Riverwatch website. Books will be sold during the event, and guests are welcome to bring their own copy. Drinks and food will be available for purchase.

In his book, Emanuel “shares stories from North Carolina about Indigenous survival and resilience in the face of radical environmental changes,” according to its publisher, the University of North Carolina Press.

“Addressing issues from the loss of wetlands to the arrival of gas pipelines, these stories connect the dots between historic patterns of Indigenous oppression and present-day efforts to promote environmental justice and Indigenous rights on the swamp,” UNC Press continues. “Emanuel’s scientific insight and deeply personal connections to his home blend together in a book that is both a heartfelt and an analytical call to acknowledge and protect sacred places.”

Emanuel was invited by the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs, a state agency, in 2014 to join its then-newly formed environmental justice committee. Through the committee, he began to interact with members of tribes across the state and learn more about their concerns related to the environment.

Emanuel knew for a long time that there was a story to tell about Indigenous peoples and water, “and that story became clearer as I began to work more closely with my tribe and with other tribes throughout the state,” and what he thought was going to be a “feel-good story, for lack of a better phrase, became a more nuanced story that combined all of the rich positive cultural associations that we have with water, with some of the clear-eyed challenges that we face both today and as a result of historical occurrences around colonialism.”

He said he could not discuss what he had called “a love story of Eastern North Carolina,” a phrase he told Coastal Review he had used in one of his first interviews about the book, “without telling the good and the bad.”

Emanuel said he hopes that, with environmental justice as the “core intellectual framing” of the book, readers will come to understand that “environmental justice as a concept is based in policy, social movements and research, and not just a buzzword, or worse yet, a misrepresentation of the term.”

During the program, Emanuel said he plans to read excerpts from the book and then expound and explain the context of the vignettes.

One passage he was considering delving into is about collecting water samples in Sampson County after Hurricane Florence in 2018 with a team of Indigenous people, “who were basically guiding me through their homelands to show me places where they thought we needed to study water quality,” he said.

“That’s a particular memorable vignette from the book, because I think it was the first time in my life I ever actually been out to do field work in a group of all native people,” he said, calling it a “very different dynamic, because so often Native American scientists and scholars are isolated, we’re the only ones in the room.” While that doesn’t change the science, “it can change the social dynamics around the science, it is a different conversation that happens around the edges of the science.”

Emanuel said that he hopes to hear from people in the room during the evening program, be it thoughts on the book, questions on water pollution, climate change and development, discussing the historical connections to colonialism, or the legacy of Jim Crow segregation and Native Americans in Eastern North Carolina.

“I’m really excited to come down there and meet with people and talk about the book, because that general region, is one of the geographies that I cover and go into detail about in the book, and so it’s always special to be able to talk about parts of a book when you’re actually sitting in the place where these stories happen,” he said.

Riverwatch Executive Director Lisa Rider said that the nonprofit organization is honored to host Emanuel as part of its Indigenous Lecture Series.

“We are proud to bring this lecture to our community and hope it encourages meaningful dialogue about Indigenous environmental leadership, coastal resilience, and the future of water protection in North Carolina,” Rider said, adding that his talk “will help our community think more deeply about what it means to protect water, honor place, and ensure that those most connected to the land and water are part of the decisions that shape their future.”

Emanuel’s work brings together water science, Indigenous knowledge, and environmental justice in a way that is especially meaningful for eastern North Carolina, Rider added.

Through his book, Emanuel explores how Indigenous communities in eastern North Carolina have experienced, resisted, and adapted to major environmental changes, from wetland loss and climate impacts to pollution, development, and energy infrastructure.

“For Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, this conversation is deeply connected to our mission,” said Rider. “Protecting water quality is not only about science and policy; it is also about listening to the communities whose lives, cultures, and histories are tied to these waters.”

The book in brief

In the book, Emanuel explains that “that fossil fuel development, deforestation, wetland drainage, factory farming and other unsustainable practices are transforming Robeson County and other places throughout the Coastal Plain. The stench of industrial livestock waste hangs in the air. Rivers flow with nutrients and pathogens. Pipeline easements carve up the landscape. Climate change hangs over it all, threatening the Coastal Plain with intense floods, droughts and heat waves.”

He continues, “I set out to write a book that examined how Indigenous peoples preserve, steward and express sovereignty over their homelands when those places are threatened with degradation and destruction.”

Then Emanuel pointed to examples of “widespread disregard for Indigenous values and perspectives at the sharp end of environmental governance – the point where decisions are made,” particularly an industrial compound in Robeson County and the former Dakota Access Pipeline, which was in the news when he began writing this book in the mid-2010s but had been scrapped by 2020.

While the two issues differ, the “situations highlight points of connection between environmental justice and Indigenous Rights” and “Both cases also highlight the face of colonialism in the Twenty-first century, which is inextricably linked to the extraction and consumption of fossil fuels, and to the accompanying environmental degradation and climate change.”

Emanuel writes that the issues in the book are examined are through an Indigenous lens.

“To be clear. This book is one Indigenous lens – there is no singular Indigenous perspective. More specifically, the book is my lens. I am a Lumbee scientist, educator and advocate for Native peoples,” he wrote, adding that most of his daily work focuses on “my own community’s homelands in eastern North Carolina, and those are the stories that I am best qualified to tell.”

The “book’s structure is a collection of stories that reflects his desire to help guide and remind Native people about what matters. The stories also hold lessons for non-Native people, who all too often make decisions about tribal nations and our homelands without involving us or even contemplating the cost to future generations of Indigenous or non-Indigenous people.”

Coastal Review photographer Dylan Ray is the 2026 Hugh Morton Photographer of the Year in the North Carolina Press Association’s annual editorial contest.

According to the association, “The Hugh Morton Photographer of the Year award recognizes a photographer’s body of work for the contest year and is the most prestigious photography award we give.” The award is named for the photographer, developer and conservationist born in Wilmington in 1921 who “was part of the post-World War II era of tourism development in North Carolina and was friends and colleagues with notables from across the state,” according to a biography on the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources website. “He took close to a quarter-million photographs which are now part of the North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives at UNC-Chapel Hill.”

Judges, in selecting Ray for the photography award, were to consider content and composition along with technical quality and ability to convey a story. See the gallery of Ray’s work below. Click on an image to see the context in which it first appeared.

Coastal Review competes against about two dozen other publications in the association’s online-only division. In all, Coastal Review received five awards.

Coastal Review Staff Writer Trista Talton was recognized with the first-place award in the News Enterprise Reporting category for “Oak Island residents say oceanfront lots unsuited for homes.”

Catherine Kozak received second place in the Beat Feature Reporting category for “Red Wolves Recovery Efforts,” an entry that included “Biologists heartened by red wolf program’s recent successes” and related coverage. Kozak was also recognized with a third-place award in Beat News Reporting “Barrier Island Challenges.” This entry included a two-part series, “Shifting sands, hardened beaches: A new review,” and other stories about erosion, the loss of homes and revived old coastal policy debates as pertaining to the Outer Banks.

Coastal Review Assistant Editor Jennifer Allen was awarded a second place in the Multimedia Project category for “‘Smell of money’: Menhaden Chanteymen’s music still echoes.”

The awards are for work published between April 1, 2025, and March 31, 2026.

Editors and publishers were notified of the contest decisions this week, with results downloaded alphabetically by administrators and sent out. Coastal Review was notified around midday Thursday.

The association plans to announce all winners, including the General Excellence awards, Sept. 10 during the association’s annual convention at the Embassy Suites in Cary.

“We will have a full day of sessions, training, networking, and a reception to kick off the evening,” said North Carolina Press Association Member Services Director Katie Mozingo in the email notification.

Contest organizers expressed thanks to contest judges from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association “and numerous volunteers nationwide.”

Coastal Review is a daily, nonprofit, news and feature service covering the North Carolina coast and published with editorial independence by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit group dedicated to protecting and preserving the North Carolina coast. Coastal Review provides objective reporting, information and commentary on issues, policy and notable figures and history with a specific focus on the environment and people of the state’s 20 coastal counties. 

From N.C. State University

North Carolina State University and Carteret Community College have signed a new agreement designed to create a streamlined transfer pathway for students seeking to earn bachelor’s degrees in fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology. 

Under the agreement, students enrolled in Carteret’s transfer-track Associate in Applied Science in Aquaculture Technology program will be eligible to transfer into NC State’s Bachelor of Science in Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology program. 

Carteret students who complete the transfer-track associate degree with a 3.0 GPA or higher — and meet all other university admission requirements — will be admitted to the fisheries science concentration of NC State’s fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology program. 

Erin Sills, head of the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at NC State, said the partnership reflects a shared commitment to expanding educational opportunities and preparing the next generation of professionals in natural resource conservation.

“Through our partnership with Carteret, students will graduate with valuable hands-on experience in aquaculture paired with a four-year education at a world-class research institution,” Sills said. “This combination of practical experience and advanced study will equip students with the skills needed to address the complex challenges of managing and conserving fisheries and other natural resources.”

Tracy Mancini, president of Carteret Community College, added that the partnership builds on Carteret’s strengths in aquaculture education while creating new opportunities for students to continue their academic and professional journeys.

“We are delighted to form this meaningful partnership with NC State,” Mancini said. “The articulation agreement will allow our highly skilled and qualified students to complete an undergraduate degree that might bring them back to Carteret County’s rich marine sciences landscape.”

Mancini added that the partnership also builds on the strong marine sciences presence already established in Carteret County. With the NC State Center for Marine Sciences and Technology on Carteret’s campus and established partnerships with CMAST faculty and NC Sea Grant staff, the agreement “promises to have positive, long-term implications for the pipeline and network of prepared marine sciences researchers and technicians.”

Carteret’s aquaculture technology curriculum is well-aligned with NC State’s fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology program, according to Lara Pacifici, director of undergraduate programs in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at NC State.

The program prepares students for careers in one of the nation’s fastest-growing food production industries through hands-on training and classroom instruction. Students learn every stage of aquaculture production, from fish genetics and breeding to hatchery management to business principles such as marketing and distribution.

“Students from Carteret will bring skills and knowledge specific to aquaculture that many of our fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology students have not yet been exposed to,” Pacifici said. “Students will learn from each other and broaden their understanding of possible career paths.” 

NC State will accept up to 57 transfer credit hours from approved Carteret courses completed with a grade of C or higher. Students will enter NC State with sophomore standing, and those who complete additional approved coursework may qualify for junior standing.

Sarah Griggs, assistant director of undergraduate programs in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at NC State, will work closely with students in Carteret’s aquaculture technology program to help them navigate their transition to NC State.

Griggs said the new pathway is already generating interest among Carteret students. She is in communication with at least one student about transferring into the fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology program at NC State. 

For Carteret students interested in transferring, Griggs encouraged them to begin planning early and work with program advisors to ensure they meet all admission requirements. The application deadline is Oct. 1 for spring entry and Feb. 15 for fall entry.

Featured Image

A lynx spider covertly watches as a pollinator bee forages on a sunflower blossom in a garden near Russell Creek in Beaufort. Photo: Dylan Ray

Driving to the coast in the hopes of witnessing freshly hatched sea turtles crawl their way to the ocean? Looking forward to sitting on the water-view porch of your beach rental to watch the birds?

If so, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is requesting five minutes of your time to complete a survey about your experience viewing birds and sea turtles on your visit to the southern coast.

The online survey is part of an ongoing study in which state wildlife officials hope to learn how wildlife viewing contributes to coastal communities and the state economies.

About three-quarters of roughly 3 million in North Carolina who identify as “wildlife viewers” take trips to experience the state’s wide array of animal species, according to the agency.

“We want to determine economic contributions from visiting bird watchers, folks who visit our coast during sea turtle nesting season, and other wildlife enthusiasts,” Wildlife Resources Commission Social Scientist Elizabeth Pratt stated in a release. “Results could shed light on the importance of wildlife-related tourism to coastal communities and the need to continue to conserve these species.”

Information gathered from the survey will be used in a study that will aid the agency in developing stronger wildlife conservation policies on the coast. The agency is also collecting resident feedback and collaborating with partners to gain a better understanding of coastal wildlife issues to act as a guide for future protection initiatives.

The agency has posted signage and placed postcards with QR codes at different wildlife viewing locations and visitor centers. The survey will be available through the fall.

“Whether visiting a waterbird colony, witnessing a sea turtle nest excavation, or seeing less common birds that only visit the state during migration, we know that the public values the wildlife viewing experiences available along the coast,” Eastern Wildlife Diversity Supervisor Hope Sutton said in the release. “This study will help us understand the importance of wildlife viewing and ensure future visitors continue to benefit from our wildlife conservation efforts.”

ROCKY POINT – New Hanover County residents and environmentalists continue their pushback against Martin Marietta’s plan to scale up Castle Hayne quarry mining operations, arguing that the company should further explore other expansion alternatives that would lessen the threat to vital wetlands and water quality.

During a public hearing Tuesday night, more than a dozen speakers pressed the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources to reject the construction supply company’s request for a Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certificate to enlarge its Castle Hayne quarry by 358 acres.

“Let me first say that I understand the need for construction materials for a growing area but also know that we have significant natural areas that should and must be protected,” said Roger Shew, a coastal geologist at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and the first to step up to the mic in the hearing hosted at Heide Trask Senior High School in Rocky Point.

The Island Creek and Northeast Cape Fear River floodplain includes significant natural areas, where riverine swamp forests provide high levels of biodiversity, great habitat quality, nutrient absorption, carbon storage, sediment retention, and recreation, he said.

The company would mitigate wetland loss at a 2:1 ratio, either by purchasing riparian wetland credits or paying into the fund that buys wetland areas. Stormwater management measures would also be employed to minimize wetlands impacts and preserve water quality downstream. This would include a 50-foot minimum wooded buffer around wetlands.

Martin Marietta’s preferred plan to expand limestone mining operations would impact 143.46 acres of wetlands of medium and high quality, and 9.7 acres of open water that connect to those classified as primary nursery areas, strategic habitat areas, and essential fish habitat.

Shew said Tuesday that it is likely even more wetlands would be lost because mining requires pit dewatering, which “creates a cone of depression on lower water tables.”

“If mining is done in the lowermost floodplain area, flooding will be even more frequent, and of course sediment can be washed in the surrounding wetlands,” he said.

He and other opponents argue that the company could pursue alternatives that would better protect the environment and maintain profitable mining operations.

Shew suggested that mining operations occur largely outside of the floodplain and instead in upland areas of Castle Hayne and Rocky Point, which would conserve significant wetlands.

He also pointed to the company’s Rocky Point quarry, which sits about 3½ miles away from the Castle Hayne site. The Rocky Point quarry includes upland areas that are not directly connected with the significant riverine swamp forests along the Northeast Cape Fear River, Shew said.

He cautioned that if these areas are mined, land immediately adjacent to Interstate 40 must be designated as a buffer zone to avoid the risk of causing sinkholes.

“I hope you see there are options that may allow us to minimize costs of our significant natural areas, protect our waters, and provide the needed acreage for mines,” he said.

In order to obtain a 401 water quality certification, the Division of Water Resources requires that a project have no practical alternatives, that it minimizes adverse impacts to surface water and wetlands and avoids degrading ground or surface waters and causing indirect degradation that violates downstream water quality standards.

“Decades of industrialization and development of the Cape Fear River Basin limits the river’s ability to absorb the impacts of a quarry expansion in its direct floodplain,” said Page Turner, conservation biologist, chair the Cape Fear Audubon Society conservation committee and North Carolina Wildlife Federation conservation manager. “Loss of these wetlands and contamination of the waterway has a direct impact on the water quality of the Cape Fear River and should not be permitted.”

The Alliance for Cape Fear Trees Executive Director Isabelle Shepherd described the river as one that is “already carrying an enormous burden.”

“It receives runoff and pollution from the most densely populated parts of our state, from textile manufacturing, industrial discharge, wastewater treatment plants, concentrated animal feeding operations, and countless other upstream sources,” she said. “By the time that water reaches us, our wetlands and the trees within are among the last natural filters standing between those pollutants and our communities. When we remove wetlands, we remove one of nature’s most effective and irreplaceable water treatment systems. Once these wetlands are evacuated, they cannot simply be rebuilt elsewhere.”

Megan Teachey issued an ultimatum at the hearing, saying that she will pursue a court order known as a writ of mandamus against the Division of Water Resources to enforce its legal obligations if the division does not perform an independent aquifer impact study and verify state ownership of the affected submerged lands.

“The state does not own these waters,” she said. “It holds them in a strict fiduciary trust. Blasting, dredging and injection of industrial chemicals into our aquifer is happening without legal authority. This is a direct offense against the common people and the public trust that we are owed.”

New Hanover County resident Kelly McConnell expressed concerns that the proposed expansion of the Castle Hayne quarry would exacerbate flooding in the area.

“This area is already at high risk and this risk is increasing,” she said. “There are alternatives available that do not impact the wetlands as much and do not impact water quality. I appreciate the need for additional mining. Do it if truly needed, but with much less environmental impact.”

Fellow resident Margie Gewirtzman, her young daughter standing next to her side, said she is particularly concerned for the health of her daughter and other children who live in the area of the quarry.

“Everything that has been said here today sounds really dangerous for my daughter,” Gewirtzman said, adding that once wetlands are destroyed, they will not be the same.

“And it’s so perfect right now. How could we destroy it?” she asked.

The division is accepting written comments on Martin Marietta’s request for a 401 water quality certification through Aug. 13.

Comments may be submitted online. Refer to project No. 20260387, version 1, project name “Castle Hayne.”

Comments may also be submitted by mail to Stephanie Goss, 401 Permitting, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC  27699-1617.

MANNS HARBOR – Just weeks after the first community meeting was held here to discuss an upcoming project to construct long-sought wildlife crossings under a section of U.S. Highway 64 by the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, the North Carolina General Assembly passed its budget that included — much to the surprise of some — millions in recurring funds statewide for wildlife crossings and habitat connectivity.

For conservationists who have for years advocated for the passages as necessary safety measures for human and animal alike, it was fantastic news.

“We’re extremely excited about the $10.2 million in the state budget for wildlife crossings!” Ron Sutherland, chief scientist at the nonprofit Wildlands Network, said in an email.

“We knew there was bipartisan support for the measure, but it has been so hard to predict anything coming out of the state legislature for so long.

“From what we can tell, this is now the largest commitment by any state on a recurring basis for wildlife crossings,” he added, “so we’re grateful for the leadership on this issue.” 

Recently, Sutherland, among others, had worked to help raise $6.25 million in matching funds toward the U.S. 64 project that included an anonymous donation and contributions from Wildlands Network, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Last year, the North Carolina Department of Transportation was awarded a $25 million grant from the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program established by the 2021 $1 trillion federal infrastructure law.

According to the department, the proposed $31.25 million project would construct 11 wildlife passages of various sizes, with corresponding fencing along 2.5 miles of U.S. 64 from the east end of East Lake on the Dare County mainland to west of Robertson Landing Road. The preliminary design and environmental review process is targeted for completion in 2027. The project, which is included in the State Transportation Improvement Program, or STIP, is slated to begin in 2028 and be completed in 2031.

At the public meeting on June 23 in Manns Harbor — a small community near East Lake — Matt Seymour, NCDOT’s project manager, explained that most of the project, built on swampy land and much of it adjacent to canals, would involve construction of underpasses, which would require elevating the road. Some crossings would provide small wooden bridges and little tunnels for animals. Fences along the road, fronted with vegetation, would serve as guides to lead the animals to the passages.

“Planning and design will also consider construction access, maintaining traffic flow on this critical route, and minimizing impacts to nearby canals and swamps, private property, utilities, wetlands, historic sites and community resources,” NCDOT said on its online project site.

Several residents in the audience expressed concerns about locating crossings too close to private property.

“The bigger ones, where we’re anticipating bear and wolf, they won’t be in residential areas,” Seymour responded.  “We have to be sure we’re strategic with the fencing.”

Seymour said that NCDOT is working closely with staff from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on designing the crossings, as well as listening to concerns and suggestions from residents who coexist with wildlife in the area.

“The Service is a project partner and collaborator on the wildlife crossing grant,” Rebekah Martin, manager of the Coastal North Carolina National Wildlife Refuge Complex, wrote in a later email. “We are particularly involved in planning, permitting coordination, and refuge-level decision-making to ensure the project meets refuge purpose and mission requirements while benefitting both public safety and wildlife.”

Notably, the Alligator River refuge is populated not only by thousands of wild animal species, ranging from tiny salamanders to massive black bears and — yes — alligators, it is the only habitat in the world with endangered wild red wolves. Many thousands of the refuge creatures, including numerous rare wolves, have been among the annual victims of vehicle traffic. 

Swerving to avoid deer carcasses on the dark road, veering around huge alligators that emerge in headlights and bracing when an animal is accidentally hit have been regular survival tactics for local drivers on U.S. 64, which crisscrosses more than 158,000 acres of protected refuge lands. The highway also cuts through the 1.7 million-acre recovery area of private and public lands in Beaufort, Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties that have been intensively managed for the red wolves by the refuge since 1987.

But U.S. 64 in Dare County also serves as a major travel corridor back and forth to the popular Outer Banks beaches, as well as a critical hurricane evacuation route, with millions of vacationers driving through areas thick with animals moving through the landscape and dashing across roads.

Over the last decade, in fact, vehicle strikes are the leading cause of mortality in red wolves, according to the Red Wolf Essential Survival Crossings Under Evacuation Route (RESCUER) project report.

Although the latest population is not yet available, red wolves number about two dozen or more in the management area.

“Installing wildlife fencing to reduce (collisions) along with multiple wildlife underpass structures to provide habitat connectivity for species including the critically endangered Red Wolf, black bear, white-tailed deer, mesomammals, small mammals, and herpetofauna is an essential mitigation measure to address impacts from US 64 through Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge,” according to the report.

Numerous hot spots for wolf mortality that had been identified by recent research, according to the report, are targeted in the first phase of the proposed wildlife crossings project along U.S. 64.

Looking back: Conservation group’s US 64 study finds ‘remarkable carnage’

Looking ahead to the additional wildlife crossings made possible by the recurring state funding, Sutherland said that the money will be spent statewide, including in Western North Carolina, and likely on the highest-priority projects for protecting both wildlife and human safety.

“It is too soon to know if new crossings for US 64 will be in the mix or if the state is going to focus on other regions given the existing $31 million project for 64,” Sutherland said in an email, responding to questions from Coastal Review. “I suspect there may be some enthusiasm for repairing the existing three crossings further west on 64 between Plymouth and Roper — the crossings are fine but the fencing is buried in the tree line and apparently full of holes for wildlife to sneak through.”

The N.C. Department of Transportation anticipates shifting traffic patterns on N.C. 211 between N.C. 133 and Woodedge Way in Brunswick County this week.

On Thursday night, weather permitting, all traffic will shift onto the newly constructed future westbound lanes of N.C. 211.

Other traffic pattern modifications that evening include:

• Westbound N.C. 211 travelers will use a new ramp and traffic signals to access N.C. 906 (Midway Road or Middleton Boulevard). Westbound traffic will not access the existing signal.
• Eastbound N.C. 211 travelers will access N.C. 906 at the existing signal.

After the traffic shift, the Regency Crossing entrance to St. James will close for 30 days. St. James traffic should detour to the St. James Drive entrance.

DOT will place signed, temporary access points for residences and businesses south of the highway between Pinetop Drive and Pine Plantation Parkway, and West Trace Drive near N.C. 133.

Drivers are urged to use caution when traveling through work zones. For real-time traffic information check DriveNC.gov.

A wildfire that spread more than 280 acres in Brunswick County over the weekend was ignited by a lightning strike, fire officials confirmed.

The Quarry Road fire that started on Friday in Shallotte is 50% contained, according to the latest information from the North Carolina Forest Service.

Firefighters are continuing to reinforce fire lines and complete mop-up operations, which involve extinguishing or removing material near control lines, felling snags and trenching logs to prevent them from rolling after an area has burned.

Residents in areas near the fire are urged to remain alert and prepared if evacuation orders become necessary.

For up-to-date information on potential road closures due to the wildfire visit the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office social media and download or check the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office Mobile App.

The fire has resulted in one minor injury, which was reported on Friday and involved a firefighter who was treated on the scene, and has damaged a commercial self-storage building, a residential storage building, and some commercial work trucks and heavy equipment, according to the latest update.

Fire containment updates may be traced using the Forest Service’s Wildfire Public Viewer.

Brunswick County remains under exceptional drought and its largest water provider, Brunswick County Public Utilities, recently implemented further mandatory water restrictions prohibiting automated outdoor irrigation.

A burn ban also remains in effect for the unincorporated county, where residents are prohibited from burning within 100 feet of a structure. Residents in municipal limits should contact their local officials related to the burn ban.

Fibonacci!

Say what?

Sounds like the correct response to that would be, “Bless you!”

Leonardo Fibonacci was a mathematician who lived in Italy hundreds of years ago. Although the sequence was known to non-Westerners long before, during the 13th century it’s thought that Fibonacci introduced the golden spiral to Western mathematics.

The basis of the Fibonacci sequence is what creates spiral patterns. The mathematical pattern is thus: each number is the sum of the two preceding numbers. For example, 1+1=2, 1+2=3, 2+3=5 and so on. The rest of the math part is way above my paygrade, something about dividing numbers and seeing how close they come to 1.618, or the golden ratio.

Like most other people who are numerically challenged, I’ve always just looked at spirals and patterns and thought, “that’s really beautiful,”never mind the science behind it.

Other than creating beauty, the Fibonacci spiral allows plants to cram the maximum amount of seeds and leaves into a space without overcrowding. Algorithms use it to see how to handle scaling. Investors use it to analyze price trends in stocks. The spiral is what allows artists and architects to create visually balanced compositions and spatial layouts. It also frequently appears in things like unfurling fern fronds and the branching of trees, in the spiral curves of storms.

The so-called golden spiral is especially noticeable in sunflowers. In pinecones. In seashells. In the way the outside of pineapples swirl amid their helixes. In galaxies.

Sunflowers (Helianthus annus) are beloved North American natives, now naturalized throughout the world. Growing anywhere from 1 foot tall to 12 feet or more (the record as of 2025, courtesy of Alex Babich in Fort Wayne, Indiana, is 35 feet 9 inches) these radiant summer annuals always make a splash. Whether growing in fields or flowerbeds, nestled in a bouquet or tucked in a vase, they brighten our lives. While the most well-known color is the distinct yellow they’re famous for, sunflowers also come in a range of colors, including reds, burgundies, oranges, whites and bicolors.

While each sunflower looks like a single flower, it is instead a conglomeration of hundreds or even thousands of tubular florets arranged in … you guessed it, a Fibonacci (gesundheit!) spiral. What we call the flower is more precisely the flower head (pseudanthium). What we call petals are, aptly enough, called ray flowers.

Beyond their amazing beauty, sunflowers serve countless other purposes. Sunflowers are a pollinator magnet, particularly for bees. Many species of birds feast on the mature seeds, not to mention squirrels and other small mammals.

The seeds themselves are quite beneficial for humans as well. Many people enjoy snacking on them like peanuts, salted and roasted. High in nutrients such as vitamin E, magnesium, and healthy fats, sunflower seeds can be pressed into oils or made into sun butter.

There are two types of sunflower seeds. Oilseed sunflowers are used for, well, oils. Sunflower seed oil is the fourth most widely used vegetable oil in the world. Confectionary sunflower seeds are used for snacking and baking. Sunflower seeds can also be used as birdseed or livestock feed.

Besides being good for your tummy, sunflowers are good for your soul. Their cheery yellow faces are sure to make the grumpiest grump smile. Their heart-shaped leaves add another layer to the feel-good vibes.

While some immature sunflowers might track the sun in a process known as heliotropism, despite popular belief, once the bloom is fully open, mature sunflower heads no longer follow the sun. Instead, most of them consistently face east in order to catch the early sun and entice the most pollinators.

Depending on the variety, sunflowers can be a single flower atop a solitary plant, or they can look like a sunflower bush with multiple smaller heads flowering from top to bottom.

Because they are hyperaccumulators, in a process known as phytoremediation, sunflowers can be planted and used to pull radiation and heavy metals out of soil. Obviously, these plants then need to be destroyed after growing.

Are there any downsides to growing sunflowers? Their fast growth rates can deplete soil nutrients, and sunflowers are allelopathic. They release chemical toxins that can stunt nearby plants, so don’t plant them close to your potatoes and beans. Taller varieties are especially susceptible to wind damage, although sunflower tepees make super cool hideouts for the kids.

Also, the blooms don’t last all summer. For continuous blooms, plant successively about every two weeks.

Don’t have room for giant sunflowers? Try some black-eyed Susans. Some varieties are perennial, and small birds love the seeds. Rudbeckia hirta is a native and can be a biennial or short-lived perennial. Rudbeckia fulgida Goldstrum is a long-lived perennial that spreads via rhizomes.

Want something that grows a larger plant with multiple smaller flowers?  Try swamp sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius). A native perennial found from New York to Florida to Texas, it can get up to 8 feet tall. Be prepared, these plants look like the weeds they are all summer. Then come fall … wowsa! A group planting of these will light up the neighborhood. They require a lot of water, thus the “swamp” part of their name. These spread by rhizomes, so plant them in the back of your flowerbed and give them lots of room. And a firehose.

Whether you enjoy eating hulled sunflower seeds on your salad or in baked goods or just snacking on them, shelled or unshelled, or whether you just plain love sunflowers … enjoy!

Even though he wasn’t the first to paint sunflowers, Van Gogh turned what appears to be a simple summer pleasure into works of art, and other painters followed. What could possibly shout “summer” louder than bright yellows and bold blues mimicking the sun in the sky?

Such an exotic word for simple spirals, but our world would be a much duller place without the Fibonacci sequence and its attendant loops and whorls. And the true beauty of it is, you don’t have to be able to do higher math to appreciate the beauty.

State Auditor Dave Boliek’s office released its performance audit of the Department of Environmental Quality’s Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program on Monday, revealing what the report called a shortfall in the statewide monitoring of former landfill sites.

The report found that 78%, or 534, of the 688 identified landfill sites where municipal solid waste disposal occurred without regulatory oversight have never been investigated under the DEQ program. Eleven of the list of top 100 of 629 program sites prioritized for investigation because of risk are in coastal counties.

The audit noted that, for most of the pre-regulation sites, it’s unknown what contamination may be present, whether it has spread to nearby properties or water supplies, or whether current conditions pose a risk to nearby residents. More than 80% of the landfill sites are within 1,000 feet of what are described as “vulnerable areas,” which includes homes, schools, daycares, churches, or drinking water wells.

“The Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program is a complex issue that creates challenges from a regulatory, legal, funding, and administrative standpoint,” said Boliek in the news release accompanying the audit. “But the bottom line is there are hundreds of potentially hazardous landfill sites across North Carolina, and despite tax dollars supporting a program meant to investigate these sites, 78% haven’t been examined. This audit lays out the facts, giving taxpayers a reliable update on a longstanding government issue.”

The program was established as part of the Division of Waste Management in 2007 to identify, assess, and remediate sites that accepted a wide range of waste prior to 1983. That’s before when modern environmental regulations were adopted. The list includes public and private sites near homes, schools and drinking water sources that could contain hazardous materials that pose health and environmental risks.

The risk ranking reflects scoring as of April 2025. In addition to the risk ranking, the audit includes an appendix listing all landfills alphabetically by county, then by risk priority rank within each county, if applicable. Another appendix identifies sites where issues related to property access have prevented or delayed investigation or cleanup and shows how long those delays have persisted in years.

The average estimated cost to investigate, assess and remediate a site is about $1.9 million. That would put the total cost, if applied to the remaining sites, at close to $1 billion. According to the report, of the 97 sites investigated since the program started, DEQ has secured 370 acres of waste, sampled 1,642 water supply wells and provided an alternate water supply to 30 homes.

According to the announcement, the DEQ Division of Waste Management agreed with the findings and the auditor’s recommendations. The audit lists all landfill sites, including sites pending access permission and sites that have been addressed, prioritized according to risk.

Among the ranked priority list’s top 100 sites in coastal counties are the following:

• No. 5, Jacksonville Wastewater Treatement Plant Landfill at Sturgeon City in Jacksonville, Onslow County.
• No. 9, Burnt Mill Creek Landfill in Wilmington.
• No. 11, Buxton Dump in Dare County.
• No. 30, Belltown Road Dump in Craven County.
• No. 44, Winnabow Landfill in Brunswick County.
• No. 53, Bolivia Refuse Disposal in Brunswick County.
• No. 67, Otway Community Refuse Dump in Carteret County.
• No. 73, Pantego Refuse Disposal in Beaufort County.
• No. 84, Rural Garbage Service in New Hanover County.
• No. 92, Ray’s Rural Dump in Onslow County.
• No. 98, Carolina Beach Refuse Disposal in New Hanover County.

Oceanographer Dr. Reide Corbett is pausing this week during his transition from East Carolina University’s Outer Banks campus to the main campus in Greenville to give a talk on how the state’s coast is changing and why those changes matter for low-lying communities like Down East Carteret County.

Corbett, who is leaving his leadership roles on East Carolina University’s Outer Banks campus to act as interim dean of the Thomas Harriot College of Arts & Sciences, is scheduled to speak at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island, one of the 13 unincorporated communities making up Down East.

Core Sound Executive Director Karen Willis Amspacher said that his talk is “an important conversation for all of us who live with a rapidly changing coastline.”

The talk is part of the organization’s five-part Water/Ways speaker series, an extension of the Smithsonian’s traveling “Water/Ways” exhibit on display until Aug. 9.

Related: Two speaker series to look at relationships of people, place

A coastal oceanographer and geochemist whose work focuses on coastal change, Corbett has most recently served as dean of East Carolina University’s Integrated Coastal Programs and executive director of the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus in Wanchese.

“Barrier islands, sounds, inlets, wetlands, and shorelines have always been dynamic, but rising sea level, storms, erosion, flooding, and expanding development are changing the risks we face and the choices available to us,” Corbett said in an email. “The talk will focus on the science behind coastal change, what we are seeing along the North Carolina coast, and the tradeoffs involved in how communities respond. The goal is not to offer a single solution, but to help frame the decisions ahead with a clearer understanding of the processes, risks, and long-term consequences.”

Corbett announced his departure in the Outer Banks campus spring 2026 newsletter and the Outer Banks Voice confirmed his plan in mid-June.

Dr. Mike Muglia will serve as interim director at Coastal Studies Institute while plans are formed to search for the next permanent executive director, expected to be in late summer or early fall, a CSI representative told Coastal Review.  

Muglia’s research focuses on Gulf Stream variability and its effect on the complex confluence of different water masses that occur off of the state’s coast. He leads the Coastal Studies Institute’s Gulf Stream resource assessment for the Renewable Ocean Energy Program, and has managed field research project design across disciplines in the marine environment of the Outer Banks, according to CSI.

Eastbound lanes on the Causeway Drive bridge over Banks Channel in Wrightsville Beach will be closed nightly beginning Monday.

Contract crews will close both eastbound lanes of Causeway Drive from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday-Friday while they drill through the bridge deck for testing.

Drilling operations are expected to be complete by July 22, according to a North Carolina Department of Transportation news release.

The testing is part of the Wrightsville Beach bridge replacement project, an estimated $105 million endeavor that entails replacing all three bridges that connect the New Hanover County beach town.

Harrison Marks remembers looking past his father’s shoulder at the excitement unfolding on stage.

Marks can only assume he was scooped up and out of The Waterside Theatre on Roanoke Island because “The Lost Colony” performance was “more than he could stand” at the tender age of 3 or 4.

That’s one of his earliest memories in the upper Outer Banks, the seaside destination his father sought in lieu of Virginia Beach, a resort city the family patriarch believed to be too developed by the 1950s.

“I really have to check myself to not be completely like him in terms of lamenting,” Marks said.

The outgoing executive director of the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust has nothing to gain by dwelling on the days when the Outer Banks and wider coastline were scattered with little more than fishing hamlets.

“We are an attractive place to live,” Marks said. “Unfortunately, what that means is, just like I was attracted to be here, many other people are attracted to be here, so I’m very conscious of the fact that we have to prepare for growth and accommodate growth in a smart way. But, if we want to maintain the character of eastern North Carolina, I think it’s really important to set aside some space and that’s what this job has allowed me to help do.”

This fall, he will officially step down as the nonprofit’s executive director to assume the role of senior adviser.

Associate Director Jesica Blake, a keystone employee of the organization for more than 20 years, will take over as executive director on Oct. 1.

“I am deeply honored to be entrusted with this role,” Blake stated in a July 1 release announcing her promotion. “The Coastal Land Trust has been my professional home for more than two decades, and I understand its mission, its people, and its potential at every level. I look forward to building on the extraordinary foundation Harrison and his team have created, and to doing whatever it takes to protect the lands and waters of coastal North Carolina for generations to come.”

Marks isn’t keen on accepting the praise directed his way since the announcement.

“One of the things that’s bother me a little bit is I’m getting credit for every good thing that’s happened in four years. Most of those things were in motion and I was lucky enough to be here as they happened. Jesica’s just so ready to do this and to the degree I helped in that happening at all, I’m really, really pleased about that,” he said.

He’s proud of the organization’s accomplishments during his time as executive director, notably the Coastal Land Trust’s April 2025 acquisition of land on the southern tip of Topsail Island known as “The Point,” one of the last remaining privately owned, undeveloped tracts on the state’s barrier islands. Earlier this year, the land was transferred to the state, which will maintain and protect the property.

The organization is scheduled to close on the third phase of its conservation partnership on the Newport River with the North Carolina Coastal Federation and Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in Havelock. The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

That project entails the protection and restoration of more than 2,000 acres of land along the river.

And the organization most recently announced it had reached an agreement with a developer to permanently protect more than 3,200 acres of Sledge Forest, a sprawling tract of land in northern New Hanover County that features ancient forests, vast wetlands, and riverine habitat.

When Marks became the interim executive director a few years back, he figured he’d only be in the job for six months, tops.

By then, the Richmond, Virginia, native had pivoted careers from the banking industry to the great outdoors.

Marks was on his way to earning a degree in biogeography at Dartmouth College when, while conducting research in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, he discovered that fieldwork was not for him.

“I thought if I do something like this, I’m going to end up hating the outdoors,” he said.

After graduation, he landed a job at Wachovia National Bank, which was headquartered in Winston-Salem at that time.

He may have spent his successful executive years indoors rather than in nature, but the work still provided him with a profound sense of purpose.

“I felt like it was a little bit of a calling,” Marks said. “Historically, if you worked at Wachovia, you didn’t make as much money as you would if you were willing to work at some other places, but you stayed because it felt like it mattered you were there.”

He no longer had that feeling when Wachovia merged with First Union in 2001. He retired from banking in the early 2000s at the age of 55.

Less than a decade later, Marks, after returning to his environmental roots, would oversee the 2015 merger of two of the state’s oldest grassroots conservation organizations, the Pamlico-Tar River Foundation and Neuse River Foundation.

Marks was Sound Rivers executive director for four years before retiring a second time in 2017.

He and his wife, Suzie, sailed the east coast and the Bahamas for the next couple of years. He’d been an active member of the Coastal Land Trust’s finance committee by the time he joined the organization’s board of directors in 2021.

He thought the couple had made their last move, from New Bern back to Winston-Salem, when he stepped in as the Coastal Land Trust’s interim executive director in September 2022.

They were on the road from their Winston-Salem home to Wilmington when his wife opened with the ultimate ominous conversation starter: “We need to talk.”

She pointed out how he was really enjoying the work he was doing with the Coastal Land Trust. She would support him staying on as executive director if that’s what he would like to do.

“That really opened the door,” Marks said. “The board was starting its search for a permanent executive director and I went back to the board and said, ‘I’d be willing to stay on if you want me.’”

The board did.

Marks and his wife purchased a home in Wilmington a couple of years ago on a plot of land on the banks of a small cypress pond, a sanctuary for Anhinga, egrets, mallards and geese.

“I don’t think you could blast us out of here,” Marks said. “Winston-Salem is a wonderful place to live. It’s close to the mountains, which is nice, but we really are fundamentally water people. We’d much rather be here near the water, so we’re here for good.”

The North Carolina Museum of History has launched a 20-part educational film series exploring the people, places and events that shaped the American Revolution, with a focus on North Carolina’s role in the war for independence.

Designed for students, educators, families and lifelong learners, “It’s Revolutionary!” premiered online July 3 and can be streamed online from the museum’s website.

The film series is part of the museum’s broader effort to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence through exhibitions, educational resources, public programs and partnerships.

The Raleigh-based museum, part of the state’s Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, describes the series as a combination of documentary storytelling, primary sources, animation and historical reenactments to help audiences learn in the Revolutionary period from colonial times through the early years of the United States.

The series follows a voice actor narrating a documentary about revolutionary times. When he makes a mistake, he is interrupted by a person from the past who provides corrections and insights. Topics range from Indigenous histories and colonial life to the Halifax Resolves, the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge, the Treaty of Paris, and North Carolina’s role regarding the Bill of Rights.

Sally Causey Bloom, curator of education at the museum, said in a release that the hope is the series brings history to life in a way that is both engaging and educational.

“By combining documentary storytelling with immersive narrative elements, we invite viewers to develop a deeper understanding of this pivotal chapter in our nation’s history and reflect on the ongoing outcomes of those time,” she said.

Episodes feature both national events and North Carolina-specific stories, and explore topics such as the French and Indian War, the Declaration of Independence, Black Patriots and Loyalists, American Indian experiences during the Revolution, the Battle of Guilford Courthouse, Yorktown, and the creation of the US Constitution.

View the series and learn more about the museum’s America 250 initiatives at BTE250.com.

Nearly a dozen North Carolina counties, including Brunswick County, are experiencing exceptional drought, according to the latest update of the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council.

Exceptional drought is the highest drought classification.

Nine counties around the Triangle and eastern Triad remain under exceptional drought, 46 are in extreme drought, and 31 are in severe drought, according to the DMAC update posted Thursday. Most of the state’s coastal counties are under moderate drought.

Localized heavy rainfall in parts of the state in recent days “did not lead to substantial improvements” in drought conditions throughout North Carolina, according to a North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality release.

“Parts of the Triangle saw more than 4 inches of rain or more this past week, but to substantially improve our drinking water supplies, it has to rain upstream of the reservoirs,” Linwood Peele, supervisor DEQ’s Division of Water Resources Water Supply Planning Branch, stated in the release. “It matters where the rain falls, and how fast it falls. The rain helped conditions here, but we need the lakes and reservoirs to fill back up, the groundwater and aquifers replenished and soil moisture restored.” 

Reservoirs in the state remain below normal and rainfall totals are significantly down in localized areas of the state, including Wilmington, which has a rainfall deficient of more than 23 inches, compared with historical averages for the same period, according to the North Carolina Climate Office.

Peele said that while rainfall in parts of the state have recently received helps reduce demand for irrigation or outdoor water use, reservoirs need to refill, “and that will take time.”

“We’re in a huge deficit,” he stated.

More than two weeks have passed since Brunswick County’s largest water utility provided implemented mandatory water restrictions in response to drought conditions there. 

“If a water system is asking people to cut back on non-essential water use, they should listen,” Peele said. “The more people do it, the longer the water should last. This is something we have to conserve our way out of.”

The DMAC is a collaboration of experts from government agencies in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia organized by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources.

Members of the council meet weekly and submit their drought condition recommendations to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Drought Mitigation Center for updates to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Dozens of people from across the country warned at a public hearing that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to repeal federal drinking water limits for “forever chemicals” erodes public trust and endangers millions of Americans.

Those who spoke Tuesday during the online hearing the EPA hosted that lasted more than seven hours resoundingly opposed the agency’s plans to strike down enforceable standards for four per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, and push the deadline in which water utilities must comply with limits for related compounds PFOA and PFOS by two years.

“These are dangerous to our health and incredibly persistent in the environment,” said Kathy Westman, a registered nurse and member of the Alliance for Nurses for Healthy Environments, a global nursing organization. “Nurses witness firsthand the health impacts and harms. PFAS can increase risk of certain cancers, alter endocrine responses and impact pregnancy outcomes as you all know. You can’t make America healthy while allowing toxic chemicals to flow. Please protect our citizens.”

Westman was among a host of healthcare professionals, researchers, waterkeepers, lawyers, environmental advocates, retirees, high school and college students, and private citizens who urged the EPA against rescinding current federal standards for PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and HFPO-DA, commonly referred to as GenX. They spoke from their offices and homes from the Carolinas to California, Maine to Florida, and Texas to Illinois.

They concurred that extending the deadline for water utilities to comply with enforceable standards for PFOA and PFOS from 2029 to 2031 would only further delay drinking water safeguards for Americans.

The Trump administration argues that giving drinking water systems the flexibility to opt in for the two-year extension would give them more time to sample source water for contaminants, test new controls, and train their workforce to manage those controls. And, the argument continues, rescinding current federal standards for PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS and GenX is necessary to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Under the proposal, the EPA would provide nearly $1 billion in new funding to states to address PFAS in drinking water and another $1 billion through the Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities program.

Opponents of the proposal argue that it is contrary to the message the EPA is trying to send by providing that funding.

Madhvi Chittoor, a 15-year-old climate activist and United Nations child adviser from Colorado, said rolling back PFAS protections “sends us in the wrong direction.”

“The hazard index is important because people are exposed to complex, multiple PFAS mixtures and removing it ignores the cumulative risk that families,” she said. “Weakening these protections shifts the burden from polluters to families and local water utilities, while disproportionately impacting low-income communities. That is not environmental justice.”

The EPA now categorizes nearly 15,000 different PFAS.

PFAS are used for the ability to repel water, stains and grease to produce a host of consumer goods, including food containers, waterproof gear, stain-resistant carpet and makeup.

They are often called “forever chemicals” because they do not naturally break down in the environment.

Some of the known human health effects of exposure to PFAS include weakened immunity, low birth weight in newborns, thyroid disease, and certain types of cancer.

Dr. Jamie DeWitt, a former associate professor at East Carolina University and now professor at Oregon State University, was a member of the EPA’s PFAS science advisory board that reviewed the science behind the maximum contaminant levels, or MCLs, for PFAS established under the current rule.

“I can say with confidence that the rules for these four PFAS were based on the best available science,” she said. “The only guarantee the public has of being protected from these PFAS in their drinking water, including communities impacted by high levels of these chemicals and populations especially vulnerable to these chemicals, is to let the rules stand. The agency has an obligation to protect the public’s health from hazardous contaminants in drinking water, and rescinding the rule is really the unlawful thing to do. Let this rule stand to ensure that the public is protected.”

For more than two decades, DeWitt has been studying the toxicity of various PFAS, including those found in the Cape Fear River.

Chemours, a DuPont spinoff, directly discharged PFAS, including GenX, from its Fayetteville Works facility in Bladen County for some four decades.

Just last month, the U.S. Justice Department announced a proposed $450 million, multistate settlement agreement with Chemours over PFAS pollution.

Critics argue that, other than a $22.5 million civil penalty to be paid over three years to the EPA and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, the settlement terms fail to directly put money toward reducing PFAS discharges.

Gov. Josh Stein said that he expects the settlement will have little, if any, meaningful impact in North Carolina, where state-led sampling found that in 2024 more than 300 public water systems serving more than 3 million residents contained PFAS levels above the EPA-established maximum levels.

Stein recently signed a $34.4 billion state budget that boosts funding for PFAS-related initiatives through the Department of Environmental Quality. This includes $45 million for PFAS water infrastructure projects, $10.2 million for the Bernard Allen Emergency Drinking Water Fund to sample private wells and supply alternative water, and $3 million for DEQ staffing, water testing and sampling.

Dr. Micah Nishigaki, a family medicine physician in Texas, said the current federal drinking water standards for PFAS are critical to public health.

“We’ve known for decades now how PFAS are linked to liver diseases, low birth weights, certain cancers, damage to the nervous immune systems, and higher cholesterol levels,” she said. “These pollutants lurk in our water, which millions of us drink and use for our daily needs. The 2024 PFAS ruling estimated that with these current regulations we can prevent tens of thousands of illnesses and thousands of deaths. That means less people needing to be hospitalized, less chronic illnesses worsened by these toxins, reduced strain our overburdened health care system, and fewer death certificates of loved ones who suffered from the effects of these pollutants that we would have to sign. Weakening these regulations wouldn’t do anyone’s health good.”

Marc Boom, senior director of public affairs with the Environmental Protection Network, a nonprofit organization made up of more than 750 former EPA staff and political appointees, said the EPA should be moving faster to protect people from PFAS, not weaken standards, “before communities ever receive the benefits.”

“Families across the country have already waited years for protections against these forever chemicals,” he said. “This proposal would make them wait even longer. The central problem is that the EPA is not following the science. EPA is not saying these PFAS are safe. They are not showing that the health risks have gone away.”

Trevor Hickman, an environmental and process engineer from New Jersey, asked the EPA to stick by its current regulation to make water utilities comply with enforceable standards for PFOA and PFOS by 2029.

“I think it all just boils down to the fact that it’s much easier to remove these chemicals at the source in the drinking water rather than deal with the ramifications down the line,” he said. “We’re talking about spending 10, 20, 100 times as much money in the coming years instead of dealing with the problem now. And putting it off two additional years is putting two more years of chemicals into our water, into our land and cleaning them up once they’re there is so much more difficult. To everyone in the EPA, I think you know what the right thing to do is, and I think that when you go to sleep at night, if you make the right decision, you’ll rest easy.”

Fans are available for adults living with disabilities or are 60 and older through their county’s aging agency.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Aging, area agencies on aging and local service providers are partnering to distribute fans through Operation Fan Heat Relief. Assistance began May 1 and ends Oct. 31.

Operation Fan Heat Relief has been providing fans since 1986 to those eligible to help reduce heat-related illnesses and make their living environment more comfortable.

The state’s Division of Aging received $85,000 in donations, allowing for the distribution of 3,627 fans and 23 air conditioners in 93 counties last year. Donations are through Duke Energy Carolinas, Duke Energy Progress, and Dominion Energy.

“It is important to keep cool in extreme heat, especially for older adults with chronic medical conditions who are less likely to sense and respond to changes in temperature, and they may be taking medications that worsen the impact of extreme heat. The relief program helps vulnerable adults at risk for heat-related illnesses stay safe during the warmer weather months,” state health officials said.

In addition to using electric fans, the following hot weather tips for seniors should be observed to reduce heat-related illness:

• Increase fluid intake.
• Spend time in cool or air-conditioned environments regularly.
• Reduce strenuous activity during the afternoon.
• Speak with a physician before summer about how to stay safe while taking medication that can affect the body’s ability to cool itself such as high blood pressure medications.

For more details on Operation Fan Heat Relief, individuals should contact their area agency on aging or the NCDHHS Division of Aging at 919-855-3400.

More information about Operation Fan Heat Relief, including tips on preparing for extreme heat and a list of local agencies distributing fans, is available on the NCDHHS website. 

The Two Rivers Saponi-Occoneechee Association is hosting this month an Indigenous-led conversation on environmental justice.

The three-hour webinar set to begin at 11 a.m. July 18 “centers Indigenous knowledge systems, lived experience, and community-led solutions to environmental justice,” organizers said. The program is being offered at no charge but attendees are asked to register for the webinar through an online form.

The Two Rivers Saponi-Occoneechee Association is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving and promoting the cultural heritage of the Saponi and Occoneechee Indigenous American community in Southside Virginia, specifically Mecklenburg, Brunswick and Greensville counties, all of which border North Carolina. The Saponi and Occoneechee peoples have a long history in the region of North Carolina, Virginia and surrounding areas.

The webinar is to explore uplifting Indigenous knowledge and stewardship practices, examine environmental injustices impacting land, water and communities, create space to identify projects and systems that have caused harm, and highlight the original inhabitants of organizers continued.

The following panelists are included:

• Dr. Crystal Cavalier, founder of 7 Directions of Service, Occoneechi Band of the Saponi Nation.
• Hannah Jeffries, North Carolina Climate Justice Collective Fellow, Meherrin Indian Tribe.
• Toniekia Poole, owner of Native Roots Farm, LLC, Occoneechi Band of the Saponi Nation, Meherrin Indian Tribe.

More information is available on the organization’s Facebook page.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Flood Resiliency Blueprint program has scheduled a public information session on draft flood resilience plans for two North Carolina river basins.

During the July 20 virtual session, officials will provide information and gather feedback on draft plans for the Lumber River Basin Action Strategy and the Tar-Pamlico River Basin Action Strategy.

The Webex session will begin at 6 p.m. using meeting number/access code 2424 744 7031, password blueprint (25837746 when dialing from a phone). To join by telephone dial +1-415-655-0003.

River basin action strategies tailor flood resilience plans to each basin’s unique characteristics and needs, and outline actionable steps to empower communities to proactively reduce flooding impacts.

The strategies were developed using data from the Flood Resiliency Blueprint Tool with input from local Blueprint partners and the River Basin Advisory Groups.

DEQ is accepting public comment through a public feedback form on the draft river basin strategies through July 27. Comments may also be submitted by emailing the Blueprint Program at blueprint@deq.nc.gov with “RBAS Feedback” in the subject line.

The North Carolina General Assembly tasked DEQ with developing the Flood Resiliency Blueprint in 2021 to support the planning, evaluation and implementation of flood resilience strategies.

The Blueprint is designed to equip local governments, the state and supporting organizations with data, tools and processes to better understand flood risk, identify community needs and guide strategic investments to reduce the risk of floods and strengthen resilience.

DEQ has awarded more than $43 million for 84 Blueprint projects in six of the state’s 17 river basins.

The Lumber and Tar-Pamlico river basin action strategies are to be delivered to the General Assembly later this summer.

The steady rush of a 32-foot-tall Smoky Mountain waterfall is what greets the hundreds of thousands of visitors that filter each year through the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores.

The impressive sight is the start of an up-close journey through aquatic habitats found from the “Mountains to the Sea,” the theme the staff came up with when the facility that opened its doors in 1976 was upgraded in 2006. As visitors walk through the aquarium, they’re able to see thousands of aquatic animals in a range of habitats.

“We came up with the theme of ‘Mountains to the Sea’ so that the five galleries at the Pine Knoll Shores aquarium would highlight some of the animals and features all across the state,” former director Jay Barnes said.

Compared to when the Pine Knoll Shores site opened 50 years ago, the facility is nearly unrecognizable.

Launched as the North Carolina Marine Resources Centers in the 1970s at the same time as the Roanoke Island and Fort Fisher locations, which were also revamped 20 years ago, the research hubs were rebranded in 1986 as the North Carolina Aquariums.

N.C. Aquariums Director Hap Fatzinger told Coastal Review that since its inception, the goal of the educational facilities has been to focus “on creating incredible guest experiences that create connections to people, animals and the natural world.”

Having three aquariums along the state’s coastline was a strategic measure to ensure residents would have access to learn about the treasures of our coast. The education hubs grew in popularity, and gained strong legislative support that allowed for the aquariums, which were accredited in 1990 by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, to expand in the early 2000s into the 65,000- to 93,000-square-foot facilities they are today, Fatzinger added.

With the addition in 2011 of Jennette’s Pier at Nags Head to the aquarium system, the four locations see a total of more than 1.4 million visitors a year.

The aquariums today stands “as vibrant gateways to discovery, conservation and connection, bringing visitors face-to-fin with aquatic life and ecosystems,” according to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, which the aquarium division is under, and “have inspired conservation action to protect the ocean and waterways through unforgettable encounters with aquatic life, while expanding access to science education and contributing to conservation research, rehabilitation, and emerging rescue work.”

Though the three N.C. Aquariums officially turn 50 in September, there are several anniversary and birthday events happening throughout the year, including the “Birthday Splash” during regular aquarium hours 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Pine Knoll Shores, followed at 7 p.m. by the ticketed 70s-themed “Rock the Reef” for those 21 and older.

“For 50 years, the North Carolina Aquariums have played a vital role in inspiring visitors, strengthening coastal communities, and protecting the natural resources that make our state so special,” DNCR Secretary Pamela B. Cashwell said earlier this year in a press release. “This anniversary reflects decades of visionary leadership, sustained community support and dedicated staff who have ensured the Aquariums remain places of learning, wonder, and conservation for generations of North Carolinians.”

Barnes began his career at Pine Knoll Shores in 1980 and later was appointed as director there, a role he held for more than 20 years before retiring in 2009. He then joined the nonprofit partner organization, the North Carolina Aquarium Society, from which he retired as director in 2023.

When the sites first opened in the 1970s, the centers were shoestring operations with few on staff and tiny budgets, Barnes explained about those early years. Funding was so poor that there wasn’t air conditioning at the Fort Fisher site, and there were very few exhibits, all of which were created by staff.

“We were open seven days a week, but we only had a full-time staff when I joined of five people,” Barnes continued.

With the help of several volunteers and some interns that came every summer, “we pieced together enough support to keep the doors open,” he said. “We were trying to build something from nothing.”

The building was there, but when it comes to the exhibits, “we had to go collect the animals, build the displays, and try to offer something to the public that was educational, and we did a lot of programming too,” Barnes said. “We started working a lot with schoolchildren, and the schools loved us, because it’s a free opportunity to bring their classes to the coast and get their feet wet in the marsh and learn a few things about sea life.”

Then, programming began to evolve, and “it’s amazing to think about this small staff that we had, the small budget that we had in those early days, and the fact that it was free admission. When you have free admission, I think that one of the things that happens is people’s expectations are not real high.”

Barnes said that after being open to the public at no charge for many years, “we realized that if we were ever going to make progress financially, we were going to have to bite the bullet and develop an admission charge,” which the legislature approved, to build a fund that would go back to the aquarium.

This was in 1986. In addition to being renamed that year as North Carolina Aquariums, the division moved from the North Carolina Department of Administration over to what is now the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and the nonprofit partner, North Carolina Aquarium Society was formed to support aquarium efforts.

Barnes said that the rebranding “made perfect sense” because the leadership at the time recognized that people were visiting the sites for the exhibits that featured fish, sharks and turtles.

“We changed departments, changed our name and began an admission fee, and that’s when things really started to look up in terms of the kinds of improvements we were able to make in the years to come,” he explained.

In the late 1990s, the aquarium society was successful in generating support from the General Assembly and began looking at capital funding to improve and expand the aquarium sites. Roanoke Island underwent the first round of renovations unveiled in 2000, then Fort Fisher reopened its upgraded site in 2002 and Pine Knoll Shores in 2006.

As director, Barnes said he was excited about having $15 million for a big renovation but Hurricane Floyd struck North Carolina in 1999 and as a result, the funding for Pine Knoll Shores was rescinded, “which we understood the reasons why; there were a lot of people hurting across North Carolina and that (renovation) funding went to help.”

The Aquarium Society’s Board of Directors came up with a plan the General Assembly passed to allow private financing for the renovations.

“The aquariums then essentially borrowed the money to build the renovation at Pine Knoll Shores, and we got that underway in 2004,” Barnes said.

The previous building was around 35,000 square feet, the upgrades tripled the footprint to 93,000 square feet at a cost of $25 million, according to state documents.

“It was a very exciting time for me as director to be able to work with our staff to come up with what we wanted the new aquarium to look like and how we wanted it to be laid out,” he said, adding they reused portions of the previous facility, redesigned the traffic flow, added lots of new exhibits and came up with the Mountains to the Sea theme.

By joining the staff just four years after the site opened, he said it was an opportunity to grow with the organization.

“And I have to say, all of us are proud of what has transpired over the years with not only increasing the funding and the staffing, but the exhibits just got better and better over time, and the work that the aquariums do now is light years beyond where it was back in those days with regard to research and conservation and the number of people that we reach.”

The evolution from the small, state-owned facilities to one of the most popular tourist destinations and conservation organizations in the state is really something we can all be proud of, he added.

‘Birthday Splash,’ ‘Rock the Reef’

The “Birthday Splash” on Saturday, which is included with admission, is expected to be a “vibrant ’70s-inspired day” featuring special animal encounters, hands-on themed crafts, historic photos and video exhibits throughout the aquarium, a 1970s-themed selfie photo booth, and birthday treats.

That evening, the aquarium will be transformed into retro-inspired lounge for “Rock the Reef,” which continues in the 1970s vein. Open to those 21 and older, the event will feature live dueling piano music, curated food and beverages, a ’70s outfit costume contest, and a celebratory toast with a commemorative champagne flute.

“We’d like to thank our local community for all of the support they’ve given us over the last 50 years,” Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium Director Clint Taylor said in a release. “To show our appreciation, we’re showcasing our history, sharing stories and photos, and highlighting our progress and how much we hope to continue to grow.”

Tickets are $50 per person and $40 for members. The event is sponsored by Southern Bank with all proceeds to benefit the nonprofit Aquarium Society.

Other celebrations include Roanoke Island aquarium’s Golden Gala on Sept. 9 and a Birthday Bash on Sept. 12, a birthday party at Jennette’s Pier and Fort Fisher, which is undergoing a 30-month renovation project, is to hold birthday beach cleanup events throughout the year.

Lawmakers on Thursday sent their approved and long-awaited budget to Gov. Josh Stein, who on Tuesday signed the $34.4 billion spending plan, one that includes notable coastal environmental spending and policy provisions, as well as a blow for commuters who rely on the state ferries that have long been free to ride.

Republican leaders in the North Carolina General Assembly unveiled the measure, Senate Bill 257, on Tuesday, June 30. Despite short notice and the exclusion of Democrats in negotiations, the bill passed both chambers last week with bipartisan support. It’s the state’s first full budget in more than two years.

On Thursday, Stein told reporters he would carefully weigh its provisions, some of which further diminish the governor’s appointment powers.

“North Carolinians expect their elected officials to come together across our differences to deliver for people,” said Stein in a statement released upon signing the budget, in which he also added that the budget addresses serious concerns such as clean, safe water and disaster recovery.

Stein said the budget “makes meaningful investments” in community colleges and increases salaries for teachers and public safety officers. But the measure “has real flaws” and “unconstitutional and wrong-headed provisions,” the governor said.

“The legislature slashed more than 1,000 state government positions, making it harder for us to keep people safe and healthy,” Stein said in the statement.

The budget includes a provision mandating that the North Carolina Department of Transportation begin charging tolls on the state’s four free vehicle ferry routes. The measure does not set fare amounts. This prompted Sen. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, and Sen. Norman Sanderson, R-Pamlico, to cast preliminary “no” votes earlier last week, but both senators voted affirmatively in the final tally. Sanderson had been successful in striking down proposed ferry tolls during his tenure in the legislature.

Coastal environmental advocates were largely pleased with the bill’s coastal provisions, including those pertaining to water, wastewater, and stormwater projects. Among these are Flood Blueprint and other resiliency projects, creation of a state-nonprofit partnership with the North Carolina Coastal Federation, publisher of Coastal Review, to remove abandoned and derelict vessels from waterways, measures to protect wildlife and natural lands, and efforts to study and address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, pollution.

“This is a very strong budget for North Carolina’s coast,” said Coastal Federation Executive Director Braxton Davis. “From investments in removing derelict vessels and improving stormwater management to addressing PFAS, the legislature and governor have reinforced their bipartisan commitment to making our coastal waters cleaner and safer. These investments will also strengthen the coastal economy by protecting the natural resources that support our communities, businesses, and way of life.”

The nonprofit Coastal Federation was also more fully empowered to establish and administer a stormwater retrofit pilot cost-share program and award grants, including to support a temporary position in the Division of Energy, Mineral, and Land Resources. This position would be to provide compliance assistance for existing stormwater permitholders.

The Coastal Federation was also awarded a $1 million grant for its Center for Coastal Protection and Restoration in Carteret County. That project will be completed this summer.

The budget incorporates language from Senate Bill 1053, the 2026 Water Safety Act, introduced by Sen. Michael Lee, R-New Hanover, and with Sen. Danny Earl Britt Jr., a Republican representing Hoke, Robeson and Scotland counties, and Sen. Val Applewhite, a Democrat representing Cumberland County, as cosponsors.

This section defines “emerging contaminants” as PFAS and 1,4-dioxane and establishes an Emerging Contaminant Mitigation Fund under the Division of Water Infrastructure seeded with $45 million nonrecurring under the Department of Environmental Quality to support efforts to offset the compounds’ negative effects on municipal and county public water and wastewater systems. The fund will also go to support detection, reduction, and prevention of exposure to PFAS and 1,4-dioxane, and related research and development. Another $10 million is to cover costs of emergency drinking water supplies resulting from emerging contaminants.

“For nearly a decade, families in the Cape Fear region have carried the burden of PFAS contamination they did nothing to create,” Lee said in a statement in response to Coastal Review. “This budget delivers the most significant state investment yet in confronting that problem: a new $45 million Emerging Contaminant Mitigation Fund to help local utilities test for and treat PFAS, more than $10 million in additional help for families on private wells, and a statewide sampling initiative to trace these compounds back to their sources. The fund is also built for the long haul, because when polluters settle in court, those dollars will flow directly into cleaning up our water. Add the moratorium on new water transfers out of the Cape Fear basin, and this budget treats clean water as exactly what it is: a public health imperative and the foundation of our region’s future.”

The budget authorizes the State Water Infrastructure Authority to award grants from the fund on a priority basis to public water or wastewater system operators to cover costs associated with sampling, treatment, emergency response, remediation and technical assistance to eliminate PFAS and 1,4-dioxane discharges.

About $7.68 million in federal infrastructure money is budgeted for grants for projects addressing emerging contaminants. And $16.5 million in federal Clean Water Act Emergency Response funding will go toward grants to help wastewater systems address emergencies.

The budget appropriates $1 million in recurring funds to DEQ for positions and operating costs associated with the increased need for emerging contaminant research and response. The department may create up to five positions for this purpose. An additional $7 million in nonrecurring funds are provided for the collection of samples for PFAS and 1,4-dioxane research to be conducted by the North Carolina Collaboratory at the University of North Carolina, as directed in the Water Safety Act language.

The Collaboratory is appropriated $15 million for research, development, and remedial activities associated with PFAS and its effects on firefighters. This includes funding of a partnership with the Office of the State Fire Marshal and North Carolina State University to develop and implement a pilot program for deep-cleaning firefighter protective gear to mitigate PFAS exposure and remediation activities related to PFAS at or near fire stations.

The Collaboratory, in cooperation with DEQ, is to conduct a two-phased study to identify and quantify measurable industrial PFAS discharges in the state, first, by collecting samples from publicly owned treatments works and National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permitholders and then sampling other significant dischargers. The final Phase 1 report is due to DEQ, the Environmental Management Commission and the Environmental Review Commission no later than March 31, 2028, and Phase 2 no later than March 31, 2029.

The Collaboratory must also conduct a study of PFAS contamination in biosolids.

The Collaboratory is further directed to conduct a Cape Fear River Basin study with $1.5 million appropriated for that purpose through the end of the decade, when a report is due, and conduct a study of long-term water supply needs in river basins experiencing high rates of growth.

Of the total $4.5 million in Collaboratory operating funds, $170,000 nonrecurring is to support the FerryMon water quality monitoring program that employs sensors mounted to state ferries, and $160,000 nonrecurring for the ModMon river monitoring, a Neuse River Estuary modeling and monitoring project.

DEQ’s total appropriation, net of $295.5 million in receipts, is $111.9 million.

Abandoned vessels

The budget directs the Wildlife Resources Commission to contract with the Coastal Federation to remove and dispose of commission-identified abandoned and derelict vessels with priority given to those in public waters. This refers to vessels left for more than 30 days in a wrecked, junked, or substantially damaged or dismantled condition, docked, grounded, or beached upon the property of another without owner consent.

The measure also provides for expedited vessel abatement during declared emergencies and liability protection for removal work absent gross negligence.

Lee told Coastal Review that owner protections are “built in” to the legislation. After a 30-day notice period, such vessels are deemed forfeited. Funding for removal is to come from boating registration fees, 10% of the total, which is estimated to generate about $1.01 million.

“Our coast has lived with abandoned and derelict vessels for too long,” Lee said. “This budget finally builds a standing program to get them out of our waters, with a dedicated funding stream and the Coastal Federation as the state’s partner on removal.”

The Coastal Federation launched its first coordinated, large-scale, marine debris cleanup in 2019 and has worked with the Wildlife Resources Commission on abandoned boat removals since 2021. The organization’s larger clean water effort dates back much earlier.

“Several of the investments included in this year’s budget strengthen programs that have been central to the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s mission of protecting and restoring the coast for decades,” Federation Chief Program Officer Ana Živanović-Nenadović told Coastal Review Tuesday. Noting the bipartisan support of coastal conservation, she explained how reducing amounts of polluted stormwater runoff keeps estuarine waters clean, supports shellfish harvesting and sustains healthy fisheries.

“Funding for abandoned and derelict vessel removal improves public access and navigation while restoring habitat. Together, these investments will deliver lasting benefits for North Carolina’s coastal ecosystems, communities, and economy,” she said.

Resilience spending

The budget appropriates $4.5 million for projects defined in the Flood Resiliency Blueprint, a planning tool geared to increase community resilience to flooding, and $850,000 for time-limited, associated DEQ positions. Another $250,000 is appropriated to the Resilient Coastal Communities Program to convert two temporary staff positions to permanent. This program administered by the Division of Coastal Management provides financial and technical assistance to help local governments in the 20 coastal counties become more resilient to flooding.

Other provisions

Lee said the budget also modernizes the state’s beach and inlet management planning with a required four-year cycle of planned maintenance and resiliency projects and with DEQ’s updated plan due July 1, 2027. The measure provides roughly $11.5 million combined for coastal storm risk management at Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach, and Kure Beach.

The budget eliminates two Department of Environmental Quality positions assigned to the Environmental Justice initiative. It also eliminates the state Office of Environmental Education.

Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, released a statement in which he said he was “glad” Stein had signed the bill into law and that he “recognizes how vital this budget is for the people of North Carolina.”

The North Carolina Democratic Party also released a statement, noting that after more than 1,000 days, the state finally has a budget that addresses some of the most urgent needs. “While this budget isn’t perfect, it takes real steps in the right direction,” party officials said.

Elizabeth City State University announced Tuesday plans to create “new pathways for students seeking flexible, career-focused educational opportunities” by expanding its academic programs this fall.

The university is adding a Bachelor of Science degree in data science and entirely online bachelor’s degree options in history and social work.

ECSU’s announcement framed the new Bachelor of Science in Data Science program as setting students up for success in a booming industry.

“Data science is one of the fastest-growing fields in the world. It is the practice of collecting, analyzing and interpreting data to help organizations make data-driven decisions for real-world problems,” stated Dr. Mohamed Elbakary, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and coordinator of the university’s Engineering Technology Program.

The new degree will cover programming, statistics, machine learning and data visualization tools to uncover trends and findings from large amounts of information, according to the announcement. “Graduates will be prepared for careers as data scientists, data analysts, data engineers, artificial intelligence specialists, quantitative analysts, healthcare analytics specialists and business intelligence analysts. Those career opportunities span industries including technology, healthcare, finance, government, education and nonprofit organizations.”

Elbakary touted the new program’s affordability, location, mission and strengths in coding, statistics and machine learning.

“Data Science could position ECSU as a leading institution for solving challenges facing rural, coastal and underserved communities,” he said.

In addition, ECSU said it is expanding access to two existing programs through fully online learning options.

The university’s history program will now offer students the opportunity to earn a bachelor’s degree completely online. “The program combines the strengths of a liberal arts education with modern teaching methods and digital skills, encouraging students to apply historical inquiry to contemporary challenges and opportunities. Students can pursue concentrations in digital and public history and race, gender and ethnicity studies. The online option provides greater flexibility for students balancing education with professional and personal responsibilities,” according to the announcement.

ECSU’s Bachelor of Social Work program will also be available as a fully online degree option beginning this fall. Officials said the program emphasizes addressing the needs of rural and developing communities.

As one of four North Carolina Promise institutions, ECSU provides affordable access to higher education. In-state tuition is $500 per semester, while out-of-state tuition is $3,500 per semester.

Students interested in the history program may learn more online at https://ecsu.edu/academics/programs/history/ or contact Dr. Charles Reed, chair and associate professor of history, at cvreed@ecsu.edu for additional information.

Questions about the social work program may be directed to Dr. Kim Downing, professor and program director, at ksdowning@ecsu.edu, or visit the Social Work website.

Information about the new data science degree is available online. Students interested in the program should contact Mohamed Elbakary at melbakary@ecsu.edu.

As the Manns Harbor Bridge over the Croatan Sound nears its 70th birthday, it’s getting what North Carolina Department of Transportation Resident Engineer Pablo Hernandez recently called “the first major renovation that I’m aware of in my 28-, almost 29-year career here in Dare County.”

The bridge, he added quickly, needs work, but overall, “the fact is that we got almost 70 years out of it without a tremendous amount of maintenance investing.”

Hernandez also added that the work that had been done, mainly minor concrete repairs and a paint job about every 25 to 30 years, “but the current project seems to be the most complete.”

When the William B. Umstead Bridge, as it is officially known, opened to traffic in December 1956, Outer Banks newspaper the Coastland Times described it as “a fine Christmas present for the Southern Albemarle region,” adding that it “will make possible a lot of holiday visiting, particularly on the Dare County mainland.”

The bridge connects mainland Dare County with Roanoke Island and the Outer Banks. This delivered 20th century amenities to the isolated hamlets and towns of mainland Dare County that had yet to be electrified. With the bridge carrying connections for electric power and telephones, “some eight families will have electric lights for the first time” in the sleepy fishing village of Mashoes. And in the longstanding, unincorporated Manns Harbor community, “the bridge makes possible modern telephone,” the Coastland Times reported.

Although the bridge may appear to be in surprisingly good shape, it is a solid 40 years beyond its expected lifespan, and when the $33.75 million project began in summer 2023, uncertainty remained about the extent of repairs needed.

The original price tag has risen: “Estimated projections of total costs are currently around $45 million,” Hernandez wrote in an email. “We are doing what we can to control the costs but not to the detriment of the structure.”

“Until you’re there, you don’t know what you’re going to find, just like with an old house,” Hernandez said, “you start renovating it, and things need attention.”

The project is a blend of modern materials and traditional, often hands-on applications. Resurfacing the deck, for example, was completed using an epoxy that included an aggregate material to provide a textured surface. During the application process, the bridge was closed for nine months.

“All of those layers of the epoxy, as well as the aggregate to provide the textured surface, were all applied by hand, so over 300,000 square feet of bridge deck was rolled and squeegeed with these four separate layers of epoxy,” Hernandez explained.

The decision to apply the new surface in this way, instead of using “specialty trucks and pavers,” was in part because of the bridge’s 70-year-old design and the weight of the materials. “We don’t put a lot of what we call dead load on the bridge,” said Hernandez.

Other factors were also considered. “The deck was in surprisingly solid, good condition,” Hernandez said, “so there was no need to remove an inch just to put back another inch.”

The epoxy used is a viscous material that seals any cracks that may have developed.

Hernandez said the bridge design has a “certain robustness to begin with. It’s kind of like building a a deck on your house when you use a six-by-six post or an eight-by-eight or four-by-four post.”

Home to purple martins, pre-dedication damage

The bridge has for years been home to thousands of purple martins during summer. Hernandez, in response to Coastal Review’s query, was emphatic that the birds’ droppings had not damaged the bridge. He pointed out that the aerobatic birds roost on the bridges steel beams and atop the caps, concrete members that support the steel beams and are only there at night.

“From my experience, we have not seen a tremendous amount of bird droppings,” he said. Hernandez cited as evidence one night when he was with the Purple Martin Society conducting bird surveys. “We provided a boat and there were hundreds of thousands flying around. I don’t think anybody got nailed (with droppings).”

The most recent work has been below the bridge deck and the view down there is concerning. On the north side of the bridge, toward the mainland side, an entire piling is missing. In its place, iron girders support this part of the bridge. A March 1957 storm took out the piling before the bridge was officially dedicated the following month.

A grain barge, the C. W. Curlett “struck the bridge when it got out of control, said to have been due to the failure of one of the two motors. It swung down and struck the North side of bridge, shattering one of the huge concrete piles, so that the reinforcing steel inside it was exposed and bent,” the Coastland Times reported.

Just to the east of the bridge’s center rise, workers have been lowered to assess its condition. One worker taps the concrete with a hammer while another makes notes of their observations.

“They are listening for a hollow or dull sound,” Hernandez explained. “This indicates a deteriorated concrete layer.  If it is solid, it will have a distinct sharp, pinging sound.”

Repairs to the concrete pilings are now the project’s focus. The concrete is showing its age, largely because of the limited materials available in 1956, as compared to current designs. The bridge pilings, Hernandez said, were only “mildly” reinforced. “It just has reinforcing bars in it.”

The reinforcing bars, or rebar, is exposed through cracks in the concrete. Repairs involve removing any rust from the iron and replacing the concrete. Although there is visible rust on the rebar, the one-inch bars are still in good shape with only basic maintenance needed to clean the rust and repack the concrete.

Hernandez compared the Manns Harbor Bridge pilings to those supporting the nearby new Lindsay C. Warren Bridge, aka the Alligator River Bridge, a project to replace the early 1960s-era structure that Hernandez also supervises. The pilings there are prestressed, by “basically taking a very dense and durable cable and stretching it, pouring concrete around it, and then letting that elastic force come back in (and) help squeeze the concrete together, so you get a denser piling that can go through a lot more cycles without any kind of cracking.”

Looking back: State awards $450M deal to build new Alligator River bridge

The cracks in the Umstead Bridge were not unexpected after seven decades. Temperature variations and cycles of freezing and thawing in a marine environment will cause the material to develop small fissures. Once air reaches the rebar, the iron begins to rust. Conversely, below the surface of the water, in what is considered anaerobic conditions, “the concrete is dense and sound, and the rebar is protected from water and oxygen,” Hernandez replied in an follow-up email. “The majority of the deterioration of the concrete and rebar is in the splash zone where there his ample oxygen to facilitate the corrosion process of ferrous metals.”

Repacking the piling concrete is one of the most labor-intensive, hands-on parts of the project. After removing the damaged concrete and cleaning the rebar of rust, barges form a protected area around the work zone under the bridge. On a barge deck, workers mix Speed Crete Blue Line, a product described by Hernandez as a “rapid-setting underwater concrete repair mortar.” According the manufacturer, Euclid Chemical, the product will set in three to five minutes after coming in contact with water.  

Three divers are also employed in the repairs, reaching into buckets of mortar, pulling out a handful and pushing it into the voids and continuing the process until the piling is back to its original specs.

The mortar creates an airtight seal, protecting the rebar inside the piling. Then the pilings get an additional layer of protection.

“After we do the concrete piling, we come back with an epoxy-saturated carbon-fiber sheet of fabric and wrap that around the piling shell,” Hernandez said.

The bridge is considered one of the state’s “high-value bridges,” Hernandez said, referring to bridges within a $50 to $70 million range replacement cost.

Hernandez noted an NCDOT assessment of the bridge that asked, “Could we invest in a significant bridge preservation effort to get another 20, 30 or 40 years of life out of those structures?”

The repairs, Hernandez said, are going well, but the work originally slated for a Nov. 26 completion date that is “around the corner,” is unlikely to wrap up as scheduled. “Unfortunately we’re not going to be complete with the concrete repairs.”

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The state’s ongoing drought is affecting water levels in the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s North River Wetland Preserve near Otway, where wading birds take advantage of conditions recently to feed on the fish, tadpoles, frogs and aquatic insects left with nowhere to go. Nearly the entire state was facing drought conditions at the time this was published, with most of the coast in moderate drought with increasing severity toward New Hanover and Brunswick counties and the western portions of most other coastal counties.

A construction materials company’s proposal to expand its limestone quarry in northern New Hanover County threatens more than 140 acres of mostly high-quality wetlands and vital fish habitat, environmental groups say.

Martin Marietta’s preferred plan to enlarge its Castle Hayne quarry would permanently destroy 143.46 acres of pristine wetlands and 9.7 acres of open water that connect to those classified as primary nursery area, strategic habitat area, and essential fish habitat, the groups argue.

The proposed expansion of the 1,700-acre quarry that sits between the Northeast Cape Fear River and Holly Shelter Road could also decrease natural flood defenses, environmentalists say.

Advocates are pushing regulators to deny the company’s first-choice plan, arguing that other options Martin Marietta has identified to source limestone to meet the demand of future construction needs carry fewer ecological consequences.

They’ll get their chance to voice their concerns on water quality impacts from the proposed 358-acre expansion in northern New Hanover County during a public hearing hosted by the North Carolina Division of Water Resources on July 14. That hearing is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at Heide Trask Senior High School auditorium, 14328 N.C. 210 in Rocky Point. Speaker registration will open at 5:30 p.m.

More than half a dozen environmental groups have asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to deny Martin Marietta’s Clean Water Action Act Section 404 permit application. A federal 404 permit regulates discharges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States, including wetlands.

In a May 22 letter to the Corps, those groups, including the Southern Environmental Law Center, Cape Fear River Watch, Carolina Wetlands Association, Coastal Plain Conservation Group, North Carolina Sierra Club, North Carolina Wildlife Federation, and Save Sledge Forest, said Martin Marietta’s permit application does not include a thorough analysis of the project’s impacts to environmental resources, including wetlands.

Those groups also argue that the company’s other project alternatives, including expanding mining operations at the company’s Rocky Point quarry, would be “less damaging” to wetlands and waterways.

“Where Martin Marietta is proposing to expand its Castle Hayne quarry, it’s just closer to so many sensitive and high-quality waters,” said Julie Youngman, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “The Rocky Point quarry is not very far away. It could provide the same value to the local community and provide the same source of building supplies, but still cause far less environmental damage. I think that’s what all of us are focused on ‘why aren’t you thinking about that location.’”

Martin Marietta’s application details six potential project alternatives, alongside a no-action alternative.

The possible expansion of the company’s Rocky Point quarry, which sits about 3½ miles away from its Castle Hayne site, would destroy a little more than 152 acres of wetlands and 13.28 acres of freshwater ponds, according to environmental groups.

“At first glance, this alternative would result in the net loss of more wetlands than Martin Marietta’s preferred alternative,” the May 22 letter states. “However, the quality and function of the wetlands at the Rocky Point or any other major waterway. Unlike at the Castle Hayne Quarry, an expansion of the Rocky Point site would not pose the same concerns about runoff and water quality. Likewise, this off-site alternative is not located near important fish habitat or a nationally significant floodplain.”

The letter urges that any expansion of the Rocky Point quarry be conditioned on Martin Marietta maintaining a 100-foot minimum internal buffer zone to protect adjacent wetlands from the direct effects of mining activity.

“The Cape Fear River in New Hanover County is already suffering from enough sources of degradation that if an additional one could be avoided, the state and federal agencies should think hard about doing so,” Youngman said. “The Castle Hayne community is also shouldering more of an environmental burden than maybe is fair between a proposed development and various industrial operations around them. They don’t need more mining to cause more water quality and noise and traffic hardship for them.”

Later this month, lawyers for several Castle Hayne residents are expected to go before the New Hanover County Board of Adjustment to appeal Hilton Bluffs, a proposed 1,800-home development covering 600 acres of a 4,000-acre tract that includes Sledge Forest. The forest includes ancient trees, vast wetlands, and riverine habitat.

If Martin Mariett’s preferred alternative to expand its Castle Hayne quarry is approved, the groups are urging regulators to require the company to produce an environmental impact study.

DWR is accepting written comments on the proposed expansion through 5 p.m. Aug. 13 using an online form for project No 20260387, version 1 with the project name listed as “Castle Hayne.” Mailed written comments may be submitted to Stephanie Goss, 401 Permitting, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC  27699-1617.

Forecasters and health officials warn that this Fourth of July weekend the “feels like” temperatures of between 100 and 110 starting Friday can be dangerous to your health.

Inland highs are expected to be between 90 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit through Monday with a real feel of 105 to 110. Highs for beaches are projected to be 85 to 90 degrees.

National Weather Service’s Wakefield, Virginia, office, which covers the state’s northeastern counties, said on social media Thursday that along North Carolina beaches, heat index values will be around 100°F, due to the cooling influence of the ocean.

“This heat wave is predicted to be prolonged and expected to have major to extreme impacts for the majority of Eastern NC this weekend into early next week, coinciding with the 4th of July celebrations,” the service’s Newport office, which monitors most of the state’s coastal counties, explained in an update Thursday morning.

Forecasters with the service’s Wilmington office warn that heat advisories are possible for the southeastern part of the state beginning Friday, and some areas may require an excessive heat warning for dangerous conditions early next week.

Meteorologists project that the HeatRisk for most of eastern North Carolina will be moderate Friday, the second of four levels, and increase to major by Sunday, with some areas west of Interstate 95 experiencing extreme heat. HeatRisk is an experimental index that “provides additional information that can be used to better identify those days of the year when heat may be at levels that pose a risk to certain populations or economic sectors.”

These heat waves are associated with increased hospital admissions for cardiovascular, kidney, and respiratory disorders. Signs a person is overheating include nausea, muscle cramping, unusually heavy sweating, shortness of breath, dizziness, headaches and weakness.

“Extreme heat can make everyone uncomfortable, but heat commonly affects certain groups, typically identified as heat-sensitive, at lower thresholds than other populations,” the National Weather Service states.

While everyone is at risk from the dangers of extreme heat, the weather service warns, the elderly, very young and people experiencing homelessness are among the groups most susceptible to heat, as well as those:

• On certain medications and/or have preexisting conditions that make them more sensitive to heat.
• Working outdoors, especially if they are new, temporary or returning to work after a week or more off.
• Working indoors in a non-cooled space.
• Exercising or doing strenuous activities outdoors during the heat of the day, especially if they’re not used to the level of heat expected, are not drinking enough fluids, or new to the type of activity.
• Without a reliable source of cooling and/or hydration, including otherwise healthy individuals attending outdoor activities that are exposed to the heat and may not recognize the early symptoms of heat stress.
• Not acclimated to the level of heat expected, especially if they’re new to a much warmer climate.
• Sensitive to poor air quality that can be exacerbated by heat waves.
• Living in low-income communities.

The weather service also warns that some economic sectors can be affected by increasing levels of heat, such as energy and transportation.

The CDC recommends for those spending time outside and the HeatRisk is red or above to stay in the shade as much as possible, take breaks whenever possible, and do outdoor activities during the coolest parts of the day or evening, if possible.

When indoors, use air conditioning and/or fans, but only if indoor temperatures are less than 90° Fahrenheit. If temperatures are above 90° indoors, a fan can increase body temperature.

The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission will hear about the progress to update the state’s plan that outlines strategies to protect and restore critical ecosystems coastal fishery habitats.

The 15-member commission is to hear an update on the 2026 amendment to the N.C. Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, or CHPP, from N.C. Department of Environmental Quality staff. The commission is responsible for adopting rules that protect, preserve and enhance the state’s air and water resources implemented by several divisions within DEQ.

The plan, adopted in December 2004 by Environmental Management, North Carolina Marine Fisheries and Coastal Resources commissions, provides information on coastal habitat distribution and abundance, ecological functions and importance to fish production, status and trends, threats to the habitat, and recommendations to address those threats. The CHPP is updated every five years.

The full commission is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. July 9 in the ground floor hearing room of the Archdale Building in Raleigh. The meeting will be livestreamed. The meeting number is 2439 266 6247 and password ncdeq. The meeting may also be accessed by telephone at 1-415-655-0003, password 62338.

Commission committee meetings are planned to begin the day prior at 9 a.m. July 8 in the Archdale Building and available to stream using Webex and by phone using the same telephone number, meeting number and passwords.

Agendas for the committees and the full commission are available on the EMC’s website.

The North Carolina Division of Coastal Management is offering competitive grant funds to support projects that will help the public access coastal waters.

Applicants eligible for fiscal year 2027 funding through the North Carolina Boating Infrastructure Grant, or BIG, Program include public and private marina owners and operators, local governments, state agencies, nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education and other entities that own or operate boating facilities in the state’s 20 Coastal Area Management Act counties.

The BIG Program is funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund, which provides funding for public access through constructing, renovating and maintaining boating infrastructure that serves transient recreational vessels 26 feet or longer.

Eligible projects may include transient docks, piers, gangways, mooring buoys, breakwaters, wave attenuators, utilities, restrooms, showers, pump-out facilities, dinghy docks, signage and other boating infrastructure. 

Applicants may apply for one of two funding opportunities. Federal funding of up to $300,000 is available through Tier 1 awards that apply to projects within North Carolina. Tier 2 awards are nationally competitive and provide funding up to $1.5 million.

Applicants are encouraged to review eligibility requirements, applications instructions, submission information and additional program information on the North Carolina Boating Infrastructure Grant Program website. Applications must be submitted no later than 5 p.m. Friday, August 28.

Division officials will evaluate and rank eligible applications then submit the highest-ranked proposals to the Fish and Wildlife Service for consideration.

The division, which is under the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, is scheduled to host an informational webinar from 3-5 p.m. July 15 to review the application process, eligible projects, program requirements, evaluation criteria and answer questions. Those who would like to attend the virtual meeting may register online.

Questions about the BIG Program and the application process may be directed to NCBIG@deq.nc.gov. 

The term “skyscraper” often evokes a Northern metropolis full of towering masses of steel, thousands of panes of glass, and the occasional King Kong sighting.

In reality, a skyscraper is just a multistory building with a frame made of steel instead of a load-bearing mass of wood, brick or stone. With such a broad definition, the skyscraper is part of the social and economic fabric of nearly every city and sizable town in the country. Elizabeth City is among these cities. While its population has never exceeded 19,000 residents, the city does boast one skyscraper that is more than 100 feet tall. That building is the Virginia Dare Hotel, downtown on McMorrine Street.

The Virginia Dare Hotel was part of a regionwide emergence of Southern skyscrapers in the 1910s and 1920s. Southern companies wanted to take advantage of new technology and construction techniques to build higher than ever before. These structures were nowhere near the size of the behemoths in Chicago and New York, where buildings topped 300 feet by the 1890s and reached 700 feet by 1913. Southern skyscrapers were more modest, with lower heights and light ornamentation, often boasting a few sculptures or terra cotta details.

It is remarkable to consider the size of towns that could handle a steel-frame skyscraper. Elizabeth City in 1930 had about 10,000 residents, while the town of Sanford built a five- and six-story steel-frame building at a time when it had less than 5,000 residents.

One of the most common occupants of Southern skyscrapers was hotels. The skyscraper hotel, perfected in New York with the Plaza and the Park Savoy, catered mainly to business travelers and white-collar city workers. Elizabeth City in the 1920s was certainly a potential home for a hotel skyscraper. It was the largest city for 50 miles and an important trading post on the Albemarle Sound, the nearby Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal, and the Norfolk Southern Railway. The city in 1924 had dozens of insurance companies, four investment firms, three mortgage companies, and two laundries, one of which was labeled “Chinese” and likely run by one of the 64 Chinese-born individuals in all of North Carolina at the time. These many modern businesses, along with the nearby Outer Banks, drew a wide variety of travelers who could appreciate the modern amenities a skyscraper hotel could offer.

Completed in 1927, the Virginia Dare Hotel provided many of the modern amenities that these travelers expected. With a construction group organized by the local Kiwanis, the 100-room hotel cost about $500,000 to build. The nine-story hotel offered private baths, a telephone in each room, posh furnishings, and an attached garage with steam heat. It sat atop a shopping arcade that housed cotton brokers, gift shops, and a hat store in its early years.

The heyday of the Virginia Dare Hotel was relatively brief. Skyscraper hotels floundered in the 1950s as railway travel waned. Travelers wanted inexpensive, family-friendly accommodations where they could park their cars. They wanted to stay at new, modern, and inexpensive motels. Even though many downtown hotels like the Virginia Dare had parking decks, they were built for an earlier age’s cars. Many big hotels were not located on major highways, and when they were, their sumptuous decorations did not appeal to families on car trips.

By the 1960s, moreover, these buildings were becoming old and old-fashioned, with repair and renovation budgets unable to keep up. Many of the famed skyscraper hotels throughout the nation fell on hard times in the years after World War II, with the Park Savoy in New York being torn down in 1965 to make way for a nondescript office building.

The Virginia Dare was no different. It closed in 1971 and lay vacant for several years in the 1970s, according to the News and Observer’s Feb. 8, 1971, edition. The closing of the Virginia Dare symbolized a long period of decline for Elizabeth City. Many of its large shipping, lumber, and railroad-related businesses closed in the years after 1950, although the last large vestige of industrial Elizabeth City, its textile mill, stayed open until the 2000s. The city lost population in the 1970s for the first time in over a century.

Unlike numerous other skyscraper hotels, the Virginia Dare Hotel has received new life in recent decades. It has been part of a long trend of historic hotels being reimagined as affordable housing under various federal Housing and Urban Development programs. These programs provide rental assistance, tax credits, and other funds to help renovate historic structures and convert them into safe, affordable apartments for thousands of low-income families throughout North Carolina. HUD programs have also preserved other notable skyscrapers throughout the state, from the famed Sir Walter Hotel in Raleigh to the Kinston Hotel and Goldsboro’s Waynesborough Hotel.

The process of renovating the Virginia Dare occurred in fits and starts during the next few decades after 1971. While it opened for affordable housing soon after the closure of the hotel, the process of keeping the decades-old building safe and habitable for a large elderly population was a challenge.

Debra Stallings worked as a maintenance technician for one of the most recent managers of the Virginia Dare. She noted that the building was a unique challenge for any affordable housing company in rural North Carolina, a region without many tall buildings. 

Stallings recalled that the view from the top floors was “beautiful,” and that “it felt like water as far as the eye could see.” But in exchange for such views, the management company had to deal with a myriad of problems including old plumbing, clogged trash chutes, and ancient elevators. Stallings had to help tear down the old water tower perched atop the building and hire a crane operator in order to make repairs to the building’s HVAC system. She remembered once when the elevator broke and needed a replacement part from Virginia. She, other staff members, and tenants had to take turns hand-cranking a service elevator so residents of higher floors could get out of their apartments. 

Today, the Virginia Dare still stands proudly above the Elizabeth City skyline. Its shopping arcade contains a barber shop and one of the town’s most popular bakeries. The apartment complex is owned by Tredway, a national affordable housing company with properties in states from New Jersey to Nevada.

The firm entered a new 20-year commitment to the Virginia Dare back in 2023, so that for the foreseeable future, the venerable former hotel will continue to serve the local community, providing a needed resource at its home on the Albemarle Sound.

Coastal Review will not publish Friday, July 3, in observation of the Fourth of July holiday.

The Center for Biological Diversity announced Wednesday plans to file a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for “failing to designate critical habitat for red knot shorebirds in a timely manner.”

Listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2014, red knots are known to make a 19,000-mile round trip migration from the southern tip of South America to their breeding grounds in the Arctic, stopping in the United States along the way in both directions.

“However, the Service failed to designate and protect critical habitat as required by law. An April 2023 revision proposed to designate 683,405 acres of critical habitat but has not been finalized. The Service is now more than 10 years overdue on its red knot critical habitat designation deadline,” the center said, and the designation of critical habitat is an important step in any species’ recovery.

The nonprofit conservation organization said in a press release Wednesday that the federal agency had been provided the required 60-day notice about the expected legal action for not securing “lifesaving protections” for the migratory species.

“The Fish and Wildlife Service’s delay in protecting the wild coastal areas that red knots call home is pushing them closer to extinction,” Danny Waltz, a senior attorney at the center, said in a statement. “The federal government must protect the delicate Eastern shores that the red knot needs to survive.”

Red knots have suffered one of the steepest population declines among shorebirds in North America over the last four decades. Experts have calculated the species has seen a 94% decline in abundance. Red knots depend on coastal stopover sites along the Eastern Seaboard where they can rest and gorge on food like horseshoe crab eggs to fuel the remainder of their migratory journey.

A center study found that plants and animals with federally protected critical habitat are more than twice as likely to move toward recovery than species without it, the center added.

Arrgh you ready to paddle in search of treasure?

Cape Fear River Watch is offering to lead the hunt July 18 on an out-and-back paddle to Shark Tooth and Keg islands, undeveloped riverine islands where an abundance of shells and the namesake shark teeth are sure to shiver your timbers.

Participants must meet at River Road Park in Wilmington no later than 8 a.m. on the morning of the paddle. This event is weather-dependent and, if strong winds are a’blowin, paddlers may not complete a full circle around Keg Island.

Cape Fear River Watch has a limited number of single kayaks available to borrow. The organization suggests anyone who uses one of its kayaks to donate $25 for boat. Donations will include personal flotation devices, which must be worn by anyone who uses the organization’s kayaks, and paddles.

Those who prefer to borrow a kayak from Cape Fear River Watch should notify the organization when registering for the event.

To help Cape Fear River Watch continue to offer programs, including its paddle series, water quality programs, and educational seminars, those who plan to attend the July 18 paddle are asked to make a $10 minimum donation either online when registering or by bringing cash or check to the event.

Participants should check their emails the night before and the morning of the July 18 paddle to ensure the even has not been canceled.

Participants are encouraged to bring sunscreen, hat, sunglasses, water, snack/lunch and water shoes. Anyone with severe allergies should bring their epi-pen or medication.

Duke Energy has agreed to ax its wind lease off the coast of Brunswick County, instead pledging to reinvest funds into grid enhancements and additional power generation.

The U.S. Department of Interior announced Monday that the Charlotte-based company will terminate its offshore wind lease in the Carolina Long Bay wind area roughly 22 miles offshore, south of Bald Head Island.

“This settlement allows Duke Energy to refocus $129 million in ways that directly benefit our customers and communities in the Carolinas,” Duke Energy Carolinas’ Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer Kodwo Ghartey-Tagoe stated in a release. “Under this agreement, Duke Energy will reinvest nearly $129 million in additional generating capacity, which may include advancing new nuclear and natural gas generation, and grid enhancements to strengthen reliability, support continued growth in the Carolinas and keep costs as low as possible.”

Related: Carolina Long Bay wind energy firm takes Trump buyout

The company’s decision leaves the more than 110,000-acre Carolina Long Bay wind energy area now tenant-free, as driven by President Donald Trump’s push to dismantle renewable energy projects and replace them with fossil fuel and nuclear power.

In March, TotalEnergies accepted a $1 billion federal buyout of its wind energy leases off the New York and North Carolina coasts, including roughly half of the Carolina Long Bay wind energy area. The France-based global energy company said it would invest the refunded money in a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Texas and other fossil fuel projects.

Duke Energy paid $155 million in May 2022 to lease the other half of the offshore wind area.

“President Trump’s vision of unleashing affordable, reliable American energy for our country’s communities and using common sense to put the American people first is being implemented,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum stated in Monday’s announcement. “Duke Energy will now be able to convert a national security concern into projects that will lower the costs for its customers in North Carolina and surrounding states.”

Projects in the Carolina Long Bay wind energy area were estimated to generate up to 3 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power about 657,000 homes, and provide more than $4 billion in net economic impacts.

Though the now-dead projects were years away from providing offshore-generated electricity to land-based power grids, advocates of wind energy argue it is a stable, predictable source of energy.

“We are disappointed to see another offshore wind farm opportunity taken off the table for North Carolina,” Southeastern Wind Coalition President Katharine Kollins said in a release. “At a time when electricity demand is surging and grid reliability is under increasing strain, we need to add energy options, not remove them. It is unfortunate that the federal government continues to pick winners and losers in the energy space, especially when we’ve seen strong performance from the four existing offshore wind farms currently operations in U.S. waters.”

There are still active offshore wind leases along North Carolina’s northern coast, off the shores of Kitty Hawk. Those leases were purchased a few years ago by Avangrid Renewables and Dominion Energy, the latter of which is wrapping construction of a 2.6-gigawatt project nearly 30 miles east of Virginia Beach.

Courts have recently overturned the Trump administration’s actions to quell offshore wind development in the United States, including an order last December to stop work in five offshore wind energy areas on the East Coast, including Dominion Energy’s Hampton Roads, Virginia-based project.

But those rulings have not hampered the administration from continuing to target offshore wind projects.

Since announcing its deal with TotalEnergies, the Interior Department has solidified similar agreements with a handful of other companies to terminate their leases off the coasts of California, Maine, New Jersey and New York.

In early June, New York’s attorney general was joined by state attorneys general from Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Vermont in challenging TotalEnergies’ federal buyout.

Chris Herndon, chapter director of the North Carolina Sierra Club Chapter, in a statement urged state Attorney General Jeff Jackson to “review the legality of this ‘deal,’ and consider joining other states in challenging the Trump administration in court.”

“Duke Energy and Donald Trump are worsening the energy affordability crisis that’s plaguing North Carolina families and small businesses throughout the state,” Herndon said in a release. “It’s a disgrace that Duke Energy would walk away from an affordable, reliable offshore wind project that our state was counting on to create family-sustaining wages for workers and fixed-price clean electricity to power our state’s economy.”

Pasha Feinberg, an offshore wind strategist with the international nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council, called Duke Energy’s agreement with the federal government a “lose-lose proposition.”

“We need more electricity, not less,” Feinberg stated in a release. “Canceling clean energy projects is self-defeating. Paying off companies so they will abandon them is just ludicrous. The Trump administration is wasting our money paying companies not to produce energy. It’s long past time for the Trump administration to end its war on new energy so that customers’ bills won’t keep rising and our nation can meet its growing electricity demands.”

Surf City’s long-awaited 50-year beach nourishment project is moving forward with federal funding, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District announced Tuesday.

The district has been given the green light to use previously appropriated Disaster Relief Act of 2019 construction funds for the project, which entails placing about 6.5 million cubic yards of sand along the town’s roughly six-mile shoreline. The project also calls for building a new dune and an estimated 50-foot-wide beach berm.

“This approval represents an important milestone for the Surf City Coastal Storm Risk Management Project and allows us to begin the final steps necessary before construction can begin,” Wilmington District Commander Col. Brad Morgan stated in a release. “We appreciate the continued partnership with the Town of Surf City as we work together to deliver a project that will provide long-term coastal storm risk reduction for the Surf City community.”

The approved funding allows the Corps to execute a project partnership agreement with Surf City, complete final engineering and design activities, and begin preparations for construction of the federally authorized coastal storm risk management project.

“Today’s announcement marks a major milestone for Surf City and the future of our coastline,” Surf City Mayor Teresa Batts stated in a release. “The approval to move this project forward reflects years of hard work, collaboration, and a shared commitment among the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and our federal, state, county, and local partners. We’re grateful to everyone who helped bring us to this point, and we look forward to beginning the construction phase. This project will help protect our shoreline, preserve our beaches, strengthen our community, and ensure Surf City remains a place that residents and visitors can enjoy for generations to come.”

More than 20 years has passed since Surf City and North Topsail Beach initiated a feasibility study to evaluate long-term beach restorations efforts. North Topsail Beach in 2021 withdrew from the project, which required additional federal review and approvals.

In 2024, Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C., secured language in the Water Resources Development Act, or WRDA, 2024 directing the Corps to expedite a report for Surf City’s coastal storm risk management project.

The Corps finalized that report in July 2025.

“The Town of Surf City, after years of work, now has the federal approval and funding it needs to strengthen its coastal resilience and better safeguard the community’s homes, businesses and infrastructure from future storms for decades to come,” Rep. David Rouzer, R-N.C., stated Tuesday in a release. “I am proud to have been a part of this effort, and I thank all who have been involved for their great work to make this a reality, including the critical work of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Trump Administration.”

Under the recently released WRDA 2026, the North Topsail Beach portion of the project is deauthorized and Surf City’s project will receive $362.3 million in federal funding for future beach renourishment.

Despite last week’s abysmal report from the state auditor of the funding prospects for the long-planned Mid-Currituck Bridge, the proposed project connecting the Currituck County mainland to its northern Outer Banks beaches will remain officially alive in the state transportation plan, at least for the time being.

The auditor’s Rapid Response Special Report issued June 22 painted a dire fiscal picture: The current $1.2 billion projected cost of the bridge had more than doubled since it was approved in 2019, the project’s borrowing capacity based on toll revenue had plummeted by about 42%, and a funding shortfall of $702 to $832 million would be nearly impossible to fill.

The audit also found that the transportation department had discovered that between 2012 and 2019, the traffic volume, population growth, and tourism growth on the Outer Banks region had all been significantly less than originally projected. In response, projected daily vehicle counts had to be reduced at all the locations that were measured.

“The people of Currituck County following this project have been dragged along for 30 years,” State Auditor Dave Boliek said in a press release. “What the team at the Office of State Auditor found is that despite spending money, no dirt has been moved. Taxpayers are more than $60 million in the hole on a 30-year project that certainly remains far from completion.”

Meanwhile, the agencies working on the bridge, North Carolina Turnpike Authority and the North Carolina Department of Transportation, said they remain committed to the project, which still has $173 million allocated for it in the State Transportation Improvement Program, or STIP, the state funding document.

“While the project’s current funding gap presents a real challenge, the transit authority and NCDOT continue to work closely with our regional and state partners as well as federal stakeholders to identify and pursue every available funding pathway, including federal discretionary grant programs, toll revenue and public-private partnerships, which is a key next step for the project,” Turnpike authority Chief Communications Officer Logen Hodges said in a June 26 email, responding to an inquiry from Coastal Review. “We look forward to continued collaboration with our local and regional partners as we work to continue advancing this critical infrastructure project.”

The budget difficulties portrayed in the audit were not a surprise — transportation officials had presented the details about the bridge project shortfalls and options during a Feb. 18 meeting with the Albemarle Rural Planning Organization, or ARPO, and its two boards, the Rural Transportation Advisory Committee and the Rural Transportation Coordinating Committee. ARPO was also informed that it had until April 17 to notify them whether to keep the STIP funds for the bridge, or ask for them to be released to be used elsewhere in the 14-county Division 1.

The Albemarle Commission, a regional planning and development body for northeastern North Carolina, has served as the lead planning agency for the ARPO since May 2002, according to its website. Since then, the RPO has been working cooperatively with NCDOT on development of long-range regional transportation plans, providing related data and prioritizing projects for the STIP.

On April 15, the Albemarle RPO, which serves Camden, Chowan, Currituck, Dare, Gates, Hyde, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington counties, voted to keep the $173 million earmarked for the Mid-Currituck Bridge for the next year, allowing time to pursue alternative funding sources. It would also allow consideration into whether the project would potentially score high enough to submit in the next STIP prioritization cycle.

Since the release of the audit, the panel has not yet had its regular meeting that would provide an opportunity to discuss the findings, Rural Transportation Advisory Committee Chairman Lloyd Griffin, who is also a Pasquotank County commissioner, said in an interview. But for that matter, the April vote had a built-in reaction to the project’s worrisome budget chasm.

“I think the response from the RPO is that we’re giving it one year,” he said. “After that time, it would go back to discussion … We would have to see where the other counties come together on that.”

In other words, if the money wasn’t forthcoming, he said, the RPO could vote to have the STIP funds redistributed. Or, depending on the funding status, they could decide to have the project reapply for scoring.

“However, Boliek was very specific about the feasibility of obtaining additional funding,” Griffin said, referring to the unlikelihood of the rural project scoring well enough in the competitive process that carves up funding largely based on population and traffic numbers.

“If there are no funds this year, then we’re just going to have to say, ‘Hey look, we’re just going to have to move on with the STIP,’” he said. Division 1 is the largest transportation district in the state, he added, and those Currituck bridge funds sitting now in the STIP are “a lot of money” that should be put to good use one way or another.

Ever since the bridge was first identified as a need in 1975, the project has had a series of challenges, including inconsistent political and financial support. Supporters have maintained from the beginning that the bridge, which would connect the Currituck mainland at Aydlett to Corolla, on the Currituck Outer Banks, was critical for hurricane evacuation, as well as a shortened route that would relieve summertime bumper-to-bumper traffic from the Wright Memorial Bridge in Kitty Hawk along N.C. Highway 12 to Corolla. The 4.66-mile-long bridge would cross Currituck Sound, and a 1.5-mile-long bridge would cross Maple Swamp on the mainland side, about 25 miles south of the Virginia state line, saving as much as an hour for some travelers.

But opponents contend that it would only make traffic to the resort area worse, and year-round communities on both ends of the bridge lack the infrastructure needed to deal with the additional traffic or visitors. Environmental groups also say that the bridge would cause pollution and harm wildlife and submerged aquatic grasses in the Currituck Sound and surrounding habitat areas.

Two legal matters challenging the bridge, the most recent of several cases filed over the years, are still pending, said Julie Youngman, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, a Chapel Hill-based nonprofit, in a recent email responding to questions from Coastal Review.

Representing No Mid-Currituck Bridge, a group of residents opposed to the bridge, and the Sierra Club, an environmental nonprofit, a petition for a contested case hearing was submitted to the state Department of Environmental Quality in November, she wrote. The petition challenged the state Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA, permit the state had issued, she said, arguing that the bridge would disrupt the communities on both sides of the bridge with increased traffic and development and have negative effects on drinking water and wastewater infrastructure.

That petition was pending in the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings, but it has been stayed, pending resolution of another petition that was submitted to the state in December challenging the CAMA permit issued by the Coastal Resources Commission.

“We are asking the Currituck County Superior Court to rule on whether the CRC exceeded its authority when it purported to limit the issues we could raise,” Youngman wrote in the email. “Once we get resolution on this issue, the permit challenge can proceed in Office of Administrative Hearings.” The second matter is set to be heard at the Dare County Courthouse during the week of July 27, 2026, she added.

Youngman said “enough is enough” and NCDOT must either acknowledge that it is not going to be able to build the $1.2 billion bridge, it will release the $173 million STIP funds, or it has to explain how it will manage to fund the bridge’s construction.

“Much of the information presented by the state auditor echoed concerns raised by SELC and our clients over the past decade,” Youngman said. “In its initial analysis of the bridge, NCDOT severely overestimated the amount of traffic and growth that would come to the region in the future. Since that time, the price of the bridge has increased dramatically, while the forecasts of toll revenue have decreased. As a result, there is simply no viable financial path forward for the bridge.”

The SELC agrees that traffic congestion on the south end of Currituck County and northern beach communities in Dare and Currituck counties needs to be addressed, whether it’s with a traffic circle (roundabout) or management of pedestrian crossings or other strategies. But Youngman said that for a proposal that over its lifetime has already expended $61 million of tax dollars, “with nothing to show for it,” it’s high time to switch course. 

“We are disappointed that despite all the past waste of money, time, and other resources, NCDOT is continuing to press agencies to issue permits and expend resources litigating those permits in court,” Youngman wrote.

“It is beyond time to put this project to bed and to focus all our energies on solutions for the Outer Banks that are actually viable and can be much more quickly set in motion.”

Visitors to Masonboro Island are being reminded to act responsibly this upcoming holiday weekend on the research and dedicated state nature preserve.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management and New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office officials are working together to boost public safety resources and public awareness of responsible visitor behavior of the island and surrounding waters.

The island nestled between Carolina Beach and Wrightsville Beach is a big draw for visitors throughout the summer, and particularly during the July 4 holiday.

Visitors are urged to carry proper supplies, use reliable transport, practice safety on land and on the water, and take all trash with them when they leave the preserve.

“Masonboro Island Reserve is a vital coastal resource that provides important wildlife habitat, supports research and education and contributes to the health and resilience of North Carolina’s coast,” Division of Coastal Management Director Tancred Miller stated in a release. “As you enjoy Masonboro Island or any of our Coastal Reserve sites this July Fourth, we encourage you to act responsibly, respect wildlife and leave no trace. We’re grateful for our partnership with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office, whose support helps ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for the many visitors who explore Masonboro Island Reserve each year. Together, we can help protect these special places for future generations.”

Visitors should not attempt to swim across Masonboro Inlet, limit the impact on natural resources and avoid prohibited activities, including using fireworks.

Those who plan to visit this and the state’s other reserve sites are encouraged to review visitor guidelines and safety information.

The Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center is rolling out this week a new speaker series that delves into the relationship between people and place.

A similar format to its annual Parlor Talks offered every Thursday afternoon in the summer, the “Water/Ways” speaker series set to launch at 2 p.m. Wednesday at the museum on Harkers Island is an extension of the Smithsonian’s traveling “Water/Ways” exhibit on display until Aug. 9.

The exhibit “explores the centrality of water in our lives including its effect on the environment and climate, it’s practical role in agriculture and economic planning, and its impact on culture and spirituality,” organizers said.

Geoffrey Adair, an area historian from Beaufort, is to give the first talk this week on waterfowling traditions. Other topics for the series include water and the arts with Connie Mason July 8, water and a changing coast with Dr. Reide Corbett July 15, water as recreation with Frank Tursi July 22, and water as a way of life with Wayne Davis and Staci Davis Basden July 29.

The museum began its fifth year of Parlor Talks, which focus on the history, heritage and the research taking place in Carteret County, earlier this month.

Next on the schedule is Dr. Nathan Hall who will focus on “Our Amazing Seagrass.”

Hall is a research assistant professor and director of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Institute for the Environment’s Morehead City Field Site at UNC Institute of Marine Sciences. His primary research focuses on understanding the factors that control microalgal biomass and community composition in lakes, rivers, and estuaries.

His talk Thursday afternoon will highlight why seagrass matters and why it need lots of light, what factors determine how much light reaches the seagrasses, and why scientists are worried about the current state of seagrass. Hall plans to wrap the talk up with what data exists on water quality where there are seagrass beds, and new efforts led by the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership to improve understanding of water quality.

Parlor Talks summer schedule:

• July 9: “The Wit & Wisdom of Ordinary People of Harkers Island” with Joel Hancock.
• July 16: “Opening Season for the Krakens” with Carteret Community College.
• July 23: “Everyone Has a Story” with Wayne and Staci Davis.
• July 30: The Atlantic Hotels of Morehead City with Geoffrey Adair.
• Aug. 6: Cape Lookout Foundation’s restoration of the U.S. Coast Guard Station with Bud Doughton, Mason Williams and Garry Brown.
• Aug. 13: “Coastal Heroes: An Old Newsman Looks Back at Those Who Fought to Make a Difference” with Frank Tursi.
• Aug. 20: “Growing Up in the Promise Land and the Inevitable Changes” with Promise Land friends.
• Aug. 27: “100 Years of Shark Research off Cape Lookout” with Dr. Joel Fodrie, who is moving from his role as UNC-IMS director to director of Duke University Marine Lab.
• Sept. 3: “Songs & Stories We Love the Best” with Connie Mason

State and local law enforcement officials will be ramping up water patrols through the upcoming holiday weekend.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Law Enforcement Division is once again participating in Operation Dry Water, a national campaign that aims to reduce impaired boating incidents year-round and heighten enforcement on the water during the July 4 holiday.

Alcohol use is the lead contributing factor in recreational boater deaths, according to the agency. It is illegal to operate a recreational water vessel with an alcohol concentration of .08 or higher, or under the influence of alcohol, drugs or other impairing substances.

Last August, 10-year-old Brooklyn Carroll and a family friend were cooling off in the waters of Shearon Harris Lake in Chatham County near their anchored boat when they were struck by the propellor of another vessel being operated by an impaired driver. Carroll died from her injuries. The other victim had a leg amputated due to the severity of their wounds.

WRC Law Enforcement Division Sgt. Claude Smith investigated the case.

“If individuals choose to drink, that is their decision, but they must ensure a sober, responsible adult is designated to operate the boat,” Smith said in a release. “And if someone chooses to operate a vessel while impaired, our officers will take every necessary action to prevent a tragedy like this from occurring again.”

During last year’s Operation Dry Water campaign, the agency deployed 153 officers and removed 43 people from the water who were boating while impaired.

Boating incidents in North Carolina resulted in 26 deaths in 2025.

This year, 62 boating incidents, including nine that were fatal, have occurred in North Carolina.

Operation Dry Water was developed through the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators and the U.S. Coast Guard. The campaign is supported by The Governor’s Highway Safety Program’s Operation Firecracker Booze It & Lose It campaign, which includes the N.C. State Highway Patrol, North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement, and the North Carolina Forensic Tests for Alcohol Branch.

A coastal land conservation group has reached an agreement with a developer to permanently protect a sprawling tract of land in New Hanover County featuring ancient forests, vast wetlands, and riverine habitat.

The North Carolina Coastal Land Trust announced Thursday a tentative purchase and sale agreement with Charlotte-based Copper Builders to preserve more than 3,200 acres of Sledge Forest.

“This is one of the most significant conservation opportunities in New Hanover County in a generation,” Coastal Land Trust Executive Director Harrison Marks said in the press release. “More than 3,200 acres, a landscape larger than Carolina Beach State Park, will be permanently protected in the heart of one of the fastest-growing counties on the North Carolina coast. That is what this agreement means.”

The fate of the deal hinges on the construction of Hilton Bluffs, a controversial 1,800-home development covering 600 acres of the privately owned 4,000-acre tract. The project, conditionally approved by the New Hanover County Technical Review Committee in March, continues to face heavy backlash among locals and thousands of activists backing the Save Sledge Forest movement.

“We appreciate what Coastal Land Trust is trying to do here, but we believe that this approach just doesn’t go far enough,” Castle Hayne resident and Save Sledge Forest cofounder Kayne Darrell explained Thursday during a telephone interview. “This community is steadfast in our belief that no development at all is best for our community and Sledge Forest. This agreement does not in any way change Copper Builder’s proposed Hilton Bluffs development of 1,800 homes on 500-plus acres. That remains exactly the same. And while conservation of these unbuildable wetlands in Sledge Forest is important, it does nothing to reduce the impacts of that development in this small, rural community.”

In the announcement last week, the Coastal Land Trust stated it “is not taking a position” on whether Hilton Bluffs should be approved.

“Its commitment is straightforward: if the project proceeds as currently approved, the Coastal Land Trust will ensure that more than 3,200 acres are permanently protected, publicly accessible, and managed to the highest conservation standards,” the organization stated.

Sledge Forest is home to ancient trees, including 500-year-old bald cypress, longleaf and loblolly pines more than 300 years old and some of the Southeast’s largest remaining Atlantic white cedar.

The forest is designated a North Carolina Natural Heritage Program Nationally Significant Natural Area, sheltering 13 imperiled plant species and several at-risk animal species. Last year, the forest was added to the Old-Growth Forest Network’s national list of threatened forests.

Sledge Forest is also part of the Northeast Cape Fear River floodplain, one of the largest landscape corridors in the southeastern part of the state.

“What we would be conserving is really the heart of the property,” Marks explained Thursday in a telephone interview. “It is the most ecologically important area of this entire tract.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Copper Builders will donate 1,200 acres to the Coastal Land Trust at no cost. The nonprofit will purchase 2,000 acres through a bargain sale.

“The bargain sale certainly helps matters,” Marks said, adding that the organization will apply for grants and that “some kind of fundraising is likely.”

Thousands of people have viewed and shared on social media a video clip and story of waterside tours of the forest.

Darrell highlighted the “extraordinary response” the videos had generated from people across the country. Within days of the videos posting, another 1,000 people had signed Save Sledge Forest’s petition, she said.

As of Friday afternoon, the petition had more than 15,500 signatures and counting.

At its meeting next month, New Hanover County Board of Adjustment is expected to hear appeals from adjacent Castle Hayne property owners regarding the proposed subdivision.

They argue that Hilton Bluffs would add thousands of additional vehicles on rural roads that cannot accommodate them, strip the landscape of hundreds of acres of trees and increase the threat of flooding, disrupt the surrounding ecosystem, and potentially compromise a state-designated inactive hazardous site on adjacent property.

“We intend to remain focused on the legal appeal of our county’s erroneous conditional approval of the Hilton Bluffs project,” Darrell said. “We’re going to continue to move forward with this appeal process and we’re going to do so with confidence and determination. We’re prepared to challenge this development as long as it takes.”

Brunswick County Public Utilities customers must restrict the times and days in which they use irrigation systems or face possible fines.

The county is now under extreme drought conditions, according to the most recent update from the North Carolina Drought Management Advisory Council. Drought conditions are “contributing significantly” to rising irrigation demands and “the availability of source water from the Cape Fear River,” according to a county release.

To prevent the need for additional water restrictions, particularly as the Fourth of July holiday weekend approaches, the county announced it has moved to a stage 2 mandatory water conservation alert.

The alert applies to residents in unincorporated areas of the county, Boiling Spring Lakes, Bolivia, Calabash, Carolina Shores, Caswell Beach, Navassa, Northwest, Sandy Creek, Shallotte, Southport, St. James, Sunset Beach, and Varnamtown.

Customers of Bald Head Island, Holden Beach, Oak Island and Ocean Isle Beach utilities, which receive their water from Brunswick County Public Utilities, are under the same restrictions.

“Brunswick County asks these customers to diligently use water wisely,” according to a county release. “Demand for water has exceeded 90% of the available production and distribution capacity. As Independence Day approaches, water demands are expected to increase.”

Water customers may not use their irrigation systems on Mondays. Customers with odd address numbers and non-addressed facilities may irrigate on Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Those with even address numbers may use their irrigation systems on Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays.

Irrigation systems may only be used between 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. This includes irrigation for residential lawns, landscaping, athletic fields, and golf courses that do not use private groundwater wells or reclaimed water.

A complete list of prohibited uses of water is available online.

Brunswick County Public Utilities will notify properties that may be out of compliance with the mandatory irrigation schedule “or other required actions” through the ReadyBrunswick notification system or contact information associated with the property’s utility account.

Calls or messages through the BrunswickReady system will be made from 910-253-1977.

Those who do not comply may be assessed with fees up to $300 and disconnection of their water service. Habitual offenders of the alert may receive penalties of up to $5,000 and water disconnection.

County officials will continue monitoring drought conditions and water usage to determine whether to move to the next water shortage warning stage. A stage 3 water shortage warning prohibits the use of automatic sprinkler systems for residential and commercial lawn and landscapes.

The alert does not apply to customers of Brunswick Regional – H2GO, private groundwater well users, or those using highly treated reclaimed wastewater.

Residents may directly contact their water service provider with questions or Brunswick County Public Utilities at 910.253.2657 or utilityadmin@brunswickcountync.gov.

Additional information and updates may be found at brunswickcountync.gov/WaterWise.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation, the nonprofit organization that focuses on protecting and restoring the North Carolina coast and the publisher of Coastal Review, is set to honor stewards of the environment and others during 23rd annual Pelican Awards in Morehead City.

The event slated for Saturday, Aug. 1, at Joslyn Hall on the Carteret Community College campus at 3505 Arendell St. will pay tribute to the individuals, organizations, businesses and partners whose dedication and achievements have made a lasting difference for the North Carolina coast.

“For more than two decades, the Pelican Awards have recognized exemplary leadership, stewardship, and service that help protect and enhance our coast for future generations,” according to organizers.

Doors to the event will open at 3:30 p.m. with the awards ceremony set for 4 p.m. and a reception planned for 5 p.m.

Seating is limited. Advance registration is appreciated.

Sponsorship opportunities are available for individuals, businesses, and organizations interested in supporting the Coastal Federation’s work.

Warning sirens around Duke Energy’s Brunswick Nuclear Plant outside of Southport will be tested next week.

The quarterly test, done in coordination with emergency management officials in Brunswick and New Hanover counties, is planned for Wednesday, July 1 between 10-11 a.m. Sirens will be sounded anywhere between 5 to 30 seconds.

Some sirens may be tested more than once and additional testing may be held after 11 a.m. following siren maintenance.

The network of 38 sirens Duke Energy owns and maintains within 10 miles of the plant are routinely tested to ensure they are functioning properly.

The test will not interrupt regular programming to broadcast emergency alert messages, which are aired on local radio and television states in real emergencies.

Additional information about outdoor warning sirens and nuclear emergency preparedness are available at duke-energy.com/NuclearEP.

WILMINGTON – Officials and environmental groups in North Carolina are blasting Chemours’ proposed $450 million federal settlement over PFAS pollution, saying the deal will do little for the state.

The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday announced the multistate agreement, touting it as the federal government’s first comprehensive settlement over per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances pollution.

Under the terms of the settlement, Chemours is expected to pay the Environmental Protection Agency and West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection a $22.5 million civil penalty over three years, and pump in $90 million over 15 years “to further reduce PFAS emissions and enhance certain existing off-site drinking water programs,” according to a company release.

The company will spend an estimated $60 million installing pollution controls for surface water discharges and air emissions at its West Virginia plant, cover an estimated $280 million in costs to provide clean drinking water for more than a decade to residents of communities around its facilities in West Virginia and New Jersey, and “evaluate options and implement corresponding controls to reduce releases of PFAS and other toxic chemicals from its facility in North Carolina,” according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Gov. Josh Stein expressed doubts about whether North Carolina, one of three states named in the agreement, will actually receive any portion of those funds.

“It’s entirely possible that North Carolina doesn’t get a dime from this federal settlement,” Stein said Wednesday afternoon during home visit with a Wilmington-area family that uses a state-funded water filtration system to remove PFAS from their drinking water.

“The settlement that they just announced today will not have any meaningful impact for the state of North Carolina or the people of North Carolina,” he said. “It may help West Virginia, it may help New Jersey, but it really doesn’t do much for North Carolina.”

Clean Cape Fear Co-founder Emily Donovan agreed.

“If Chemours is unable to control its own pollution for follow the law without a constant stream of lawsuits, then maybe it has no business making toxic forever chemicals,” she stated in a release. “We’re not sure who this favors. It isn’t those of us in North Carolina who have been dealing with nearly half a century of PFAS pollution from the Fayetteville Works facility.”

Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Jean Zhuang said the settlement is devoid of meaningful enforcement and “appears designed to shield Chemours from real accountability.”

“The Department of Justice has wrapped a sweeping set of allegations involving drinking water contamination affecting millions of Americans into a resolution that largely asks the company to monitor itself and develop plans, while surrendering its claims tied to contamination from multiple facilities across multiple states,” Zhuang stated in a release. “At the same time DOJ is resolving its litigation on such lenient terms, Chemours is actively challenging federal PFAS drinking water standards in court, seeking a massive expansion of its North Carolina facility, and continuing to release extremely high concentrations of ultra-short-chain PFAS – chemicals it knows are likely ending up in drinking water for roughly half a million North Carolinians.”

Public hearing set on standards

Wednesday’s announcement comes as the Environmental Protection Agency rolls ahead with a proposal to strike down the nation’s first-ever health standards for PFAS, chemical contaminants found in the drinking water sources of millions of North Carolinians.

The agency is scheduled to host a virtual public hearing on July 7 regarding its plans to rescind and reconsider current federal standards for HFPO-DA, commonly referred to as GenX, PFNA, PFHxS and PFBS. The agency also wants to push the deadline in which water utilities must comply with enforceable standards for PFOA and PFOS, chemicals that are no longer manufactured, by two years from 2029 to 2031.

Meanwhile, the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission is considering monitoring and minimization rules for discharges of PFOS, PFOA, GenX, and 1,4-dioxane, which the EPA classifies as a likely human-carcinogen, into the state’s surface waters. The proposed rules have been widely criticized for lacking specific discharge limits and penalties for PFAS dischargers found to be in violation of the rules.

Stein said he is “not happy” with the EPA’s and commission’s proposals.

“These are both unfortunate steps that do not give the people the assurance that they deserve that their drinking water is clean,” he said.

Chemours’ Fayetteville Works plant in Bladen County for decades directly discharged GenX and other chemical compounds into the Cape Fear River, the drinking water sources for tens of thousands of residents in the Cape Fear Region.

Stein pointed out that Chemours, under a 2019 consent order with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and Cape Fear River Watch, has already been required to mitigate discharges and emissions of PFAS from its Fayetteville Works facility.

“What we need help from Chemours today, and the settlement doesn’t address this point, is we need Chemours and DuPont to pay to help us clean up the pollution that exists in our communities,” he said.

As part of ongoing environmental remediation efforts in the state, Chemours has been required to test tens of thousands of private drinking water wells for PFAS contamination throughout the Cape Fear Region. The company must provide temporary drinking water supplies to households with wells that contain levels of PFAS above concentrations established by environmental and health officials until a new, permanent supply, whether through a home filtration system or hook up to a public water system, is provided at the company’s expense.

Although the well water at the home of Brenda and Vance Moore tested positive for PFAS, levels of types of those contaminants in their drinking source did not rate the thresholds that make Chemours responsible for providing alternative water supplies to them.

Thousands of North Carolinians are in the same situation, state officials, including Stein and N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson, explained Wednesday during their visit to the Moores’ home in Porters Neck, an unincorporated community in northern New Hanover County.

“My question is we’re 10 miles from the river,” Brenda Moore said about the Cape Fear. “How did these chemicals get here?”

Moore, a breast cancer survivor, said she can’t definitely prove that her illness, or her daughter Lauren’s skin and thyroid problems, stem from drinking PFAS-contaminated water for years. Still, “you wonder,” she said.

PFAS are a group of chemicals used to make water-, stain- and grease-resistant consumer goods. The EPA now categorizes nearly 15,000 PFAS, most of which have yet to be studied for their potential effects on human health. But some of the known human health effects of PFAS included weakened immunity, low birth weight in newborns, thyroid disease, and certain types of cancers.

The Moores qualified for funding through the Bernard Allen Emergency Drinking Water Fund, which reimburses residents for water treatment systems or, where feasible, public waterline connections when their wells are contaminated.

The North Carolina General Assembly in 2006 created the fund to improve the state’s response to drinking well water contamination and help low-income households receive safe drinking water.

In 2022, DEQ opened the program statewide, allowing residents with PFAS-contaminated private drinking water wells to receive assistance in cases where an individual or company is not held responsible for the pollution.

The program funded the approximately $3,500 reverse osmosis filtration system installed under the Moore family’s kitchen sink in October 2023.

Stein said North Carolina will continue its legal actions to get compensation from Chemours and its affiliated companies for responding to PFAS pollution.

“There is a lot of pollution that already exists throughout southeastern North Carolina and the polluters should be the one to pay and clean it up, not us, the people, and that’s why I took them to court and that action is continuing,” he said.

The maker of weed killer Roundup, with a supporting amicus brief from the Trump administration, has won a Supreme Court case that shields the corporation from liability from users who alleged the company failed to warn consumers that it could cause cancer.

The case involved a Missouri man named John Durnell who in 2019 sued Monsanto, which is now owned by Bayer, in state court, alleging his use of Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, over about 20 years caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. Durnell asserted that Monsanto should have included a cancer warning on the Roundup label.

A jury awarded Durnell $1 million, and he won on appeal, but the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision, with Justice Brett Kavenaugh writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas filing a concurring opinion and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson writing the dissent, which Justice Neil Gorsuch joined. The majority held that the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of the product label meant that Roundup could only be sold with the label exactly as the EPA approved it. The opinion held that, “if third parties (like Durnell) want to bring new information to EPA’s attention or if they believe that EPA has failed to consider relevant information, those third parties are free to petition EPA to modify, suspend, or cancel a pesticide’s registration.”

“Because EPA has repeatedly concluded that glyphosate is not likely to cause cancer, the agency has not required a cancer warning on Roundup’s label,” Kavanaugh wrote. “Importantly, EPA’s regulations require a pesticide manufacturer such as Monsanto to use the EPA-approved pesticide label—here, the Roundup label without a cancer warning—unless and until EPA approves or requires a different label.”

Monsanto had argued, and the majority agreed, that a provision of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, or FIFRA, “expressly preempts Durnell’s failure-to-warn claim,” meaning that

The majority opinion “departs from the near-unanimous view of the many state and federal courts that have rejected this preemption argument,” Jackson wrote in her dissenting opinion.

“In my view, the majority should have joined that chorus,” Jackson wrote. “Durnell’s failure-to-warn claim is not “in addition to or different from” FIFRA’s mandates; it is equivalent to FIFRA’s key labeling requirement—the misbranding prohibition.”

New Bern’s colonial-era Tryon Palace is commemorating 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence with a special Fourth of July celebration.

“Tryon Palace Glorious 4th: An A250 NC Event” is a family-friendly celebration taking place from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, July 4.

“As our country commemorates the Semiquincentennial, Tryon Palace is proud to host our community for Glorious Fourth,” Executive Director Chrystal Regan said in a statement. “We welcome everyone to join us on Independence Day to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence and honor all those who have worked for the 250 years since then to further the promises of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness for all.”

Construction on the original Tryon Palace building, the Governor’s Palace, was completed in 1770 and served as North Carolina’s first colonial and first state capitol, which was moved to Raleigh in 1794. Philadelphia held the first commemoration of independence on July 4, 1777, while Congress was still occupied with the ongoing war. New Bern first celebrated Independence Day in 1778, according to the state.

At 10 a.m., Maj. Seth Allen with the U.S. Marine Corps will read the Declaration of Independence just outside the Tryon Palace front gates. After the reading of the Declaration of Independence, the North Carolina Continental Line interpreters will fire a volley in celebration.

The Tryon Palace Fife and Drum Corps is to perform several songs before joining the New Bern Fourth of July parade along Pollock Street as it reaches Tryon Palace. The parade is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Fleet Street area and end on Craven Street.

After the parade, visitors can see a guided demonstration of a cannon firing on the South Lawn.

The grand opening of the site’s America 250 NC exhibit, “Freedom and Identity: Symbols of a New Nation” in the N.C. History Center is set for July 4 as well. The exhibit on display until Jan. 10, 2027, showcases the ways that style, craftsmanship and iconography were used in the earliest days of the United States to show patriotism.

The public can visit the palace grounds and gardens at no charge until noon that day.

A special tour of “Discovering Tryon Palace: Caswell’s Capital tour” is set for 3:30 p.m. July 4. Serving as a sequel to the regular Tryon Palace tour, visitors will be guided on a journey through North Carolina’s role in the days before and during the American Revolution, organizers said. Tickets, $20 for adults and $15 for ages 6 to 14, can be purchases online.

The standard 50-minute palace tours are offered Monday through Saturday at 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. and on Sunday at 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Tickets are on the website.

The existing structure is a replica of the 18th-century Georgian mansion. The original home of the colony’s British Royal Governor, William Tryon, was mostly destroyed during a 1798. In the 1930s, an effort was initiated to restore the palace, and the project was completed in 1959.

Now under the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, palace grounds includes historic buildings, gardens, and the North Carolina History Center, according to the nonprofit foundation that supports the state-managed historic site.

America 250 NC is the state’s official commemoration of the United States’ 250th anniversary, also under the natural and cultural resources department.

The Hatteras-Ocracoke vehicle ferry route is back to its full summer schedule now that “a critical dredging operation” is complete at one of the ferry’s terminals, state transportation officials said Wednesday.

The alternate schedule was put in place May 30 when nighttime dredging began of Sloop Channel, which provides the entryway to the route’s South Dock terminal on the north end of Ocracoke Island.

The schedule is as follows:

Hatteras-Ocracoke: 5 a.m., 6 a.m., 7 a.m., 8 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 9 a.m., 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11 a.m.,11:30 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 5 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 8 p.m., and 9 p.m., 11 p.m., and midnight.

Ocracoke-Hatteras: 4 a.m., 6:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m., 8:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 10 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., noon, 12:30 p.m., 1 p.m., 1:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3 p.m., 3:30 p.m., 4 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 7 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 9 p.m., 9:30 p.m., 10:30 p.m., and midnight.

For real-time text or email updates on weather or mechanical delays, sign up for the Ferry Information Notification System at www.ncdot.gov/fins.

There’s been a lot of talk and writing about how ocean levels have been rising and will continue to rise. The current projections are that the ocean will rise an estimated 12-14 inches by 2050 and ever higher in the ensuing decades.

With all of the very technical and well-researched and documented writing published about this topic, let’s take a look at what that means for us as anglers and other people who enjoy the coastal waters.

Fourteen inches of rise may not seem like a big deal when accounting for the vastness of the entire ocean, but there will be definite changes. They won’t be great.

Dr. Shintaro Bunya, an avid angler, is also a research scientist at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Center for Natural Hazards Resilience. His work involves hydrodynamic and coastal modeling, specializing in developing and applying numerical models to simulate and forecast storm surges, compound flooding and the general physics of coastal water movement.

His goal is to provide the data and tools that government agencies and local communities need to better understand and prepare for coastal flood risks. This all means that he is right in the middle of what is going on concerning coastal flooding.

First, let’s talk about tides. It will happen gradually but the number of times the tide will rise over the streets in coastal towns will increase.

“The data confirms that sea levels are not just rising; the rate of that rise is accelerating,” Bunya recently said to me.

Obviously, this will make it more difficult for smaller beach towns than bigger cities due to limited resources, but even the biggest coastal cities like Miami and New York will have problems with saltwater in the sewage treatment plants. South Florida towns already see high tides coming into lawns almost every day. Some days the low tide will be what the high tide used to be.

Higher tides will disperse fish over wider areas. With more places to access, fish will be more difficult to locate. It’s likely that they will be less abundant, also because of increased pressure on fish populations from humans and water quality issues. What this means is that fishing will become increasingly difficult and individual anglers will have less and less success.

Access to the water will become increasingly difficult as well. Many of the places we use now may become inaccessible as water rises, as documented by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“According to NOAA’s tide gauge measurements, we have observed about 11 inches of rise since 1950 along the North Carolina coast and we face a unique challenge here because our land is also slowly subsiding (sinking),” said Bunya.

Let’s take boat ramps for example. These are already built upon the lowest ground available in order to accommodate parking next to the water. During high tide conditions, parking lots may become flooded, ironically making the ramp unusable due to there being too much water.

Some communities may become unlivable. In certain areas, high tides will make it impossible to access places. At this time, only the very highest tides cause this flooding. The popular term that has been coined by the TV weather stations is “King Tides.” These are the very highest water level periods, which coincide with the periods of full moon, especially during September and October.

People who live in Down East Carteret County are familiar with having to drive alternate routes or even plan their trips to the grocery store around the tides.

“What was once considered a ‘100-year flood’ is happening much more frequently,” Bunya said. “We are seeing a marked increase in high-tide flooding (often called ‘sunny day flooding’), where coastal streets and yards flood even without a storm, simply because the tide is higher than it used to be.”

Higher tides such as these will occur more frequently. Anglers will find the fish so spread out they will be extremely difficult to locate. In many places, as has been already mentioned, the tides will get so high that locals will find themselves stranded for hours and possibly days at a time. Military-style vehicles with super-high ground clearance will be needed in order to drive around numerous coastal communities. Going fishing will not be a great concern.

Personally, I have been stuck with no recourse a time or two already and have had to either take long detours or find a place to hang out as the water receded. The increased sea levels will make it harder for commercial fishers to make a living in seaside communities because access points will become inaccessible and because the fish will be more difficult to locate. Also just driving from one place to another will be difficult in these places.

According to a 2024 NOAA report, Beaufort will face 60 high-tide flooding days by 2050 and 338 by 2100. Wilmington will experience 30 high-tide flooding days by 2050 and 323 by 2100. This will make it extremely difficult to travel and work in those communities. From there on, the situation only gets worse.

Again, according to Bunya, “By the end of the century, we are looking at a likely range of 2 to 4 feet of rise, though scenarios up to 7 feet are possible.”

So the next several decades will provide challenges to already existing infrastructure such as bridges and culverts that were not built to withstand such saltwater intrusion. The groundwater will be inundated and the tillable soil in areas such as Open Grounds Farm, a roughly 45,000-acre farm in Down East Carteret County operated by a corporation based in Italy, will be threatened. Work and school will be disrupted due to the inability to travel. Tropical storms will be more of a problem in the future because storm surge will be on top of higher water levels than measured historically.

There is a lot to ponder here. Hiding our heads in the disappearing sand will not make the problem go away.

The State Capitol will highlight North Carolina’s original constitutional documents as part of a Fourth of July celebration.

A State Archives of North Carolina “One-Day Wonders” traveling exhibit, “To Preserve the Blessings of Liberty”: State Constitutions of North Carolina, will be on display in the historic building in Union Square as part of the family-friendly Capitol 250: NC Freedom Fest set for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 4 in downtown Raleigh.

Featuring materials that commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States’ founding, the exhibit to be displayed on July 4 will showcase the first North Carolina Constitution, ratified on Dec. 18, 1776, the state’s Declaration of Rights, and John Adams’s “Thoughts on Government” letter to William Hooper, one of North Carolina’s three signers of the Declaration of Independence.

“Adams’s guidance in March 1776 profoundly influenced the new state government. Exhibit panels and staff will discuss ways the North Carolina Constitution has changed over time including the current constitution, third in the state’s history and ratified in 1971,” organizers said.

Visitors will also be able to view as part of the one-day only exhibit:

• The 1868 North Carolina Constitution, written during Reconstruction with the state’s first “Black Caucus” of 13 African American delegates at the Constitutional Convention.
• A 1777 draft broadside of the Articles of Confederation, the document that established the United States’ federal government.
• A 1787 broadside edition of the U.S. Constitution, debated in the state’s General Assembly.

The Capitol 250: NC Freedom Fest July 4 is an “all-day festival is a celebration of the arts, history, nature, and culture that define North Carolina’s role in the nation’s story,” according to celebration organizers, that begins at 9:30 a.m. with a parade organized by the North Carolina Department of Labor.

Headlining the freedom fest are North Carolina-based singer-songwriters Tift Merritt and Rissi Palmer. Also scheduled to perform are Nest of Singing Birds, 82nd Airborne All-American Brass Quintet, Wake & District Raleigh Pipe Band, N.C. Governor’s School Choir, Poet Zack Zachary, and Poetry Fox.

There will be an Independence Day ceremony, trolley tours of historic downtown Raleigh, living history and special exhibits, historic fashion show, more than 50 vendors and food trucks, a Hurricanes KidZone, sponsored by the Carolina Hurricanes, and storytime.

The city of Raleigh has scheduled fireworks to wrap up the day at 9:30 p.m. that day at Dix Park.

The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources manages more than 100 sites that preserve and promote arts and culture, history, and natural areas, including the State Archives.

For more information, contact State Archives Outreach Coordinator Adrienne Berney at adrienne.berney@dncr.nc.gov or 919-814-6863.

Few things infuriate fishermen more than reeling in a hard-fought saltwater fish only to find it half eaten by a shark.

The phenomenon known as shark depredation has for decades vexed recreational anglers and commercial fishermen.

More than three-quarters of a century have passed since Ernest Hemingway masterfully captured the heartbreak of shark depredation in his Pulitzer Prize-winning novella “The Old Man and the Sea,” a tale about an aging Cuban fisherman’s dayslong battle to reel in a giant marlin only to have it devoured by sharks.

Yet, in recent years, this conflict has seized the spotlight as a modern-day challenge.

A team of researchers took a deep dive into the history of shark depredation, pooling their knowledge and data spanning the course of the last 100 years. Their recently published study in the ICES Journal of Marine Science examined shark depredation across Atlantic recreational fisheries from the waters in Maine to Texas and the U.S. Caribbean.

Researchers focused on three groups: recreational anglers, target fisheries and sharks.

What they found is that, while there is a perception that getting sharked is an emerging issue, the reality is that anglers, the fish they target, and the sharks that target those fish are crossing paths more than ever.

“It appears to be more of an urgent and more of an immediate problem now, not necessarily because shark populations have exploded, but because of this combination of all sorts of factors,” said Dr. Marcus Drymon, a lead author of the study.

Drymon, an associate extension professor at Mississippi State University and marine fisheries specialist with Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant, explained that, yes, shark populations have increased over the past quarter-century, “but it’s just much more complicated than that.”

To understand just how complicated, researchers traced back to some of the earliest instances of documented shark depredation chronicled by none other than Hemingway himself.

Hemingway had already proved himself a literary powerhouse when, in the early 1930s, he sought to become the first angler to reel in an intact bluefin tuna from the vibrant turquoise and electric blue Caribbean waters off the Bimini coast in the Bahamas.

“And, consistently, when he would hook up to one of these big fish, they would get torn apart by sharks before he could land the fish,” Drymon said. “That happened for a few years and then those experiences led him to develop different techniques.”

Hemingway modified his fishing gear to make it stronger, and he switched up his angling tactics.

“When Hemingway did that around 1935, it led him to becoming the first person in recorded history to land an intact bluefin tuna in the Bahamas, and it just shows that this conflict has been around for a long time. It’s just that back in Hemingway’s day, there were very, very few other boats on the water trying to do what he was doing and shark populations, at least in the Northern Hemisphere, were in a relatively pristine state,” Drymon said.

That changed in the 1940s with the onset of World War II. The United States, cut off from shipments of cod liver oil from Norway and Iceland, was in desperate need for a cod liver oil substitute.

The high demand for vitamins contained in cod liver oil, including vitamins A and D, led to the nation’s first shark processing plant in Port Salerno, Florida. The plant closed in July 1950. By that time, synthetically produced vitamins had swept the market, rendering the commercial shark fishery in the country obsolete.

At the same time, recreational fishing was on the rise. Post-war Americans had more leisure time, and a new generation of boatbuilders were turning a product that was lighter and powered by smarter engines.

The surge in recreational shark fishing drove the creation of the National Marine Fisheries Service Cooperative Shark Tagging Program in 1962.

Shark landings by recreational anglers remained low through the 1960s and into the early 1970s.

That would all change in the mid-1970s when (cue the theme music) “Jaws” was released in theaters across the country. The runaway blockbuster captured the imaginations of audiences the world over.

“It would be difficult to overstate the impact of ‘Jaws’ on the public’s perception of sharks, a concept coined ‘the Jaws Effect,’” the study states.

By the early 1990s, heavy exploitation of Atlantic shark populations led the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service to introduce its first shark fisheries management plan.

By the early 1990s, shark populations in the Atlantic had been heavily exploited, prompting NOAA to implement the first fisheries management plan for sharks, he said. Shark populations that are overfished take a long time to recover because they are inherently slow growers, late to mature, and have relatively low reproductive output.

“We’ve now had 30 years of really successful efforts on the part of NOAA fisheries to rebuild and recover these shark populations and I would say that what we’re seeing today is a result of those management efforts,” he said. “But, there are downstream effects, because today there are so many more anglers on the water. The way they see it, there’s more sharks than they’ve ever seen. Sure, if they’ve only been fishing for the past 20 years, that is absolutely the case. But I would make the argument there’s nowhere near as many sharks now as there were in the 50s and 60s.”

The study notes that shark depredation is a widespread issue. There are at least 51 target species, notably red snappers and some groupers, vulnerable to predation by 22 species of sharks, according to the study.

Two of those species, the sandbar shark, which is federally protected, and the bull shark, are the worst offenders.

To lessen the impacts of those and other depredators, researchers suggest anglers take a page from Hemingway’s book, figuratively, or course.

“Our specific recommendations in terms of behavior change are relatively simple,” Drymon said. “The first one is, if and when you get depredated by a shark, move spots. I don’t say that lightly. I realize that’s a frustrating thing to have to do, especially if your spot’s a long way out in the middle of nowhere. But that is a good practice to follow.”

Second, try to avoid highly fished areas where there’s constant pressure on target species.

“Sharks are much more likely to habituate and hang out there and learn that depredation provides an easy meal for them,” Drymon said.

Third, be open to using deterrents Drymon and other researchers are currently testing.

“Our objective, our heart, is to give these deterrents to as many anglers as we possibly can, have them help us in the testing process with the hopes that those deterrents can let people fish at their favorite spots without being depredated as much as they normally would have,” he said. “As these deterrents continue to be developed, we’ll continue to try to test those and make our best recommendations to anglers and fishermen as to which ones are effective and which ones are not.”

Drymon said he’s also not opposed to the sustainable harvest of species of sharks that, like the bull shark, are not federally protected.

“If populations are not overfished and are not experiencing overfishing and there’s fishery management plans that allow for quota and harvest of those individuals, I think that’s a great, great option,” he said. “Just like any other fish in the ocean, I think that there is a time and a place for harvest of these animals provided that it can be done sustainably and provided that markets are in place for fishermen to profit from that harvest. I would be happy to help the establishment and the development of sustainable markets for shark products, particularly in the United States.”

A controversial provision that would allow state tax dollars to fund coastal terminal groins has been stripped from legislation moving through the North Carolina Senate.

The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday passed an amended Senate Bill 1001, omitting a section that would permit Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Funds to be used for terminal groin permitting, construction, or repairs.

A terminal groin is a type of hardened erosion control structure that is built perpendicular to a shore at an inlet to trap sand. North Carolina law prohibits the allocation of state funds for these structures, which were banned for decades until 2011 when legislators repealed the law to allow a handful of beach towns the option to explore building them.

“We’ve worked with our partners, and we resolved any concerns to date,” Sen. Michael Lazzara, R-Onslow, said Tuesday morning.

The amended bill will now go before the Senate Rules and Operations Committee.

Lazzara indicated last week in a meeting of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Energy, and Environment that the language in the bill might be revised.

Lazzara is one of the primary sponsors of that bill and Senate Bill 1009, which aims to overturn the state’s 40-year prohibition on hardened coastal erosion control structures, including breakwaters, bulkheads, seawalls, jetties, revetments, and terminal groins.

Hardened erosion-control structures have long been controversial because they capture sand that travels down the beach nearshore, depleting the sand supply to the beach immediately downdrift of the structure, stripping land that is natural habitat for, among others, sea turtles and shorebirds.

Senate Bill 1009 advanced last week to the Senate Appropriations Committee one day before the Coastal Resources Commission Science Panel released its draft report examining the effects of hardened erosion control structures on ocean coastlines.

The 47-page report, which was presented to the CRC last Thursday, was created to provide scientific and technical information for policymakers, regulators and legislators.

Science Panel Chair Dr. Laura Moore, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor in the Department of Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences, explained to commission members that the report covers the physical and adverse effects, and ecological impacts, of hardened structures.

The Ocean City Jazz Festival welcomes music lovers to another rhythmic and harmony-filled weekend by the sea.

This year’s festival will be held July 3-5 and marks the 16th year talented jazz musicians will take the stage in Ocean City, a storied community founded in 1949 on Topsail Island that was the only place African-Americans could buy coastal property in North Carolina before the Civil Rights Act.

The annual event will kickoff on July 2 at Waterline Brewing Co. in Wilmington and feature a performance by Billboard artist D.S. Wilson. The kickoff party will be hosted from 6-8 p.m. Tickets for this event are sold separately.

This year’s festival artist is Rene Dickerson, a nationally acclaimed, self-taught artist who captures the richness of life through painting characters from all cultures and scenes.

Gates for the festival on the lot across from 2649 Island Drive in North Topsail Beach will open daily at 4 p.m. July 3-5 with musical performances beginning at 5:30 p.m. and ending at 8:30 p.m. Shuttle service will begin at 3:45 p.m. each day at 2950 Island Drive.

There will be food and beverage vendors, and merchandise booths.

An optional, ticketed learn-and-hike event is being hosted from 8-10 a.m. July 4. Tickets are also available for purchase to a reception that day from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Hampton Inn in Sneads Ferry.

July 5 will begin with the Ocean City jazz mass worship service starting at 11 a.m. A jazz prelude to that service, which will feature the Rev. Robert Jemonde Taylor, will kickoff at 10:30 a.m.

For a full lineup of performances visit the website. Digital tickets for the rain or shine event are available for purchase online.

The North Carolina Forest Service’s annual tree seedling sale will begin next month.

The state agency will begin accepting Wednesday, July 1, orders for young conifers and hardwoods. A genetically improved stock is available for Fraser fir, loblolly, longleaf, shortleaf, eastern white pine and Virginia pine.

With an average annual production of 10 million seedlings, and a reliable supply of more than 40 tree species, the Forest Service said that its nursery program produces enough native and genetically improved tree seedlings to plant roughly 18,700 acres.

“Our nursery program continues to provide affordable native tree seedlings that are geographically suitable for the state’s diverse forestlands,” Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler said in a statement. “By offering seedlings in different quantities, the program can help customers of all sizes whether the need is as few as 10 seedlings, or as many as several thousand. The annual seedling sale is just another way that the forest service strives to keep North Carolina’s woodlands healthy, growing and thriving.”

Order from the online seedling store at buynctrees.com, by phone at 1-888-NCTREES (1-888-628-7337) or 919-731-7988, or fill out and mail the order form in the FY26-27 Nursery Seedling Catalog to Seedling Coordinator, 762 Claridge Nursery Road, Goldsboro, NC 27530.

The catalog will be available in area Forest Service offices starting next month, and a user-friendly online catalog is expected to be available on the website soon, Forest Service officials said Monday.

Within the catalog, landowners can find information about the types of tree species, quantities and cost to order. Each species description includes information about ideal planting locations and whether a species is typically used to benefit wildlife, restore forest habitats or as marketable timber.

Seedling orders can be shipped to one of 13 distribution centers statewide for a small fee or via UPS for a charge. Seedling orders are also available for pickup from the N.C. Forest Service Claridge Nursery in Goldsboro or the Linville River Nursery near Crossnore in Avery County.

Most containerized seedlings are available and used November through March while most bare root seedlings are available and used January through March.

For information on planting trees, customers are encouraged to contact their county ranger. Contact information is available at www.ncforestservice.gov/contacts.

If the Coastal Resources Commission Science Panel’s draft report to the state last week was a master class in explaining ocean beach erosion processes along the state’s 320-mile Atlantic Coastline, there may have been some state legislators who were wishing they could cut class.

Lawmakers hustled to get a proposed bill lifting a four-decade ban on oceanfront hardened structures moved to the Senate Appropriations Committee days before Science Panel Chair Dr. Laura Moore, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor in the Department of Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences, presented the 47-page draft, “Report on the Effects of Hard Structures on Sandy, Open-Ocean Coastlines,” to the commission during its regular meeting Thursday in New Bern.

Senate Bill 1009, which would lift the ban on hardened structures such as breakwaters, bulkheads, seawalls, jetties, revetments, and terminal groins, was advanced by the Senate Agriculture Committee Wednesday to the Appropriations Committee.

Another, related bill, Senate Bill 1001, also was referred to the same committee. The measure would allow use of state funds for permitting, building, or repairing terminal groins, which are sand-trapping walls built perpendicular to the shore at inlets.

Moore, along with her colleagues on the nine-member Science Panel, is a coastal scientist who has done extensive research on the North Carolina coast. The draft report the panel produced, divided into sections — an introduction to shoreline changes and dynamics, and some erosion management practices; effects of sand-trapping and -blocking structures; case studies of some structures and lessons learned; coastal erosion policies of other states; and finally, some recommendations based on best science and engineering — but offered no easy solutions to address the alarmingly severe erosion along parts of the coast, or ways to protect coastal infrastructure.

The report is intended to provide scientific and technical information for policymakers, regulators and legislators.

“Section two is really the meat of the report, and this is where we talk about the effects of structures that trap sand and structures that harden the shoreline … the purpose, the physical effects, adverse effects, ecological impacts,” said Moore. “We frame all of this largely in terms of trade-offs, because there are benefits and there are costs. And really, it’s all about trade-offs.”

Pointing to a slide illustration of a section of coast showing sand moving in and out of an area, Moore explained that whether there is accretion or erosion is a result of the way wave processes and shoreline orientation in the offshore seabed are directed at various sections of beach, and whether more sand is moving in or out.

“When I teach this in class, I tell my students, ‘this is just like your checkbook,’” Moore told the commission. “If you are adding more money in than you are spending, then you have a positive balance, and you’re in the black. And if you are taking out more money than you are actually adding to your checking account, you’re going to be in the red. In this case of the shoreline, we’re going to be eroding.”

Moore said it is not the big hurricanes that lead to the dramatic destruction now most evident on Hatteras Island in Dare County, where 32 houses in recent years have collapsed into the ocean in Rodanthe and Buxton.

“I’ll say that storm impacts are probably what tend to come to mind first for those who are thinking about the problems we need to address along the coast,” she said. “However, it is long-term chronic erosion that makes homes and infrastructure vulnerable to storm impacts. Most of our coastline has been naturally eroding over the long term to varying degrees, with some locations having very high natural background erosion rates, such as the northern flank of Cape Hatteras, which eroded at rates greater than 20 feet per year between 1852 and 1946 and for the many centuries preceding that time.”

But, Moore added, oceanfront construction rules are generally based on a 30-year setback, although buildings last longer than 30 years. Another complication is that large storm impacts are reaching farther landward, an impact that will be seen more in the future, she said, and sea levels are expected to be about a foot higher by 2050, compared with 2000. Along with other climate impacts, “mitigating erosion and protecting or trying to reduce risk to infrastructure will unfortunately become more and more challenging,” Moore said.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, Buxton resident Brian Harris, representing the Hatteras Island village’s civic association, asked the commission to support the proposed legislation and “a responsible, modern approach” to erosion control. While calling Buxton’s devastation “not just a failure of nature, but a failure of man,” he urged the commission to seek a bipartisan approach and work with partnerships for innovative solutions.

“Coastal policies drafted 40 years ago were never meant to be a suicide pact for our coast,” Harris said. “Hatteras and Ocracoke are now in state of emergencies, and as North Carolinians, we can all just simply do better.”

But with decades of flashing lights from early users of seawalls and groins, illustrated by New Jersey’s skinny beaches in front of seawalls, coastal scientists have warned that sand barriers and traps rob beaches of sand by creating down drift erosion or blocking sand travel onto the shoreline.

“North Carolina lawmakers have kept this policy in place for generations because these structures don’t work,” said Zach Wallace, Audubon North Carolina Policy Director, in a June 11 prepared statement. “They rob sand from other parts of the beach, making erosion worse and putting habitat and coastal communities at greater risk. It’s like balancing a budget by moving debt onto someone else’s books.”

In its recommendations at the end of the report, the science panel urged careful consideration of the adverse impacts and use of experts before moving forward on any proposed projects, which are nearly always expensive, long-term commitments. Even urgent situations such as the house collapses on Hatteras Island cannot change the realities of a hardened coast.

“The Buxton case study illustrates that groins can temporarily change where erosion occurs, but they do not eliminate the underlying erosional processes,” as one recommendation stated. “Further, attempting to maintain an intended shoreline position requires regular nourishment and hardened structures deteriorate over time and can be damaged during storms, necessitating repeated structural repair and emergency measures.”

Historic Bath will be bustling with activity in July as Revolutionary era-inspired reenactors representing the colonial navies of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina Saturday for “Patriots at Sea: An American Seaport Prepares for War.”

During the living history event scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 25, visitors will be able to speak with the ships’ surgeons and sailors, and visit the Tavern to hear mummers about the simmering war and outrage over British impressment of sailors.

“The formal navy of the colonies was small, by 1776 there were just 27 colonial warships, but the number of support vessels operating as privateers was over 1,600 and became an important factor in our victory,” according to the site.

Benjamin Schaffer is scheduled to give a talk at 2 p.m. in St. Thomas Church on his new work, “The First Fleets: Colonial Navies of the British Atlantic World,” which delves into the little-known and misunderstood provincial navies established by North American British colonists.

Visitors will have a chance to see what a day in the life of a sailor looks like, meet colonial townspeople teaching children’s games, boatmen will show how to use pitch to caulk a boat hull, and there will be genealogists with local information and on the seaman’s legacy group: Order of the Sea and Sail.

Throughout the day, living history reenactors will give demonstrations on sailmaking, scrimshaw, navigation, ropemaking, ship’s carpentry, spinning and weaving, and open-fire cooking. Representatives from America 250 NC, the state’s official 250th celebration program under the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, will be on-site as well.

Now a state-managed historic site, Europeans settling near the Pamlico River in the 1690s led to the founding of Bath, North Carolina’s first incorporated town, in 1705. By 1708, the small community had 50 people and 12 houses, and soon became North Carolina’s first port. “While its early years were marked by political rivalries, Indian wars, and piracy, by 1746 Bath was considered for the colony’s capital. However, when county government moved away in the late 1700s, Bath lost most of its importance and trade. Its original town limits encompass a historic district today,” according to the website.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission’s Habitat and Water Quality Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet this week to discuss proposed changes to a plan that guides habitat decisions related to fisheries.

The committee will review the draft 2026 amendment to the North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan on Thursday, June 25, at the state Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office, 5285 Highway 70 West in Morehead City.

Discussion will include formulating comprehensive options to protect identified submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV and more broadly as known as seagrass, habitat. SAVs are rooted plants that grow beneath the surface of fresh, estuarine and marine waters. These plants are vital to coastal and riverine habitats that support aquatic life and water quality.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and is open to the public. The meeting will also be livestreamed via Webex. The agenda is available online.

Featured Image

Case Skinner, 4, son of Kathleen and Jeremy Skinner, fishes around 8 a.m. earlier this month from his parents’ dock on on the Newport River in Mill Creek, an unincorporated community in central Carteret County. The young Skinner is also accomplished with a cast net. Photo: Jeremy Skinner

Editor’s Note: Tabb’s Trails is a commentary photo-essay series with coastal reporter, photographer and hiking enthusiast Kip Tabb. Post has been updated.

Although it has been a dry year so far at Nags Head Woods Preserve, the protected maritime forest on the Outer Banks is a lush and vibrant green. Songbirds flit among the branches. The raucous cry of woodpeckers is distinctive and unmistakable.

Actually, the more than 1200 acres of protected maritime forest along the Roanoke Sound has been drying out for the past few years, and the freshwater ponds that dot The Nature Conservancy’s preserve are showing the effects. Ponds that are usually picture book-reflecting pools are shallow and covered in algal growth.

The ponds are at the base of a series of hills. “They are relict sand dunes,” said Lora Eddy, conservation coordinator for the preserve. You can “take a core sample of the soil, and it’s just a very thin layer of organic with just sand.”

Those ponds, even if they are low, are the key to the verdant growth of the woods, which the nonprofit organization calls “one of the largest remaining maritime forests on the East Coast.”

“It’s really neat how areas between our relic dunes hold rainwater and help provide a little bit of extra water for the forest, wicking up some of that groundwater and that’s in here so they can sustain themselves,” Eddy said.

The best guess is Nags Head Woods formed around 700 to 1,000 years ago, although it could be older than that. Protected from the salt spray and ocean winds by natural sand dune systems at Jockeys Ridge State Park to the south and Run Hill to the north, the woods are filled with old-growth trees, marsh and upland habitats that have withstood everything nature has thrown them for hundreds of years.

“You think about these really cool coastal habitats, they’re just used to change,” Eddy said. “That’s the amazing thing about coastal habitats.”

There are more than 8 miles of trails and the variety is one of the best features of the reserve, Eddy continued.

The preserve seems to offer trails for everyone, including the quarter-mile Center Trail, a loop around two freshwater ponds by the visitor center. It is a very easy trail and a great introduction to enjoying the forest for young legs.

The Sweet Gum Trail is certainly more demanding. Hikers climb ridges with elevation gains that make it seem almost like a mountain trail.

The Sweet Gum Trail connects with the Blueberry Ridge Trail to create a challenging 3.75-mile hike.

There is also an Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, Trail with two accessible parking spaces. The 1,850-foot boardwalk circles a pond fed from Roanoke Sound. It may be the best birding trail in the reserve.

In the winter, yellow-butted warblers are ubiquitous, red-bellied and pileated woodpeckers are common and there’s an occasional green heron that can be seen on the fringes of the pond.

At the beginning of the ADA Trail is a butterfly garden. The flowers are just now coming into bloom, but the butterflies have been flitting through the reserve since the first warm weather of April.

Nags Head Woods participates in the Carolinas Butterfly Monitoring Program that “aims to track butterfly populations using scientifically sound, standardized survey methods as well as opportunistic sightings across both North and South Carolina.”

It is a community-based science program and Eddy is enthusiastic about it.

“We are using the scientific method called the Pollard Walk,” she said. “I imagine there’s this circle around me as I walk, and as I walk, I count butterflies within that circle. It’s a lot of fun. When I talk to kids who are visiting, they’re asking me what I’m doing, carrying a clipboard and chasing butterflies.”

The squirrels are out in force this year, dancing out of the way of cars as drivers navigate Old Nags Head Road, possibly one of the last maintained dirt roads on the Outer Banks.

The road is located in Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head and is jointly maintained by the towns. The road, Eddy said, “takes a lot of maintenance.”

The speed limit on the road is 15 miles per hour and for a good reason. It’s only one lane, and meeting an oncoming car involves seeing who has the closest place to back up to allow the other car to pass.

The annual Nags Head Woods 5K hosted by the First Flight Rotary Club takes place every year on Old Nags Head Road the Saturday before Mother’s Day. The race just celebrated its 40th year.

It’s a beautiful road and one of the oldest in Dare County. N.C. State Highway Commission maps from the 1930s show a dirt road heading west off what is now N.C. 12 and then going south along Roanoke Sound until it reaches Nags Head.

Now gone, there was a small but thriving community at Nags Head Woods. The Nature Conservancy published a book in 1987, “Everyone Helped His Neighbor: Memories of Nags Head Woods,” that was reissued in July 2018 featuring interviews with those who lived there.

There are still a few homes on the edge of the woods along Roanoke Sound, but the forest has been largely uninhabited for over 40 years.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has made each of 15 anglers $100 richer with the latest winners of its annual drawing of Multi-Species Tagging Program tag numbers announced Thursday.

The randomly selected tag numbers were from 496 fish tags that were turned in by participants in 2025. Three tag numbers were selected from each of the five species that are tagged by the program.

The $100 winners who turned in tags found on cobia were Joshua Bourne of Virginia Beach, Virginia; Mike Lintzenich of Williamsburg, Virginia; and Katie Daniel of Toano, Virginia.

The $100 winners who turned in tags found on red drum were Brad Smith of Maysville, Nicholas Stanley of Four Oaks, and Josh Whibley of Charleston, South Carolina.

The $100 winners who turned in tags on striped bass were Robert Tipton of New Bern, Scott Pope of New Bern and Anthony Richards of Wilmington.

The $100 winners who turned in tags on southern flounder were Jaxon Row of Wilmington, James Cone of Wilmington and Tyler Barnes of Hubert.

The $100 winners who turned in tags on spotted seatrout were Jamie Bright of Jacksonville, Chris Cobb of Hampstead and David Bishop of Belhaven.

The Multi-Species Tagging Program began in October 2014 and is funded by a Coastal Recreational Fishing License grant. Each year, staff and volunteers attach a yellow or red tag marked with “NCDMF” on thousands of fish in North Carolina’s coastal waters.

When a tagged fish is reported, along with the required information, participants receive a letter and personalized certificate with information about their fish, including days at large and distance traveled, as well as a reward. Those who return a yellow tag receive either a tagging program hat, fish towel or fish pin. Those who return a red tag marked “$100 REWARD” receive a $100. Those who return a tag are automatically entered into an annual drawing for $100.

Bourne, Lintzenich, Daniel, Pope, Richards, Rowe, Barnes and Cobb all received $100 when they turned in red tags for their respective fish and another $100 from the drawing, making their total rewards $200 each.

Information required when reporting a tagged fish includes the species, tag number, date, location captured, total length of the fish, fate of the fish (released or harvested) and the type of gear used to capture the fish. Tags may be reported by phone at 1-800-682-2632 or through an online form. Red tags must be cut off the fish and returned to the division for the participant to receive the $100 reward.

Information gathered from tag returns helps researchers determine species migration patterns, mortality, population structure and habitat use, which can be used to better manage the fisheries. Click for more information about the Multi-Species Tagging Program or contact John Mohan at 252-948-3913 or john.mohan@deq.nc.gov.

Currituck County is looking for public input on a nearly 200-page draft beach management plan that officials said will guide management, protection and restoration of the county’s 22.6 miles of oceanfront beaches and dunes, and address coastal hazards such as long-term erosion, storm impacts, and sea level rise.

The draft document can be viewed on the county website.

“The Plan provides a long-term vision for Currituck County to sustain the beaches that support a significant portion of their local economy and maintain the tax base located along the County’s beaches,” officials said on the website. “The Plan recognizes that beaches are a critical economic asset, supporting tourism, property values, and the County’s tax base. The overarching goal of the Plan is to preserve tourism-driven revenues while improving coastal resilience.”

The document features an evaluation of coastal hazards and vulnerability, introduces general management concepts that could be implemented, and a feasibility analysis detailing four separate reaches, or sections of coastline, along the Currituck County oceanfront that were identified for active beach management.

The feasibility analysis was applied to the North Corolla Reach, the Spindrift Reach, the South Pine Island Reach, and Central Reserve/Refuge Reach, which includes beachfront for the Currituck National Wildlife Refuge and the Currituck Banks Estuarine Reserve. Several alternatives were developed and evaluated for each.

Officials are encouraging asking specifically for feedback on the feasibility analysis on whether other reasonable alternatives should be considered for the four areas of coastline.

“If citizens believe that additional considerations should be made in these assessments, comments submitted will also be considered,” officials said on the website.

Comments can be submitted through the county website.

North Carolina lawmakers pushed forward a pair of bills Wednesday that, in tandem, would repeal a decades-old ban on hardened coastal erosion-control structures and secure state funding for terminal groins.

Senate Bill 1009 aims to erase the state’s 40-year prohibition on hardened structures, including breakwaters, bulkheads, seawalls, jetties, revetments, and terminal groins.

A provision in amended Senate Bill 1001 would allow state funds to cover permitting, building, or repairing terminal groins, rock- and steel-constructed wall-like structures built perpendicular to the shore at inlets to contain sand in areas of high erosion.

Both measures were advanced Wednesday morning to the Senate Appropriations Committee, but not without pushback. The next step for these bills is unclear as the Senate Appropriations Committee does not meet regularly.

Before the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Energy, and Environment voted on the bills Wednesday morning, Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe, questioned how state rules may be written to equally protect oceanfront properties facing severe erosion and adjacent properties that may be negatively affected by erosion-control structures.

Asking rulemakers, in this case the Coastal Resources Commission, to write such rules would be “asking them to pick winners and losers,” Mayfield said.

“It’s the vast majority of downstream, I say downstream, I don’t know if it’s called something else on the coast, but downstream properties are disadvantaged when these sorts of structures go in,” she said.

Hardened erosion-control structures have long been controversial because they capture sand that travels down the beach nearshore, depleting the sand supply to the beach immediately downdrift of the structure, stripping land that is natural habitat for, among others, sea turtles and shorebirds.

Sen. Michael Lazzara, R-Onslow, one of the primary sponsors of the bill to lift the hardened structures ban, responded to Mayfield by asking whether the many homes destroyed by landslides and floods caused by Hurricane Helene in 2024 should not be permitted to be rebuilt.

“It’s the same thing on the coast. We’re losing a lot of homes due to these erosions and anything that we could do to mitigate that is just responsible, the same that we’re addressing that in western Carolina. I think these natural storms have a lot of erosions, whether it’s in the west or the east and people are affected by it,” Lazzara said.

Mayfield said she appreciated the analogy, but that thousands of homes will not be rebuilt in western North Carolina “because the land that they were on doesn’t exist anymore.”

Furthermore, she said, Hurricane Helene was not a once-in-a-lifetime storm, but rather a “once-in-a-10,000-year storm.”

“But that’s not what happens on the coast, right?” she continued. “On the coast, we have storms much more frequently, not nearly as intense, but much more frequently, much more flooding on a regular basis. And, again, I acknowledge that there are houses standing in the water right this very moment, and we need a solution to that, because having them fall down and disintegrate in the water is not the right answer, but also, using these structures to try to protect homes – Mother Nature is undefeated. I’ll just say that.”

Republican Sen. Bob Brinson, who represents Beaufort, Craven and Lenoir counties, pointed out that Senate Bill 1009 also would direct funding to the North Carolina Collaboratory to update the state’s Beach and Inlet Management Plan. That plan was last updated 10 years ago.

He told the committee that sand nourishment, a method by which sand is typically removed from nearby inlets or offshore and placed on the beach to build up eroded ocean shorelines, is not always an appropriate erosion-mitigation measure.

“As I addressed last week, beach nourishment also is getting more and more expensive and not lasting as long,” Brinson said. “And so, in repealing the hardened structure ban, it’s giving our state the opportunity to explore other options rather than saying ‘no’ or ‘never’, it’s ‘how about this’ and ‘how about’ because it will be site specific.”

Some members of the committee asked whether other alternatives have been explored to address problems associated with escalating erosion along portions of the state’s coastline. On the Outer Banks, more than 30 homes have toppled in recent years on ocean beaches that vanished because of erosion.

“We shouldn’t keep banging our heads against the wall, doing the same thing over and over again,” Mayfield said. “That’s not helping. Homes will continue to be put at risk. Businesses will continue to be put at risk. I think it’s time to start looking for permanent solutions to problems we’re seeing on the coast and the only way that I can see to do that is to have a permanent buyout fund. You know, government works best when it steps in to where the private market doesn’t work, and the private market doesn’t work on the coast right now.”

Brinson said the repeal does not focus solely on homes, but also public infrastructure, including the erosion and overwash-embattled N.C. Highway 12.

“This gives the CRC the authority to drop rules for these hardened structures, which will be informed by the Beach and Inlet Management Plan that we’ve tasked the Collaboratory to do, and also the science board under the CRC and their report that’s coming out,” he said.

The science advisory panel’s report, intended as a guide for coastal managers and policymakers to tackle the escalating erosion along the state’s coastline, is on the CRC agenda for discussion Thursday in New Bern.

“Our constituents are tired of hearing ‘no, you can’t do this,’ and ‘no, you can’t do that.’ Repealing this ban gives the state the ability to say, ‘here’s what you can do,’” Brinson said.

Nearly 15 years have passed since the North Carolina General Assembly repealed the law banning permanent, hardened erosion-control to grant a handful of beach communities along the state’s southern coast the option to pursue installing a terminal groin at an inlet area.

Since then, Bald Head Island and Ocean Isle Beach have been the only local governments to fund and build terminal groins on their beaches.

As the law stands, state funds may not be used for terminal groins.

A provision in Senate Bill 1001 would allow money from the Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation Fund to be tapped for costs associated with the permitting, construction or repair of a terminal groin. In order to receive funds, terminal groin projects would have to meet specific requirements, including a determination that the structure would benefit public lands and that costs to build or repair a groin will “not include the costs of financial assurance or costs of implementation of any component of the applicable inlet management plan.”

Lazzara indicated Wednesday morning that the language pertaining to state funding for terminal groins in Senate Bill 1001 may be revised.

Coastal Review will not publish Friday in recognition of the Juneteenth holiday.

Dr. Joel Fodrie has been named the new director of Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort.

Most recently director of University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, Fodrie will succeed outgoing director Andy Read, who was in the leadership role for 10 years and will remain on the faculty once Fodrie comes aboard, Duke’s Nicholas School of the Environment said Wednesday.

“The Duke Marine Lab is a gold standard among centers of coastal and marine research, both in the social sciences and the natural sciences. Its coastal setting is ideal for exploring how humans and natural systems affect one another. I’m very excited about working with the faculty, staff and students to support, and even enhance, place-based research and teaching that has local and far-reaching impacts,” Fodrie said in a statement.

Fodrie will join later this summer the lab that “has centered on field-based discovery, immersive learning and close mentorship” for nearly nine decades, the university said.

“As director, Joel will build on Andy’s legacy and further strengthen strategic connections between Beaufort and Durham while guiding the Marine Lab’s next chapter as a world-class leader in marine science and research,” said Lori Bennear, Stanback Dean of the Nicholas School.

Fodrie earned his bachelor’s degree in biology and history from UNC Chapel Hill, and his doctorate in biological oceanography from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at University of California, San Diego.

His research focuses on coastal and estuarine ecosystems, fisheries ecology and the resilience of marine communities and his scholarship includes more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and extensive external grant support.

“Joel has the research, academic and leadership expertise we were looking for in a director. But beyond that, he brings a reputation as a trusted community partner deeply appreciative of and knowledgeable about North Carolina coastal ecosystems,” said Erika Weinthal, the Nicholas School’s John O. Blackburn Distinguished Professor, who chaired the Marine Lab director search committee

Among various honors, Fodrie received recognition as an Early-Career Research Fellow with the Gulf Research Program, part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. In 2024, he was named one of five recipients of the Thomas Willis Lambeth Distinguished Chair in Public Policy, a five-year term professorship to recognize and honor outstanding teachers and scholars.

“On a personal level, I grew up in Beaufort, North Carolina, and have known about the significance of the Marine Lab essentially my whole life,” Fodrie said. “I certainly view this as a one-of-a-kind opportunity to help shape the direction and impact of the Lab to ensure wise and sustainable use of our coastal and marine ecosystems.”

Motorists traveling along U.S. Highway 70 in the James City corridor over the weekend should expect a temporary traffic pattern as work begins on the Thurman Road interchange bridge.

State transportation officials said Wednesday that, weather permitting, U.S. 70 westbound lane closures are scheduled from 5 a.m. Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday. U.S. 70 eastbound lane closures will then take place from 5 a.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday.  

As part of this phase, crews are to install reduced conflict intersections, or RCIs, with temporary traffic signals near the intersection of Thurman Road and U.S. 70 to manage traffic flow. This is the third of five planned along the U.S. 70 Improvements in the James City corridor.

RCIs, often referred to as a superstreet, a synchronized street or a median U-turn, describes the different designs that can be installed to improve safety and traffic flow on a highway, according to the North Carolina Department of Transportation.

In advance of implementing the RCIs, sections of East Thurman Road and West Thurman Road will be closed between U.S. 70 and service roads from 5 a.m. Saturday through 6 a.m. Monday.

“Intersections along U.S. 70 in James City are being converted to interchanges without traffic signals, improving traffic flow and reducing travel times. The Thurman Road interchange will allow for fluid cross street traffic under the highway, with roundabouts on both sides to manage the flow of traffic. Bridge construction marks the final stage of construction before the interchange is complete,” officials said.

The estimated $3.22 million James City corridor project began in 2022 to improve traffic on the 5.1-mile stretch of U.S. 70 from east of Thurman Road to the Neuse River Bridge in James City. 

Project plans include updating Williams, Airport, Grantham and Thurman roads and Taberna Way in James City into interchanges by taking U.S. 70 over these cross streets and providing access via ramps. These five intersections will become new highway exits for the future Interstate 42.​ The project is expected to be complete in 2027.

Travelers are encouraged to sign up for project updates and traffic alerts by providing an email address or cell phone number on the project website.

The project team is available to answer any questions by email at US70-JamesCity@publicinput.com, or by calling 1-855-925-2801 and enter code 7872 when prompted.

The coast is forecast to experience high temperatures this week and extreme heat “of this magnitude can be dangerous to your health,” warns North Carolina Division of Public Health.

The division’s Climate and Health Program alerted coastal counties Tuesday through its Heat Health Alert System to expect a maximum heat index, or the “real feel” from the combined heat and humidity, of 96 to 108, depending on the county. The heat health alert system incorporates meteorological data, such as how rare the high temperatures are compared to historic records, and data on heat-related illnesses, such as when people show up in the emergency departments. 

Temperatures this high this early in the heat season, which is May 1 to Sept. 30, can be especially dangerous because people, institutions, and daily routines have not fully adjusted to summer conditions, Heat Policy Innovation Hub Director Dr. Ashley Ward told Coastal Review. The hub is part of Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability.

“Our bodies acclimatize over time, so the temperature can pose a greater health risk in May or June than the same temperature later in the summer. People may also be less prepared behaviorally,” Ward said. “They may not be checking heat alerts yet, or they may not have adjusted their work schedules. Many underestimate how quickly heat illness can develop.”

Looking at the long term, the early season heat is a signal to treat heat less like a short-term weather event and more like a season-long public health risk.

“The concern is not that very hot days are occurring, but that the heat season is becoming longer, nights are staying warmer, and communities have less time to recover from one event to another,” Ward continued.

State Resilience Office’s Resilience Policy Adviser Andrea Webster said that anyone, regardless of age or physical condition, can experience a heat-related illness, which occurs when the body overheats from exposure to high temperatures.

“In 2025, there were more than 5,700 heat-related visits to emergency departments across the state, according to NCDHHS’s heat health tracking system. That number is far higher than the annual counts from the previous five years,” she said in an email response.

At-risk populations include those without access to air conditioning or working or exercising outdoors, as well as those who are pregnant, living with disabilities or underlying health conditions.

“Heat illnesses and deaths are 100% preventable. To stay safe, our residents and visitors can stay hydrated, take regular breaks in the shade and in air-conditioned spaces, and pay attention to the signs of heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and other heat-related illnesses,” she said. “Also remember that young children cannot, or cannot fully, communicate that they may be experiencing heat stress. Infants and children rely on others to keep them cool and hydrated when it’s hot outside.”

Webster also pointed out that as temperatures increase, more energy is needed for air conditioning and that can strain the power grid.

“In addition, we are in the middle of hurricane season, when the chance of power outages is higher than other months of the year. To be prepared, residents can have several air-conditioned spaces in mind where they can go in case of a power outage,” she said. “This might be a community center with a back-up generator, the home of a friend or family member a town over, a movie theater or shopping mall. If transportation is a challenge, call a friend or local services for help.”

Ward said that while coastal communities may have sea breezes that moderate some of the daytime temperatures, they also face high humidity and warmer nights.

“There are also many activities in coastal communities that occur outdoors, both work and play,” Ward explained. “I would also pay close attention to tourists who are visiting the region, and who may not be acclimatized to the humidity and heat. Those who are arriving from cooler regions of the state or the country will be at increased risk for heat-related illnesses.”

The extreme heat can compromise water quality as well.

“High air temperatures can warm shallow waters, estuaries, sounds, and nearshore environments, especially during periods with limited mixing or prolonged calm conditions,” Ward said. “Warmer water holds less dissolved oxygen, which can stress or kill fish and shellfish. Heat can also worsen any existing water quality issues, particularly when combined with runoff, wastewater issues or drought.”

One major concern is harmful algal blooms.

“Warmer waters can favor algal growth. This further reduces oxygen in the water and creates conditions that make it impossible for the aquatic ecosystem to survive. Some blooms create toxins that are harmful to people and pets, creating issues for recreation and commercial fisheries. These have large impacts on coastal economies,” Ward added.

What’s driving this weather?

Ward said that while no single hot day can be explained only by climate change, it is the background condition in which heat events occur.

“People experience heat through a combined effect of temperature, humidity, sun exposure, wind, exertion, and nighttime recovery. A day that does not look extreme by air temperature alone can still be dangerous when humidity is high and the body cannot cool efficiently,” she said. Also, warmer nights matter because they reduce the body’s ability to recover after daytime heat exposure. 

“The climate change connection is not just ‘hotter afternoons.’ It is a shift toward longer heat seasons, more humid heat in the Southeast, more dangerous heat index values, warmer nights, and a greater strain on health systems, workers, schools, utilities, and community services,” she said.

North Carolina State Climate Office Assistant State Climatologist Corey Davis explained to Coastal Review Tuesday that at this time of year, a typical weather pattern has high pressure set up just off the coastline.

“This is the ‘Bermuda high’ that we love to hate because it funnels in moist air from the south, which gives us that classic North Carolina humidity,” Davis said.

Late last week, he continued, the state was in a variation of that pattern, with the high pressure centered more to the south, over the Gulf Coast.

“In that setup, we weren’t getting the direct feed of moisture from the south, but instead, we were in more of a westerly circulation around the north side of that high pressure system,” he said, adding that westerlies typically mean dry air since there just aren’t many moisture sources out in that direction. “That’s why last Friday had some unseasonably hot temperatures in the upper 90s, but also unseasonably low afternoon humidity values below 50%.”

Behind the cold front that moved in Tuesday of this week, normal temperatures are expected, and that will be followed by another warmup coming by the end of the week.

“In that case, we’re looking at high pressure sliding in from the west, which will again bring the sort of dry heat like we had last Friday and Saturday,” Davis said about June 11-12.

“This weekend, that high pressure may be sitting right over us, which means sinking air that blocks any potential for pop-up showers and thunderstorms. Even though the usual Bermuda high pattern can be uncomfortably muggy, at least it tends to bring daily rain chances,” he added. “In a pattern like we’ve been in, and like we’re heading into later this week, we don’t have the humidity, but that means it gets even hotter with even lower rain chances.”

He said another factor keeping humidity down and temperatures up, is the ongoing drought in the state. After the hot weather so far this month, any lingering moisture from that rain event over Memorial Day weekend is long gone, and without as much moisture in the soils and surface water sources, there’s not as much transpiration, or when plants absorb moisture then releases the extra, and water vapor in the air.

Essentially, at this time of year, if it feels dry outside, that’s because it is. “Moisture in the air and in the ground is all running low,” he said.

As for what the rest of the summer looks like, meteorologists are watching a few patterns.

In the seasonal outlook last month from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center showed much of the region with slightly elevated chances for above-normal temperatures this summer.

“That sort of forecast matches what we’d expect with high pressure to our south or east, so I’d say this summer will probably look familiar, but maybe with some hotter and less humid stretches like we’re in now,” Davis explained.

Additionally, precipitation chances at this time of year usually come from pop-up afternoon showers and storms, and those tend to be less widespread and more hit-or-miss.

“Better rain chances could come from any tropical systems, and we are starting to see the Atlantic come to life especially down in the Gulf, but it’s tough to tell if or when any systems could affect us in the Carolinas,” he added.

Davis said the other main pattern they’re keeping a close eye on is the developing El Niño. 

“NOAA confirmed last week that we are officially in an El Niño pattern, which makes this an early starting event. That gives it more runway to strengthen this summer, and that’s a big reason why a lot of forecasts are showing this being a strong event by later in the year,” Davis said.

“Because of how it strengthens upper-level winds, El Niño events tend to see increased wind shear across the tropical Atlantic and fewer storms forming. That could hurt our chances of seeing any significant tropical rainfall this year,” he continued. “But by the fall, we expect to see El Niño’s usual atmospheric impacts with a stronger jet stream anchored to our south, and that tends to bring more storm systems in our direction. That means we should eventually get into a wetter pattern, but that might not happen until October or November.”

Based on that forecast and how entrenched the drought already is, it’s very likely that the state will still be dealing with drought conditions and its impacts by the end of the summer, which means a difficult growing season for farmers, potential water restrictions as water supplies and groundwater stores wait for a better recharge later in the year, more favorable wildfire conditions along the coast. He gave the Rose Bay Canal fire in Hyde County as an example.

“I hope we get some better rain sooner rather than later to prove me wrong, but there’s a big concern that with how this summer has started, it will be a tough one to weather in the Carolinas,” Davis said.