By Katie Todd, Online Engagement Coordinator

For some of us, the North Carolina coast hits our minds hardest at this time of year. As the summer season nears, we dream of upcoming getaways to the sandy shores of the Outer Banks, to quiet evenings overlooking shorebirds. For others, it’s just another day at home.

As a life-long inlander, my knowledge of the coast, particularly the more than 12,000 miles of estuarine coastline that North Carolina boasts, was limited. In order to expand my own understanding of the present and future issues that will impact our coast and the various communities who call it home, I attended part of the North Carolina Coastal Conferenceon April 14. Researchers, public officials, activists, industry representatives, policy wonks, students, scientists, and more made up the audience at this meeting hosted by .

North Carolina Sea Grant is an inter-institutional program within the University of NC System. Its primary mission is to provide research, education, and outreach opportunities relating to current issues affecting the North Carolina coast and its communities.

The coast is one place in particular where environmental and economic priorities seem to butt heads. Much of this stems from the demographic influx taking place in this region. As I heard from Dr. Rebecca Tippett, Director of Carolina Demography at UNC-Chapel Hill, our 22 coastal shoreline counties boast 12% of the state’s population with rising numbers in sight. When isolating this increasing population by age, two distinct groups are now making NC’s coast home. Take a guess: one might be more obvious than another. Yes, retirees are lining up to call the coast home. The other age breakout that is showing positive net migration (aka more people moving in to that area than moving out): 20 – 24 year olds. This is likely due to the impact of universities (East Carolina University, UNC – Wilmington) as well as the major military presence (Camp Lejeune).

NC Coast Fact: Dare County is the only county in the state with the same number of housing units as there are people.

Unfortunately for our resources, particularly our natural ones, more people tend to bring more problems. This is an area of focus for researchers and organizations working to promote a healthier coast.

Climate change was a hot topic (no pun intended) as presenters reflected on the unknowns of sea level rise and potential for stronger storm surges. I heard a presentation from Philip Prete, Senior Environmental Planner with the City of Wilmington, on a pilot project undertaken with FEMA and the EPA on how to address community resiliency in the face of rising sea levels. Rising sea levels will alter how coastal storms impact our coastline and have implications for our economy, aquifers, wetlands, and onshore infrastructure. For this pilot program, the city of Wilmington elected to focus on the potential risks to water and wastewater infrastructure. Using three different predictive models of sea level rise (the bad, the very bad, and the super bad, if you will), officials were able to overlay scientific modeling data on how far inland ocean waters are expecting to go and how that will impact things like pump stations, manholes, and water treatment plants.

This was a prime example of how to really use data to make informed decisions. The city of Wilmington is in a position now where some of their infrastructure assets have been in the ground for over 100 years, and it’s time to make decisions for the future. This pilot project revealed the vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure the city needs to address now to prepare the best for any future where sea level rise will have implications for communities. The city was able to categorize the very risks levels for each asset, and by coupling this with the organization’s capability, they created 54 discreet strategies to reduce threat to this vital system.

While accepting sea level rise as fact remains daunting to some, it’s refreshing to see leaders in Wilmington taking proactive steps to begin addressing what must change in order to prepare for the future. This is a prime example of the needed role science plays in helping decision-makers make policy decisions, especially for our coastal economies. Rather than bury their heads in the sand, we need leaders who will listen with open, unbiased minds to what is in the best interest for the people, places, and ecosystems of our coast.

NC Coast Fact: Over 2 million visitors come through the NC Aquarium system each year, bringing in $67 million in state revenues.

For those who veer away from scientific research when it comes to environmental and economic policy making, Dr. David Eggelston dedicated his entire presentation to the various ways science helps to support sustainable coastal economies’. Instead of seeing science and economics in two separate buckets, he emphasized the need to unionize these two worlds in order to maximize the information available to make the right decisions.

So, how does science support sustainable coastal economics? It can be as simple as science helps to keep our beaches and ocean waters clean. Tourism is the largest industry in coastal North Carolina. According to Dr. Eggelston, tourism boasts more than 80,000 coastal jobs, $3 billion in revenue from the more than 50 million tourists who line our shores annually. To keep this area pristine, researchers and coastal geologists spend their time developing rapid response tools to check waters for all those things we don’t want in it (bacteria and other pathogens); removing stranded marine mammals and following-up by researching reasons on why this behavior is occurring; and providing reasons why hardened structures on areas like the Outer Banks would drastically alter and harm our coastline, pushing not only tourists out but year-round residents as well.

The list on how science supports sustainable coastal economies goes on and on:

• Increasing education and research on local seafood to help local fisherman become more competitive in the market
• Developing lines of fast-growing oysters for different growing areas;
• Connecting historical interests with culture
• Restoring natural habitats, including NC’s oyster population
• Modeling systems to predict storm surges, waves and flooding;
• Applying magnetic technology to research on aquaculture species, and crops; and
• Evaluating our coastline for its energy potential, specifically offshore wind and ocean power generation.

Speaking of offshore energy, I had the pleasure (?) of hearing Secretary Donald van der Vaart with the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources present on North Carolina’s offshore energy potential. It’s no secret the Secretary van der Vaart has been a major champion of opening the Mid-Atlantic to offshore oil and gas drilling leases. In the same breath, he has been critical of efforts to jumpstart our state’s offshore wind potential. This presentation proved much of the same bias. As the state of Virginia initiates the first offshore wind energy facility off its coast, North Carolina leaders will be watching to see what impact the offshore view shed have on residents and tourism there. There has been much consternation on how far off the coast offshore wind turbines can live. NC DENR has advocated for turbines to be at least 24 miles off the coast; however, this will reduce the efficiency to capture energy.

Don’t worry – we’ll make up for it with our drilling rigs, as least in the eyes of Secretary van der Vaart. While he explicitly mentions wanting “to protect our tourism industry from impacts” related to offshore wind development, he failed to heed the same caution when speaking on drilling. In fact, he noted the economic boom of offshore drilling, from the thousands of jobs estimated to be created to the revenue windfall that North Carolina would receive – only if revenue sharing was actually legal for our region, which it is not. Until Congress takes action, this revenue sharing argument is merely wishful thinking for those communities that will reap the impacts that drilling bring to a region: thousands of trucks, pollution from exhaust and refineries, and the incessant leaks into water supplies from pipes.

NC Coast Fact: OCEANA estimates that offshore wind development will create nearly 50,000 jobs for our state.

Returning back to the conference, I learned a great deal about one of our environmental friends: the NC Coastal Federation. Todd Miller, Executive Director, outlined the four major program areas for the Federation: advocacy, education, restoration/preservation, and information as a coastal news source. The UNC-System and the NC Coastal Federation have a long, rich history together as partners with respect to teaching, research, and public service. The NC Coastal Federation is involved in so many aspects of enriching the lives of coastal residents and those who want to work to protect this special land – from internship opportunities to expanded collaborations with local governments to a varied and ripe pool of research potential, including engineering, physical science, economics, and governance.

Whew! Is your breath taken away yet? And this was just a fraction of what the entire conference had to offer its attendees. Other sessions included experts speaking on marine industry development, coastal infrastructure, coastal economies, and hazard preparation and response. In the evening, folks gathered for a reception at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences’ Nature Research Center to hear from the likes of Shannon Vickery with UNC-TV and NC Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown.

What did I walk away from the conference with (besides a renewed frustration with the agency head deemed to protect our natural resources?): A vast amount of respect for the individuals who have worked for years and years to better understand all the nuances our state’s coast brings. From changing sea shore lines to enacting policies around flood insurance to efforts rooted in promoting sustainable fishing ecosystems, each plays a critical role in ensuring this area of our natural world remains strong, healthy, and vibrant. I look forward to future coastal conferences and engaging more with our coast’s best advocates.

You can see many of the key takeaways from the NC Coastal Conference on Twitter by using the hashtag #NCCoastConf.