NATURAL AREA INVENTORY FORM 

 Basic Information Summary Sheet 



1. Natural Area Name: Lea Island, Hutaff Island 



2. County: Pender 



3. Location: The two coastal barrier islands are located in the southeast 

 quadrant of the county, southeast of Hampstead and southwest of Surf 

 City. They are separated from each other by Old Topsail Inlet. Lea 

 Island, the northernmost of the two, is separated from Topsail Island 

 and Topsail Beach by New Topsail Inlet. Hutaff Island, on its south- 

 western extremity, is separated from Figure Eight Island (New Hanover 

 County) by Rich Inlet. Coordinates for the two barrier islands are 



as follows: 34°20'N, 77°40'W (Lea); 34°19'N, 77°41' (Hutaff ), (FIGURE 21) 



4. Topographic Quadrangle: Hampstead, NC 1970 



5. Size: Approximately 550 acres (200 ac on Lea; 350 ac on Hutaff) 



6. Elevation: Sealevel to 20 ft MSL for Lea; sealevel to 25 ft MSL for 

 Hutaff 



7. Access: Boat: Coast Guard marked navigation channel through New Topsail 

 Inlet; Howard Channel from Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW) to 

 northern end of Lea Island, passable only with small boat at or near 

 high tide; Greene Channel and Nixon Channel to Rich Inlet and to south 

 end of Hutaff Island are navigable from AIWW at low tide. 



8. Names of Investigators: S. W. Leonard Ricky Davis 



P. 0. Box 3475 126 Duncansby Court 



Wilmington, NC 28406 Cary, NC 27511 



9. Date(s) of Investigation: July 10, July 21, 1981 



10. Priority Rating: High 



11A. Prose Description of Site: Lea and Hutaff Islands are two of the six 

 unoccupied and undeveloped islands south of Cape Lookout in North 

 Carolina. Seasonally occupied structures are located on each (one 

 on Lea Island and two on Hutaff) . A recently-constructed, private 

 dock with space for multiple boat moorings is present on the mainland 

 side of Lea Island. 



The islands are composed of sand and fragments of shell, and may 

 contain buried lenses of peat. The leeward portions grade into salt-: 

 marsh, salt flats, or mud flats, and here, the sediment is finer- 

 grained. Accretion is occurring at the southwest ends of both islands, 

 whereas wind and wave erosion have removed much of the foredunes in the 

 midsections of the islands. Dredged material deposition at the north 



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