All these agencies are now working together to find 

 answers to two basic questions: Should the light- 

 house be saved? If so, what's the best way to do it? 

 Plans now being considered run the gamut from mov- 

 ing the lighthouse to moving the inlet channel. 

 Preston Riddel, Superintendent of the Cape Lookout 

 National Seashore, predicts that a decision will be 

 made by early spring. 



Local opinions 



Naturally, the perilous position of the lighthouse 

 has not gone unnoticed by residents of the area. 

 Harkers Islanders and fishermen who use the inlet 

 have been speculating about it for years. And some of 

 them have strong opinions. 



Take Paul Hodges, for instance. From his Harkers 

 Island marina, Calico Jacks, he has a good view of the 

 lighthouse. Like many of his fellow islanders, he 

 would hate to see the historic landmark disappear 

 into the inlet. The lighthouse, he contends, is too 



Dots outline channels in Barden Inlet. Dark areas in- 

 dicate channels which are dredged by the Corps of 

 Engineers. 



much a part of the history of that section of the Outer 

 Banks. It speaks of an era when the Outer Banks 

 were the rugged domain of seasoned sailors and com- 

 mercial fishermen. To say nothing of the fact that the 

 lighthouse has become a prime tourist attraction. 



Like many of his friends, Hodges has some ideas 

 about what's causing the erosion at the cape. "I don't 

 have a degree in engineering, but I've got a teeny 

 weeny bit of common sense," he says. "You can take 

 all the engineers and all the pencils and paper you 

 want, but you can't convince me that the Corps isn't 

 partly to blame for that erosion." 



Hodges is referring to the fact that, since 1938, the 

 Corps of Engineers has periodically done main- 

 tenance dredging of channels in the 2200-foot wide in- 

 let. For the past 15 years, the Corps has used a side- 

 caster dredge to move about 34,000 cubic yards of 

 sediment annually in the inlet. Dredging is usually 

 done once a year and takes between one and three 

 weeks. 



Over the years, severe shoaling has caused the 

 channel to migrate closer to the Core Banks side of 

 the inlet. Hodges believes that the Corps' continued 

 dredging of Core Banks can have only one effect: in- 

 creased erosion near the lighthouse. 



Hodges is expressing a commonly held opinion that 

 the Corps should move the channel closer to the 

 Shackleford Banks side of the inlet. That's reasoning 

 that falls flat with Lim Vallianos, chief coastal 

 engineer with the Wilmington office of the Corps of 

 Engineers. Vallianos recently completed a study of 

 the erosion problem at the cape. He points out that 

 the Corps does not dredge in the section of channel 

 directly in front of the lighthouse. That, he says, is a 

 naturally deep channel, which needs no maintenance 

 dredging. What's more, Vallianos says, to dredge 

 across the shallow section of the inlet near 

 Shackleford Banks would be complicated and prac- 

 tically futile. The natural ebb and flow of the inlet 

 would quickly fill in the dredged channel, he 

 contends. 



To dredge or not to dredge 



Hodges is not suggesting that the Corps cease 

 dredging in Barden Inlet. For one thing, that would 

 have a drastic effect on his marina business. The inlet 

 is heavily used by both commercial and sport fisher- 

 men going to Core Banks or to the open ocean. It 

 easily accommodates boats with a draft of five feet or 

 less. And it's a favorite of small boaters because it's 

 one of the calmest inlets on North Carolina's coast. 



"I've seen days when the whole Morehead City fleet 

 of charter boats would have to use Barden Inlet 

 because Beaufort Inlet was too rough to get into," 

 says Hodges. 



Vallianos points out that inlet migration is a 

 natural phenomenon. In fact, he contends that Bar- 

 den Inlet has one of the lowest movement rates of all 

 North Carolina's inlets. He points to New Inlet, which 

 has moved a total of 7,000 feet in one direction, in 

 spite of the fact that it has never been dredged. He 

 adds that movement rates in some inlets actually 

 drop after dredging is begun. 



