Cape Hatteras National Seashore Research Articles

Coastal Science for Resilience and Management at the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, NC, USA

National seashores are cherished public lands with rich environmental, cultural, and historic resources. The Cape Hatteras National Seashore is one such coastal asset that is both bountiful yet vulnerable, with historic lighthouses, critical habitats, and recreational amenities alike facing threats of sea-level rise and continual storm and climate change impacts. Over 3 million visitors to the Seashore in 2021 set an annual visitation record. Historic resources such as the Bodie Island Lighthouse and Ocracoke Lighthouse are among the most visited sites, yet these assets are also among those most vulnerable to flooding, compromised structural integrity, and reduced accessibility. Future challenges to the protection and management of such resources are already being felt in the form of storms, extreme rainfall, and recurrent compound flooding. Such threats are also coincident with increasing visitation and recreational demand. This paper examines the science-based data that are being collected and management efforts underway to inform future planning, intervention, or adaptation to sea-level rise and barrier island evolution. The paper identifies the opportunities for mitigation and adaptation as well as potential environmental tipping points and limits to resilience by assessing the frequency and magnitude of flooding events and shoreline change.

Forecasting oceanfront shoreline position to evaluate physical vulnerability for recreational and infrastructure resilience at Cape Hatteras National Seashore

The Cape Hatteras National Seashore (Seashore) is located along the Outer Banks of eastern North Carolina, and is renowned for its prominent historical landmarks and world-class recreation. Seashore managers maintain hundreds of assets that support visitor use. Additionally, and primary to the mission of the National Park Service (NPS), managers steward natural and cultural resources located on public and protected lands. The portfolio of assets managed by NPS within the Seashore carries a high level of risk due to its exposure to both coastal erosion and storm surge inundation. The impacts of Hurricane Dorian demonstrated the importance of examining the physical vulnerability of the entire portfolio managed by NPS within the Seashore. The purpose of this study was to 1) evaluate the functionality of the beta forecast tool available in the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (v 5.0); and 2) explore options for using the output to assess the potential physical vulnerability of NPS assets. The study determined that using the 10- and 20-year oceanfront shoreline position forecast provides decision makers with a first order screening tool that can be used to prioritize mitigation and adaptation strategies given the unpredictable nature of tropical and extra-tropical cyclones and uncertainty associated with sea level rise.

Presence of ghost crabs and piping plover nesting success

ABSTRACTDespite intensive management to protect the federally threatened piping plover (Charadrius melodus), breeding success in North Carolina has consistently been lower than in other Atlantic Coast states. The native ghost crab (Ocypode quadrata) preys on plover eggs and chicks, but the effect of ghost crab predation on plover productivity has not been established. We used daily records of nest survival collected at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina, USA from 2008 to 2015 to test a hypothesized negative relationship between the presence of ghost crabs within the 3‐m diameter nest exclosure and the daily nest survival of plovers. We detected ghost crabs or their burrows within the nest exclosure on 63 out of 2,347 nest visits (24 out of 94 nests, 25%). We determined 9 nests (9.6%) were depredated by ghost crabs and 2 nests were abandoned after ghost crab visits. The estimated daily survival rate (DSR) of plover nests decreased with nest age, so to compare the nesting success predicted by our model, we standardized age in the prediction as the age at mid‐incubation. At mid‐incubation (nest age = 19 days), the DSR of a nest found with evidence of ghost crabs was 0.92 (95% CI = 0.74–0.98), compared to DSR of nests without ghost crabs (0.99, 95% CI = 0.97–0.99). We tested other covariates (e.g., clutch size, breeding timing, daily weather conditions); however, the standardized effect size of the presence of ghost crab was more than twice that of all other covariates. Ghost crabs may have a previously under‐recognized effect on plover nest survival when avian and mammalian predation is precluded by nest exclosures. Protection of piping plover nests from ghost crabs may improve piping plover nest success. © 2018 The Wildlife Society.

Recreation Costs of Endangered Species Protection: Evidence from Cape Hatteras National Seashore

Management of public lands often involves competing uses and difficult tradeoffs. In this article, we examine the impact of an economically important, policy-relevant public land management regulation designed to protect coastal biodiversity. We focus our attention on the land use conflict at Cape Hatteras National Seashore between off-road vehicle (ORV) access and nesting habitat protection for a number of endangered species. We combine site choice and participation data to estimate a repeated discrete choice model of recreational angler behavior in response to time-varying access restrictions. Our results suggest the economic costs of this policy are relatively modest, ranging from $403,000 to $2.07 million annually. Our results provide general support for the National Park Service’s recently implemented ORV management plan, as an upper bound of recreation costs is likely less than conservative estimates of the benefits associated with endangered species protection.

Rising: Perspectives of Change on the North Carolina Coast

RisingPerspectives of Change on the North Carolina Coast Baxter Miller (bio), Ryan Stancil (bio), and Barbara Garrity-Blake (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Five Little Birds, Hatteras Inlet, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Dare County. A shoal off the southernmost point of Hatteras Island. Just as quickly as a sandbar emerges, it can recede, grow, or disappear. Subject to the forces of wind, salt, and sun, the birds are a reminder of the isolation and dynamism of North Carolina's barrier island system and the generations of adaptive and resilient "bankers" who have lived, worked, worshiped, played, grieved, and celebrated on this ribbon of sand they call home. [End Page 101] Over sixty years ago, my grandfather was offered a sizable piece of waterfront property at the northern entrance of Buxton Village on Hatteras Island for $3,000 by his aunt, the famed village postmistress, Maude White. At the time, the parcel—no more than a half-mile wide from sound to sea—was like other parts of what is now the wild and natural National Park. Today, travelers are welcomed to the village, which is home to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, on either side by several locally owned beach motels and businesses. Now assessed at over a million dollars, the land, like so many other parts of the island, is where tourists jockey for the biggest rental homes closest to the beach, where developers scalp for empty parcels on the edge of the sea, where hundreds of thousands flock to recreate on the very sand in question, and where fishermen maneuver for the best spot to soak their bait. But in the 1950s, as family lore goes, my grandfather gave the land offer no more than a few seconds' thought, making known his sensible wish to stay high and dry in Buxton Woods. Uttering, "No fool would ever build on the beach," he deemed it a poor investment. Last fall, after Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 storm, battered the Gulf, and with Hurricane Maria, the strongest one on record, barreling toward the United States, I stood on that section of beach, where a handful of shrimp boats often trawl in the distance. In the last year, those boats have been joined by a lonely dredge and hundreds of yards of rusty pipe tasked with channeling millions of cubic yards of sand to the shore—a re-nourishment effort to widen the beach and, in turn, hopefully save the adjacent road, motels, and homes from being washed into the sea. I wondered what my grandfather would have thought. A proud descendant of Hatteras lifesaving surfmen, lighthouse keepers, and commercial fishermen, I've clung tightly to stories of my heritage, passed down to me by my father. Although I wasn't technically raised on Hatteras, these are the stories that help make sense of who I am—my relationship with the environment and my sense of place. ________ Advances in technology, engineering, and construction, along with commercial and economic realizations, have shifted our adaptive ideology on our barrier islands and across coastal North Carolina. Today, we build higher dunes and more jetties. We harden our shorelines with seawalls. We dredge our inlets and re-nourish [End Page 102] Click for larger view View full resolution Impressions of Re-nourishment, Buxton, Dare County. Before 2018, high tide would regularly bring the sea up to the base of the motels at the northern entrance to Buxton Village. Storm events would usher water underneath the structures and across the road. In the summer of 2017, beach nourishment began on a 2.9-mile section of shoreline that, once complete, will stretch from the old lighthouse site to north of the village. At an estimated cost of $22.1 million, the project will relocate approximately 2.6 million cubic yards of sand to the shore. [End Page 103] our eroded beaches. We build our houses higher off the ground and ever closer to the water. We pave over the land underneath us and employ dikes to drain agricultural fields and protect them from saltwater. We attempt to regulate our fisheries in the face of warming water and changing migration patterns that extend...

Surfers as Environmental Stewards: Understanding Place-protecting Behavior at Cape Hatteras National Seashore

ABSTRACTResource-based adventure activities have a unique potential to foster connections to place that may assist park managers in simultaneously promoting enjoyable visitor experiences and achieving environmental sustainability. Our study examined links among recreation, conservation, and place attachment by comparing the pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors of surfers (n = 52) and other types of recreationists (n = 56) at Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CAHA). Intercept surveys during 2016 revealed that when compared to nonsurfers, surfers were more frequent visitors to CAHA and reported significantly higher levels of place attachment. When controlling for other variables, surfers were also more likely than other recreationists to engage in both high-effort (e.g., participating in environmental groups) and low-effort (e.g., picking up litter on the beach) forms of place-protecting, pro-environmental behavior at CAHA. Managers should consider the potentially powerful role that surfers and other adventure recreationists may play as environmental stewards and park advocates.

Addressing Onsite Sampling in Analysis of Recreation Demand: Economic Value and Impact of Visitation to Cape Hatteras National Seashore

AbstractThis article presents a unified approach to correcting for avidity bias due to onsite sampling in estimation of descriptive statistics and recreation demand. We extend the Shaw (1988) correction for avidity bias in demand modeling to the Generalized Negative Binomial model, and we demonstrate the effects of avidity bias on descriptive statistics. Correcting for avidity bias in recreation demand lowers welfare estimates, which are still, however, quite large at $403/household, per trip (2002 USD). Correcting expenditure estimates increases economic impact by 17%, reflecting greater magnitude in spending patterns of less avid users that live further from Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Economic Value and Impact of Visitation to Cape Hatteras National Seashore: Addressing Onsite Sampling

We examine recreation demand, economic value, and visitor expenditure patterns for Cape Hatteras National Seashore (CHNS) on the Outer Banks, North Carolina. CHNS is one of the largest protected barrier islands on the East Coast and is remote, accessible only by ferry or a single stretch of road running along the island chain. We present a unified approach to correcting for avidity bias due to onsite sampling in descriptive statistics and demand modeling, extending the Shaw (1988) correction to the Generalized Negative Binomial model. We demonstrate the effects of avidity bias in descriptive statistics; correcting expenditure estimates increases economic impact by 17%, reflecting larger magnitude in spending patterns of less avid users that live further from CNHS. Correcting for avidity bias in recreation demand lowers welfare estimates, which are still, however, quite large at $403/household, per trip (2002 USD).

"Gentlemen-type rules" and "back room deals" in public participation: natural resource management and a fractured state in North Carolina

This paper examines the political ecology of a participatory environmental management setting. It argues the failure of participatory forums to meet their goals reveals more generalized features of the state, namely its fractured quality and inconsistent actions. Thus, rather than premise questions of how participatory forums might be more effective, researchers should first consider what cleavages and inconsistencies in the state that participatory forums reveal. How do the various actors involved negotiate these cleavages and inconsistencies? The paper explores disputes surrounding the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina, USA. The argument centers on whether or not off-road vehicles might access the Seashore. Parties to the dispute have lobbied elected representatives, participated in a public forum, enacted litigation, and carried out campaigns of public admonishment. While using one part of the state to counteract the actions of another, supporters of off-road vehicles proffer a moral assessment which contrasts "gentlemen-type rules" with "backroom deals". The paper argues this rhetoric acts as a kind of cultural script that people use to corral heterogeneous state institutions into a single discursive framework that premises the kind of face-to-face relations where they are more likely to achieve their goals.Keywords: conservation; state formation; environmentality; environmental governance

Pollutant impacts to Cape Hatteras National Seashore from urban runoff and septic leachate

The sandy barrier islands of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, USA, attract large seasonal influxes of tourists, and are host to numerous motels, rentals and second homes. To investigate the impacts of nearby urbanization on public trust waters, sampling was conducted in nine brackish water bodies within this coastal national park. A large tidal urban ditch delivered runoff-driven fecal-contaminated water directly into public beach waters. At all sites except the control, ammonium, phosphorus and fecal bacteria concentrations were high, strongly seasonal and significantly correlated with community water usage, indicating that increased septic tank usage led to increased pollutant concentrations in area waterways. Nutrients from septic systems caused ecosystem-level problems from algal blooms, BOD, and hypoxia while fecal microbes created potential human health problems. Septic system usage is widespread in sensitive coastal areas with high water tables and sandy soils and alternatives to standard septic systems must be required to protect human health and the environment.

TopCAT—Topographical Compartment Analysis Tool to analyze seacliff and beach change in GIS

This paper discusses the development of a new GIS extension named the Topographic Compartment Analysis Tool (TopCAT), which compares sequential digital elevation models (DEMs) and provides a quantitative and statistical analysis of the alongshore topographical change. TopCAT was specifically designed for the morphological analysis of seacliffs and beaches but may be applied to other elongated features which experience topographical change, such as stream beds, river banks, coastal dunes, etc. To demonstrate the capabilities of TopCAT two case studies are presented herein. The first case examines coastal cliff retreat for a 500m section in Del Mar, California and shows that large failures comprised a large portion of the total eroded volume and the average retreat rate does not provide a good estimate of local maximum cliff retreat. The second case investigates the alongshore volumetric beach sand change caused by hurricane Bonnie (1998) for an 85km section in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina. The results compare well (generally within 6%) with previous investigations. These case studies highlight additional information gained through performing a detailed, discretized analysis using TopCAT.

Assessing Anthropogenic and Natural Impacts on Ghost Crabs (Ocypode quadrata) at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina

This study explores impacts of off-road vehicles on ghost crab populations as a measure of impact from recreational beach use on two beaches of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and assesses the effectiveness of several alternatives for the use of off-road vehicles (ORVs) on the beach. Ghost crab population size and density have been used as indicators of the environmental quality of beaches and dunes. Data on the creation of an “ORV corridor” in which ORVs can drive on the landward portion of the berm, but not on the beach crest, indicate that it may be possible to preserve ghost crab populations on the beach while still permitting the use of ORVs. Closing the beach crest 24 hours a day may be the optimal solution for preservation of ghost crab populations. High-energy weather events, however, resulted in larger changes to the population dynamics of the ghost crabs. After storms, ghost crabs were able to (re)inhabit areas where their numbers previously had been reduced by the operation of ORVs. While temporary closures of the beach crest may be used to reduce the short-term impacts of ORVs on ghost crab populations on the outer banks of North Carolina, long-term impacts ultimately are controlled by the strength and frequency of storms that reset the system.

Daily, seasonal, and annual relationships between air and subsurface temperatures

Inversions of borehole temperature profiles that reconstruct past ground surface temperature (GST) changes have been used to estimate historical changes in surface air temperature (SAT). Paleoclimatic interpretations of GST reconstructions are based on the assumption that GST and SAT changes are closely coupled over decades, centuries, and longer. This assumption has been the subject of some debate because of known differences between GST and SAT at timescales of hours, days, seasons, and years. We investigate GST and SAT relationships on daily, seasonal, and annual timescales to identify and characterize the principal meteorological changes that lead to short‐term differences between GST and SAT and consider the effects of those differences on coupling between the two temperatures over much longer time periods. We use observational SAT and subsurface data from Fargo, North Dakota; Prague, Czech Republic; Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware; and Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina. These records comprise intradaily observations that span parts of one or two decades. We compare subsurface temperature observations to calculations from a conductive subsurface model driven with daily SAT as the surface boundary condition and show that daily differences exist between observed and modeled subsurface temperatures. We also analyze year‐to‐year spectral decompositions of daily SAT and subsurface temperature time series and show that dissimilarities between mean annual GST and SAT are attributable to differences in annual amplitudes of the two temperature signals. The seasonal partitioning of these amplitude differences varies from year to year and from site to site, responding to variable evapotranspiration and cryogenic effects. Variable year‐to‐year differences between mean annual GST and SAT are closely estimated using results from a multivariate regression model that associates the partial influences of seasonal meteorological conditions with the attenuation of annual GST amplitudes.

Air‐ground temperature coupling and subsurface propagation of annual temperature signals

Borehole‐based reconstructions of ground surface temperature (GST) have been widely used as indicators of paleoclimate. These reconstructions assume that heat transport within the subsurface is conductive. Climatic interpretations of GST reconstructions also assume that GST is strongly coupled to surface air temperature (SAT) on timescales of decades and longer. We examine these two assumptions using records of SAT and subsurface temperature time series from Fargo, North Dakota; Prague, Czech Republic; Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware; and Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina. The characteristics of downward propagating annual temperature signals at each site clearly indicate that heat transport can be described as one‐dimensional conduction in a homogeneous medium. Extrapolations of subsurface observations to the ground surface yield estimates of annual GST signals and allow comparisons to annual SAT signals. All annual GST signals are modestly attenuated and negligibly phase shifted relative to SAT. The four sites collectively demonstrate that differences between annual GST and SAT signals arise in both summer and winter seasons, in amounts dependent on the climatic setting of each site.

Spatial characterization, resolution, and volumetric change of coastal dunes using airborne LIDAR: Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

The technological advancement in topographic mapping known as airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) allows researchers to gather highly accurate and densely sampled coastal elevation data at a rapid rate. The problem is to determine the optimal resolutions at which to represent coastal dunes for volumetric change analysis. This study uses digital elevation models (DEM) generated from LIDAR data and spatial statistics to better understand dune characterization at a series of spatial resolutions. The LIDAR data were collected jointly by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). DEMs of two study sites (100×200 m) located in Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina were generated using a raster-based geographic information system (GIS). Changes in the dune volume were calculated for a 1-year period of time (Fall 1996–1997) at grid cell resolutions ranging from 1×1 to 20×20 m. Directional statistics algorithms were used to calculate local variance and characterize topographic complexity. Data processing was described in detail in order to provide an introduction to working with LIDAR data in a GIS. Results from these study sites indicated that a 1–2 m resolution provided the most reliable representation of coastal dunes on Cape Hatteras and most accurate volumetric change measurements. Results may vary at other sites and at different spatial extents, but the methods developed here can be applied to other locations to determine the optimum resolutions at which to represent and characterize topography using common GIS and database software.

The Taking of the Hatteras Light

One mild Saturday morning in November 1998, my six-year-old son and went to a party at the famous, black-and-white spiraled Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on the North Carolina Outer Banks. It wasn't really a party; at least it wasn't being billed as one by the National Park Service, the guardian of the Hatteras Light. Still, the occasion seemed a little festive. For once, residents of the Outer Banks would have a chance to visit the lighthouse during the slow season, when we wouldn't have to climb it in lockstep with dozens of tourists. We drove south across Oregon Inlet, known among fishermen for its treacherous, changing channel, and down the length of Hatteras Island. All the way there, we followed a two-lane highway that is routinely threatened by blowing sand and flooding from ocean storms. The lighthouse is in the village of Buxton, in the crook of Hatteras Island. Bob Reynolds, the affable superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, greeted us at its base. It had been Reynolds's idea to let locals climb the lighthouse one last time. Reid and went up the granite steps and entered the cold brick tower, smiling hellos at people we knew. A local surveyor and his family. A newspaper reporter. A schoolteacher. A fourth-grade boy, the son of dear friends. Everyone seemed delighted and intrigued. We mounted the spiraling, terra-cotta-painted stairway, our footsteps clanging on the iron steps. At the first landing, Reid strained on tiptoes to look out the mullioned window. The view was south, toward the east-curling spit known as Cape Point. We'll be able to see better as we get higher, told him. But was in no hurry. We ran our hands over the whitewashed brick walls; we admired the floor of the landing, made of black-and-white marble tiles, shipped in from somewhere up north. On our way to the top, we paused at each landing to gaze out at the Atlantic Ocean or down toward two wood-sided buildings where the keepers of the light once lived. The ground seemed to diminish as we climbed higher. When we stepped out onto the iron balcony just below the lens, it was as if the land below hardly existed. What dominated was the sea, arching around us on three sides and pushing toward us from the west in the form of Pamlico Sound. From 165 feet up, even the widest part of Hatteras Island looked astoundingly fragile, a dribble of sand that had sprouted some houses and trees. Wow, Reid said. It's so thin. Yeah, said. I think it's one of the thinnest things I've ever seen. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is in trouble even today because it stands on a low barrier island that is migrating quickly to the west. Four months after my son and climbed it, a squadron of engineers and construction workers began cutting away its foundation so it could be raised by hydraulic jacks and rolled on metal rails 2,900 feet southwest, at a cost to federal taxpayers of $11.2 million. Instead of a mere 100 feet from the surf, it is now about 1,600 feet away, roughly the same distance as in 1870 when it was first lit. Park service officials hope it will remain safe for another century. But because erosion rates vary wildly; no one really knows how long it will be before the Atlantic once again laps at its base. Everyone who loves the Hatteras Light has strong feelings about what has been done to preserve it. There are those who fought for fifteen years to have it moved, and there are those who battled just as hard for it to be left in place, protected by a system of steel groins or a seawall. At times both camps have been downright ugly toward each other. belong to a third group whose numbers probably will never be gauged because we're not inclined to advertise our views. These people are deeply ambivalent about the relocation. We view the lighthouse as a symbol of a way of life that is being obliterated by tourism; more than anything, its relocation makes us sad. We know that the National Park Service had good reasons for moving it. …

Ticks and antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi from mammals at Cape Hatteras, NC and Assateague Island, MD and VA.

Results of a survey for ixodid ticks and/or serum antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi from 14 species of small to large mammals from eastern coastal areas of the United States are presented. Most samples were obtained from July 1987 through June 1989 (excluding December-March) at 3 locales: Assateague Is. National Seashore, Worcester Co., MD., and Accomack Co., VA. (approximately 38 degrees 05' N 75 degrees 10' W), and Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Dare Co., NC (approximately 35 degrees 30' N 76 degrees 35' W). Hosts sampled included opossums (Didelphis virginiana), least shrews (Cryptotis parva), gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), red foxes (Vulpes vulpes), raccoons (Procyon lotor), feral cats (Felis sylvestris), feral horses (Equus caballus), sika deer (Cervus nippon), rice rats (Oryzomys palustris), white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus), meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus), house mice (Mus musculus), norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) and jumping mice (Zapus hudsonius). An indirect fluorescent antibody test was used for testing sera from opossums, raccoons, and feral cats; enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were used for sera from foxes, horses, deer, and house and white-footed mice. Antibodies to B. burgdorferi were found in all species tested from each locale. Seasonal data reinforce the contention that P. leucopus is a suitable sentinel species for B. burgdorferi. Ticks on hosts included Ixodes scapularis Say, I. texanus Banks, Dermacentor variabilis (Say), D. albipictus (Packard), and Amblyomma americanum (L.). Males comprised approximately 0-22 and 60-81% of Ixodes sp. and Amblyomma-Dermacentor adults collected from hosts, respectively. All stages of A. americanum, adult D. variabilis, and larval I. scapularis were collected from vegetation. The highest seropositivity rate (67%) was recorded for 45 P. leucopus at Assateague during July, approximately 1 mo. after peak nymphal I. scapularis intensity. Borrelia burgdorferi was isolated from 6 nymphal and 12 female I. scapularis collected from P. leucopus and C. nippon, respectively, on Assateague.

Valuing Beach Renourishment: Is it Preservation?

A proposed plan to preserve beach and beach access along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore through beach re-nourishment offers the opportunity to apply contingent valuation techniques to explore the implications of three sources of preference heterogeneity for measures of people's willingness to pay. Preferences are modeled as functions of: (a) attitudes, socio-economic and demographic characteristics; (b) past experience with the Cape Hatteras area; (c) anticipated future use; and (d) knowledge about the problem and proposed plans to address it. We find that while income and environmentalist attitudes have limited indirect effects on respondent willingness to pay for beach re-nourishment, past and future use of the resource, as well as respondent knowledge about the re-nourishment plan, directly affect willingness to pay.

Normative response and norm activation among ORV users within a seashore environment1

Abstract Recreational use conflicts exist between pedestrians and users of motorized Off‐Road Vehicles (ORVs) at Cape Hatteras National Seashore. This study attempted to examine avenues of resolution to this problem through the application of the Norm‐Activation Model developed by Schwartz. ORV users’ awareness of problems caused by their behavior (Awareness of Consequences, AC) and accepting responsibility for such problems (Ascription of Responsibility, AR) were used to predict preferences for seashore norms. Results indicate that the model may not be the most appropriate for predicting conformity to norms in a recreational situation. A more rigorous test of concepts may need to be developed in future studies of recreation experiences regarding norms and their activities.

COASTAL PROCESSES AT OREGON INLET, NORTH CAROLINA

Coastal processes In the vicinity of Oregon Inlet, North Carolina were studied in connection with the design of a dual jetty system for that inlet. Oregon Inlet is the northernmost breach through the "Outer Banks" of North Carolina and is situated approximately 40 miles (64 km) north of Cape Hatteras and 90 miles (145 km) south of the ocean entrance to Chesapeake Bay, see Fig. 1. The improvements planned for this inlet are part of an overall plan of development directed at enhancing the fisheries industry of North Carolina through the provision of a modern fisheries center at the village of Wanchese, located on Roanoke Island, see Fig. 1. The general layout of the proposed jetty system is shown on Fig. 2. Certain aspects of this design will be referred to later in this paper. In addition to their structural and functional aspects, a major part of the design of the jetties concerns the structure-shore interaction and means whereby adverse shore processes will be prevented in operating the project. Obviously, the construction of jetties or any other type of littoral barrier at an inlet would disrupt the normal movement of and processes associated with longshore sediment transport. Therefore, artificial means of moving littoral materials around a stabilized inlet must be employed to assure that the adjacent beaches are maintained in at least the same state existing prior to any navigation related improvements. The need for a reliable sand bypassing method at Oregon Inlet is accentuated by the fact that the inlet is bounded on the north by the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and on the south by the Pea Island Wildlife Refuge, both of which are Federally owned beach areas managed for the purpose of preserving the natural quality of the Outer Banks environment. The design of a sand bypassing system must be based on a knowledge of the existing shore and inlet processes, particularly as they relate to the rate and directional distribution of longshore sediment transport. When the existing conditions are known, it is possible to estimate the sediment transport rates with the structures in place and, thus, predict the amount and direction in which material will have to be bypassed. This paper describes the approach taken to evaluate the existing and future longshore sediment transport in the vicinity of Oregon Inlet and briefly discusses the proposed bypassing system for the stabilized inlet.