3609 Hwy 24 (Ocean) | Newport, North Carolina 28570

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 2, 2001

Tracy Skrabal
910-790-3275
tracys@nccoast.org

Coastal Federation
Grants for Shoreline Erosion

     Wilmington  – Through a grant from the Community Restoration Center of NOAA, the North Carolina Coastal Federation is offering funds to help waterfront property owners stabilize their eroding shorelines by using ecologically sound methods of erosion control. 
     "We are promoting projects to demonstrate how waterfront property owners can protect their investments and nature too," said Federation Executive Director Todd Miller. "Funding is available to help property owners control shoreline erosion using methods that have proven to be extremely effective and environmentally friendly."
     There are more than 4,500 linear miles of shoreline encompassing North Carolina's 2.1 million acre estuarine system. Salt marshes and other wetland communities along these shorelines are vital to productive fisheries and water quality. With sea level rising at least one foot a century, many waterfront property owners are seeing their shorelines erode. As a result, each year more than 25 miles of estuarine shoreline are hardened or stabilized throughout the state. These bulkheads and sea walls damage or destroy the salt marsh, reduce important fisheries habitat, and can leach chemicals that are toxic to marine life. 
     The Federation will encourage private landowners and public land managers to install marsh vegetation instead of potentially harmful bulkheads by granting up to 50% of the cost of the project. Construction components may include regrading, planting of native shoreline vegetation, and limited use of rock to reduce wave impacts on the shoreline. 
     Ecologically sound erosion control has been successful at Federation demonstration sites. These projects include a site owned by the town of Long Beach and several residential properties where marshes were planted in combination with constructed rock sills and revetments. Programs in Delaware, Virginia, and Maryland have promoted these techniques for over twenty years to protect fisheries habitat in Delaware and Chesapeake Bays.
     "We encourage any property owner who is in need of shoreline stabilization and would consider an alternative to bulkheading to apply. These projects provide win-win situations- property owners receive cost effective erosion control protection, and the measures can protect or even enhance our critical estuarine natural resources," said Senior Staff Scientist Tracy Skrabal. 
     Project sites will be chosen to include both private and public sites, and will be based on a variety of local conditions including the degree of erosion, presence of some wetlands in the area, and readiness of the landowner to complete the project by June 1, 2002. In order to preserve these restored and protected areas, NCCF will also require that the project area be preserved and maintained by future property owners.
     Geographic and ecologic priorities will be used to guide the screening and site selection process. The shoreline restoration/preservation pilot project will focus the Federation's initial efforts in Carteret, Onslow, Pender, New Hanover, and Brunswick counties.
     For more information on ecologically sound stabilization methods or for an application packet, please contact Melanie Severin at 252-393-8185 or at nccf@nccoast.org. Interested marine contractors who wish to participate in the project may contact Tracy Skrabal at 910-790-3275 or tracys@nccoast.org.