19950459 Ver 1_COMPLETE FILE_19950110

_ State of North Carolina ?9TMITM
Department of Environment,
Health and Natural Resources D
Wilmington Regional Office MAY 2 ??
Division of Coastal Management__________________________
James B. Hunt, Jr., Governor
Jonathan B. Howes, Secretary
Roger N. Schecter, Director
May 1, 1995
MEMORANDUM:
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TO: Mr. A. Preston Howard, P.E., Director *.. to
Division of Environmental Management FO
FROM: John R. Parker qo yl '?f
Major Permits Processing Coordinator
s
SUBJECT: CAMA/DREDGE & FILL Permit Application Review
Applicant: Eva S. Ketelsleger
Project Location: Channel marker 139 in the AIWW, north end of Goat's Island, New Hanover Co.
Proposed Project: the construction of a vacation home and pier on an undeveloped island within the
Masonboro Island Estuarine Research Reserve System.
Please indicate below your agency's position or viewpoint on the proposed project and return this form
by May 22, 1995. If you have any questions regarding the proposed project, please contact Tere Barrett
at extension 246. When appropriate, in-depth comments with supporting data is requested.
REPLY: This agency has no objection to the project as proposed.
This agency has no comment on the proposed project.
This agency approves of the project only if the recommended changes are
incorporated. See attached.
This agency objects to the project for reasons described in the attached comments.
U,,; R? ?;l•c-1
SIGNED] DATE
127 Cardinal Drive Extension, Wilmington, N.C. 28405-3845 • Telephone [phone] Fax [phone]
An Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer
DIVISION OF COASTAL MANAGEMENT
FIELD INVESTIGATION REPORT
1. APPLICANT'S NAME: Eva S. Ketelsleger
2. LOCATION OF PROJECT SITE: Channel marker 139 in the AIWW, north end of Goat's
Island, New Hanover County.
Photo Index - 1989: 178-23 gr. 11 & 12, L thru N 1984: 17-217 gr. 8 & 9, P thru R
State Plane Coordinates - X: 2345000 Y: 143700
3. INVESTIGATION TYPE: CAMA
4. INVESTIGATIVE PROCEDURE: Dates of Site Visit - 2/15/94
Was Applicant Present - Yes
5. PROCESSING PROCEDURE: Application Received - cc: 3/31/95
Office - Wilmington
6. SITE DESCRIPTION:
(A) Local Land Use Plan - New Hanover County
Land Classification From LUP - Conservation
(B) AEC(s) Involved: PT, EW, ES, CW
(C) Water Dependent: Pier - yes; Home - no.
(D) Intended Use: Vacation home
(E) Wastewater Treatment: Existing - None
Planned - Septic system
(F) Type of Structures: Existing - None
Planned - Residence, Pier
(G) Estimated Annual Rate of Erosion: N/A
Source - N/A
7. HABITAT DESCRIPTION: [AREA]
DREDGED FILLED
OWN 77!-i
f 4
br;
191995
INCORP
(A) Vegetated Wetlands
Spartina alterniflora 360 sf
Mixed high marsh 120 sf
(B) Non-Vegetated Wetlands
(C) Other
High Ground .5 ac 1400 sf
Open Water 980 sf
(D) Total Area Disturbed: .5 acre
(E) Primary Nursery Area: Yes
(F) Water Classification: SA-ORW Open: Yes
8. PROJECT SUMMARY: Applicant proposes to construct a vacation home and pier on an
undeveloped island within the Masonboro Island Estuarine Research Reserve System.
Ketelsleger
Page 2
9. PROTECT DESCRIPTION 4/28195
The project site is a private island lying within the boundaries (but is not a part of) the Masonboro
Island Estuarine Research Reserve System, in the vicinity of the AIWW channel marker 139. The
island is approximately 34 acres in size, and is divided into three tracts. The project tract is 18.57 acres
in size. This is an estuarine island that does not directly border the Atlantic Ocean. The island is
bordered by a wide expanse of regularly flooded marsh to the east, and the AIWW to the west. The
island is partially within the US Army Corps of Engineers right of way, and has been used previously
for spoil disposal. The perimeter of the island is wooded, and heavily vegetated with typical understory
vegetation such as wax myrtle and cat brier. The inner and largest portion of the island is sparsely
vegetated with vegetation showing early stages of succession. As would be expected on a spoil island,
this area is largely void of vegetation, and has a very sandy substrate. The island averages 15' in
elevation.
New Hanover County classifies this island as Conservation. The Plan addresses development on barrier
islands and states that any development must be water dependent if five criteria are met. This island
meets only four of these criteria, and is questionably called a "barrier island. In addressing estuarine
islands, the Plan requires that certain measures be taken, such as utilities provision, access on and off
the island, etc. The applicant has spent the past year trying to address and satisfy these requirements,
and feel she has done so. The County attorney has stated that the project is exempt from the
subdivision ordinance addressing infrastructure road systems. This interpretation is included.
The waters of Masonboro Sound are classified SA-ORW by the Division of Environmental
Management; this area is a designated Primary Nursery Area; and the waters are open to the taking
of shellfish. Federal flood insurance is not available for any development on this island. The New
Hanover County Health Department Sanitarian has visited the site, and determined that a septic system
permit is available. They have chosen not to issue this permit until the applicant can show permits for
the primary use, namely, the residence.
The location of this island within the Estuarine Research Reserve System has necessitated full review,
and a major CAMA permit.
The proposal is to construct a single family residence on the northern end of the island, with a pier
extending westward towards the AIWW. The home and deck proposed have a total footprint of 1368
square feet. There will be no associated patios, driveways, or other impervious surfaces. The home
will be serviced by a well and septic system, and will utilize a gasoline generator, transporting fuel to
the island during visits. The residence is to be constructed east of the AIWW right of way. At its
closest point, the home will be approximately 160' from mean high water. The applicant anticipates
approximately 1/2 acre will have to be graded for the construction of the home, and the installation of
the well and septic system.
A boardwalk is proposed to connect the home to the proposed pier to the west. The boardwalk would
be approximately 350' in length, and 4' wide. The proposed pier will be 6' wide, and extend for 160'
in length. Approximately 20' of this is above mean high water, 60' stretches over Spartina alterniflora,
and the remaining 80' extends into the open body of water. The pier connects to a 20' x 25' T-head,
terminating in -3.8' mean low water, approximately 200' from the AIWW.
For hurricane evacuation the applicant has proposed and been approved by the County to utilize a pier
on property they own on Topsail Island. Though the policy in the Land Use Plan requires a access to
the mainland, the New Hanover County Planning Department has determined that access onto an island
with a DOT maintained bridge satisfies this requirement.
14. ANTICIPATED IMPACTS
Approximately 1/2 acre of high ground will be graded and filled for home construction, and well and
septic tank installation. The project falls far below the percentage allowance for built-upon area within
the ORW Estuarine Shoreline. The boardwalk will be placed on 1400 square feet of high ground. The
pier will be elevated over approximately 120 square feet of mixed high marsh, approximately 360
square feet of SSpartina alterniflora, and will incorporate approximately 980 square feet of open water.
Wetlands will be crossed with equipment and supplies during construction. This must be accomplished
very carefully in order not to damage the wetland system.
Submitted by: T. Barrett Date: 4/28/95 Office: Wilmington
Please type or print. Carefully describe all anticipated
development activities, including construction, excava-
tion, filling, paving, land clearing, and stormwater con-
trol. If the requested information is not relevant to your
project, write N/A (not applicable). Items 1-4 and 8-9
must be completed for all projects.
1 APPLICANT
a. Name ?A ?i?tclSfe er
Address _D n r fp
CityXaa AysL+?!1:n State /
Zip-? ?3y.2 -Day phone ClIe- .2 3 3
ar dCitmer or A Ut C:.Ze 4. agc it
b. Project name (if any) No Wa-
c. If the applicant is not the landowner, also give the
owner's name and address.
Mb
2 LOCATION OF PROPO
a.
b
C.
e.
If you plan to build a marina, also complete and
attach Form DCM-MP-2.
b. Is the proposed activity maintenance of an
existing project, new work, or both?
Ne W or Ic
c. Will the project be for community, private, or
commercial use?
d. Describe the planned use of the project.
'? t7 I U:#3te -Vlq A-ti e a 7Y rv, e?
4 LAND AND WATER
CHARACTERISTICS
a/Size Size of entire tract f?'
/,, lQ,?
of individual lot(s) !V Ia
vation of tract above mean sea level or
tional Geodetic Vertical Datum '
r -aven .
PROJECT JUN ?y4d. Soil type(s) and texture(s) of tract ,
ISION RIV..D
Street address or secondary road number D
N D N e_ r, n a c,- L MANAGFe Oe etation-on tract
llg c s
j_-
City, town, community, or landmark
_?'Y\ H K > 3 4 jr f. Man-made features now on tract ka N e
m?scuo?rz? ? cw.?shi j 1 , 1 19C`5
County f) )MA a4 o e r - ? M. g What is the CANIA Land Use Plan Classification of
is proposed Work within its or planning;a; , thP?ci!?7 (('Cngi?t the local 1?,rd s use ntn.,
CILy llm t. . ...,..)
b L
T
jurisdiction? 1???' i.? '??l A/ n,t!er' ecuNfb/'-
?;-
Conservation Transitional
Name f body of water nearest project Developed Community
Z r. /, t 4 1 Rural Other
3 DESCRIPTION AND PLANNED USE
OF PROPOSED PROJECT
a. Describe all development activities you propose (for
example, building a home, motel, marina, bulkhh1ad,
or pier). YA e A,fie6I m-° 4#
h. How is the tract zoned by local government?
e-20
i. How are ad'acent waters classified?
D I
j. Has a professional archaeological survey been
carried out for the tract? Y P If so, by whom?
3/91
5 UPLAND DEVELOPMENT
Complete this section if the project includes any land
development.
a. Type and number of buildings, facilities, or
structures proposed QXe re sILt/lz 9
A1, < E-1
b. Number of lots or parcels d N (??,
c. Density (Give the number of residential units and the
units per acre.) n 9e, Of 5 ?
nil !9,c- h AA/
• u
d. Size of area to be graded or disturbed
Q4 If An f= 1)/ y 1 C f
tL t1 1r'b . •?_.- t;-n one
G. 11 the proposed pi l,? 'ti w-111
acre of land, the Division of Land Resources must
receive an erosion and sedimentation control plan at
least 30 days before land disturbing activity begins.
If applicable, has a sedimentation and erosion
control plan been s tted to the Division of Land
Resources?
f. Give the percentage of the tract within 75 feet of
mean high water to be covered by impermeable
surfaces, such as pavement, buildings, rooftops.
Ian ?ve-
g. List the materials, such as marl, paver stone, asphalt,
or concrete, to be used for paved surfaces.
?l n uP c? u rr Ge s 5ec?
h. If applicable, has a stormwater management plan
been submitted to the Division of Environmental
Management? /
i. Describe proposed sewage disposal and/or waste
water treatment facilities
S e •p ?t ??
m. Water supply source N ?! ) rl t d?
n. If the project is oceanfront development, describe
the steps that will be taken to maintain established
public beach accessw•ays or provide new access.
o. If the project is on the oceanfront, what will be the
elevation above mean sea level of the first habitable
floor?._JpL,L$
6 EXCAVATION AND FILL
INFORMATION
a. Describe below the purpose of proposed excavation
or fill activities (excluding bulkheads, which are
covered in Section 7).
]11o Gx?"'`'a Length ; Vvtdth =Dept
Access channel
(ML W) or (NN'
Boat
Other
water ivy F C1'?
boat ramp,
S
rock jetty)
Fill placed itrOP`S?P
wetland or below k v
f i
MHW
Have these facilities received state or local approval? Upland fill WD ff e-
A 2121, ATJ e N --DPA/d i Nc areas
--- J
k. Describe existing treatment facilities.
IN U ('e.
1. Describe location and type of discharges to waters of
the state (for example, surface runoff, sanitary
wastewater, industrial/commercial effluent, "wash
down"). D Me
S ^J
S\7 L???jjj?
.hJ
R, ,1 095
OF
?, ra AGES
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b. Amount of material to be excav;ted from below
water level in cubic yards k/tr uel?
c. Type of material
d. Does the area to be excavated include marshland,
swampif!ml-
e. d? ands)
High ground excavation, in cubic yards,,
?iY?
?or Itoa5 pprv X.AA e !y
2 /'J 4 Cl? q7PACa*1' 3/91
f. Dimension It off spoil disposal area c. Shoreline erosion during preceding 12 months, in
feet
g. Locadon of spoil disposal area d
h. Do you claim title to the disposal area?
If not, attach a letter granting permission from the
owner.
i. Will a disposal area be available for future
maintenance?
If so, where?
j. Does the disposal area include any marshland,
swamps, oryv?ter areas?
/
e.
Type of bulkhead material , Z
Amount of fill, in cubic rdss, to be placed below
mean high water
f. Type of fill material
8 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
In addition to the completed application form, the follow-
ing items must be submitted:
k. Will the fit aterial be placed below mean hsgh A enpv of the do-d (with state application only) or other
water??? instrument under which the applicant claims title to the
1. Amount of fill in cubic yards 4//A
m. Type of fill material/!y
n. Source of fill material &IL
o. Will fill material be placed on marsh c
wetlands? 0) 1
p. Dimensipps of the wetland to be filled
q. How will excavated or fill material be?Ct on
affected property. If the applicant is not claiming to be
the owner of said property, then forward a copy of the
deed or other instrument under which the owner claims
Jr is written permt sion from the owner to carry out
' e '.ct.Ffoor Pall a-
0P?tf`IG. d(c..s IS GdCi6S4
190n accurate work plat (including plan view and cross
/ sectional drawings) drawn to scale in black ink on an 8
ON P. x 11 white paper. (Refer to Coastal Resources
ANA won Rule 7J.0203 for a detailed description.)
and erosion controlled? Please note that original drawings are preferred and
,only,high?,uality copies will be accepted. Blue-line
J C" pnrifs or?oo er larger plats are acceptable only if 18 high
quality copies are provided by applicant. (Contact the
What type of construction equipment will -be usWP, j 1 ?S"Ami'.Corps of Engineers regarding that agency's
(for example, dra line, backhoe, or hydraulic use of larger drawings.) A site or location map is a part
dredge)? l?/ 19 a- ;_ _Xi z t_, of plat requirements and it must be sufficiently detailed
to guide agency personnel unfamiliar with the area to the
- ' site ' Triclude county read (SR) numbers, landmarks. and
Will wetlands be crossed in transporting equipment
to project site? If yes, explain steps that will
be taken to lessen environmental impacts.
U.5 e. ter A, el 4.1K
7 SHORELINE STABILIZATION
---?! o SH0<&LrNL- S5 r s r "zn- ion( IeDIFE-5
a. Length of bulkhead or riprap
b. Average distance waterward of mean high water or
normal water level
?:F i7- ?s der rn Guild
4 ? e QU n.ct - L eu &L L 6gedwaAC
3/91 5-*ror, T h- h&v5- T_0t't` fDtcr., phi 5
by%,, ,,..1,.I „/ k ?/ 1 be 4-(dlPrb?/ Imxl'tety
the like.
A stormwater management plan, if applicable, that
may have been developed in consultation with the
Division of Environmental Management.
A list of the names and complete addresses of the
adjacent waterfront (riparian) landowners. These
individuals have 30 days in which to submit comments
on the proposed project to the Division of Coastal
Management and should be advised by the applicant of
that opportunity.

C. 6ulh
Dame ?J-, k o1w reNc e_ SL4k JerS6&1
Address Tile, r< a sw r s n oc? C rs e fe
J) ;Z
Name
Address
C? Name I YO Ne Lu;7`h , N X 000
Address
A list of previous state or federal permits issued for
work on the project tract. Include permit numbers,
permittee, and issuing dates.
WoNe-
A check for $250 made payable to the Department of
Environment, Health, and Natural Resources to cover
the costs of processing the application.
A signed AEC hazard notice for projects in oceanfront
and inlet areas.
A statement on the use of public funds. If the project
involves the expenditure of public funds, attach a state-
ment documenting compliance with the North Carolina
Environmental Policy Act (N.C.G.S. 113A-1 to 10).
9 CERTIFICATION AND PERMISSION
TO ENTER ON LAND
Any permit issued in response to this application will
allow only the development described in the application.
The project will be subject to conditions and restrictions
contained in the permit.
I certify that to the best of my knowledge, the proposed
activity complies with the State of North Carolina's ap-
p,oved Coastal Management Program and will be con-
ducted in a mariner consistent with such program.
I further certify that I am authorized to grant, and do in
fact, grant permission to representatives of state and
federal review agencies to enter on the aforementioned
lands in connection with evaluatins information related
to this permit application and follow-up monitoring of
project.
This is the 7_ day of , 19
X
Landowner or Authorized agen
17-1
1 -173
i . n 1 Min
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J 1 1995
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LIGNELL W. HOOD I11 (BILLY)
REGISTERED LAND SURVLYOn
118 Friendly Lane
Wilmington. NC 28409
[phone]
FAX [phone]
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PROPOSED PIER
MASONBORO SOUND, NEW HANOVER COUNTY
For
EVA S. KETELSLEGER
P.O. BOX 56
KENANSVILLE NC 28349
June 7, 1994
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NURC/UNCW Fax:[phone] Jun 12 '95 1128 P.02/06
NIortH GarO?iri'e tiarial-DWidh ;. Ae"Oeh- deserve' : • '
Cerlteg fpr -A4$ri?tet.5eier?oe:'ltesecfi .. ;
The LFniversity 6f.North• Cmlix "at Wilmington . ; 4 • ,
:7205 Wri itmile Avenue
' Wilrniriptgn; Narth,?aroGita:28403
. ? .. r '910-256t-372i?:: • i .. .
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•.MAy,' ,'3*? ' 1995 ••? ' '•'i•, ' • -';'
Major•'"tarmts' Coordfi?tCOr' i
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'>Ct~ivisivn ?• cP:.` Coastal R'ariag ' ?snt'•
,. ?tmoMs. ' : •' < : br.? .?ohn? ?.'t'aggart.. • • ?• : • . ..
Coasta...Reserve ordfr?at?c .
?.
>hfvisicn: a •.. oa a l atnag on.
speo Al Assitatm>n to.:the anat3 ' for: '
lmirversi tY ' of ? north Ca'rolrh : at ! W# l rigton:
Atva Keta 61.4 age
?t7BCC'FS • ,
:. . o : •.G at Ytiiiartd•. J#ithin'-th Hetaan ? ro •?sland sitpl/tx
F
e.'Gor atal' Renerve PrograW and.:i*•:yniv;, refty ; of 'north: Carcli is ;
Wimszkgtan,' have. , jSnt7 :' revitwed : t is ' .ptarritit;: ':appicatian
.:reiat?:ve the antjo9:pated'. mpacti off' •`,the; prooose'd. devekapn?erit, ate:''
tlia .MasanbQro" Island.' co?aponant.•. ot•• ;the orth' Caroling 'ationa?l'.'
Ratitgrirta : A*iro&rah :R*"rve.. X71+ ew • .ha?s tts est in tCiie; :paZ'?lft: ;'
:'.'.; : ,:, '' •'be ais o: t2io u>'i v r ty: l:..: houses'.abd: slu rta:the. Retiezvo' rograz.,. ' ' : •
:.,•'bar an.:::existin .:6iDo0er'ativ6 ..agreement, wit tie.. Divisfo>Y; owns:,:..; •' .
.'. 'grope?ty":directly: ??orq„ss;h'.waterwa?--fromj ' heipiraac.'st;
Users; the ;.islaind comg, ox'regularly-.:-. or ri et?rch. ttnd,:°sdtYCaki.onal'
The . Reserve. ma?rte?sement :. plan -show: ;that tie.. companesit <bOOridary .: :: •'.
,
;. gin-compasses Goat ' "Xa.?and ' (ploase sea . attat? d map);: i#owever the
5tate:' aoes '::Bot:.Ritve:' title thin' jpropert' •: si:l?it:B .it ' f i •p i:vately ....:. ,
:`'ownet?.'•( .: . , , , Ke ei s tiger,,.. ri part?;-•?tith. an'.oasenient' to 'the u_.S.
;
Army Corps .: of ;EIYq:iftta$ra tor..th..purp of +iredgti :ntaterfeiX;:.
c eposit'ion:. . ,
. I
The proposed ditsvelopmi?i?t; raise?'.a:!c3efinf :ts. r,?a?er ;qum'l?ty•;coiiGSt`ts:;:..; •;
kela`Cijle.t twit:: tsussoanding'':.est? mane' as ers•.r Mrs. KetQlae:' .
' at# oci. Hawsvi r''the Niw.
wi;tsliee; to 't se' a • septj .tank' to arid3 •` kin kin
. aknover:;'coiln "Soil Survey inapa slay d ' s dredge spo?Ci .wh4ch. ; .
C." AAnk 'a
has
Of 'IDOIL&12D'
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`' . iEtc?eive isa .
'Y'he Nort}iCwdfng Natioriai k tiNtsrfiie RoseaitcF craa r ? e atrr tx?lweeH tip di, 'and
. • ' : ?J?iveraiEy of Irlaith Caroline u? ??iiicttn?ton, 7'he?•NOitli• t;.eroHna •1D:e?, . . o mament;' , .. .. .
tm%tt?hek 'Administsation.
1Vatio?al'Reout`ce?l;Giviston Of t;oast?i' Managorenf; and dw Naikxsal.Oix F?ic 4nd Ayte'
• .I I
NURC/UNCW Fax : [phone] Jun 12 '95 1129 P.03/06
Mr.. John Parkor
'.' Page.: 11
'may UI : 199 i ,
"marshes!!': •(,SCS; 19.77 F. pzt$i? 38) •.' In additi.? 1i, ,Iieteliliger
propoeea tQ 'use ;a.Vas!-pow ked- gsnarator as.: n. nargy„ aQ?irca? : '.Thus,
a ;€?tn?. spo='s'tc?re<ge tcnlt.'Zealc in ouch .? '?ibil caule? a.lsa ;pollute
the
• 'ac®iYt• :e`atuary. ' •
The proposed: 'd'evelaOmO-nt' `t Qij d t-I :with •''thO' Coastail: ;
:'.:sseve :Ratlitions ' {T1:5. oT0 :.:+?2a.) : ();: I?c1 Activity ?mil be
4 .1.awed ' w ; ch• :might pol.iute• :any: stream' 'q boc y:• of Metter.; , in. ' the
Resei"ve ; -?.. {} ;cisct?args ; of• lfgu#cs ''ot er, them.: uzrcontaminate
';e'sti?ar i ewat , '?.Marsarbor'a' I?sland'• as' ba' speaificaliy :ekc u irs! ::
.and'• dii1griated as :ek site' for. xeseatch; ucAtion.' :a>
:recraa ional:::irses:Degradatipi '•o€ the tefs' nat aY' inte9rity :. : -.
°must' :bye; -'avoided ta° maintain . i.ts . priatin cl?arroter'' °.i'or.: future
:.: .. ,
i.
"g'eri?:ri?tiorie of,* eis
tion:.ti1'is., TJnw:prqp y' Myrt? hove', is :the'; prapoasd '
a
4itet: for'•; a. now marine mbiertce can or' to : finder conatruction' in.,
t?ia ;ne?r;• future:«:. ...This' ..'faciTity..w3, i re ' fre. access:` tvia intake :
P pe?;..to' vnpalluted: ratara• of.tl a IRtxacoa's a1 ,waterway,:ad?eiGgnt to „
:.the. propo®ed: clcvelogment
...••
P:n,,• • : Tliis'r pei^ait.' : rcviaw ' i • :particc ai;n y...im •' rts?i?t as '. thigrd ` iniky•
:other iit dtvi lual's Wd-shing, to.,. dtvel ad a ' ant; .00i'1 Ialthd -tracts .. .
aciang''',;tte ••waterway boundetr eserv' '.ompof- the pnent': The-'®fore,;
: we: reco fiend .that the.,.. be denied'«:
call' Dr:.: TA Art... you haVv. •aAy
;.•...;.
Thank :you.
CO..: -mari?ahf :McPbaul :.... ; .
. • .. '•, ?;Jratmes 'Merr3?tt??. ..
ry
•.; ? Roger. Scbecter.; .. , , • .
Die ..Steve 'Ross : i '
At.taohn?eriC i . ;
, NURC/UNCW Fax :[phone] Jun 12 '95 1130 P.04/06
North C'ar i:atic na.l. Est:uarin:e:...:.:.. : .
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:Masontioro :FsTand .ompanent.` ':
NURC/UNCW Fax:[phone] Jun 12 '95 1131 P.05/06
C ? • :?% ice:%'.: ':4? ':.?RDeI-
-'` :Vied E' of
ase" areas acv the
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depcfa;te as?'.tfiaurrosmdirig soil lch, ' p ?; mo?•`pa'lm'; Is
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>t iay, vovc>d; ' ,
areas bats o veglt8tf0>Z` or tiny 'sPax
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-wit ,: vase :rtioa axw :ews +ori ; A ; $ett : Of the al sr: . establi.
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hs ht :' xom' ?+ to; 15 . first :.but • most &3* ias?' .. tbari 18 feed: ! ha. .
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tease'
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aholl• Era. ate. ?
aacity. for' ee>?ia :?zik .-ef£itt?n::d :: I r :'is 'i .haz??><d ?! ''
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NURC/UNCW Fax : [phone] Jun 12 '95 1131 P.06/06
l:llr•Il - c?: r r.i r.,'.j>' r:?: tr l:,i'rr-.?? iIS, 070.000 : . .
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iij >< ittanagr the rnrtt mites &W rcP04 tci tlrc irc`tVt;rtir +ir,i rtia : of•ttic ai,pru.cd r,latr,nd:s:rr? dthct : ;.
t,e harirrlut tci alie artthtitE took ee,hi'tlre ltc, ivt.: ' .
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'F'lia l lta;?i7ng,tific:i?ctcrircrrirnt,;slrall n ??1? ' n.rrYF i+t.th cornP.r w1rt of the ItescrVe:
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.' tcti?itiies do not tiicrut+i.titc twtttir:rl.iiurl,?iity ou'dw Ownr.cr ' atti4 fetcarib,or.cdtieatianaf•ptokels.
" ' fricais??til+lc tnsilitic,riaC e??ct ?tr..tt ii,ctu?k: •.. • •• ' • , .:; • ? • ' .. .'
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' :. tr.•rn?l,ct ntic?rt acio6 irig tir'.t{ic'mssttil micht 1.1at'?
(C Y •pmctucirott of poesy cliantrFitc Ito- ltoc#I., u4kilifc'ai[tcl lilt: acct utic cnjrryen?ir4 of'tlic Rrksrve as a
line I arM.'. C.
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hnUntluics, sltrrt3; rltii l,i? nIlcrni?tl st?ith2xtt ttlc airAtati ?emtissi it`orthe Phi-aiott ?fCotr tat
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44.b} 1,11C mb":tgctrccrtt aFenty.
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.:.(4) • NO, cilher trtt's ar.,tt?c tehick areditr6tuitfal•ti+.oic'ttt;i"tst'rwnci!.Or dic jiritkrtj--itr-its ttstarie •
contlatitip'shall he 96k ca l.kling, lout no(,:tertu tin tci;: 0isr t!&i0c .:)f••'trrc no n9,: crnn- .. '
' ?? •?icrciat?or itictti?fri.?t:?scs,',tittit?r•ti.•?ncctipg: ctitr)??g ftd.draj ?inF,:det+ttsttierr•of trmt?: titrtc?b. • ?' .
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NURC/UNCW Fax:[phone] Jun 12 '95 1127 P.01/06
-MOM .
I or i'Cara?haNitionatEstu0ii?e',.:R arch l es i e.
:
Ceintei for.' -Marine- 5det oe. Rese?c?i
Tiie.UniWsity.:ot Nvith•CeroNiliit :ti'Vf ?ngtvn _ . .
• _. ? ? "72p,S,R+rightsvillc Avemle '. ' ' ? ? ? ..... .
.,Wilmington, Norilf'6 Ainal8'40i i
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mod:.
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9' isltC?t R49tarCh " '.
7. o5' :Wri4kavf e'. Avenue'
1mI:ngt6n ' N.• 2:8403,
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•... ...... ..... .: '•? ,•.•': • .. ... •:: (9?Oj•: ?5'6--88'56:- .
e •
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Number .of: Pages: (,frta?uding : coder. ,page}
Cam*ents.:
h
'S i...cjn is d
The N'oi th,Carolll i N&tloAal.F.Stl?Artite:Iit ?ctire FVr. ki 0 c rxfperaHyc n?vilzram hc+t:..x:e? Il?o,
:• " ETni?e ,v of?A'brth Carolina-st Wilmirlgtoik TA'c IVoCth Camlina Dcl rhnent of DOr t: iiea1111' and
......,'' ,:• :•.:::..,Nviyonal.;tircxslDivisEc?•of.Cnactal?3?lana?ment,'and,tltie?l?alionzl'.C)r,.;es+nie.and•'Anntm?heri? -AdIrrinlelrnrifirr. ,
Society For Masonboro Island Inc.

Jur'ie .3a.#.9i7''5
t'1t- . Johr7 Dorn t::=-y
D c?pt;.of* E 7-tvj.7-o-of{te ntaI Ma r7r7q e rxterit.
tw t'"s'v i ti" C? 7°i s'Ttr_'?'i "s t ?:% .#. :?.? t_1 }::! E•?'s ° '?d ]. Ew t:? 14-41' DI Reedy C::7...eek-. Rd
#'?.M a. lr:.l gt't p C 27607 Re.DE"M "c:.7 Cii 1 ':: #95-45 9
! etelslege t-
Deear M r.Do7"ney„ Coi..(r7ty,
P9?? or Goo
s ??F
?n
F?
I a("i7 sor't-' t#'i c7 s:'dk::' #3ria. e been t..knc-tbltr to a#::1(:}t..('t' 't.:#"77.[
mi atter' . T ictsm enclosing a copy of my lettY;:;7'- to Roge-f- Sc:hecte -
co'i-ice.- ni-rig this }:ier-mii_: a}:pl:i.c<(tio-ii and r-?c:si-n : r-rfo.i"s'Y7a't:io-n about
the is-la-7d car-i(:i tt°ie: SocietY,.
1t would be gr.eatl- i1xj.)pt'-ecia:sted if' You a,Jot..+.:#.d fnc•.-a t_tpo'i'7
yt:}(..l'i- receipt (::- this letter- and C"plc ? {t?•l..ir N?•. # hta?'i"t#; y(_{i..l (:.,.- YC:it.xt"
i S t a. Y-I (-_ e .
:.73Y°icFry7..'e1
4
MEat'-iiArI ..f.„ M(:-P'hctU7.
P.O. Box 855 • Wrightsville Beach, N.C. 28480 9 [phone]
Society For Masonboro Island Inc.
aO
n,y ge,r N. Schecter AfV May 31, 1995
Director
Division of C=o=astal Management
PO Box 2768*7
Raleigh, Int. C. 7601
REeEva Ke-_ttlesleger Application
for CAMA Major Development Permit
(IV. H. Cot_artty)
Dea'r' Mr. Cchecter
On behalf of the Board of Directors and the members of the
Society for Miasa?onbo,o T..? r" l
ancl, 1•nc.:[
•r'eclt_test that you
strenuously scrutinize this permit application.
Ms. Kett lesl.eger has requested a permit to build
a residence
and a pier on a dredge spoil island directly across the
inland waterway from the I, NCW Research facility and within
the boundaries of the Masonboro Island component of the North
Carolina Estuarine Research Reserve?. She states t hr'at she w i l l
build a septic system for waste, and drill a well on the
island for a wager supply, she plans to power the residence
with a gasoline generator.
The New Hanover County Land Use Plan designates this area as
a conservation area which should be preserved in its natural
state. It is an estuarine area of environmental concern. The
waters surrounding the island are outstanding resource waters
and a primary nursery habitat:.
The New Hanover C=ounty Planning Department through a grams;
provided by the Division of Coastal. Management office in 1988
produced a document entitled Potential Development of
Estuarine Islands in New Hanover Co=unty. The conclusions of
the staff wer=e
(1) That the spoil islands were inappropriate for residential
development: bei'l:3lASe of the probable disruptive impacts of
disposal activities on septic fields and well, as a result of
changes in the water table. These act:ivltes would create a
hazard of pollution in the underlying ground water and
marshes. T.t is anticipated that the U. C. Army Corps of
Engineers will exercise its easement: in the future and that
this island will be u`::T>ed for disposal act:ivi es.
(2) Further, this study found that "one, major drawback to
residential development of these islands would be the
difficulties encountered in their evacuation in ca='-se of a
hurricane. The time required for evacuation would be
significantly extended because the first: step would be
evacuation by boat: which would be hampered by the adverse
water conditions that often precede a hurricane long before
the severe winds and flooding of <a ht..4rr'l.r_ane are felt. In
P.O. Box 855 • Wrightsville Beach, N.C. 28480 • [phone]
voter conditions that of=ten precer_if.:: a hurricane long before
the severe winds and flooding of a hurricane are 'f=elt. In
additi n,adecfi_tate docking facilites and parking would be
required on the mainland. It should be noted that the County
has adopted a stringent pol.ic:'yt1. 1. (2) ? in its Land-Use Flan
that eliminates the use of barrier islands for residential
development if the island does not have an adequate
evacuation network of roads and bridges."(p.3,4)
frfs. K tt l 2Sleeler Claims title through a Board of Education
deed. Is her Claim Of wner"rshi.p of the island a valid claim
that c:'OMpl.:LF: S with gent?r l ly recognized standards of proof of
title against claims by the State of North Carolina? A you
know, the N. C. Supreme Court is currently deliberating Ca SOS
concerning similar Board of Education titles and public trust,
riahtcs.The result of these CaS2S may change the entire Status
of Mc:s. KetelSl2grr' S application. Her a_appl :i.(:_at i.on, i f granted
at this time, would deny public access to what May W211 be
found to be a public trust area.
The members of the Society for Masonboro T. sland, Inc. have
worked since 1983 ?t
protect this barrier island/estuarine
ecosystem. The decision made on this permit application will
ssot a precedent for the future of the reserve area. In
closing,on behalf of the member^C:ship, for the reason stated
above, I would issrsk yot_i. to carefully scrutinize this
application and deny the permit requested in order to ensurE
tf1ia't; the Masonboro Island reser've area is protected for
future generations.
ca t ir_.er e :L.yy
Marian T. McPhaul
Emecut ive Director
SOCIETY FOR MASONBORO ISLAND Non-Profit Organization
Post Office Box 855 BULK RATE
Wrightsville Beach, NC 28480 U.S. POSTAGE
[phone] PAID
Permit No. 23
TO: Wrightsville Beach
North Carolina 28980
New Members:
Drew Rosen Take a trip to the Island to learn about the. ecosystem...
Max & Marie Kahn Mr. Richard Cecelski, who pro- ming, seining and fishing. We will
Mr. & Mrs. Henry McEachern vides educational programs to stu- : encourage members to pick up trash
Mr: & Mrs. NiHarry cholson
Ms. Jane Nicholson dents on the island, has offered to while they are on the southern end of
David Lee Sessoms allow Society members to join many the island. Space is limited. Please
John Lomax of his Carolina Ocean Study Pro- call 256-5777 to reserve a space on an
Jane & Bill Guthrie _ gram's "Island and Sound Explora exciting and educational trip to
Nancy Renfrow tion" cruises this spring. On the trips, Masonboro.
Michael Thompson
RandyIvey members can observe marine educa- The following is a list of trips in
Mrs. V.W. Herlevich tors leading activities such as clam March, April, May and June 1995:
Lawrence D. Andrews March 4/27.1-4 & 4:30-7:30 5/18-1-4
Suzanne W. Nash
Susan L. Sheneman 3/23.1-4 pm 4/28 -1-4 5/19 - 9-12
Paul & Kathleen Kuhn 3/24.1.4 pm 4/29 -10-1 5/23 - 9.12
Dr. & Mrs. Warren White April - May 5/24 - 9-12 & 1-4
Scott Thompson 4/5 - 9-12 am 5/1- 9.12 & 1.4 5/26 - 9-12
John C: Meshaw
Earthwatch Club 4/7 -1-4 pm 5/4 912 5/30 - 9-12
D.C., Virgo Middle School 4/11- 9-12 am 5/7 - 8.1 pm June
Mac Easton 4/11- 4:30-7:30 pm 5/9 9:15-12:15 & 1.4 6/1- 9.12 & 1.4
Mr. & Mrs. James Thompson 4/13 - 9-12 am 5/10 9-12 6/2 -11:30.2:30
Mr. & Mrs. Frank Dunn 4/14 - 9-12 & 1.4 5/11- 9-12 & 1-4 6/6 - 9:30-12:30
Mr. & Mrs. Tom Grasty
Kathy McDaniel 4/20 - 3.6 pm 5/13 - 9-12 6/7 - 9:30-12:30
Jenny Owens 4/21-1-4 pm 5/15-9-12
Kim Roberts 4/26 - 9-12 & 2:30-5:30 5/16 - 9-12
Walter L. Parsley
Rd AFl '
o ney em mg
Deborah Fuqua -
New Life Members:
Bob & Mary Boyles Dr. Marsha D. Fretwell
Joel & Kate Tomaselli - Dr. Bryson Ley
Michael Boyd Mark & Karen Raggozino
---- -- -----------
Society For ----------------------------- -
_Masonboro Island, Inc.
Post Office Box 855 Wrightsville Beach, NC 28480 [phone]
A tax deductible yearly membership in the Soc iety occurs Name
automatically with any donation in the categories listed Address

below. ,
City State Zip
$ 5.00 ,0 STUDENT Telephone Home
10.00 ? INDIVIDUAL
$ 25.00 ? FAMILY Telephone Work
$ 50.00 ? SUPPORTER
? Please send me more information so I can ask others to
$ 100.00 ? DONOR
$ 250.00 ? LIFE join,
? OTHER ? T lease contact me for volunteer work.
Printed on Recycled Paper
SOCIETY FOR MASONBORO ISLAND
NEWSLETTER WINTER 1995
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Zoe Bruner President • Bill Raney Vice President. • Pam Parr - Secretary • Richard Harris - Treasurer
John Taggart, Anne McCrary, Bill Hofmann, Karen Gottovi, Lisa Robertson, Betsy Kahn,
Doris Levy, Bill Mansfield, Nancy Pritchett, Van Reid, Heather Smith
Executive Director: Marian T. McPhaul
WRIGHISVIIAE BEACH
BRADLEY CREEK Property Acquisition Report
by Bill Raney, Jr,
MASONBOR°MIEr The Society continues to negotiate deals for bits and pieces ofthe Island
but things have slowed on the acquisition front.
;
i
HEWIETI5 CREEK O a - -
The notable activity in the acquisition effort has now moved to the
A77AIMC ' courtroom. In the last newsletter it was reported that the State would
be exercising its eminent domain authority for the second time. The
db ' reason in this instance was an irreconcilable difference of opinion as to
the legal ownership of the Willie C. Hewlett tracts.
WHISKEYCREEK
r? Z The lawsuit has now been filed and the response from the defendants
will be due in early February. The Society has retained legal counsel in ,
a ; + connection with this matter, and it appears that a number of the Willie
3 ; x C. Hewlett heirs will be joining forces with the Society to present a
} a0 consolidated case. If our claims prevail, the Society will be the owner of
<G O the greatest percentage of the Willie C. Hewlett tracts, thus there is a
nnRnE 1
considerable amount at stake. It is unknown of this time whether any of
the defendants will raise the issue of fair market value, but the Society
F GROVE •1 - -
E?EK o?`. will be prepared to address this issue if it arises.
< ,r
e
We are hopeful that the publicity surrounding the case and the outcome
Z SOUND
" of the case will be helpful in encouraging other owners to come forward
.0. with offers to sell their property. If so, the Society will be ready to strik.0. BEACH RilE1 -
the deals necessary for the State to make the acquisitions.
Fundraising Activities
The Society for Masonboro Island has t-shirts available for sale from the office. The designs are:
' 7-Z; tt_?
tZ
A Batik Turtle Turtle Life Cycle Two Turtles Turtle Nest Hatching
on. Tan on Grey on Grey & Dark Green on Light Olive Green
The shirts are available in adult and are available from the office at 256-
/?
sizes and are $15 each. Postage will be 0TFC 5777, or by mail. Please send a check
an additional $2.50. If you are local, and a stamped, self-addressed business
please call 256.5777 to make arrange r envelope for your order, Please buy
ments to purchase a shirt. 3 0 them for your friends.
The. Society has also recently S Z' Thank you all for your support of
created a new decal/bumper sticker. It these fundraising activities.
is appropriate for affixing to bumpers, O v? Sincerely,
boats or glass. The decals are 4" in Marian T. McPhaul
diameter and are green, turquoise and %R010 Executive Director
gold. The decals are for sale for $1 each"
1995 Masonboro Island Bird Count Report
The Annual North American Audobon Society's Ruddy Turnstone Royal Tern
"Christmas" count was held in the New Hanover County Common Snipe Black Skimmer
region on January 7, 1995. Short-billed Dowitcher Rock Dove
The Lower Cape Fear Bird Club was responsible for Western Sandpiper Mourning Dove
the planning and the census of the different species Purple Sandpiper Belted Kingfisher
observed and their members. Dunlin Tree Swallow
Masonboro Island and the marshes ajoining were Great Black-backed Gull Fish Crow
included in the designated area. Herring Gull Savannah Sparrow
John 0. Fussell, III, of Morehead City, walked the King-billed Gull Sharp-tailed Sparrow
island south from the north end to Carolina Beach Inlet, Laughing Gull Seaside Sparrow
while Derb. Carter, of Chapel Hill, and Bill Hofman, SMI Forster's Tern Dark-eyed Junco
board member, birded the marshes and the waterway. Mr.
Fussell has recently published "A Birder's Guide to Coastal
N.C.", UNC-Press (1994).
The following is a list of the different species identified.
Common Loon Tricolored Heron
Red-throated Loon White Ibis
Pied-billed Grebe Red-breasted Merganser
Brown Pelicans Turkey Vulture
Northern Gannet Northern Harrier
Double-crested Cormorant Osprey
Great Blue Heron American Coot
Great Egret American Oystercatcher
Snowy'Egret Marbled Godwit
A Civil War History of Masonboro Island
provided by Mr. Wilson Angley, N.C. Division of Archives and History, Research Branch
There are scattered indications that the officers, and twenty-eight crew members
upper portion of Masonboro Island and were forced subsequently' to surrender to
nearby Masonboro Inlet were used at least Confederate troops nearby. About this
to some extent during the Civil War for the same time it was reported by the captain of o
receiving of supplies for the Confederate the U.S.S. Cambridge, off Masonboro Inlet,
war effort, although this activity was on a that "several new/Confederate/batteries
vastly smaller scale than the running of the have recently been placed on shore in the
Union blockade through Old and New inlets vicinity of the Inlet." Indeed, the captain of
and up the Cape Fear River to Wilmington. the Columbia attributed the loss of his ship breastworks
On 6 July 1862, for example, Lieutenant to the fact that if has been "exposed to the
Braine'of the U.S.S. Monticello submitted direct fire of two batteries" on the beach. At
the following account of a recent incident at least one of these installations was certainly
Masonboro Inlet; situated on Masonboro Island: its location
I have to report that agreeable to your was described as being "on aknoll near the
order I went up the coast to the north- beach; some 21/ miles S.W." of the bar off
ward this morning as far as Masonboro Masonboro Inlet.
Inlet, where I discovered a schooner on For three days after. the Columbia ran
shore burning and almost entirely ' aground, the Union vessels Penobscot,
consumed Cambridge, and Genesee each tried in vain
Her cargo, l judge, had been landed at various times to salvage the stranded
and taken away, as there was none on vessel and prevent its falling into Confed
the beach or evidences of it in the erate hands. From time to time during these
immediate vicinity; This, sir, confirms the operations, the Union ships exchanged fire
opinion I have long entertained that with the Confederate batteries on shore.
vessels are run ashore near these small Finally, on the night of 11 October 1863,
inlets and out of sight of the blockading' while en route from Wilmington, the block
vessels, where their cargoes are dis- ade runner Duoro came to grief at some
charged, and then burned.. point above the shoreline between. Fort
Only four months later, on 17 November Fisher and Masonboro Inlet.
1862, a small British schooner, the J.W. Confederate troops were stationed at
Pindar, loaded with salt, was intercepted various points along the mainland shore of
while attempting to enter "Wrightsville Myrtle Grove and Masonboro sounds during
Inlet." Chased ashore on Masonboro Beach the course of the Civil War, especially in the
by the U.S.S. Cambridge, some twelve miles vicinity of Camp Davis, on the north bank of
north of Fort Fisher, her crew was taken into Hewletts Creek, and at the state salt works
from their base camp at or near the present
the custody of Confederatetroops on Mason- near the mouth of Purviance (or Whiskey)
boro_ Island: Three small boats of Union Creek. The latter facility was by far the
troops were then sent ashore; from the largest of the many salt works in the
Cambridge to destroy the beached vessel; Wilmington area. In April of 1864 this salt
and, while the troops were successful in works was raided and partially destroyed by
accomplishing this mission; they were sub- Union troops, who entered the sound in six
sequently taken prisoner by about thirty small boats through Masonboro Inlet. In
Confederate soldiers from the Third North December of the same year the destruction
Carolina Cavalry. was completed by a similar raid, and the .
Masonboro Island and Masonboro Inlet works did not thereafter resume operations.
from their base camp would have brought
were involved in the wrecks of at least four In addition to this facility, there were small
other vessels during the course of the Civil private salt works at various locations along
War. Three of these ships were blockade Myrtle Grove and Masonboro sounds.
runners forced ashore and destroyed while In the summer of 1864 at least some
en route to of from Wilmington. The other consideration was given to a possible Union
lost vessel was part of the Union blockading attack on Wilmington which would proceed
fleet, westward from the shore roughly opposite
On4 November 1862 the U.S.S. Daylight Masonboro Inlet. Associated with this plan
and the U.S.S. Mount Vernon chased was the need for further information regard
ashore the Liverpool blockade runner ing the local area. On the 23rd of August a
Sophia. Union troops were then dispatched party from the U.S.S. Niphon was landed on
in small boats to destroy the helpless vessel the beach of Masonboro Island to carry out
This mission was soon accomplished, but a reconnaissance mission. This mission was
many of the Union troops were compelled later described by Acting Rear-Admiral Lee
by heavy seas to remain on Masonboro of the Union Navy:
Island through the night and were captured Captain Sands, U.S.S. Fort Jackson,
there by Confederate troops, Seized by the reports that ... he sent the Niphon the
Confederates were three boats, three reconnoiter in the vicinity of Myrtle
officers, and eighteen enlisted men. The Sound/probabfyMasonboro Sound/ and
location of this incident was variously obtain, information, if practicable, of the
described as being two-and-a-half to four number and disposition of the enemy. A
miles west of Masonboro Inlet. In addition, it cutter and dingey were dispatched f rom
was observed that during the night the the Niphon. The latter... was carried to their camp. had "erected a battery behind across the beach and into the sound,
a sand hill" near the wreck, and that they while the cutter. . . picketed the beach.
had come to the aid of the Sophia's crew Acting ensign Borden crossed the sound
from "the opposite side of the sound.", without being discovered by the enemy's
On the day following the loss of the pickets.'
Sophia, it was reported that an unidentified Wilmington could, in his opinion, be
barkentine was also destroyed by Union taken with little difficultynow, bylanding,
vessels in the. vicinity of Masonboro Inlet. troops at Masonboro and marching
On 14 January 1863 the U.S.S. Columbia across. The distance is short and the
was cast away "on a bar off Wrightsville, road good and undefended. Confederacy itself
near Masonboro Inlet." Her captain, eleven, On the.24th of August.1864 the Niphon

and the.U.S.S. Monticello proceeded'north
ward along the shore of Masonboro Island,
and two boatloads of men were dispatched
t the island in a fruitless attemp t to kill some
of the cattle which were grazing there. This
having; failed, the Union vessels continued
up the coast where their crews observed
"about 60 or 80 rebel infantry throwing up
at the entrance to
Masonboro
Inlet." After shelling the beach, a landing
partyof Uniontroops attempted to engage
the Confederates' on shore. Upon the
approach of the Union troops, however,
"the rebels fled to the marshes and
Myrtle/i.e., Masonboro/ Sound and made
their escape in boats." There were at this
time two Confederate signal stations: near
Masonboro Inlet, which the Union troops
destroyed.
On at least one other occasion the
present day Masonboro Island was involved
in the events of the Civil War. On 12
February 1865, nearly a month after the fall
of Fort Fisher; Union General John Schofield
made a daring and ambitious attempt to
move two divisions of men up the beach
under cover of darkness, while pontoons for
their use were transported up'the coast by
vessels of the Union fleet. The intention was
to flank the position of Confederate General
Robert Hoke on the easfbank of the Cape
Fear by sending the two divisions across
Myrtle Grove Sound on a pontoon bridge to
Hoke's rear. Schofield's troops on this
occasionproceededlour miles up the beach
Kure Beach, taking care notto be detected
by the Confederate troops whose camp fires
were clearly visible along the opposite shore
of the sound: Soon; however, it was learned
that heavy seas had prevented the fleet from
towing the pontoons up the coast; and the
Uniontroopswere compelled#o return to
their camp under conditions of bitter cold
and gale force winds. A march of four miles
the Union troops to a point slightly south of
the present Carolina Beach Inlet. Their next
movement up the beach, however, was to
bring them farther to the north:
When the weather finally cleared on
February 14, a slightly different attempt was
planned to surprise Hoke's troops from the
rear. Again Schofield's troops marched up
the beach under cover of darkness; and this
time horses and mules were employed to
haul the pontoons. After marching for two
hours,the Uniontroops hadadvanced north-
ward adistance of seven .miles from their
base camp, or roughly one mile beyond the
present Carolina Beach Inlet. On this
occasion, however, their movement was
detected by Confederate soldiers across the
sound, and Schofield, in addition, realized
that his forces could not be in an attack
position by dawn. Once again'the attempt
was given up; and the Union troops returned
Followingthis second failure, Schofield
abandoned his plans to attack Hoke's
position east of the Cape Fear and, instead,
ordered an advance on Wilmington' along
the west`side of the river. This strategy soon
brought success. On 21 February Confed-
erate troops were' compelled to evacuate
Wilmington. Within a few months, the fall of
Wilmington was followed by. the fall of the
.
h ^^L
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t
�_

POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF ESTUARINE ISLANDS
IN NEW HANOVER COUNTY
INTRODUCTION
I. THE ISSUES
New Hanover County has numerous islands in its rivers and
sounds. These islands, which are presently undeveloped, may
encounter significant development pressure in the future as
waterfront property becomes more scarce and valuable.
Development of these islands, however, may result in increased
water pollution from runoff and from septic__ tanks. Development
of these islands also may impact the aesthetics of the County's
waters, dish ?t colonial bir ____nes_ti.ng-sites., and create
difficulties for evacuation during hurricanes. Questions have
risen concerning the potential of developing these islands.
These questions include:
Is the use of these islands for the disposal of materials
dredged from the County's waterways, primarily by the U.S.
Corps of Engineers, compatible with possible development?
Would residents of these islands be adequately protected
from hurricane and other dangers?
This study, funded by a Coastal Area Management Act Grant,
examines these questions and makes several recommendations.
II. INVENTORY OF ESTUARINE ISLANDS
A. Definition
Estuarine islands are defined, for purposes of this study,
as those masses of land with an area greater than one acre above
mean high water that are separate from the mainland. Barrier
islands, however, are not included in this study because they
either are already developed and connected to the mainland by
bridge or are under protection by the State as part of the
Estuarine Sanctuary Reserve Program. In addition, the barrier
islands were examined as part of the study "Hurricane Protection
Plan - A Vulnerability Analysis of Barrier Islands in New Hanover
County", published in 1983 by the County Planning Department.
B. Classification
Estuarine islands, for purposes of this study, can be
classified as occurring either in the AIWW (Atlantic Intracoastal
Water Way) and its associated sounds and creeks, or in the
County's rivers. The islands can also be classified as being
naturally formed or of man-made origins.
C. AIWW Islands
AIWW islands are composed of dredged spoil islands and, to a
lesser extent, of natural islands.
1. Dredged Spoil Islands
a. Physical Characteristics
AIWW islands are overwhelmingly composed of spoil islands
created by. the U.S. Corps of Engineers for the disposal of
dredged materials during the construction and on-going
maintenance of the AIWW. The AIWW initially was dredged out
approximately fifty years ago. Maintenance dredging of the AIWW
occurs at variable frequencies, ranging from annual dredging in
inlet areas to essentially no dredging needed in certain areas
between inlets.
The Corps acquired a perpetual 1,000 foot wide easement for
disposal of initial construction of the AIWW. The disposal of
dredged materials has created approximately fifty circular
islands ranging in height up to 20-30 feet. In certain areas
these islands are so close as to have merged into one long island
with several circular plateaus or are separated by only a narrow
band of water or wetland vegetation. These islands appear to
exhibit erosion and slumping due to such causes?as boat_wakes and
the-natural instability of the dredged materials. The total area
of these--islara s75gpr3ximately 248 acres, based on examination
of 1986 (1" = 4001) aerial photographs.
For the most part, these islands are contained within the
Corps' easements, which basically precludes their use for
anything but disposal. Of the 248 acres, 71 acres or 29% are
located outside the easement boundaries.- In addition, much of
these 71 acres consist of narrow slices of islands that otherwise
lie mainly within the easement.
Vegetation associated with the islands ranges from Spartina
alterniflora (smooth cordgrass) below mean high water to
established woody species such as Myrica cerifera (wax myrtle)
and Juniperus virginiana (red cedar) on the higher islands. A
number of the islands represent significant nesting habitat for
colonial waterbirds.
b. Development limits
The development potential appears to be fairly limited. As
noted above, most of the island acreage lies within the Corps
easement and is restricted from development. In addition, those
parts of the islands outside the easement would b6--9everely
itpacte v any
dredged material disposal activities on fie parts
.
. ..-.
of the islands within_... the._„easement. _. ..Di_spos.
.: al°?-""c..fivites
generally require construction of a.__iarge?dike that would be
disrupting toevelopment.More importantly, disposal severely
2
disrupts the groundwater of the entire island by „the raisinqof
.
t e "water table with ''an' inf.iltration? of„", saltwa?,?r,_.",_f.?.Qm_._..the
dredged materials: This "impact would disrupt wells and septic,,,
systems. --Development of these islands would also be limited by
local regulations. These include the requirement of a 75 ft.
setback from the mean high water line by the County Zoning
ordinance (Sec. 59.4-5). In addition, the Wilmington - New
Hanover County Land Use Plan includes a policy that states:
111.2(2) Development of estuarine system islands shall be
permitted only if proper measures are taken for hurricane
evacuation, utilities provision, access onan o e
i`slan-d, pollution control, and other"-des. consi e a ions
that will insure compatibility of the development wit t
estuarine systems."
Although this policy presently_..-.is__no_t_ en_t xely implemented
by local regulations, the issuance of certain permits,' primarily
Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) permits, must be consistent
with it. ... ...__..-
It should be noted that the Corps may be willing to trade
lands with persons interested in developing a dredged spoil
island, so long as the Corps will benefit from the land swap in
terms of improving its dredged disposal program. This
possibility has been rarely pursued anywhere and is probably
unlikely in New Hanover County, due to the lack of mainland or
island sites suitable for trade to the Corps that meet
environmental constraints, and that are not presently surrounded
by development that would be impacted by groundwater disruption.
one possible use of the islands, however, could be for
marinas. Considering the fairly stringent State regulations
regarding the location of marinas, a high spoil island adjacent
to the AIWW may 'present an environmentally attractive
alternative. Minimal dredging, if any, would likely be required
and natural tidal flushing of the marina waters would likely be
adequate.
one major drawback to residential development of these
islands would be the difficulties encountered'n?'their evacuation
in--case -, of a hurricane The-`t me` ali re_for- evacuation would
be significantly extended because the first step would be
evacuation y oat which„ would ,.be _hamQered by the adverse water
coridi?ions -that often precede a- hurricane-7-1ong efor -the severe
wincTs and flooding of a hurricane are'- --f
e1t.?' Is addition;
aduat`?dzscking aci i es -arid parking would be required on the
mainland. It should be noted that the County has adopted a
stringent policy +(.1..1(2) ) in its Land,-Use Plan a e is:_....
the use of barrier islands for residential development if the
island does not have an adequate evacuation network' of roads and
bridges.
The Corps ?resEntly is_porming a study with a fifty-year
planning horizon for the dredging program in the AIWW. Although
i'tf'-ITas not been completed, it likely will conclude that the Corps
will not relinquish its control,..._of__the spoil,islands and may even
be forced to examine such. , aaae_rnat.i_ves._.as." ..pump ing sand__fxom.,..tb.e
AIWW to - the. beaches and combining spoil islands into larg_g.r.,
islands to increase disposal capacity,,.
2. Natural islands - Natural estuarine islands are considerably
more limited for development than are the dredged spoil islands.
These islands tend to be formed during periods of increased wave
swash and are associated with inlets. These conditions allow for
sand to be deposited over marshes in the shape of narrow berms
(Cleary et al, 1979).
These islands in New Hanover ,County are generally quite low,
around one foot in height and no higher than three feet. In
addition, these islands appear to be sinking, due to both sea
level rise and compaction of the organic layer covered over by
the sand deposition. These islands are considered to have
generally insignificant development potential because of these
factors. It is interesting to note, however, that Harbor Island
in Wrightsville Beach may have originally been one of these
islands and then expanded by fill.
D. Riverine Islands
The islands of the Cape Fear River have been characterized
by the disposal of spoil by the Corps for the maintenance of the
navigation channel. The few remaining natural islands appear to
be the result of meanders in the Rivers. These natural islands
tend to be fairly small and low. These islands, which tend to be
dominated by wetland vegetation, are unsuitable for development.
The spoil islands in the Cape Fear River are higher than the
natural islands in the River due to disposal of dredged
materials; however, they share many of the physical
characteristics possessed by the previously discussed AIWW
islands. They tend to be circular in shape and up to 25 feet in
height, depending upon the amount of spoil deposited and the
height of the dike. The vegetation is also similar, ranging from
salt marsh species to woody species. The Rivers contain
approximately twenty islands for a total of 199 acres of high
ground and/or associated marsh. Certain of these islands,
however, appear to be located in Brunswick County rather than New
Hanover County. All of these islands with high ground are the
property of the State of North or the U.S, Government generally
for use as spoil disposal.
The Corps of Engineers will be completing in 1988 a draft
Environmental Impact Statement on its maintenance plan for the
next fifty years for the Wilmington Harbor and navigation
channel. If current practices were to continue, approximately
500 acres of estuarine bottoms in the River would be filled-by
4
expansion of the spoil islands in the next fifty years. One
alternative being examined includes disposal on the mainland,
which is probably not feasible, due to increasing development and
groundwater restrictions. Another alternative includes disposal
of the dredged materials as part of a beach renourishment program
when suitable material is found, or perhaps disposal in the
ocean.
The apparent continued importance of the riverine islands to
the Harbor and channel maintenance program and particularly the
fee simple ownership of the islands by the State and Federal
governments appear to preclude possible development of these
islands. The Corps, for instance, has rejected a proposal by a
developer who wished to purchase and construct .a bridge over to
one island'in the River for purpose of residential development.
It should also be noted that residential development of these
islands would be impacted by the lack of an adequate road and
bridge evacuation network as similarly discussed for AIWW
islands.
III. CONCLUSIONS
The estuarine____islands of New Hanover County. likely will ,
remain undeveloped, at least for residential purposes, due to
existin?lrecfd7atory_-a . owner- '_cons_traints . ty likelihood
is desirable considering the potential impacts that could be
suffered by development in these islands.
It is recommended, however, that a letter of understanding
be signed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers and New Hanover County
with the following points:
1. The Corps will continue to keep the County informed of
its dredging and disposal activities.
2. The Corps will not allow any land swaps involving--slLo
islands without County approval or otherwise_relinqush
ariy`coritrol over theisland's ?_'.____
3. The County will continue to utilize regulations and
Land Use Plan policies that preclude any development
'that may interfere with-"the-'Corps dredgrig?program.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The help of Barry Holiday, Phil Payank, Frank Yelverton, and
others from the Wilmington, NC regional office of the U.S. Corps
of Engineers is gratefully appreciated. The assistance provided
by Dr. William Cleary of UNC-W was also of considerable help.
REFERENCES
Cleary, W.J., P.E. Hosier, and G. R. Wells, 1979
"Genesis and Significance of Marsh Islands within
Southeastern North Carolina Lagoons", Journal of
Sedimentary Petrology, 49(3): 703-710
6
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C o a s t w a t c h
Coastwatch Staff:
Kathy Hart, Managing Editor
Jeannie Faris and Carla B. Burgess,
Senior Editors
Larisa Tatge and Rachel Wharton,
Staff Writers
L. Noble, Designer
Sandra Harris, Circulation Manager
The North Carolina Sea Grant College
Program is a federal/state program
that promotes the wise use of our coastal
and marine resources through research,
extension and education. It joined the
National Sea Grant College Network
in 1970 as an institutional program.
Six years later, it was designated a Sea
Grant College. Today, N.C. Sea Grant
supports several research projects, a
12-member extension program and a
communications staff. B.J. Copeland is
director. The program is funded by the
U.S. Department of Commerce's National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
and the state through the University of
North Carolina.
CoasNatch (ISSN 1068-784X) is
published bimonthly, six times a year,
for $12 by the North Carolina Sea Grant
College Program, Box 8605, N.C. State
University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8605.
Telephone: [phone]. Fax: 919/515-
7095. E-mail: [e-mail]. Second-
Class Postage paid at Raleigh, N.C.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes
to Coastwatch, N.C. Sea Grant, Box 8605,
N.C. State University, Raleigh, NC
27695-8605.
Front cover photo of Masonboro Island
by Walker Golder.
Inside front cover photo of brown pelicans
by Walker Golder.
Printed on recycled paper
by Highland Press Inc. in
Fayetteville, N.C.
Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
N.C. Big Sweep, N.C. Department of
Environment, Health and Natural Re-
sources (divisions of Water Resources,
Coastal Management and Environmental
Management), N.C. Coastal Federation
and the city officials who handled the
stenciling kits and coordinated the
volunteer painting efforts.
Fine Art
Perhaps you've noticed the lovely
pen-and-ink drawings adorning our nature
pages in recent issues. These are the work
of Raleigh artist Anne Marshall Runyon.
Runyon specializes in animal por-
traits and nature drawings. You may have
seen her detailed drawings in Wildlife in
North Carolina, North Carolina Wild
Places -a Closer Look or Coastal Ca-
pers, a Sea Grant publication.
"I am fascinated by the diverse
beauty of all life and by the stories of our
natural world," Runyon says. "Sometimes,
I will act out a gesture that I am drawing
- trying to feel the bend of the branch,
the tension of the stalking predator or the
alarm widening the eyes of prey."
The ability to accurately capture natu-
ral settings and animals on paper has
earned Runyon's work plenty of praise.
"Anne's drawings add a new dimen-
sion to the nature page," says Carla Bur-
gess, Coastwatch senior editor. "Her ca-
pacity for detail and accuracy makes her
drawings seem alive. It really helps our
readers visualize the animals and plants
we write about."
Coastwatch Honored
Coastwatch was recently chosen as
winner of the Conservation Communica-
tions Award in the 1994 Governor's
Conservation Achievement Awards
Program sponsored by the N.C. Wildlife
Federation and the National Wildlife
Federation.
Each year, the N.C. Wildlife Federa-
tion honors a publication, person or media
outlet that educates the public about the
state's natural resources and urges the
conservation of our environment.
"We were pleased to be selected for
such a prestigious award," says Kathy
Hart, Coastwatch managing editor. "We
work hard to make Coastwatch an
educational magazine, and we are glad that
others have recognized our efforts."
Knauss Fellow Named
Another N.C. Sea Grant nominee has
been selected as a Dean John A. Knauss
Marine Policy Fellow by the National Sea
Grant College Program.
Fernando Leyva, a first generation
Cuban-American, recently completed
his master's degree in marine biology
at the University of North Carolina at
Wilmington. He received his undergradu-
ate degree from Davidson College, where
he concentrated his efforts in chemistry,
biology, philosophy and education.
Between his undergraduate studies
and graduate school, Leyva spent two
years teaching underprivileged teen-agers
in an alternative high school in Charlotte.
There, he learned to relay science to teens
who had little understanding of or interest
in the subject.
Now Leyva would like to focus his
career on marine policy and bridging the
gap between good scientific information
and effective fisheries management policy
The Knauss program matches highly
qualified students with hosts in Congress,
the executive branch or appropriate
associations/institutions for a one-year
paid fellowship in Washington, D.C. The
fellowship will allow Leyva to begin
pursuing his goal. He will be working in
the Office of Sustainable Development
within the National Oceanic and Atmo-
spheric Administration.
Files of Fish
The N.C. Division of Marine Fisher-
ies (DMF) keeps a lot of fish in its files.
The endorsement-to-sell (ETS) law, which
requires commercial fishermen and
seafood dealers to be licensed to buy and
sell seafood, tracks everything fishy. By
keeping close tabs on what commercial
fisherman catch and sell, the program
delivers information - information about
fishing resources, what they are and where
to find them.
The ETS program works in three steps.
First, all fishermen who sell their catch must
buy a license. All business owners who
purchase seafood - restaurateurs, fishing
pier owners and seafood dealers - must
buy a dealer's license.
In the second step, a trip ticket is
completed. When fishermen sell their catch
to a dealer, they record the date, the number
and type of fish caught, the location where
the catch was made, their license number
and the gear they used. The dealers then
provide copies of the trip tickets to DMF
"port agents" in Wanchese, Washington,
Morehead City, Harkers Island and
Wilmington. The agents also help dealers
and fishermen by answering questions,
providing tickets and taking samples.
The third step - data collection -
is also important. The information from
the trip tickets is compiled by computer.
Although an individual's information is
kept confidential, summaries of information
can be released and put to use.
"ETS information gives us a solid
foundation on which to base management
decisions," says Rick E. Marks, the DMF
statistics coordinator. "Economically, the
landings from commercial fishermen show
us exactly what benefit the commercial
fishing industry has to North Carolina."
ETS information can be used for many
purposes. Just recently, the National Marine
Fisheries Service reopened the East Coast
commercial shark season based on ETS
information from North Carolina. It can be
used by fishery management councils, trade
associations and the public. Most impor-
tantly, Sea Grant can use the information in
its state-supported fisheries study (see story,
page 22) to get a more accurate picture of
fishing effort in the state.
The ETS law, which has been in effect
since January 1994, is part of a state effort
to gather information about the North
Carolina commercial fishing industry,
Marks says. "We need to get accurate
information to effectively manage our
marine resources, and we need the
commercial fishermen and dealers to
help us do it."
For more information about the ETS
program, call Marks at 1-800/682-2632.
COASTWATCH 25

Now it's easier than ever
to find your way to the coast.
Keeping Track of the Coast
Yes! I want to subscribe to Coastwatch. I'd like the most current news and
information about the North Carolina coast for just $12.
Name:
Address:
City: State: Zip:
Please enclose this card with your order and make your check payable to Coastwatch.
Mail to Coastwatch, Box 8605, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8605
Coastwatch
Keeping Track of the Coast
Yes! I want to subscribe to Coastwatch. I'd like the most current news and
information about the North Carolina coast for just $12.
Name:
Address:
City:
State:
Zip:
Please enclose this card with your order and make your check payable to Coastwatch.
Mail to Coastwatch, Box 8605, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-8605
Coastwatch
4)
Now it's easier than ever
to find your way to the coast.
aft deck
Madame President
Sea Grant communications director
Kathy Hart was recently elected president
of the N.C. Big Sweep board of directors.
Big Sweep, the nation's largest statewide
waterway cleanup, was launched in 1987
by Sea Grant.
Hart has worked with Big Sweep
since its inception, primarily promoting
the cleanup to the state's media. She
previously served for one year as vice
president of the board.
Big Sweep incorporated in 1993 and
formed an 18-member board of directors
to manage fund raising, educational
projects and event coordination.
Sea Grant marine education
specialist Lundie Spence also was
voted an honorary member of the board
in appreciation of the contributions
she made in founding the cleanup
and inspiring cooperation among
coordinating groups.
This year's cleanup is set for
Saturday, Sept. 16 from 9 a.m. to
1 For ICILnte?r infcnnatinn
call 1-800-27-SWEEP.
An International
Newsletter
One Sea Grant communicator will
soon be thinking, talking and writing
about trash on a regular basis.
Jeannie Faris is about to launch Sea
Grant's latest periodical, Marine Debris
Worldwide, an international newsletter
devoted to ocean litter. As managing
editor of the publication, Faris will be
gathering information about scientific
marine debris surveys and research,
industry and urban waste reduction
efforts, worldwide legislative efforts to
halt ocean litter, and educational projects
aimed at teaching the public or special-
ized audiences about the hazards and
costs of marine debris.
The publication's audience will be
waste management officials; the shipping
and cruise industries; commercial fishing
organizations; boating, diving and
recreational fishing groups; coastal
resource managers; marine scientists;
manufacturers of products used in the
marine environment; and coastal
cleanup organizers.
"The newsletter will serve as a
communications tool for audiences that
are interested in marine debris," Faris
says. "These groups have common
concerns, which bring them together at
international conferences, but otherwise
they've remained fragmented. Educators
have not regularly exchanged informa-
tion with researchers, and industries
have not communicated with cleanup
organizers. So this newsletter will help
keep these people in contact."
The newsletter is funded by the
National Sea Grant College Program
through a grant from the National
Marine Fisheries Service.
For a complimentary copy of the
first issue, write Sea Grant, Box 8605,
N.C. State University, Raleigh, NC
27695. Or call 919/515-2454.
New Staff On Board
Rachel Wharton and Larisa Tatge
are tho---Impe vnii'n nntina in the
Coastwatch masthead. They've joined
the Sea Grant staff part time.
Wharton is a recent graduate of
N.C. State University, where she
received her bachelor's degree in
language, writing and editing. She
worked previously for Business Leader
and Technician, the NCSU student
newspaper.
Tatge is a graduate student at
NCSU working toward a master's
degree in international studies. She
received her undergraduate degree in
English literature from Oklahoma State
University and worked for two years as
a reporter for Tulsa World, a daily
newspaper in Tulsa, Okla. She is fluent
in Spanish.
Both writers will be producing
Coastwatch articles as well as handling
other writing and editing assignments.
"Rachel and Larisa are welcome
additions to the staff," says Kathy Hart,
Sea Grant communications director.
"They bring enthusiasm and a fresh
perspective to the many topics we tackle
on a daily basis."
Doll Wins Take Pride
in North Carolina
Award
At times last year, storm drain
stenciling was practically an around-the-
clock project for Sea Grant water quality
specialist Barbara Doll. She found herself
assembling stencil kits for 43 cities,
testing paints and grids, rounding up
volunteer painters, contacting city
liaisons, planning press releases and
fliers, and filming a video. But these
efforts paid off as volunteers invested an
estimated 700 hours of their time in the
project.
Now, Doll and storm drain stenciling
have been recognized on a statewide level
with a 1994 Take Pride in North Carolina
Award.
"I want to take this opportunity to
commend you for the outstanding work
you are doing to promote wise use of our
state's public resources," Gov. Jim Hunt
wrote in his congratulatory letter to Doll.
"Your involvement in this program helps
to ancnra that firtnrP gPnPratinnc alcn ran
... ......................... a....,......,..., ....._ ___
enjoy and benefit from our state's natural,
historic and cultural resources."
The awards program recognizes
outstanding stewardship projects that
increase awareness of natural and cultural
resources and encourage an attitude of
stewardship and responsibility toward
these resources.
Doll's stenciling project met these
criteria by assembling and equipping
volunteers to paint storm drains in cities
throughout the state's coastal watershed.
The "KEEP CLEAN!" stencils identify
the coastal waters to which these drains
flow, including Albemarle Sound,
Pamlico Sound, Cape Fear River, New
River, other sounds and the ocean. Once
painted, the messages can raise awareness
of coastal waters and alert the public that
dumping trash into storm drains can
pollute these valuable resources. Every
year, antifreeze, motor oil, cigarette
butts, paint, plastics and yard wastes
wash into our waters, spoiling them for
people and wildlife.
The project has support from N.C.
Sea Grant, N.C. Cooperative Extension
t a b l e o f c o n t e n t s
Features

a

Page'
Masonboro Island: An Undisturbed Legacy
A stone's throw from the urban stretches of Wrightsville and
Carolina beaches, Masonboro Island has remained in untouched
splendor for years. When landowners considered development in
1983, the Society for Masonboro Island and the state Division of
Coastal Management stepped in to preserve Masonboro Island as
part of the N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve system.
Staff writer Rachel Wharton explores the past, present and future
of this popular New Hanover County island .................2
Trashing Bad Habits:
A First-Person Account of Eco-Sins and Redemption
Staff writer Jeannie Faris is of a generation raised on
convenience packaging - people who can toss trash into the can
without a twinge of conscience. But this throwaway lifestyle is
coming under fire by a national campaign that urges consumers
to reduce their wastes and reuse what they can. Faris describes
turning the comer, learning to precycle, recycle and compost as
alternatives to sending garbage to the landfill and incinerator. 10
Earth Day: Roots of the Green Movement
Earth Day is poised to celebrate its 25th anniversary on April
T) It might mmrieP vnn to 1Pam how it ant it, etart _ 17
The Choreography of the Tides
Twice a day in North Carolina, the ocean's edge takes a bow
at the dunes and retreats again. What's behind this mysterious
cycle of the tides? The moon, the sun, the Earth and a lot of
intricate movement ...................................18
The Osprey: ABird's-Eye View
One of North Carolina's most impressive raptors - the
osprey - will appear soon at area lakes, streams and beaches.
- Learn more about the famous "fish hawk" and the areas where it
20
-- can be spotted .............................

Taking the Plunge:
Sea Grant Studies the State's Commercial Fishing Industry
'f Sea Grant has embarked on a landmark project to examine
North Carolina's fishing industry. Hanging in the balance is the
` state's seafood industry and the fresh fish that ends up on your
r 4 dinner table ......................................... 22
Departments
Page Z? Aft Deck ........................................ 24
24 MARCHIAPRIL 1995 COASTWATCH 1

snowWv egret
2 MARCHIAPRIL 1995
r
Nay,
t_
Q

Scientists rank overfishing as a The moratorium is "a pause,"
leading cause of the problem. As Copeland says, to closely examine
numbers of fish in the water shrink, North Carolina's fishing industry for
fishermen have been forced to cast their the first time.
nets farther out to sea. Meanwhile, sales A 19-member steering committee
of commercial fishing gear have steadily
increased. Technology, which now leads the Sea Grant study. It comprises
members of both commercial and recre-
Scientists rank overfishing
enables people to net more fish at a faster ational fishing industries, academia and as a leading cause of the
pace than ever in the state's 400-year government. Also included are an ecolo- problem. As numbers of
fishing history, has also emerged as an gist, an economist and a social scientist. fish in the water shrink

environmental nemesis.
Copeland serves as a member of the ,
In 1983, the N.C. Division of committee. fishermen have been forced
Marine Fisheries reported that 4,061 "One of the greatest strengths of to cast their nets farther out
fishermen had vessel licenses for full- the committee is the quality of people to sea. Meanwhile, sales of
time fishing. Ten years later, that figure we have," says Bob Lucas, committee commercial fishinggear
rose to 5,214. During that same period, chairman. "The learning curve is not
' have steadily increased.
quantities of edible finfish declined very much. You don
t want to spend a Technolo
which now
gy
dramatically. lot of time bringing people up to date ,
Tugging on the other end of the line on the issues. These people already enables people to net more
is an ever-expanding net of government are up to date." fish at a faster pace than ever
regulation that commercial watermen A main obstacle for the group, in the state's 400-year fishing
must adhere to and competition from an however, has been "narrowing our history, has also emerged as
influx of recreational fishermen from focus," Lucas says. With so many an environmental nemesis

other Atlantic states.
issues at stake, sometimes it has been a .
Population growth among North challenge to closely examine smaller
Carolina's 20 coastal counties may also problems.
have a significant effect on overfishing.
About 711,000 permanent residents were For now, the group's prime task is
pinpointing the fishermen of North
Tugging on the other
reported living in the state's coastal Carolina. "We let a lot of people do a lot end of the line is an
communities in 1990, according to the of things. How many recreational people ever-expanding net
U.S. Bureau of the Census. That number are actually doing commercial fishing?
' ofgovernment regulation
is expected to swell to 937,000 by the Doggone it, we don
t even know who it
year 2010. is we're managing," Lucas says. that commercial watermen
The Sea Grant project will examine Improving fisheries management must adhere to and
the impact of all these factors, Copeland inevitably will require heavy-handed competition from an influx
says. The information will serve as a basis measures, which many other states of recreational fishermen
for future policy, which could include have taken, Lucas says. Maryland, for from other Atlantic states.
revamping fishing licensing laws and example, charges $2,000 for a fishing
beefing up law enforcement. license and requires a one-year waiting
Copeland cites the top goal as period.
identifying and defining the state's fishing Lucas warned against taking small,
gear, fishermen and fishing effort. The hesitant steps toward reform. "It would
remaining four priorities are: assessing take 20 years to do it that way, and I'm
the Division of Marine Fisheries, devising not up for it. In the long run, we'll get
ways to reduce fishing effort, revitalizing there quicker."
the fish population and developing better Copeland notes, "Reducing harvest
fisheries management techniques. and maintaining adequate fisheries
The Sea Grant study stems from populations are crucial to the future
legislation passed last summer by the equitable use of a public resource for all
General Assembly. In the same piece of North Carolinians."
legislation, a two-year ban on the sale of There are no panaceas, he says, and
commercial fishing licenses was imposed. new strategies will require compromises
During the moratorium, licenses may be from all groups involved. The results,
renewed and transferred, but no new however, will write a new chapter in the
licenses will be sold until June 30, 1996. state's coastal history. 0
COASTWATCH 23
Taking the Plunge:
Sea Grant Studies the State's Commercial Fishing Industry
By Larisa Tatge
Question: How do you keep
North Carolina's fishing industry afloat
without depleting the steadily declining
fish population?
N.C. Sea Grant has been assigned
by state lawmakers to find possible
answers to this paramount problem.
Hanging in the balance is North
Carolina's seafood industry - and the
fresh fish that ends up on your dinner
table.
In March and April, Sea Grant will
review proposals submitted by state
researchers for this project, says Sea
Grant director B.J. Copeland. Selected
participants will reap portions of a
$225,000 research grant appropriated
by the state General Assembly for the
comprehensive study of North Carolina's
fishing industry.
North Carolina officials lack basic
information about the subject, Copeland
says. Data is scant about how many
people fish in North Carolina and what
type of gear they use.
"Over the past decade, the amount
of (fishing) effort has dramatically
increased," Copeland says. "There are
more pots, more trawl nets. The number
of crab pots in the water has tripled."
Yet, "we don't know many
things," he says. "By and large, we
don't know how it (the gear) affects
the environment."

r?

Crockette W. Hewlett married
into the Masonboro magic.
When Crockette moved with her
husband Addison to his native town
along Masonboro Sound in 1951, she
was captured with the land - its great
gusts, its salty spray, the view of nearby
Masonboro Island. Crockette was so
captured, in fact, she wanted to write
about her new home.
Twenty years later, Crockette set
out to record the history of the community
of Masonboro in Between the Creeks:
A History of Masonboro Sound from
1735 to 1970.
Addison Hewlett, about whose native
soil and people this history was written,
was from a family that lived along
Masonboro Sound for decades. The
Hewletts and other clans who lived there
in the 18th and 19th centuries were
devoted to the coastal marshes and the
distinct beauty that life by the water
afforded. They lived in the midst of
delicate grasses, crusty oaks, soaring tems
- across the water from the untouched
wilderness of Masonboro Island.
These families have marked the
Masonboro shores and the waters nearby
as their homeland with gravestones, street
signs and creek names. Hewletts Creek,
which empties into Masonboro Sound,
was named after Addison Hewlett's
family. The Hewletts even owned part of
Masonboro Island.
Today, these families' legal ties to
the island have been cut. The state owns
almost all of Masonboro Island, which is
now part of the N.C. National Estuarine
Research Reserve. Continued
22 MARCHIAPRIL 1995 COASTWATCH 3
two citified New Hanover County
neighbors: Wrightsville Beach to the
north and Carolina Beach to the south.
These are two of the most visited beaches
along the Tar Heel coast, and they only
continue to grow - hotels and homes,
bars and hot dog stands, roads, shops and
restaurants.
Like Wrightsville Beach,
Masonboro Island is lapped on one side
by brackish waters of the Intracoastal
Waterway and pounded by the Atlantic
Ocean on the other. Unlike Wrightsville,
Masonboro has no houses, no hotels, no
beachwalks, no asphalt. It is only
accessible by boat.
M. tsonboro
Island can be
reached only by boat.
To launch a boat,
use one of several
public boat ramps at
Wrightsville and
Carolina beaches.
A quick ride will land
you on the sandy
beaches along the
north or south ends
of the island.
Only a small part of Masonboro
Island's 8.4 miles is uplands, or lands
that are never underwater or touched
by overwash. These uplands are too
narrow for development. What's more,
Masonboro Island falls within the
Undeveloped Barrier Islands System
established by the Federal Coastal
Barrier Resources Act of 1982.
Under this act, the island can't
receive federal funds for public improve-
ments or development. This means no
water, sewer or roads. Masonboro Island
properties can't get federal flood
insurance either.
From that standpoint, it seems
Masonboro has little to offer- no
swimming pools or air-conditioned hotel
rooms. There's not even one tourist shop
that sells painted shell magnets or

a?
r
Y<

?r•

Great Lakes, the northern Rocky
Mountains and the Pacific Northwest.
The U.S. osprey migrates southward
to the Caribbean, Central America and
South America during winter months.
The exception is the osprey population of
Florida, which keeps a year-round
domicile. Other isolated pairs, for no
clear reason, choose not to migrate,
Brown says. Unlike other raptors, young
ospreys spend extended time on their
Anne Mauh,ll Rwmn
n?R Yon
wintering grounds before heading north
during their third year. This provides
extra time for them to develop foraging
skills.
The osprey, also dubbed the "fish
hawk," stays close to abundant supplies of
fish, except when migrating. In captivity,
researchers have discovered that an
osprey will refuse to eat fish that have not
been freshly killed, Brown notes. This
preference has created problems for some
researchers studying ospreys outside their
natural habitat.
Ospreys are monogamous birds; they
mate for life. During courtship, the male
flaps vigorously over the nest of a female,
calling out loudly and often presenting her
with a fresh fish. Pairs return to the same
nest year after year, adding twigs and bark
to their ever-expanding home.
The female lays about three beige
eggs, highly camouflaged to undermine
threats from common predators such as
bald eagles and crows.
During the incubation period, about
four weeks, the female will remain with
the eggs while the male hunts fish to bring
back to the nest. Osprey chicks, or eyas,
remain in the nest for about eight weeks
until they fledge. A bird has fledged when
it has the feathers it needs to fly and live
independently.
An osprey's body is uniquely
designed for performing its aquatic feats.
Marked with black wings and a white
underbody and head, the osprey boasts
long legs for plunging into the depths of
the water. The soles of the bird's feet are
equipped with small, sharp spikes just
right for snagging fish.
With keen eyesight, the osprey homes
in on its prey from above the water's
surface. The bird then plunges feetfirst
into the water, often submerging its body
completely, and snatches the fish with its
talons. The fish is usually carried in flight
head forward - a surprising ride for the
fish, to be sure - until the osprey finds a
spot to stop and devour it.
Ospreys have been reported to prey
on birds, mice and other mammals, but
these remain exceptions in their diet.
With patience and a dash of luck on
your next trip to the coast, you
might catch a glimpse of one of North
Carolina's best coastal fishers. 0
For more information about ospreys,
plan a i,isit to the N.C. Aquarium on
Roanoke Island. The aquarium has a new
osprey exhibit featuring live video footage
of the nesting behavior of an osprey pair
that returns each year to a tower nest
outside of the building.
4 MARCHIAPRIL 1995
COASTWATCH 21
Tricolored heron
By Larisa Tatge
Few action movies rival this
dramatic scene, coming soon to North
Carolina.
A large black-and-white osprey, with
a wingspan stretching 6 feet, soars
overhead. In a crashing flurry, the bird
plunges into the sea, sinking its talons
into a struggling fish. Soaring back into
the air, it disappears in the distance.
The daring osprey, a member of the
hawk family, stars as one of the state's
most impressive - and visible -
raptors.
"It's not difficult to see ospreys,"
says Jim Pamell, a Sea Grant biologist at
the University of North Carolina at
Wilmington. "They're most everywhere
along the coast."
Also easy to spot are ospreys' nests,
huge stick-and-twig penthouses perched
on such lofty spots as treetops, power
poles and radio towers.
Though conspicuous, the nests rarely
encroach on human activity, according to
Pamell. Occasionally. however. the large
birds will nest on navigational lights
along the coast, obscuring the colored
signals.
"Sometimes the Coast Guard will
have to move a nest because it's interfer-
ing with a navigational aid," Parnell says.
Apart from this minor problem,
humans and ospreys rarely interact.
Some fishermen believe ospreys
pluck the best fish from the water, but
the opposite is actually true. "Ospreys
take the easiest fish to catch - the sick,
the weaker fish genetically - and help
keep a good, healthy fish population,"
says Dick Brown, biology professor
at Brunswick Community College in
Supply. "They are no competition for
a true sportfisherman.
"After all," Brown quips, "they have
to do it with their feet."
In the 1960s, ospreys were fishing
for survival along the East Coast, where
pesticides were poisoning their food
supply, thinning their eggshells and
diminishing their numbers. Since the U.S.
ban on DDT and other pesticides, the
osprey population has rebounded to
healthy levels, scientists believe.
However, pollutants remain a threat
to many ospreys that winter in Central
and South America, where uses of deadly
pesticides are still rampant. "There may
still be some problems, but it's not like it
was," Brown says.
Ospreys usually return to North
Carolina coasts, lakes and streams in
April. In northeastern North Carolina,
A Bird's-Eye
ospreys can be seen along the causeway
of Lake Mattamuskeet. Inland, they nest
near lakes such as Norman and Townsend
- always near a bountiful supply of fish,
Brown says.
Although ospreys are found world-
wide, population numbers are scant.
Biologists estimate that about 8,000 pairs
make the United States their home base.
Their nests are clustered in five main
regions: the Atlantic Coast, the Gulf, the
sunglasses. No soundside docks beckon
boaters to stop.
Because of this lack of amenities,
you might think Masonboro Island
attracts little attention and few visitors.
It's the lonely island of the southern
coast.
But on a hot summer day, Mason-
boro is crawling with everyone from
fishermen to flip-flopped explorers.
Boats jam the Intracoastal Waterway,
and the curious squint, looking for a rare
loggerhead turtle or maybe an ordinary
black skimmer. From the top of the
biggest dune on the north end, you can
see eight miles of coast, marsh and forest
- from the prickly little cacti that stick
to your socks to the graceful curve of the
beaches.
Masonboro Island is, well, nature in
the nude. With all the development
clogging other islands, it would be hard
not to call Masonboro beautiful. Yet it's
not like that last pitiful tree in Dr. Seuss's
The Lorax, valued because it's all we
have left. This island and the sound that
borders it were majestic enough 200
years ago to stand out from the miles of
untouched coast around it.
Crockette Hewlett wrote that in
1735, five years before the budding city
of Wilmington was incorporated, an
Englishman stood at the mouth of
Cabbage Inlet Creek and gazed at the
sound and distant Masonboro Island.
Like the Indian, Italian, Spanish and
Barbadian explorers before him, Richard
Mullington liked what he saw. Like those
who followed, he wanted to lay founda-
tions there.
Later that year, Mullington pur-
chased 640 acres from King George II
and became the first property owner on
the mainland along Masonboro Sound.
Since that time, the mainland has
been changing. Mullington sold his
property long ago. Families such as the
Hewletts moved in, along with farmers,
craftsmen and fishermen. There have
been pirates, salt mines and Civil War
shipwrecks. Wrightsville Beach and
Carolina Beach began to develop as
resorts in the late 1800s, and they haven't
stopped since.
Continued
Wrightsville
Beach
Masonboro hilet
Masonboro Island
Atlantic Ocean
Masonboro Island
National Estuarine
Research Reserve
System
20 MARCHIAPRIL 1995 COASTWATCH 5
' A 1 Carolina Beach
American oystercatcher
M-tsoriboro
Island and North
Carolina's other
barrier islands
were formed almost
5,000 years ago -
about the same time
that ancient Egyptians
were building the
pyramids. Sand and
soil were eroded from
the land during the
end of the last ice
age and pushed into
island formations as
the glaciers melted
and sea level rose,
says Spencer Rogers,
Sea Grant's coastal
construction and
erosion specialist.
When sea level
stabilized, the islands
completed formation
and gradually
widened.
In 1932, the Intracoastal Waterway
between Beaufort and the Cape Fear
River was finished. Hurricane Hazel blew
by in 1954.
Through 200 years of turmoil,
Masonboro Island has serenely watched
from a distance - and stayed completely
the same. The tides rise and fall, and time
passes.
True, there was the Carolina Inlet cut
at the south end in 1952. In the 1960s and
70s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
built northern and southern jetties for
Masonboro Inlet. The corps also deposits
spoil on the island from the dredging of
that and other inlets. And thousands visit
the island and leave their footprints. But
other than that, and the shifting of the
sands, the isle of Masonboro looks a lot
like it did back when Richard Mullington
first set his eyes on it.
And that's the way most people want
it to remain.
In 1983, before Masonboro Island
was part of the research reserve system,
an ad appeared in the Wilmington
classifieds announcing the intention of
some Masonboro Island landowners to
build for the first time.
"Everyone assumed that no one
would be able to do anything with it,"
says Wilmington attorney Bill Raney.
"A number of people who thought
Masonboro Island should be left like it is
started wondering, `What happens if
they're successful?"'
So a small group of people, calling
themselves the Society for Masonboro
Island, joined together to champion this
barrier island. They even considered
buying the land to keep it undeveloped.
The society called on Raney to help
its members get better organized, and by
the second meeting, they formed a
nonprofit corporation. Today, the
organization has a newsletter, a growing
membership and an executive director,
Marian T. McPhaul.
"The society is unique in that it has
support from all over," says McPhaul.
"It's an incredible place," she adds.
"You can walk down eight miles of
beaches. It's a real taste of isolation."
Many noticed Masonboro Island's
charms.
"The state had a history of looking at
Masonboro Island for acquisition," says
Raney. There was talk of preserving it in
On the open sea, the changing tides
are barely discernible. But where the
edges lap at shorelines, the change in
water level - or tidal range -
is marked. In North Carolina, the
variance is only a few feet; but along the
funnel-shaped Bay of Fundy in Canada,
the tide may vary as much as 50 feet
from low to high. Tidal range is also
affected by
seasonal
variations -
such as
atmospheric
pressure, rain-
fall and wind
direction -
and man-made
alterations in
certain harbors.
Here
Comes
the Sun
The sun
also plays a
role in tidal
flux, though its
influence is less
than half that of
higher high tide is commonly thought to
follow the full moon, but in truth it may
occur after either the full or new moon.
At the first and third quarter, when
the sun and moon form a right angle to
the Earth, scant or "neap" tides occur.
The tide-producing forces of the moon
and sun cancel each other out, causing
lower high tides and higher low tides.
two weeks later, at "apogee," the moon is
farthest away from Earth and its gravita-
tional grip on the tides slackens.
Tidal ranges have even greater
variance when two or more of these
monthly events overlap. For instance, a
spring tide coinciding with the moon's
perigee would cause more extreme
fluctuations. Local weather conditions
may either
I
Sun
I
I
Gravitational
pull of Moon
Moon e plus Sun
r
Moon
Earth e< I
I I
Sun Sun Sun
I?
Gravitational
Spring pull of Moon
Tide r
C) I m
New Moon First Qu
I I
I ?
I Gravitational
Gravitational pull of Moon Gravitational
pull of Sun plus Sun pull of Sun
I Moon
Ih I Earth I Earth
I '
Neap
Tide
Spring Gravitational
Nea Tide Tide Moon I pull of Moon
I I
arter Full Moon Third Quarter
the moon. The
sun's gravity is most remarkable when it
pulls in concert with the moon. Twice
each month, the sun, moon and Earth
are aligned. The combined pull of the
sun and moon produces higher and
lower tidal ranges known as "spring
tides." Spring tides rise on the full
moon, when the Earth is flanked by the
moon and sun, and at the "new" moon,
when the moon is between the Earth
and sun.
The term "spring" refers to the leap
in tidal range, not the season. Spring
tides may add I or 2 feet to the mean
tide levels along the North Carolina
coast, causing slightly higher high tides
and lower low tides. A common
misconception along Tar Heel shores is
that spring tides occur only once
monthly, says Sea Grant specialist
Spencer Rogers. This may be because in
a given month, one of the two spring
tides is more pronounced, he says. The
Adapted from Marine Biology
The term "spring" refers to the leap
in tidal range, not the season.
Spring tides may add 1 or 2 feet
to the mean tide levels along
the North Carolina coast,
causing slightly higher high tides
and lower low tides.
A common misconception along
Tar Heel shores is that
spring tides occur only once monthly.
Other Extenuating Factors
The moon's do-si-do with the Earth
takes an elliptical course. Once each
month, only 216,000 miles separate our
planet from the moon. At this close
range, the moon is said to be at "peri-
gee," and the increased gravitational pull
causes higher tides than normal. About
compound or
dampen the
intensity of the
predictable
astronomical
events, says
Rogers. Add
to the equation
a coastal storm
such as a north-
easter, he says,
and you get
flooding and
accelerated
erosion in beach
communities.
The notorious
Hurricane Hazel
skirted a spring
tide to produce a
storm of ferocious
proportion.
The fierce and famous Ash Wednes-
day Storm, which swept the East Coast
from the Carolinas to New England in
March 1962, also attacked on a spring tide
at the "dark of the moon." Coincidentally,
the moon reached perigee within a half-
hour of this astronomical alignment of the
moon, sun and Earth. The result was a
three-day storm that killed more than 40
people, toppled homes and businesses
and submerged streets.
The next simultaneous perigee and
spring tide - or "proxigean spring tide"
- is predicted to occur Dec. 21. Keep
your eye on the weather. 0
Helpful sources for this article
included Marine Biology by Peter
Castro and Michael E. Huber;
Oceanography: An Invitation to
Marine Science by Tom Garrison;
and The Weather Book (USA Today)
6y Jack Williams.
6 MARCHIAPRIL 1995 COASTWATCH 19

ChorTHEhy
OF TH 1 By
Carla B. Burgess
Aristotle once flung
himself into the ocean in a
desperate attempt to master
the mystery of its ebb and
flow. In my own quest to
understand the tides, I merely
held hands with an enlight-
ened co-worker as we spun
each other around the room
in merry-go-round fashion -
I, the Earth; she, the moon.
Of course, I had a lot
more scientific information at
the outset than did the
heralded Greek philosopher,
who thought the seas were
produced by the Earth
JWCaiing. i aiwauy Knew Lnat
the moon, the sun, gravity and

U Moon
Moon's
Rotation
Gravitationa l ? Earth's
Force Rotation

0 F.
Earth
Center of
mass of Center
Earth and of Earth
Moon together
Tidal
Depression
T'idaI
Ri i?na
I J ranfrili inn F/1fPP
centrifugal force were key
players in the daily rise and fall of the
sea that we call tides. I just needed to
sharpen the image in my mind with a
hands-on dance of the orbs.
When we speak of the tide, we
often describe it as "going out" or
"coming in." From the fairly flat
vantage point of a beach, it would seem
so. Two times daily in North Carolina,
the edge of the ocean tags the upper
beach. And twice again it shrinks
toward the horizon.
But take a global look at this
phenomenon, and you realize that the
surface of the seas actually lifts and falls
in response to the gravitational pull of
the moon and sun combined with the
Earth's own movement.
The moon's gravitational pull
exerts the strongest influence on the
tides. Though much smaller than the
sun, the moon is closer to our planet.
Imagine that the Earth's surface
Adapred from Marine Biology
On the open sea, the changing tides
are barely discernible.
But where the edges lap at shorelines,
the change in water level -
or tidal range - is marked.
In North Carolina, the variance
is only a few feet;
but along the funnel-shaped
Bay of Fundy in Canada,
the tide may vary as much as
50 feet from low to high.
was enveloped completely by water. At
any given time, the water would "bulge"
at opposite sides of the Earth. One tidal
bulge would appear on the side closest
the orbiting moon, which draws the
surface water toward it as it passes.
Another bulge of water would
appear on the opposite side
of the Earth as a result of
centrifugal force. To be
precise, the moon doesn't
circle the Earth. The two
bodies are both orbiting a
central point of mass as would
a merry-go-round. So at the
same time gravity pulls water
toward the moon, the outward-
moving centrifugal force
pushes a bulge of water away
from the Earth on the opposite
side. In other words, the water
is flung outward, producing a
mirror high tide.
Meanwhile, the Earth is
spinning on its own axis,
completing one rotation in 24
hours. Chis means that each
point on Earth rotates through
a tidal bulge twice a day.
Ideally, each spot on Earth would
experience two high tides and two low
tides daily. In reality, of course, the
continents divide that hypothetical
envelope of water into many oceans, each
with coastlines and bottoms of various
shapes and depths. So tides behave
differently worldwide. Generally, the
East Coast of North America, Europe
and Africa all experience two of each
every day.
If the Earth and moon were always
in fixed locations, high tide and low tide
would recur every 12 hours. But the
moon is actually moving slightly faster
than the Earth. Therefore, a complete
tidal cycle requires one "lunar day," or 24
hours and 50 minutes. That means that
successive low and high tides will be
separated by about 12 hours and 25
minutes. If the tide rises at 6 p.m. at
Atlantic Beach, for instance, it will be
high again around 6:25 the next morning.
the 1950s. In the 1970s, it was
considered for inclusion in the state
parks system. But nothing came of
either effort.
An amendment to the Coastal
Zone Management Act of 1972
established the National Estuarine
Sanctuary Program to acquire land for
estuarine sanctuaries. Allotted $3
million in matching federal funds, state
coastal management programs were
encouraged to purchase and preserve
estuaries.
In 1983, North Carolina received
more than $1.7 million from the
program to establish three estuarine
sanctuaries: Zeke's Island in New
Hanover County, the Rachel Carson
estuary in Carteret County and
Currituck Banks in Currituck County.
The state wanted another site. The
Society for Masonboro Island wanted
that site to be Masonboro Island.
Due to the society's efforts to
promote the island as an ideal sanctu-
ary, the chief of the estuarine sanctuar-

ies and reserves division received
hundreds of letters demanding the
preservation of Masonboro Island.
In 1984, persuasive powers
prevailed and Masonboro Island became
part of the N.C. National Estuarine
Research Reserve, as the program is
now called. Masonboro Island, like all
of North Carolina's estuarine research
reserves, is managed by the Division of
Coastal Management under the supervi-
sion of John Taggart.
Taggart and his two employees -
educator Joyce Atkinson and scientist
Steve Ross - are responsible for all
administration of the estuarine research
reserve system.
Atkinson organizes field trips,
visits schools, develops exhibits and
brochures, and trains teachers. Ross,
whose office is located across the
waterway from the island, monitors the
estuaries and works with the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-
tion (NOAA) to fund research projects
Continued

Fishing off Masonboro Island

for those persons
with a sentimental
attachment to the area
known today
as Masonboro,
the very name has
a magical ring.
It represents a place
of gentle contentment,
a verdant world
of primeval beauty,
where pines give forth
an ancient sigh and
moss drips heavily
from crusty oaks.
Between the Creeks:
A History of
Masonboro Sound
1735-1970
by Crockette Hewlett

18 MARCHIAPRIL 1995 COASTWATCH 7
13,CaLlSe
Masonboro Island
is uninhabited,
many critters are
attracted to its solitude.
Peregrine falcons
have been reported
as seasonal visitors.
Brown pelicans are
common, frequently
seen feeding and
flying near the island.
In the spring, large
colonies of terns and
other shorebirds seek
its isolation for nesting
In summer, female
loggerhead turtles
drag their hefty bodies
ashore to lay eggs
along island beaches.
Walter Bateman drops in.
at reserve sites. He reviews research
results and reports them to NOAA.
The three also formulate a manage-
ment plan, which involves assembling a
local advisory committee that represents
a cross section of Masonboro Island
users.
"To have Masonboro Island as a
remnant of the original coast is impor-
tant," says Taggart. "People can enjoy
seeing what North Carolina is in its most
natural context."
Yet the intent of the reserve system
is to preserve estuaries as research sites.
"It's a wonderful, wonderful laboratory
for scientists and researchers," McPhaul
says.
But McPhaul doesn't have to
advertise the island's value to the
research community. Scientists from
Rutgers University in New Jersey are
using the reserve to study treated wood
and its contribution to water pollution.
Graduate students and professors from
the nearby University of North Carolina
at Wilmington are regulars on the island.
Sea Grant researchers Jeffery Hill
and Robert Buerger, biologists at UNC-
Wilmington, have been using computers
to record the consequences of human
impact on the island. To perform their
research, the two take nothing to the
island but their laptop computers and a
camera.
"The goal of the Sea Grant research
is to establish a data base of biological,
chemical and physical aspects of
Masonboro Island," says Taggart. "If
we have a good background of data,
then researchers who work on specific
projects will already have that to work
with."
Today there are few limitations on
what you or I can do on Masonboro
Island. There are a few standard
regulations - don't use the island
markers for target shooting, don't pull
up plants, don't disturb anyone's
research project. But these rules hardly
interfere with enjoyment. People still
swim, fish, watch birds, collect shells,
surf, camp, sail and even hunt.
Yet the lack of public restrictions
may be a problem for Masonboro
ENKTH
Roots of the Green Movement
By Jeannie Faris
If you were among the 20 million people who celebrated
the first Earth Day 25 years ago, chances are you were on a
college campus. In the two and a half decades that have
elapsed, the event has evolved from a peaceful
demonstration in the style of anti-war
teach-ins to daylong family-oriented
festivals across the nation.
Sen. Gaylord Nelson of
Wisconsin founded Earth Day in
1970 in an effort to shake
politicians out of their environmen M
tal lethargy.
At the time, teach-ins were popular
on college campuses as a way to protest the
Vietnam War. So, Nelson asked, why not organize a teach-in
on the environment? He galvanized his senate staff and a
group of college students and announced that Earth Day
would take place in the spring of 1970.
National wire services ran with the story, and the event
became a truly astonishing grassroots explosion, Nelson later
said. Nothing like that had happened before, although it was
not the senator's first effort to shine the public spotlight on
the environment. In 1962, he had convinced President
Kennedy to launch a nationwide conservation tour, spelling
out in dramatic language the emerging threats to the environ-
ment. The tour began in 1963, and although it failed to put
the environment onto the national agenda, it did plant the
seed of an idea that grew into Earth Day seven years later.
In 1990, Earth Day was revived on a national level to
celebrate its 20th anniversary. It gained the support of over
200 million people from 141 countries.
The 25th anniversary of Earth Day will be held April 22.
Look for activities in your community. 0
In 1990, Earth Day was revived
on a national level to celebrate
its 20th anniversary.
It gained the support
of over 200 million people
from 141 countries.
8 MARCHIAPRIL 1995 COASTWATCH 17
Use reusable alternatives
such as sponges, cloth napkins
and towels for spills.
If you don't have the yard
space for a compost pile,
try vermi-composting indoors
with worms.
Earth Day Resolutions
These days, our wastes and disposal choices reflect our lifestyles.
The 25th anniversary of Earth Day offers an opportunity to re-evaluate
them, to resolve to place less emphasis on convenience and more on
conservation.
Some resolutions can guide this process.
Buy in bulk or large sizes to reduce
the amount of product packaging
that you bring home. Use bulk
dispensers and your own reusable
containers.
2. Avoid food sold in individual
;rvmgs.
J. Substitute alternatives for toxic pest control
and cleaning products, which can present disposal problems. For instance,
substitute baking soda for tub and tile cleaners; exchange mineral oil and a
few drops of lemon juice for furniture polish. Avoid oven, drain and toilet
cleaners, metal polishes, chlorine bleach and spray pesticides. Instead, use
borax, baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice and salt.
4. Reduce your use of plastic wraps and bags. Store food in plastic
containers. Recycle dry cleaning bags where you can. And avoid
degradable plastic bags - they don't degrade in landfills and they
contaminate efforts to recycle plastic bags.
5. Minimize your use of paper products. Try reusable alternatives such as
sponges, cioth napkins and toweis for spiiis.
6. Companies listen to consumers, so tell them what you think. Refuse to
buy a product you consider environmentally unfriendly and write or call
the manufacturer about your concerns.
7. If you don't have the yard space for a coml
pile, try vermi-composting indoors with worm
The state Office of Waste Reduction says
there's no smell. All you need is a sturdy
box, shredded newspaper bedding, a handful
of soil and a bunch of leaves. Add enough
water to keep the pile as moist as a wrung-
out sponge. Then, add about 2 pounds of
red worms (2 to 4 inches long) and start
feeding them kitchen wastes. In the end,
you'll have a rich black humus for your
plants. 0
Helpful sources of'infortnation were
N.C. Once of Waste Reduction publica-
tions, EPA Journal, Waste Wise and
Rubbish! The Archaeology of Garbage.
Black skimmers
Island. The research collected since 1992
by Hill and Buerger shows that the north
end, south end and beach areas of
iviasonboro recover from human impact
because of the erasing effects of over-
wash and winds. The middle areas of the
island and marshes don't fare as well.
Marsh grass dies, trash is dropped and
land is eroded.
These findings haven't limited the
public's access to the island yet. "I think
the thing to bear in mind is we really
need more data," Taggart says. "So you
don't jump to any management conclu-
sions based on that."
Yet the fear of altering Masonboro
inspires its friends to action.
McPhaul reminds us to bring out
what we take in. "Those kind of simple
ideas are really important," she says.
Now that the island belongs almost
entirely to the state, she sees the society's
role as providing education. "We need to
be very gentle with our use of it," she
says. "The society can educate people
who are apt to be going there."
Volunteers from the society
sometimes pick up trash or set up
regulatory signs. According to Taggart,
surfers who cherish the island's waves
often organize cleanup crews. Society
members work with researchers to mark
turtle nesting sites or create educational
programs about how the island should
be treated. The society also helps the
Division of Coastal Management with
the often tricky, always long process of
acquisition.
The research reserve now owns 91
percent of Masonboro uplands. Almost
half of these were purchased from
willing sellers, or in some cases con-
demnation was declared. "The intent is
to get the entire island so it will all be
protected," says Taggart.
To get the last 9 percent may be a
struggle. Some of the land is owned by
the society, which plans to turn it over
to the state. Other property is in private
ownership.
"Sometimes it's hard to tell who
owns the land," Taggart says. "There's
often a very complex chain of title." In
some cases, landowners are long dead,
and heirs are difficult to find. In other
cases, owners do not want to relinquish
their land.
Think about it; it's easy to under-
stand why someone wouldn't want to
give up Masonboro Island property.
Imagine owning a part of something so
undeveloped, so beautiful.
Most folks, though, love Mason-
boro Island for what it has to offer,
and they want it to be in the hands of
Taggart and the Division of Coastal
Management. They understand that this
way it would belong to everyone.
"It's been here," says McPhaul.
"It'll be here. It's just how we take care
of it that decides what will be left." 0
From Currituck to Calabash:
Living with North Carolina's Barrier
Islands, by Orrin H. Pilkey Jr., William
J. Neal and Orrin H. Pilkey Sr., and
Exploring the North Carolina National
Estuarine Research Reserve, by,lohn
Taggart and Kathryn Henderson, were
valuable sources for this story. For
more information about the Society
for Masonboro Island, call Marian
McPhaul at 9101256-5777. Groups can
visit Masonboro Island on educational
cruises sponsored by Carolina Ocean
Studv Programs. For more information,
call 9101458-7302.
16 MARCH/APRIL 1995 COASTWATCH 9
A First-Person
Account of
Eco-Sins and
Redemption
By Jeannie Faris
Not too many years ago, the idea of separating garbage
- plastics, bottles, newspapers and cans - sent me into a
sanitation tailspin. I wanted my trash in one tidy place,
covered and out of sight.
Today, on the cusp of Earth Day's 25th anniversary,
I can say that I am recycling-redeemed. Not that I am
without wasteful eco-sins, but I don't mind rinsing
and separating anymore. There is certain satisfaction
in knowing that I can make a difference, that I'm
reducing my share of the 4.4 pounds of trash each of
us creates daily.
In this respect, waste management experts say I'm
pretty typical of most North Carolinians, especially those
lucky enough to have curbside recycling services. But the
state is still only a small fraction of the way toward its 2001
oal of reducing by 40 percent the waste that enters landfills
incinerators.
Clearly, we need to reverse an old maxim by making a molehill
out of our mountain of waste. That goal won't be met by recycling alone.
So just as I'm getting the hang of recycling, taking cardboard to the
collection center and harping on setting aside plastics, paper and aluminum,
I have to consider some other options.
Precyc ing
Let's go shopping.
The grocery store is perhaps one of the best places to explain
"precycling," another word for reducing and reusing the wastes that I let
through my front door and stack on my office desk. The principle is simple:
The more I manage to avoid wastes through front-end decisions about what I
buy, the less I have to recycle, compost, landfill or incinerate.
The Environmental Protection Agency says precycling should be top
priority when Americans make their trash disposal decisions. So I had to
begin rethinking my shopping choices, weighing prices and personal
preferences against the amount of packaging an item is wearing.
As I steer through grocery store aisles, brand names compete for space
in my cart. They offer convenient single-serving containers, layers of
brightly colored plastic, cardboard and coverings in tinfoil and shrink-wrap.
In the pasta section, my eye catches a display of tasty-looking multicolored
shells. I notice, a few steps closer, that they're layered sparsely over a slab of
foam plastic and enclosed in shrink-wrap. So I reach instead for noodles
bound in cardboard, a renewable resource. A few aisles down, individual
servings of chocolate pudding glimmer from plastic containers, sealed with
a tinfoil cap and bound in a cardboard carrier. I stop only to study the
packaging. In the refrigerated section, I whisk past lunches of cheese,
crackers and ham served in plastic containers and encased in cardboard
boxes with plastic-film windows.
Examples of overpackaging are at every turn. Why do some plastic-
contained deodorants still need cardboard coverings? Why are hairbrushes
sold in plastic and cardboard packages? I'd never thought about it before.
Cosmetics, too, seem to carry a lot of baggage. Scented soap is sold in a
unless the garbage truck failed to show up. It's not been a last resort -
it's been my only resort for everything except the recyclables I proudly
fish out and present at my curbside.
But I should have known better. Four years ago, as a newspaper
reporter in South Carolina, I discovered that documents landfilled years
earlier, sprayed with sewage and buried 12 feet underground could still be
read. I was part of a reporting team that picked through a bulldozed pit in
the landfill in search of records discarded in violation of a court order. And
we weren't disappointed. The pages were dirty, and they smelled awful,
but they were nonetheless intact.
I question how many people realize that landfills are little more than
trash storage sites. The contents are slow to decompose because they're
usually buried and sealed without air or water. Garbage archaeologists
have proven this by excavating organic garbage still intact more than
30 years after it was buried.
Still, it's no wonder that we rely so heavily on the convenience of
landfills and incinerators. The roots of our disposal habits run
deep, back to the early Roman empire where wastes wer
kept hidden from the privileged. By law, trash was carte
out under the cover of night and dumped a mile outside
the city limits. The crematorium - a cart-drawn trash
burner - was invented in the late 1800s and early
1900s and pulled through the cities to collect wastes.
This incineration tactic worked until waste began to
include glass, aluminum and plastics.
Now, as the 20th century draws to a close,
North Carolina's landscape hosts about 370 solid
waste disposal sites: 66 municipal waste landfills,
31 industrial waste landfills, 150 land-clearing
landfills, four incinerators, 14 yard waste
composting facilities, l l mixed waste processing
facilities and 94 scrap tire collection sites.
The amount of trash flowing into these and other
sites across the country continues to grow, but at a
slower pace than in years past.
Nationally, landfills are projected to receive less
waste in the year 2000 (about 109 million tons, or less than
half of what is generated) than in 1980 (about 123 million tons, or
81 percent of what was generated). Of course, better disposal habits are not
fully responsible for this decline. The glass, plastic and metal containers
that we toss out today weigh considerably less than they did one or two
decades ago, thanks to new manufacturing processes. Meanwhile, the use
of incinerators has been slightly on the rise.
In North Carolina, the amount of trash buried has decreased per capita
for three years straight, due largely to tipping fees, disposal bans, source
reduction and recycling programs, and separation of land-clearing material
from general waste. On average, just over 1 ton of waste is landfilled or
incinerated per person annually. This is a 6.4 percent reduction over 1991-
92, the year against which most state improvements are measured. But it's
still a far cry from the 40 percent goal that looms six years off.
Continued
Statistics show that most
North Carolinians and Americans
still dispose of the bulk
of their trash in landfills,
although the rate of growth is slowing.
10 MARCHIAPRIL 1995 COASTWATCH 15
1
The compost recipe calls for food scraps,
yard clippings, leaves and dirt
stacked in alternating layers.
Heat inside a household pile
builds to 90 F or more,
causing oxygen molecules to break down,
water molecules to gather
and bacteria to multiply.
North Carolina was typical in the amount
of twigs, grass clippings and leaves
that it folded in with household trash
before it banned yard wastes
from municipal landfills in 1993.
14 MARCHIAPRIL 1995
change form. An occasional stirring fuels the microbes
with oxygen, and the trash heap becomes azalea fodder
as early as six weeks.
I've quietly admired a couple of friends' compost
piles, but I've always been a little skeptical of dumping
my kitchen wastes into the yard. What if it stinks and
bothers the neighbors? Or what if it attracts raccoons?
Aren't there things I should avoid putting on it?
And how significant could my kitchen and yard
wastes be anyway?
In reply to my last question, some statistical
sleuthing suggests that these are meaningful portions of
landfilled trash. Nationally, 7 percent of our waste
comes from the kitchen while 20 percent is gathered from
he yard. North Carolina was typical in the amount of
twigs, grass clippings and leaves that it folded in with
household trash before it banned yard wastes from municipal
landfills in 1993. Since then, about 50 special sites have helped fill
the void by accepting more than 310,000 tons of yard wastes annually.
My remaining concerns about composting can be addressed with a
few simple tips: keep meat and dairy scraps off the pile to stave off odors
and wildlife, turn the waste occasionally to control odor and hasten the
composting, and build a fence around it to keep critters at bay. Another
tactic is to place grass clippings and leaves around the base of plants as a
ready-made mulch.
Of course, my recent awakening to this disposal option doesn't
dicrniµnt the nanerationc of huct?nr hehintl rmmnnctinn Riira) rnmmimitiac
have been doing it in some form for centuries. Even today, garbage
services are not offered to many countryside addresses outside the city
limits. So these homeowners try to lighten their load to the landfill by
composting all the food and paper wastes that they can.
Composting can be done on a grander scale as well. Across the state,
64 local governments composted residents' wastes in 1992-93. In Win-
ston-Salem, the city feeds its compost stack with tobacco wastes. The leaf
waste is an excellent source of nitrogen, which the stack needs to operate,
and diverts a significant amount of material from the landfill.
Landfills and Incinerators
When the best conservation efforts haven't gotten rid of the household
and industrial trash, the EPA says landfills and incinerators should be the
last resort.
This requires i
to completely
reverse the way
I think about
waste disposal.
Traditionally, I
have surrendered
my trash to the can
without another thought
cardboard box. Inside, each of three bars is wrapped in plastic and covered
by tissue paper. As a consumer, I have been seduced by flashy, colorful
boxes, layers of plastic wraps and tinfoil coverings. But while these
packaging designs can be visually appealing on the shelves and even key
to product safety, I now try to see them in a different
light. I imagine them as ugly waste piling up
in the landfill within a matter of days.
These wrappings, so painstakingly
designed to protect or beautify a
product, comprise a third of the
waste buried in landfills nationally.
In the workplace, companywide
policies or loose office-by-office
precycling can lighten the dumpster's
burden. It can be as easy as sending faxes without
cover sheets. Or it can be as elaborate as a new product design or
packaging policy. In Raleigh, a dry cleaning company accepts used
hangers from customers and donates a penny for each of them to the
Triangle Land Conservancy. I take my laundry there now. A major
computer manufacturer has redesigned its packaging to reduce waste. I
don't use this brand, but I'm convinced that package redesign is a good
idea after ordering a new computer last year. It took weeks to get rid of the
cardboard, foam and plastic leftovers.
On the public-sector side, some local governments have cited double-
sided printing, ceramic mugs, refillable toner cartridges and scratch pads
made from the clean side of printed paper as examples of their source-
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memos, buys chemicals for its wastewater treatment plant in bulk and
delivers packages by freight instead of express carriers to reduce packag-
ing waste. But even as precycling takes these steps forward, only 17
percent of the state's 620 local governments said they had in-house or
public-oriented source reduction programs in 1993-94.
Precycling is still gathering a foothold in North Carolina, although it's
not an especially new concept, nor is it a local one.
as global appeal, as I learned last year at the
International Conference on Marine Debris.
Slashing both the supply and demand of
wastes was repeatedly offered as a remedy
to the disposal woes of industrialized and
developing nations. It's the first step
toward heading off waste before it can
pollute our shores and waters.
But waste management is a complex
issue. It is perhaps easier to ask people
not to litter than to ask them to change
their shopping habits and ways of doing
business. Increasingly, however, people
are making the effort and forward-
thinking companies are making it policy.
Continued
Examples of overpackaging are at every turn.
Why do some plastic-contained deodorants
still need cardboard coverings?
Why are hairbrushes sold in plastic
and cardboard packages?
In the workplace, companywide policies
or loose office-by-office precycling
can lighten the dumpster's burden.
It can be as easy as sending faxes
without cover sheets.
COA.S'IWA"fCH 11
Old plastic soda bottles can return
as clothing and carpet,
Aluminum cans and glass bottles
reappear anew on the shelves
under different brand names.
Recycling
Recycling gives trash a new lease on life. Old plastic soda bottles can
return as clothing and carpet. Aluminum cans and glass bottles reappear
anew on the shelves under different brand names. Yesterday's news, in the
pages of old magazines and newspapers, is reincarnated as tomorrow's
newsprint. Newspapers are also returned as molded paper egg cartons, attic
insulation and mulch.
The process works to the extent that people feel like they can make a
difference and they support recycled markets. The EPA advocates this
conservation-minded approach - and composting - after Americans have
done their best to precycle.
Recycling began in earnest in 1988, although the record extends back
30 years. Over that period of time, the pace grew twice as fast as landfilling.
The amount of waste that we recycle is now about 33 million tons, but it's
still only a quarter of the 130 million tons of trash we bury.
In Raleigh, a drive to the office on recycling day tells me that people
are willing to sort and store two weeks worth of garbage. The green bins are
piled high with plastic milk bottles, newspapers and drink cans. At work,
the university reclaims used paper, cans and glass that have been separated
and stored. But the drive home on recycling day tells another story. Yards
are strewn with throwbacks of unrecyclable plastic - peanut butter jars,
vegetable oil bottles, juice and sports drink containers. For lack of a market,
only a percentage of plastic we bring into our homes is being used again.
Typically, depending on where you live, the containers marked PET 1 and
HDPE 2 are most recyclable. These include soda bottles, some salad
dressing containers and milk jugs. The rest, labeled 3 through 7, are usually
landfilled or incinerated.
Recycling is most likely to flourish where curbside service offers a
conservation-made-easy solution to waste disposal. Yet only about one-
third of North Carolina local governments provide it. The rest of the
state must carry these recyclables to collection
titers. And while it's less convenient,
people are doing it anyway. Overall, 475
govemment-run programs (curbside and
drop-off collections) gathered 630,137
tons of recyclables in 1993-94. The
savings can be measured in more than 1
million cubic yards of landfill space and
10 million in disposal costs.
We go through these paces for a number
of reasons. For one, it's illegal in North Carolina to landfill or
incinerate certain trash, such as aluminum cans, whole tires, yard waste,
lead-acid batteries, antifreeze, large kitchen appliances and motor oil.
And no doubt, people are invigorated by the idea that they can make a
meaningful nick in the mounting waste problem.
I tend to be drawn in by the point that recycling protects natural
resources - fewer trees are cut, less ore is mined and less oil is used.
It also prevents air and water pollution because many manufacturing
processes using recycled materials create less air and wastewater
discharges than those using virgin materials.
The reuse-recycle movement speaks to
the concerns of the energy-conscious.
Recycling a single daily newspaper saves the
energy equivalent of running a 75-watt light
bulb for 24 hours. And it requires 90 percent
less energy to remake aluminum cans into
new ones than to meld them from virgin
bauxite ore.
On the business side, the economy gets
a leg up from new companies that collect and
manufacture recyclable materials. Already,
existing North Carolina businesses recycle a
range of products, from latex paint and
antifreeze to plastic bags and cat litter. Others
encourage recycling through courtesy services,
such as grocery stores that accept used plastic
/01 F
bagLs and gas stations that take back used motor oil.
On the coast, Sea Grant and the state Office of Waste
Reduction recently collected used commercial fishing gear - nets and crab
pots -for recycling. The East Carolina University Vocational Center
squashed the soft nets for shipment to overseas markets, where their recycled
fibers might reappear in sneakers, jacket liners or bicycle seats.
The crab pots collected - almost 20 tons - will be reused
by local scrap metal dealers.
But there are drawbacks, including the hassles Aga
and expenses of collecting and separating recyclables
and reconditioning them before they become new
products. Residues, such as sludge from de-inking
old newspapers, also sully the process.
Perhaps most significant, however, is the lingering
reluctance among consumers to buy recycled products for fee
that they're inferior. Education can overcome this bias. Otherwise, without
investments in the finished products, the market for recyclables will disap-
pear and these items will join the other trash in landfills and incinerators.
Before recycling can outgrow its appeal as a popular feel-good effort,
it has to be organized and supported on the buying end. Without this support,
recycling day throwbacks will increase and existing markets will wither.
Composting
So far, so good. I can buy products that are recycled and carry less
packaging. I can waste less paper. But now the EPA wants me to compost
my yard and food wastes, cooking them in a sort of natural backyard oven.
The process yields a dark brown, crumbly soil-like material with a sweet
or musty smell.
The compost recipe calls for food scraps, yard clippings, leaves and dirt
stacked in alternating layers. Heat inside a household pile builds to 90 F or
more, causing oxygen molecules to break down, water molecules to gather
and bacteria to multiply. Millions of microbes munch on grass clippings,
dead leaves, fruits and vegetables. More heat is released, causing matter to
Continued
Yesterday's news, in the pages
of old magazines and newspapers,
is reincarnated as tomorrow's newsprint.
Newspapers are also returned
as molded paper egg cartons,
attic insulation and mulch.
Recycling is most likely to flourish
where curbside service offers a
conservation-made-easy solution
to waste disposal
12 MARCHIAPRIL 1995
COASTWATCH 13