Historian Glenn Blackburn, professor emeritus of history at University of Virginia’s College at Wise, has written his second book about Coastal Review’s publisher, the North Carolina Coastal Federation and the nonprofit’s history, people and accomplishments.

Released earlier this year, “A Spectacular Coast and Its Guardians” tells the Coastal Federation’s story and examines, according to the book’s subtitle, “its conservation, restoration, education, and advocacy work to protect and restore the North Carolina coast.”

The book chronicles the changes that have occurred on the coast since the organization was founded in 1982 to protect coastal water quality, with a shift toward helping coastal residents and the natural areas here adapt to the increasingly extreme weather that climate change has fueled.

“Through hundreds of interviews with staff, volunteers, fishermen, scientists, and community leaders, Blackburn’s books tell the story of the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s grassroots beginnings and its coastwide work to protect and restore the places we love,” according to the Coastal Federation. The book is a follow-up to Blackburn’s 2018 volume, “Saving Great Places,” which focuses on five projects the Coastal Federation and coastal residents took on to protect the  coast, including the organization’s first big win, stopping a proposed peat mining operation that put at risk wetlands and fisheries in the Albemarle-Pamlico peninsula.

Blackburn will be on hand 5:30-7 p.m. July 14 at the Coastal Federation’s Wrightsville Beach office, at 309 West Salisbury St. for an evening of coastal stories, history, and conversation. Learn more and register online.

Guests will have the opportunity to meet the author, get a copy of his book personally signed, and learn more about the people and places that shaped the Coastal Federation’s history. Light hors d’oeuvres will be served. You may purchase the book online.

An Advocacy Organization That Saved Land and Water

The Coastal Federation was a small but very effective advocacy organization in the 1980s and 1990s. Led by Todd Miller it was a polite but persistent advocate that worked in alliance with large numbers of ordinary people on the coast.

A very popular advocacy campaign was the Federation’s strong support for the right of all people to have access to North Carolina’s beaches. Another was a long-term, still ongoing campaign to keep our coastal waters clean and safe. Three others focused on specific places on the coast where commercial or housing development threatened the well-being of a beautiful place and the people who lived there.

First, was the 1982-1984 alliance with local fishermen that blocked a peat mining operation in the Albemarle-Pamlico peninsula that would have destroyed 120,000 acres of wetlands and undermined fishing waters.

Second was the 1983-1987 Stump Sound fight in which the Federation and local fishermen worked together to stop a condominium development that would likely have ruined the fishing waters in a lovely sound.

Third was a 1992-2002 struggle by the Federation, local residents, and other environmental groups to prevent a housing development from taking over valuable wild land on Bird Island near Sunset Beach. Full accounts of these three public fights are in Saving Great Places found online at nccoast.org.

And there was a very small beginning of advocacy about the threat of sea level rise.

Advocacy in Defense of Public Access to Sandy Beaches

The most popular policy the Federation has ever had is its ongoing advocacy that everyone should be able to enjoy our sandy beaches and all our public trust lands and waters, particularly the salt marshes. A huge number of North Carolinians are beach lovers, people who want to go to the beach to play. They want to play in the water, on the sand, in their boats, and on their surfboards. They want to see the beauty of the world on a spectacular coast. They want to feel the wonder and majesty of the ocean. They want to smell saltwater and hear birds sing. And a large number are fishermen who want to enjoy the riches of salt marsh habitats, particularly oystering.

From the 1980s on, the Federation has continually worked to educate North Carolinians about their legal right to use the state’s beaches. This work aligns exactly with long-established state policy stipulating that North Carolina’s beaches are held in public trust for everyone. The public owns and has the right to use any part of a beach up to the mean high tide mark. The dry sand area between the mean high tide mark and the base of the first line of sand dunes may be owned by individual property owners, but the public has the right to use this dry sand area so as to have access to the wet beach. These two rights are public trust rights protected by the state.

The right of public access to beaches is generally supported in North Carolina, although there is one gated island — Figure Eight — that keeps the public out and a few private housing developments that provide little if any, public access to beaches in front of them. And there are some chronic problems — not enough walkways for visitors to get to the beach, not enough parking spaces and toilet facilities for people wanting to spend a day at the beach. The Federation constantly pushes state agencies and beach town governments to provide more walkways, more parking, and more toilets.

The Federation also strongly opposes the building of oceanfront seawalls, because seawalls lead to the destruction of the beaches that belong to everyone. When sea level rise and hurricanes cause ocean waves to crash across beaches into the foundations of oceanfront houses, the instinct of property owners is to build something — a seawall or a row of sandbags — to block the ocean. But when waves hit a wall, the wave energy explodes and the explosion begins to eat out the sand in front of the wall. With explosion after explosion over days and months, the eaten-out sand is pulled back into the ocean bit by bit, and the sandy beach slowly disappears. A property owner may gain some protection, but the public loses its beach.

In the 1970s state policymakers began to realize that oceanfront seawalls do more harm than good, and in the 1980s the Federation, along with Duke University coastal scientist Orrin Pilkey and many others, began to push for a ban on all hardened structures on oceanfronts. In 1985, the Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) imposed a ban on seawalls and groins on the oceanfront (a groin is a wall perpendicular to a beach that is designed to capture sand from ocean currents thereby helping to restore an eroding beach). The ban eventually became state law early in 2003 after the Federation pointed out to Senator Marc Basnight that too many variances were being issued to the state’s seawall ban regulations by the CRC.

Within a few years of the original ban, a number of wealthy people who owned beach property allied with some developer organizations and began to try to find a way to circumvent the ban. Pressure on the CRC to modify the ban became so intense that in the early 1990s, the Federation had to organize a major letter-writing campaign leading to thousands of messages being sent to the CRC to demonstrate public support for the ban. The campaign succeeded in blocking the political pressure.

A few years later in the late 1990s, the Shell Island Resort on the northern end of Wrightsville Beach made another attempt to get around the ban. The Resort was built so close to Mason’s Inlet that inlet waters were threatening to erode the foundations of buildings, so the Resort’s owners (many of them out-of­state investors) sued the state seeking to get the right to build a permanent seawall. In 1998, the Federation joined the state in a legal defense of the ban on oceanfront seawalls on the grounds that a seawall would destroy the public beach. A court upheld the state ban, and the Resort was able to resolve its problem only by paying for a dredging operation to move the inlet away from its buildings.

The ban on oceanfront seawalls remained in place into the 21st century, but environmental attorneys believe that sea level rise will lead to more challenges to the ban. John Runkle, an attorney on the Federation’s Board, says bluntly: “If sea level rise speeds up, wealthy people who own oceanfront property will push hard for the right to build seawalls to protect their property” (John Runkle, July 18, 2009). Geoff Gisler of the Southern Environmental Law Center says the same thing in different words: “The conflict between nature and development will not go away. The desire to build terminal groins will be a continuing issue, as people will want to protect development in dynamic coastal areas through the use of hardened structures. These issues will be amplified by sea level rise” (Geoff Gisler, August 3, 2014).

Orrin Pilkey, the Duke scientist who has written numerous well-regarded books on barrier island beaches, is a long-time ally of the Federation. He insists that the most important thing we need to do on the coast is “preserve the beaches for future generations.” The Federation is very sympathetic to PiIkey’s argument (Dr. Orrin H. Pilkey, September 22, 2008).

The popular expanse of undeveloped land known as ‘The Point’ at the south end of Topsail Island was ceremoniously transferred on Tuesday to the state, which will manage and protect the property.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson joined officials with the North Carolina Land Trust and local beach towns, including Topsail Beach, on the oceanfront shore the Topsail Nature Preserve on Monday afternoon to officially mark the transfer.

“The Topsail Nature Preserve is a unique coastal resource and we are committed to protecting its natural integrity and maintaining responsible public access,” Wilson said. “Conserving places like this strengthens the long-term resilience of our coastal communities, protects natural habitats and preserves the natural features that help our coast adapt to changing environmental conditions.”

The ceremony turned the page in the newest chapter of the spit of pristine land in Topsail Beach, the southernmost town on the nearly 26 mile-long island that runs through Onslow and Pender counties.

The land had been in the center of a campaign by Topsail Island locals and long-time tourists who wanted to keep it free from development, a goal that was ultimately achieved when the Coastal Land Trust purchased nearly 100 acres of the privately owned property for $7.5 million in April of last year.

“The Coastal Land Trust is proud to have partnered with the Topsail community to help conserve the South End,” North Carolina Coastal Land Trust Executive Director Harrison Marks said in a release. “We are thrilled to see this remarkable coastal resource permanently protected for future generations under the stewardship of the State of North Carolina.”

The N.C. Division of Coastal Management will manage the preserve, which will remain open and accessible to the public, “with a continued emphasis on conservation, education and responsible recreation,” according to a DEQ release.

“Visitors are encouraged to follow posted guidelines designed to protect wildlife, sensitive habitats and the overall integrity of the site,” the release states.

The area will be managed in coordination with local and state partners and will include the implementation of best practices for coastal stewardship and opportunities for community engagement.

The North Carolina Coastal Land Trust plans to buy a sprawling tract of land off one of Wilmington’s busy corridors to convert it into a publicly accessible nature preserve.

The New Hanover County Board of Commissioners on Monday authorized county staff to negotiate a purchase and sale agreement with the Coastal Land Trust for an approximately 60-acre tract at 3990 Independence Boulevard.

The organization plans to buy the land, referred to as the Flossie Bryan tract, for $3 million.

Bryan was a longtime Wilmington resident and licensed practical nurse who worked at James Walker Memorial Hospital, which operated for more than 60 years until it closed after New Hanover Regional Medical Center opened its doors in 1967.

Bryan willed the property to the county and asked that it be preserved, offering a natural, undeveloped space for public benefit, according to a Coastal Land Trust release.

“Flossie Bryan left an extraordinary gift to this community, and we take that trust seriously,” Coastal Land Trust Executive Director Harrison Marks stated in the release. “This property sits in the middle of one of the fastest-growing residential corridors in New Hanover County. Protecting it permanently as a nature preserve means generations of Wilmington residents will have access to irreplaceable green space, right where they live. We are grateful to the Board of Commissioners for their partnership on this property, and for their vision and foresight in securing full ownership of the property in 2025, which created the opportunity to ensure its long-term conservation.”

The Coastal Land Trust aims to work with county staff to finalize a purchase and sale agreement, with closing proposed to occur on or before Dec. 31, 2027.

Commissioners will review the sale agreement before final approval.

Within the tract are more than seven acres of mature longleaf pine forest, among the few remaining unprotected longleaf pine savanna habitats in New Hanover County. And, there are more than 20 acres slated for longleaf pine restoration.

Natural freshwater wetlands and headwater tributaries of Barnards Creek are also on the property.

Once under the Coastal Land Trust’s ownership, the preserve will be developed in phases to include a parking area and natural train system, which will be largely unpaved, designed for nature-first recreation and outdoor learning, and will incorporate Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible areas.

Coastal Land Trust’s longer-term plans for the property include an onsite environmental education facility.

“The Flossie Bryan tract offers a rare opportunity to protect and restore one of the most ecologically important habitat types in our region, in the county with the highest population density along the North Carolina coastal plain,” Kenneth Lingerfelt, Coastal Land Trust director of land protection said in a release. “Conserving this property means protecting water quality in the Barnards Creek watershed and ensuring that this irreplaceable longleaf pine habitat is never lost.”

The Coastal Land Trust plans to launch a public and private fundraising campaign to raise the $3 million needed to buy the tract.

The Coastal Land Trust has created and manages a number of nature preserves across eastern North Carolina, including Brunswick Nature Park, the Latham-Whitehurst Nature Park in Craven County, Brice’s Creek Nature Preserve in New Bern, and Springer’s Point Preserve on Ocracoke Island. The organization also manages the Stanley Rehder Carnivorous Plant Garden in Wilmington in partnership with the city.

The Army Corps of Engineers wants more time to mull over concerns that have been brought up on the proposed project to deepen and widen portions of the Wilmington Harbor channel.

The North Carolina Division of Coastal Management announced late Tuesday afternoon it had granted the Corps’ request, indefinitely pausing the division’s review of whether the proposed project is consistent with state coastal management program laws, regulations and policies.

“The decision to pause allows time for the Corps to review and consider issues raised by DCM and the public before DCM completes its review,” according to a release. “A timeline has not been established for when the pause may be lifted.”

The pause follows a series of deadline extensions that have been made in recent weeks on the proposed project, one that is being highly scrutinized for its potential effects to the environment, shorelines and treasure of historic and culturally significant areas along the shores of the lower Cape Fear River.

The N.C. State Ports Authority says the project designed to accommodate larger ships would attract more import and export business to the port, ease shipping congestion on the East Coast, and keep the state’s ports competitive. The proposal calls for deepening the harbor channel by 5 feet and widening portions of it from the mouth of the Cape Fear River to the Wilmington port.

In late December, the division announced that the Corps’ Wilmington District was giving the division more time to complete its review of the federal determination, pushing its deadline from Jan. 5 to Jan. 19.

The Corps requested the pause on Jan. 16, just days after state fisheries and wildlife resources officials sent the division memorandums saying those agencies continue to have concerns about impacts to fish and wildlife resources within the proposed project area.

A Corps spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment by deadline for this report.

In its Jan. 14 memorandum to the Division of Coastal Management, the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries reiterated its concerns about the proposed project’s effects on habitat essential to fish in the river, wetlands connected to the river, and the overall water quality in the river.

Deepening and widening the harbor as planned “will have significant adverse impacts to fisheries resources due to the permanent loss of state-designated nursery and anadromous fish spawning areas along the Cape Fear River estuary and its tributaries,” the memorandum states.

“There is also potential for significant adverse impacts to wetlands, (submerged aquatic vegetation), shellfish resources, and water column habitat due to insufficient mitigation plans and uncertain impacts associated with the proposed actions that are not adequately discussed,” in the federal letter report and draft environmental impact statement of the Wilmington Harbor 403 navigation project released in September. The figure 403 refers to the relevant section of the Water Resources Development Act.

N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission officials raised similar worries, stating in a Jan. 15 memorandum to DCM that while it had been involved throughout the project’s development process, “our agency still has concerns regarding impacts the proposal will have on wildlife resources in the project area.”

“These comments include concerns regarding the proposal’s direct impacts to wildlife habitats, whether impacts to these habitats have been adequately assessed, inadequacies of mitigation proposals, the need to consult appropriate agencies prior to moving forward with the proposal, and the subsequent impacts to wildlife and their habitats (particularly nesting waterbirds and shorelines) from larger and increased vessel use.”

A number of towns in Brunswick and New Hanover counties have adopted resolutions urging state and federal agencies to protect a series of islands within the lower Cape Fear River that support 30% of the state’s coastal shorebird population.

Those towns are also calling for the creation of a comprehensive, long-term, and fully funded environmental and adaptive management plan to cover costs related to monitoring and mitigation to prevent and repair environmental harm.

A Corps official earlier this month confirmed to Coastal Review that the agency was implementing a programmatic agreement with the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, the General Services Administration, the state Ports Authority, “and possibly the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation” to review historic and culturally significant areas along the river that may be impacted by the proposed project.

The agreement must be signed before the agency finalizes project plans, which would occur after the Corps releases its final environmental impact statement.

The final environmental impact statement is expected to be released sometime this summer, according to a tentative timeline released by the Corps. It is unclear how the Corps’ request of the state to pause its review may affect that projected timeline.

Once the review process resumes, DCM must decide whether to concur with or object the Corps’ determination.

“If DCM objects, it can offer alternatives or conditions that, if agreed to by the Corps, would allow the project to proceed,” according to the division.

Construction on the proposed project would begin no earlier than 2030 and take about six years to complete, a schedule Corps officials have said is optimistic.

The nonprofit organization that aims to preserve Bath’s history has asked the corporation selling an about 1,768-acre tract of riverfront property to consider separating out what it considers historically significant section of the land, Washington Daily News reported Jan. 19.

Currently owned by Nutrien, a global fertilizer company formerly operating as PCS Phosphate or PotashCorp, the multiparcel property known as Archbell Point is listed for $17.5 million.

The Historic Bath Foundation believes remnants of both Native American villages and early colonial plantations are among the important pieces of the area’s history that are within the property located across the Pamlico River from Nutrien Aurora’s phosphate mine.

The foundation feels that the property has the potential to be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, and wants Nutrien to consider separating out a historically significant part of the parcel that’s currently up for sale, Washington Daily News reported.

The land for sale has more than 3.4 miles of shoreline along the Pamlico River, Bath Creek and Duck Creek. Structures on the property include three houses, a workshop, around 180 tillable acres, 1,500 acres of timberland and freshwater ponds, the listing states.

The foundation sent a letter to Nutrien late last summer after learning the property was going to be sold asking the company to consider excluding the historic area from the sale, but has not received a response, Washington Daily News reported.

Foundation President Seth Effron told Washington Daily News that the group wants all parties to be aware of the “documented historic and archeological significance of portions of the site and have an opportunity to discuss ways to assure there is a full understanding on how to move ahead before these places are sold.”

The listing notes that the property “offers a variety of development possibilities — all subject to approval by Nutrien,” the current owners.

A New Hanover County forest that includes centuries-old trees has been added to a national list of threatened forests.

Sledge Forest, where bald cypress trees up to 500 years old tower over the forest floor, longleaf and loblolly pines are more than 300 years old and some of the Southeast’s largest remaining Atlantic White Cedar stand, has been added to the Old-Growth Forest Network’s national list of threatened forests.

The forest, one advocates point out is the last of its kind in the region, has been making headlines in recent months because it is situated within a parcel currently eyed for development.

The designation, announced Wednesday by the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees, or ACFT, and Save Sledge Forest, highlights “the urgency of preserving this irreplaceable ecological treasure,” according to a release.

“Once an old-growth forest is cleared, it cannot be replaced in our lifetimes or our children’s,” ACFT Executive Director Isabelle Shepherd stated in the release. “Sledge Forest is not just trees – it’s infrastructure. It absorbs millions of gallons of stormwater annually, reduces flooding, stabilizes soil, cools our county, and stores centuries of carbon. To degenerate and destroy it in such a way would be environmental malpractice.”

Sledge Forest rises from the banks of the Northeast Cape Fear River and sprawls thousands of acres across northern New Hanover County. It is part of the river floodplain, one of the largest landscape corridors in the southeastern part of the state.

Last year, a Charlotte-based development company submitted proposed plans to build thousands of single-family houses, a golf course, trails and a horse farm on about 1,000 acres of the 4,000-acre site that includes the forest. Much of the remaining 3,000 or so acres includes protected wetlands.

The forest is designated a North Carolina Natural Heritage Program Nationally Significant Natural Area, sheltering 13 imperiled plant species and seven at-risk animal species, according to the release.

The Old-Growth Forest Network is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving ancient forests in the nation, where, on average, fewer than 5% of original forests remain standing in the West and 1% remain in the East.

Organizations based here fighting to save the forest hope to get it designated as an area of conservation so it becomes a place for research, education and low-impact recreation.

“Let’s not make the mistake of seeing this land only as acreage to be subdivided,” Save Sledge Forest Cofounder Kayne Darrell said in the release. “It’s time for our leaders to recognize that some places are simply too valuable to destroy for development.”

A rare type of woodland spanning nearly 200 acres on Bald Head Island was recently added to a national network of protected, old-growth forests.

The 191-acre Bald Head Woods Reserve is now one of four North Carolina forests and the 277th to be added to the Old-Growth Forest Network. There are 39 states included in the network.

“The site is located in the central portion of Bald Head Island and is characterized by its extremely old, large live oak trees that create an intricate maritime forest canopy system,” according to a release from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

The N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve, a program of the department’s Division of Coastal Management, oversees Bald Head reserve and 9 other coastal reserve sites.

A dedication ceremony took place late last month.

“Showcasing this forest in the Network is an invitation to others to see what is ecologically possible. Less than one percent of old-growth forests remain in the eastern US,” Dan Camacho, Old-Growth Forest Network, said in a release. “These forests offer a glimpse into the ecological potential of our wild, native forest ecosystems. They offer a blueprint for sustaining biodiversity and a weapon for fighting climate change.”

Bald Head Woods Reserve was added to the N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve in 1993, a move that forever protects maritime forest and interdune swale communities on the land “as a living laboratory,” according to a state Department of Environmental Quality release.

N.C. Coastal Reserve Manager Rebecca Ellin said the program “is fortunate to be entrusted with the protection and preservation of ecologically important habitats on our coast. We appreciate the local partnerships and recent dedication from the Old-Growth Forest Network that support our management of the Reserves and promote stewardship of these natural areas.”

MANTEO — The Juneteenth celebration at the Pea Island Cookhouse Museum was held two days early this year, an event that focused on the African American experience as part of the fabric of our nation and that included the announcement of a new effort to help tell part of the story.

A glimpse into the Freedmen’s Colony experience may soon be brought to life thanks to a planned Fort Raleigh National Historic Site project, Ranger Isabel Gonzalez announced Saturday.

She said that the National Park Service is creating a 1.2-mile interpretive trail to help visitors understand the short-lived colony where formerly enslaved people of Roanoke Island got their first taste of freedom during the Union occupation early in the Civil War.

The trail project planning is still in its earliest stages, Gonzalez noted.

“Right now, there’s nothing out there. If you’re walking on it, you’re going to get bit by mosquitoes and that’s it,” she said.

The work, though, has begun on recreating the history and lives of the people who lived there, and Gonzalez described the stories that will be told along the trail once it is completed.

“We’re going to establish seven outdoor exhibits on the Freedom Trail that talk about not just what life was like in the Freedmen’s Colony but also present individual stories, actual people that lived there, because while we don’t have many pictures, we do have enough narratives to build stories for these individuals, to give them a voice,” she said.

Viewed as different

The Pea Island Cookhouse Museum is a small building on the west side of Manteo that has been meticulously restored and contains memorabilia and artifacts illustrating the Black experience in the U.S. Life-Saving Service. The building was, at one time, the cookhouse for the Pea Island Life-Saving Station, the only all-Black crew in the history of the Life-Saving Service, a tradition that continued even after the service became the U.S. Coast Guard in 1915. The station was deactivated in 1947.

The Pea Island Preservation Society is the organization that moved the cookhouse to Manteo and renovated the building.

During the Juneteenth event featuring lyric tenor and native son Tshombe Selby, a member of the Metropolitan Opera of New York, the society’s outreach director, Joan Collins, described what 19th century life was like for the Black crewmen.

Calling attention to Capt. Richard Etheridge, who in 1880 became the first Black captain of a Life-Saving Station, Collins described his history with the service and how it was defined by race.

“Before the all-Black Pea Island Life-Saving Station was formed, Richard Etheridge himself was part of what was called a checkerboard crew, a lifesaving crew that had both white and Black surfman,” she said.

“Why was there even a need to make a racially mixed station have a different name?” she asked and then answered her question. “Because they were viewed as different. These men frankly existed at a time when being white was right. And being Black meant you were looked at and you were viewed differently. But certainly, the heroes of this history, they were no different than anyone else.”

For Collins, the lessons of the checkerboard crews and the Pea Island Life-Saving Station continue to be relevant to understanding the call to freedom.

“Learn about it, share it, embrace it, challenge others to do the same,” she said. “Learn the powerful stories, the heroic stories, the sad stories, the complicated stories, the hopeful stories, the stories that remind us of the sound of freedom.”

Selby, as the featured performer, began the event with his a cappella interpretation of “The Star Spangled Banner,” staying true to the traditional melody while also displaying his operatic skills, range and nuance.

Performing with pianist John Buford, Selby also performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Written and composed by James Weldon Johnson and his brother, J. Rosamond Johnson in 1900, the song has become known as the African American national anthem.

In past years, Selby’s selections at the Juneteenth Pea Island Cookhouse celebration have focused on traditional spirituals, and some were included this year — “Give Me Jesus” and “He’s Got the Whole World in his Hands” among them. But he also brought more contemporary songs describing the Black experience, including Sam Cooke’s “Long Time Coming” and a rousing arrangement of “I Wish I Knew how It Would Feel to be Free,” a song made famous by Nina Simone.

The day’s events ended with the unveiling of Nags Head artist James Melvin’s most recent painting, “The Freedmen’s School,” depicting children and adults at a Freedmen’s school learning how to read.

With the purchase of nearly 9 acres at the entrance of Springer’s Point Preserve on Ocracoke Island, the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust has put in place what officials call the “final puzzle piece” in protecting the preserve.

The recently expanded 132-acre Springer’s Point Preserve permanently protects important and declining habitats of maritime forest and maritime shrub communities, tidal red cedar forest, and estuarine marsh, enhances water quality and protects riparian buffers along the Pamlico Sound and Old Slough, and bolsters the overall ecological integrity and resilience of Springer’s Point Preserve, according to the organization.

“Springer’s Point is an ecological and cultural treasure of Ocracoke and North Carolina,” said Walker Golder, executive director of the Coastal Land Trust, said Monday in a statement. “This latest acquisition was essential to protect the overall integrity of the Preserve.”

The preserve, which overlooks Teach’s Hole, is said by local lore to be the lair of Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard the pirate, and has been referred to as Teach’s Plantation.

“The expansion of Springer’s Point Preserve is about preserving and sharing an intimate, hidden part of what makes Ocracoke unique and magical,” said Lena Austin O’Neal, the Springer’s Point Preserve steward. “Being able to share the ecological gifts of our island and educating visitors about the importance of saving these special places is vital to a sustainable future for Ocracoke.”

The Coastal Land Trust first purchased 31 acres at Springer’s Point in 2002. An additional 91 acres was purchased in 2006 and the Coastal Land Trust officially opened the 122-acre Springer’s Point Preserve to the public. In May 2020, the Coastal Land Trust purchased two Pamlico soundfront tracts surrounded by the Preserve.

“With this latest purchase, the conservation of Springer’s Point, a long-time top priority for the Coastal Land Trust, is now complete,” said Golder.

Funding for the project was provided by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service North American Wetlands Conservation Act grant, a USFWS Coastal Wetlands grant, a North Carolina Land and Water Fund grant, an Ocracoke Occupancy Tax Board grant and generous private contributions.

NAVASSA — The Coastal Land Trust has purchased more than 1,000 acres along 3.5 miles of the Cape Fear River and 1.5 miles of Indian Creek in Brunswick County.

The property will be protected forever by the Coastal Land Trust and managed as a natural area.

The 1,048 acres is the heart of Dollison’s Swamp, a site identified as “very ecologically significant” by the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program, according to the trust. The designation is because of its age and near-pristine bottomland hardwood and cypress-gum forest.

“The area is a vast floodplain forest rich with wildlife,” Coastal Land Trust Executive Director Walker Golder said in a statement. “Protecting this forest will help reduce the risk and severity of flooding to downstream communities, protect habitat for wildlife, and enhance water quality.”

The site also was identified as a high-priority site for protection by the town of Navassa and the Coastal Land Trust as culturally and ecologically significant.

“This forest connects to a 1,337-acre property held under conservation easement by the Coastal Land Trust and adds to more than 14,000 acres the Coastal Land Trust has already protected along the Lower Cape Fear River,” said Golder. “Protecting this watershed remains one of our highest priorities.”

The area’s floodplain forest, creeks, and freshwater marsh provide important nursery areas for anadromous fish such as striped bass, American and hickory shad, and possibly Atlantic sturgeon, which is a federally listed threatened species.

The land also provides habitat for the rare Rafinesque’s big-eared bat, a threatened species, the southeastern bat, a species of special concern, and  for bottomland forest-dependent wading birds, waterfowl, raptors and songbirds, like the prothonotary warbler.

“This is a special place,” Janice Allen, Coastal Land Trust’s director of land protection. “The wild and wonderful Dollison’s Swamp of Brunswick County hosts countless buttressed cypress and swamp tupelo trees, many of them ancient. Fishermen, kayakers, and boaters regularly enjoy this scenic and secluded spot. Downstream, greater Wilmington area residents reap its myriad benefits because the swamp moderates floodwaters, filters water, and provides critical habitat for fish and wildlife.”

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program and an Enviva Forest Conservation Fund grant provided funding for the purchase. Enviva created its fund, which is administered by the U.S. Endowment for Forestry and Communities, to help protect sensitive bottomland forests in North Carolina and Virginia. 

The acquisition is part of the Kerr-McGee Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration program, with funding administered through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The Kerr-McGee Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration process aims to restore and preserve unique and vulnerable habitats in the Lower Cape Fear River watershed to compensate the public for natural resource injuries stemming from the Kerr-McGee Chemical Corp. Superfund site.

“This project was selected for funding because of its proximity to the Kerr-McGee site and because of the tract’s conservation significance,” said Krista McCraken of NOAA, one of the federal agencies involved in directing use of the Kerr-McGee settlement funds. “Being able to protect these unique habitats from future development benefits communities throughout the watershed.”

The Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation Corp. site is a former creosote wood-treating facility on a 250-acre parcel of land adjacent to the Cape Fear River, Brunswick River and Sturgeon Creek in Navassa. The facility was established in 1936, quit operating in 1974 and was dismantled 1979-1980.  Creosote and sludge remain on the site from the wood treatment process, which led to the release of semi-volatile organic compounds into the surrounding environment. In 2010, EPA designated the property a Superfund site.

The North Carolina Coastal Land Trust enriches coastal communities of North Carolina through conservation of natural areas and working lands, education, and the promotion of good land stewardship. Founded in 1992, the Coastal Land Trust has saved more than 80,000 acres of land with scenic, recreational, historic and/or ecological value, and has offices in Wilmington, New Bern and Elizabeth City. www.CoastalLandTrust.org.

A burn ban went into effect at noon Monday and all burning permits have been canceled for 26 counties, including a handful on the coast, until further notice.

The North Carolina Forest Service issued the ban because of an increased fire risk for the following counties: Anson, Beaufort, Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Duplin, Greene, Harnett, Hoke, Jones, Lee, Lenoir, Moore, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, Pender, Pitt, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson, Scotland and Wayne.

“Our state is getting drier and hotter, and wildfires like those conditions,” said Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler in a statement. “These conditions coming during spring wildfire season when wildfire activity and fire risks are already elevated, make this burn ban necessary to protect life and property in North Carolina.”

Under North Carolina law, the ban prohibits all open burning in the affected counties, regardless of whether a permit was previously issued. The issuance of any new permits has also been suspended until the ban is lifted.

Open burning includes burning leaves, branches or other plant material. In all cases, burning trash, lumber, tires, newspapers, plastics or other nonvegetative material is illegal.

Local fire departments and law enforcement officers are assisting the North Carolina Forest Service in enforcing the burn ban. Anyone violating the burn ban faces a $100 fine plus $183 court costs. Any person responsible for setting a fire may be liable for any expenses related to extinguishing the fire.

The Forest Service will continue to monitor conditions. Residents with questions regarding a specific county can contact their Forest Service county ranger or their county fire marshal’s office.

Grilling is permitted if no other local ordinances prohibit their use though campfires are considered open burning and are not exempt from the burn ban. During a burn ban, portable gas stoves or grills are alternate methods for cooking food while camping.

The burn ban issued by the Forest Service does not apply to a fire within 100 feet of an occupied dwelling. Local governments have jurisdiction over open burning within 100 feet of an occupied dwelling.

The N.C. Forest Service has advised county fire marshals of the burning ban and has asked for their consideration of also implementing a burning ban. If a fire within a 100-foot area of a dwelling escapes containment, a North Carolina forest ranger may take reasonable steps to extinguish or control it. The person responsible for any expenses related to extinguishing the fire.

Third in a series of columns on the origins of North Carolina’s natural heritage program and the statewide network of private land trusts conservancies. Read more.

Twenty years ago, in June 2000, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted a legislative goal that then-Gov. James Hunt Jr. had first set forth as his executive goal the year before, declaring that 1 million more acres in North Carolina should be permanently protected as parks, forests, natural areas, farmlands, streamside natural buffers, and other urban and community “open space” reserves before the end of 2010.

The goal was to increase the scale of protected lands in North Carolina to a total of 3.8 million acres in permanently conserved lands, equating to about 11% of the state’s total land area.

By the end of the year 2020, North Carolina finally attained that original goal to have 3.8 million acres of protected land, 10 years “late.” Good, but why so slow? The short answer is because of reduced public funding for land conservation by the state legislature and its termination of the state’s tax credits to private landowners willing to conserve their land.

Approximately 86.5% of protected lands in North Carolina is in public ownership, owned and managed by national, state or local governmental agencies. The rest of the protected land is held in ownerships either by private landowners who voluntarily entered into conservation easement management agreements or are owned by nonprofit conservation organizations including The Nature Conservancy, National Audubon Society and the statewide network of land trust conservancies.

The Division of Land and Water Stewardship in the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources tracks the progress of land conservation in North Carolina. Its land conservation 2010 status report observed that the importance for protecting natural areas and rural landscapes continues to grow as science and the public recognize the critical values of ecosystem services, clean water, clean air, locally produced food, environmental buffers against climate changes, the links between human and environmental health, and the interconnections between environmental and economic vitality. Those observations remain true today. North Carolina’s population continues to grow along with greater land development pressures and conversion.

People are increasingly visiting and using public parks and greenways and valuing protected green spaces. Practically every year, our parks in North Carolina experience another 10% increase in public use and visitations. Practically every local public referendum for increasing funding for parks and land conservation passes by large margins. For example and in demonstration of that overwhelming public support for land conservation, Wake County voters overwhelmingly voted in November 2019 by nearly a 70% margin in favor of greater public funding ($120 million) for more county parks, nature preserves, greenways and protected rural “open space” lands.

North Carolina should be striving to increase the scale of protecting our premiere natural heritage land assets, rural landscapes, and vital environmental resources.

The mission for land and environmental conservation is not accomplished. With all the pressures of population growth, continued conversion of private farmlands and forests to intensive development, demands and impacts on limited water supplies, consequences of a changing climate, diminished food production, and greater public needs for more outdoor recreational opportunities and environmental health security, North Carolina should be striving to increase the scale of protecting our premiere natural heritage land assets, rural landscapes and vital environmental resources.

We would be smart to expand our strategies to embrace more incentives and public education, as well as higher investments of state and local public funds to achieve a greater scale and scope of land conservation and protection across our state and in all our communities. We should expand efforts to educate and engage more private landowners in natural resources conservation management and enhancement agreements, providing them greater levels of financial incentives and technical assistance.

President Biden has recommitted the USA’s engagement with efforts by the world’s community of nations to reduce the dire consequences of climate change. One important element of that ambitious international strategy is to assure conservation and preservation of at least 30% of the Earth’s land areas and waters by 2030. That “30 x 30” goal will translate down from the international, to national, to state levels. Of course, Western states possess much larger amounts of protected natural and rural landscapes, particularly where much of the land in those states remain in public ownership.

To contribute to attaining a substantial increase in the scale of natural and rural land resources protection, North Carolina needs to expand its land conservation efforts and funding.

At present, only 11% of North Carolina’s total land area is considered protected for its natural and environmental resources. To contribute to attaining a substantial increase in the scale of natural and rural land resources protection, North Carolina needs to expand its land conservation efforts and funding.

In demonstration of that need, the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust recently completed its $35.8 million capital campaign that expanded its conservation of high-priority natural areas in the coastal region and helps finance its growing land conservation stewardship responsibilities. The tasks and needs for protecting other important natural land resources are far from completed.

Let’s enlarge our vision to protect more natural areas and essential water bodies and to assure the conservation of more forests and farmlands in private ownerships. Let’s aspire and invest to protect and conserve our premiere natural heritage, rural landscapes, and water resources.