along the shoreline to help protect the park from erosion and create a valuable habitat. Volunteers included community members, students and a teacher from Ashley High School Marine Science Academy, town staff, former Mayor Greg Weiss, Councilman John Corbett and representatives from local nonprofit groups including Sunset Beach Turtle Watch, Sunset Vision and Old Bridge Preservation Society. “This is just the first step in providing protection for the park,” says Weiss. “If successful, we can see doing this in other places throughout Sunset Beach. Councilman John Corbett just introduced a framework of what we need to be doing in the next five to 10 years to deal with climate change. This project is part of that program.”
Ted Wilgis, education and outreach coordinator for North Carolina Coastal Federation, applauds the Town of Sunset Beach for taking the initiative to consider living shorelines. “Their participation means they’re learning from this and may be able to do more living shorelines, as well as encourage residents to look at living shorelines as options for their own properties,” he says. Wilgis is excited that the town is going to work with the local nonprofit group Sunset Vision to create interpretive educational signage. “Everybody that comes to the park will be able to learn a little bit more about living shorelines, not only for the habitat value and protection value, but also for all
the economic benefits that they provide. This is great site to bring students to as well.” Savannah Hintz is one of the Ashley High School Marine Science Academy students who volunteered for the living shoreline project at Sunset Beach Town Park. Working alongside fellow students, her teacher and other community members, she passed bags of oyster shells in an assembly line fashion. In addition to the valuable learning experience, Hintz says, “I made some new friends, and I’m excited to see the shoreline as it develops.” Hintz’s teacher, Lauren Thompson, says she is “excited for my students to see the breadth of careers like marine technology and even marine policy. This gave students an opportunity to see what all our local marine professionals do.” The living shoreline project will be ongoing. North Carolina Coastal Federation will be back in the spring, along with volunteers, to plant more grass. “We should start to see oysters growing on the bags and domes within six months to a year,” Skrabal says. “At first they’ll be invisible to the eye, but certainly within a year’s time you should see a real growth of oysters along these structures.”
Learn more or lend a hand For more information or to volunteer on the living shoreline project, visit North Carolina Coastal Federation online at nccoast.org. Spring 2019
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