Bald Head Island Conservancy’s Statement on Terminal Groin near Fry Pan Shoals

Update – July 1, 2024
The Conservancy is very disappointed in the passing of legislation by the NC General Assembly that now makes it legal to erect a hardened erosion control structure near the shoreline terminus of Frying Pan Shoals.  I don’t believe the Village of BHI leadership or the NC legislators appreciate the monumental shift in approach to managing and protecting NC’s spectacular barrier islands that this legislation could bring.  Our barrier islands have always been one of our state’s most special resources, including our dynamic cape system whose constantly changing sands bring awe and wonder to those who experience them.  Further, I doubt that North Carolina citizens want to armor their beaches to protect a limited number of private properties in the short-term in exchange for potentially much longer-term negative impacts to the rest of our beaches.  I wish the Conservancy along with our research partners in the coastal physics and engineering fields had been offered the opportunity to discuss the potential consequences of this legislation with those who crafted and voted upon it.  Then, at least, this baseline shifting decision would have been given the respect that it deserved for the citizens of Bald Head Island and throughout North Carolina.