Outer Banks Folk Prep for the Unknown

On the Outer Banks, daily life feels almost like the familiar suspension of normality in preparing for a storm: Everyone and everything is hyper-focused on stocking supplies and staying safe. But unlike the adrenaline-fueled anxiety of hurricane readiness, anticipating the impact of looming disease is just endless churning of anxiety. No one knows what to […]

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New Dare Flood Maps Misrepresent Risk

The disconnect between current flooding reality and the newly released floodplain maps in Dare County, which decrease flood zones by 41%, may be starker than most coastal areas in North Carolina because of the barrier islands’ geology. But much of the disparity between actual vulnerability and the flood risk reflected in Dare’s pending flood maps […]

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Effort On to Create NC’s First Oyster Trail

In what is envisioned as a creative blending of ecotourism, artisan markets, mariculture and the locavore, or local food, movement, North Carolina’s first oyster trail is readying its launch this spring on the Outer Banks. Prior to a stakeholder meeting at Hatteras Community Center in December, oyster farmer Katherine McGlade, owner of Slash Creek Oysters, […]

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Paper Nautical Charts Will Disappear as Waterway Maps Become Digitized

Paper nautical charts will soon be sinking into the horizon, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) this month announced its plan to sunset over five years the hard copy maps of the nation’s waterways. Although NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey has for years offered several digital formats for raster charts – that is, […]

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Waterways Commission Focuses on Hatteras Inlet Dredging, and Reviews New Digital Navigational Charts

In the midst of a blustery cold front, with a coastal storm headed to the Outer Banks this weekend, members of the Dare County Waterways Commission on Tuesday were worried that the current navigable conditions in Hatteras Inlet would suffer. Part of their concern was focused on the lapsed agreement that has delayed maintenance dredging […]

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