Commissioners approved a text amendment allowing the requested construction but kept longstanding protections around the Buxton Woods Reserve on Hatteras Island.
Conservation
Pine Knoll Shores aquarium offers special summer programs
The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores has two new special events set for August, as well as its usual bevy of weekly programming.
Sledge Forest added to national threatened forests list
The last remaining expanse of old-growth forest in New Hanover County is among a minute percentage of original ancient forests remaining in the eastern part of the country.
Pender landowner on mission to conserve hundreds of acres
Clint North has registered 1,988 acres in Pender County with North Carolina’s Natural Heritage Program, one of only three property owners in the state to register 1,000 acres or more with the state-managed conservation effort.
Plan would address threatened eastern black rails’ habitat loss
A public comment period is open on a proposed management plan that seeks to rebuild the once-abundant birds’ numbers by permanently protecting coastal marshes and helping private landowners create habitat.
State wildlife agency seeks conservation steward nominations
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is accepting nominations for the annual Thomas L. Quay Award through Friday.
Four-day fête honors Jockey’s Ridge State Park’s 50th year
Preserved from development by Carolista Baum, a mother of young children, who blocked a bulldozer, declared a National Natural Landmark and made a state park 50 years ago, an occasion recently celebrated by officials and throngs of visitors.
Save Sledge Forest rally planned for this month
The rally to support the conservation of New Hanover County’s last large expanse of old-growth trees is scheduled for June 21.
Aquarium’s comic-style gallery draws eyes to conservation
The N.C. Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores opened Friday a newly revamped gallery that uses vibrant panels, colorful sculptures and interactive displays to illustrate its coral conservation and aquaculture efforts.
Champion trees rise and fall in North Carolina’s coastal plain
The decades-old tree conservation program was put in place in the 1940s to identify and conserve the nation’s largest remaining trees, which were at risk during an era of economic expansion and aggressive timber harvesting.
Coastal Commission rejects effort to drop rules lawsuit
Coastal Resources Commissioner Jordan Hennessy garnered only two other votes last week for his effort to withdraw from the commission’s successful lawsuit challenging the state Rules Review Commission, which is set to appeal the ruling.
Coastal Land Trust completes purchase of ‘The Point’
North Carolina Coastal Land Trust will own and manage the nearly 150-acre tract at the south end of Topsail Island until it is transferred to the state, where it will remain development free.
Historian David Cecelski: Carolina coast still worth the fight
The recent shackling of the Environmental Protection Agency “foreshadows the breathtaking descent back into the worst days of our coastal past, when our estuaries, our beaches, our fisheries and the sources of our drinking water were a free-for-all, open to plunder, pillaging and poisoning.”
Doomed to repeat history: What’s in future for NC wetlands?
Guest commentary: Ignoring the past guarantees a grim future for our coastal communities, as the fishermen of Rose Bay warned decades ago. Will we listen now, or once again pay the price for failing to protect our way of life?
Southport gives state more time on proposed land deal
The Southport Board of Aldermen voted 4-1 last week to extend an option agreement to the state Wildlife Resources Commission to purchase from the city more than 400 undeveloped acres, but one member objected to the $637,000 price.
Land trust, Windsor conserve 314-acre Hoggard Mill tract
The North Carolina Coastal Land Trust has transferred to the town the site that includes what is believed to be the first millpond built in the state.
