PEOPLE & 



PLACES 



Operation Pathfinder participants listen as Stan Riggs explains coastal dynamics on the Oregon Inlet jetty. 



Getting to Know 

 tneCoa£ 



A 



An Education for Teachers 



By Ann Green • Photos by Michael H alminski 



. s waves crash against the 

 rock jetty near the Herbert Bonner Bridge 

 on Oregon Inlet, East Carolina University 

 marine geology professor Stan Riggs 

 describes it as the "highest-energy inlet on 

 the East Coast." 



'It's like a tiger caught in a trap," says 

 Riggs. 



Oregon Inlet opened in 1846 just 

 north of the present location of the Bodie 

 Lighthouse, which is now more than three 

 miles from the inlet's waters. 



Two lighthouses built on the inlet's 

 south side were lost to erosion as the inlet 

 migrated south at about 200 to 300 feet per 

 year. In 1876, the Bodie Lighthouse was 

 built on the north side. 



Because of the inlet's southward 

 migration, the Bonner Bridge, built in 

 1 962, was in danger of being left behind by 

 the inlet, Riggs explains. To stop the 

 migration and save the bridge, the state 

 built a rock jetty on the south side. 



"This has temporarily trapped the 



tiger," he says of the controversial jetty that 

 faced opposition from some scientists and 

 environmental groups. 



Riggs presents the history of the inlet 

 as a coastal processes lesson to elementary, 

 middle- and high-school teachers in 

 COAST/Operation Pathfinder. Loaded 

 down with backpacks and water bottles, 

 the teachers follow Riggs along the rock 

 jetty bordering the inlet. 



Pattie Chapman, an eighth-grade 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 23 



