THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 5, 1994 TAG: 9408050577
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MARGARET TALEV, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NAGS HEAD LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
A $55,000 project to remove sand from private property and the public road that runs along the south end of Jockey's Ridge State Park could begin as early as next week, state park officials said Thursday.
The short-term solution will return to the park the sand that has migrated beyond the southern boundaries of Jockey's Ridge, either by hauling it along North Carolina Route 158 to the park's northern end or by using a bulldozer to push the sand to a ridge on the southern side.
``This short-term project is strictly buying us time until we can get an environmental impact statement in place'' for a long-term solution, said Marshall Elliss, resource management specialist for the North Carolina Division of Parks.
The Department of Transportation will decide whether the sand should be hauled, bulldozed or both. Bulldozing could begin immediately, but Kevin MacNaughton of the Division of Parks said hauling might be better left until the end of tourist season.
MacNaughton said short-term removal would be complete by February 1995. The money set aside for short-term removal was rededicated by the General Assembly from funds for park-land acquisition.
Elliss and MacNaughton addressed about 15 activists, state officials, town officials, local business owners and residents of Sound Side Road - where sand from the dune has migrated - at a meeting at the Nags Head Fire Station.
He said meetings to discuss long-term plans would begin this fall. Those meetings would involve beginning an environmental impact statement, which could take up to ayear to complete, Elliss said.
In the meantime, he is studying aerial photographs of the large dune at Jockey's Ridge taken from 1962 to 1992 for rate and direction of sand movement.
Reasons for sand removal projects are two-fold:
Sand buildup on roads and private property could create dangerous driving situations and threaten structures.
Jockey's Ridge was given an Area of Environmental Concern designation that has been enforced since 1988. As a result, Jockey's Ridge sand must stay within the park's boundaries.
Elliss said the four current proposals for long-term removal are:
Continuing the short-term action on a ``much larger'' scale, a plan he said would cost ``massive dollars.''
Revoking the environmental concern designation, allowing people to use the sand that spills on their property as they wish. Elliss said this would shrink the dune, and ``kill it as a live dune.'' He said the sand also would become a commodity that people could sell or use in construction materials, as was done before the designation was enforced in 1988.
Planting grass, weeds and shrubs to hold the sand in place. This would cause the dune eventually to ``look like the dune at the Wright Brothers Memorial,'' Elliss said. If vegetation were to cover the large dune, many activities that draw tourists, such as hang gliding, could become impractical or impossible.
Acquiring land south of the boundaries to make room and buy time. Elliss said this option might ``let the dune do its own thing and keep people happy.''
Elliss said the long-term plan will depend on ``whether or not we're going to preserve this as an active dune.''
MacNaughton said: ``There's two things we're trying to preserve here. One is a natural resource and one is a recreational resource. Certainly, it has a tremendous economic impact.'' by CNB