N.C. Coastal Reserve celebrates Discover the N.C. Coastal Reserve tour with stop at Rachel Carson Reserve

The N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), a program of the Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management, hosted its third stop on the “Discover the N.C. Coastal Reserve” Tour on May 17 at the Rachel Carson Reserve in Beaufort, NC.  The tour began with brief remarks by staff, local and state officials at the chapel at the Beaufort Hotel, followed by a guided boat tour, with a stop at the Carrot Island boardwalk.

“Discover the N.C. Coastal Reserve” is a multi-year campaign to raise awareness of the N.C. Coastal Reserve program and the role the 10 reserves play in protecting the state’s coastal resources now and into the future. The campaign, which runs through 2026, will involve invited guests visiting sites throughout the coast to learn more about the ecosystems they protect and the critical work happening at the sites.

The May 17 event highlighted how the Rachel Carson Reserve serves the residents and visitors to NC through its science and monitoring, delivery of information to educate and inform decision making, and providing public access. The Reserve's protected areas improve the quality of life for all residents and visitors by providing public access to coastal areas, essential habitat for fisheries and wildlife, and a cleaner and healthier environment. 

Key remarks:  

“Across our sites and through our stewardship, research, education, and training programs, our work is incumbent on the range of partnerships we foster to accomplish the exciting and challenging work of coastal management,” said Rebecca Ellin, N.C. Coastal Reserve Program Manager. “A special thanks to each of you who we work with to accomplish our mission. It is our hope that today provides the opportunity to connect and reconnect with this special place, the Rachel Carson Reserve, and with the people and work of many who protect it now and into the future.”

“2024 is the 50^th anniversary of the Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA). Our Coastal Reserve program has been a part of CAMA for 39 of those years and I am proud to recognize the Reserve staff who dedicate themselves to upholding that vision every single day. Their dedication is a true service to our state,” said Division Director Tancred Miller during opening remarks. “Thanks to each of you for taking the time to recognize the value of the state and federal investments into this and other Coastal Reserve sites in NC.”

“Consistent with the NC Department of Environmental Quality’s mission to provide science-based environmental stewardship, our Coastal Reserve sites serve as living laboratories where researchers across the country can investigate and better understand today’s coastal management challenges” said Tim Watkins, DEQ Chief Deputy Secretary. “We thank our partners at all levels of government for their collaboration, the volunteers for their dedication, the local advisory committee members for their service, and state and local leaders who had the vision in the 1980s to establish the Coastal Reserve program to preserve important coastal lands and water and invest in research and education.”

“The Rachel Carson Reserve has a lot of talents. It's a classroom. It's a laboratory and it provides us with information so that we can inform policies to be better and proactive caretakers of the island. It is part of the Beaufort Historic District,” said Sharon Harker, Mayor, Town of Beaufort. “With support from the Division of Coastal Management's Resilient Coastal Communities Program, Beaufort prioritized Bird Shoal at the Rachel Carson Reserve in its Resilient Beaufort plan as a priority area for restoration and enhancement so that the Reserve continues to provide healthy habitat that protects the Town.” 

“Five generations back my family owned a part of this land and I never thought that I would come back to Beaufort and be a steward of the land,” said Paula Gillikin, Coastal Reserve Central Sites manager. During a boat tour to Carrot Island, Gillikin pointed out a resilience project that is currently under construction “We have worked with Carteret County, Moffatt & Nichol, and Carteret Marine to establish a living shoreline project and meet mutually beneficial goals of shoreline and habitat protection at the Rachel Carson Reserve as well as protection for the Town of Beaufort and adjacent navigational channels.”

“Science is informing policy here in the Town of Beaufort,” said Rett Newton, researcher and former Town of Beaufort Mayor. “As an example, after Hurricane Florence, working with the Reserve staff, NOAA and other local officials, we had a massive cleanup of our waterways, [and soon thereafter] Beaufort became the first community to openly endorse and embrace the North Carolina Marine Debris Action Plan.”

“We are supposed to protect what we have here because it will be very, very uninteresting to try and show future generations what this looked like just by showing them pictures in a book,” said Senator Norman Sanderson. “To put a barrier island like this, right here on the waterfront in Beaufort, NC, to serve as a protective force, it’s up to us to save it for the next generation and many generations after that. This is worth fighting for, this is worth protecting.”

Representative Pricey Harrison elaborated on the importance of the site being protected as a natural area and described her personal connection to the islands that she has regularly visited for many decades.

Representative Celeste Cairns expressed pride in Carteret and Craven counties and her love for the district.

The reserve program in North Carolina started nearly 40 years ago with the designation of the NC NERR in 1985 via a federal-state partnership between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Estuarine Research Reserve System and the Division of Coastal Management.   

The NC NERR designation provided an inspirational model for the state to protect additional habitat areas. In 1989, the General Assembly amended the Coastal Area Management Act to formally establish the NC Coastal Reserve which includes the NC National Estuarine Research Reserve.

The Rachel Carson Reserve site represents excellent examples of barrier communities with several occurrences of rare species. The islands that comprise the Rachel Carson Reserve are more than three miles long and less than a mile wide. Middle Marsh, separated from the rest of the site by the North River Channel, is almost two miles long and less than a mile wide. The entire Rachel Carson component is 2,315 acres. This site is also a Dedicated Nature Preserve.

The next stop on the Discover the Reserve Tour is tentatively scheduled for fall 2024.

Download images for use here.

NC DEQ Division of Coastal Management

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management (DCM) works to protect, conserve and manage the state’s coastal resources through an integrated program of planning, permitting, education and research. DCM carries out the state’s Coastal Area Management Act, the Dredge and Fill Law and the federal Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 in the 20 coastal counties, using rules and policies of the NC Coastal Resources Commission, known as the CRC. The division serves as staff to the CRC. Click here to learn more about the Division of Coastal Management.                                                                           

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