Earlier this week, The Southern Environmental Law Center issued its list of the Top Ten Most Endangered Places for 2011.
Number 4 on the list is the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge on the northern end of Hatteras Island.
It is one of three sites in North Carolina that are on the list. The other two are the Cape Fear River Basin, which SELC is being threatened by a proposed cement plant, and Snowbird Mountains in the Nantahala National Forest, which SELC says is being threatened by a road project and tunnel construction through the mountain.
?SELC is using the power of the law to defend hundreds of imperiled areas, to ensure clean air and water, and to help chart a new energy future for the Southeast,? SELC said in a media release. ?We have targeted 10 special places that are facing immediate, potentially irreversible threats today.?
The threat to Pea Island, according to SELC, is that ?The highway running through the refuge ? the only route to a new bridge proposed for Hatteras Island will require maintenance and rebuilding due to storm overwash and could fail to provide a safe and reliable evacuation route.?
?A new bridge to Hatteras Island is long overdue, but without proper safeguards, the plan for replacing the aging Bonner Bridge could turn this refuge into a permanent construction zone and leave islanders stranded when storms hit the Outer Banks,? according to SELC.
?Wind-whipped seas often wash out the section of highway that runs from the bridge through the refuge today, and conditions will only get worse as the shoreline naturally recedes,? the release noted. ?The challenge will be to ensure safe, reliable access to the new bridge and to prevent ongoing roadwork from destroying habitat for rare shorebirds, nesting sea turtles, and hundreds of other species.?
We need to be perfectly clear about one thing. Pea Island is not the pristine, undisturbed, totally natural area that some groups would like to have you believe.
Yes, Pea Island is a beautiful stretch of barrier island that runs from Oregon Inlet about 17 miles to the northern boundary of the village of Rodanthe. It is indeed a ?birder?s paradise? that is home to migratory waterfowl, such as snow geese and tundra swans, and other species of birds, shorebirds, and sea turtles that nest on the beaches.
Most of us on Hatteras Island and I suspect that most of our visitors look forward to driving through the refuge and watching the waterfowl and other birds that are always plentiful. It has great trails and a beach that is popular with walkers, shell seekers, surfers, and fishermen.
However, Pea Island is also a manmade refuge.
The refuge was established in 1937, and from the beginning, men were making their mark on the area.
In the 1930s, The Civilian Conservation Corps built dunes and dikes in the refuge. In the late ?50s and early ?60s, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service constructed three impoundments to enhance habitat quality. These ?ponds? with their dike system are carefully managed by Fish and Wildlife and are periodically drained. The service also conducts periodic burns in the refuge to help maintain the habitat.
None of this is a bad thing. It?s good, and most islanders and visitors I know look forward to driving through the refuge on their trips on and off the island.
But let?s not get overly worked up about this ?construction zone? view and the imminent demise of Pea Island as we know it.
The stretch that is now the refuge has been a transportation corridor on Hatteras Island for a very long time. A sand road ran through the area and either that, or the ocean beach, was used by the traveling public, especially after Toby Tillett started his ferry across Oregon Inlet in the 1920s.
There has been a paved highway through the refuge since about the mid-1950s, and Highway 12 has been a major route for islanders and visitors since the Bonner Bridge was completed in 1963.
The claim by SELC that the refuge could become a ?permanent construction zone? is disingenuous, since it?s been a construction zone ever since there has been a paved highway that is the only land route on and off the island.
Some sort of maintenance is regularly required, especially after storms, sometimes even after seemingly minor northeasters. The road has been moved west more than once.
And it should continue to be maintained and moved as necessary. This is a public safety issue, first and foremost. But it is also an economic issue. Hatteras ? and Ocracoke ? islanders need that highway.
Most are resigned to the fact that the road is sometimes impassable and that if you are going to evacuate in a hurricane, you need to do it sooner rather than later. It?s part of life on this island.
SELC and its environmental partners don?t want to see a replacement short bridge built parallel to the current Bonner Bridge. They want a 17-mile bridge built out into the Pamlico Sound from Oregon Inlet to Rodanthe that would bypass the refuge.
But that is not going to happen.
That option was considered by eliminated by planners for various reasons, not the least of which is funding.
There is not enough money to build it. It would present its own challenges in storms, or even on windy days, and there are plenty of them around here. Yes, ocean overwash closes the highway at times, but high winds might close a long bridge, as happens at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.
In addition, I don?t know anyone who believes that any sort of road through the refuge would be maintained by USFWS if it were not a public transportation corridor to the bridge. That would cut off access, or make it much more difficult, for birders, beachcombers, fishermen, surfers, and all of the others who enjoy the recreation available in the refuge.
It is true that Highway 12 will need continued maintenance and attention in the years to come. But most believe it is possible to maintain the highway and still preserve the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and the varied recreation it offers.
After all, the two have co-existed for more than 50 years.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
To see the Southern Environmental Law Center coverage of its 2011 Top Ten Most Endangered Places, go to
http://www.southernenvironment.org/about/top_10_2011/
To read an Island Press article on the chosen alternative for bridge replacement, go to
To read more background on the disagreements about how to replace the bridge, go to
http://islandfreepress.org/PivotBlog/pivot/entry.php?id=105#body
http://islandfreepress.org/PivotBlog/pivot/entry.php?id=103#body
http://islandfreepress.org/PivotBlog/pivot/entry.php?id=116#body
