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Features 



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N.C. DOCUMENTS 

 CLEARINGHOUSE 



APR 9 1996 



N.C. STATE LIBRARY 

 RALEIGH 



Down East 



These days, anyone east of Raleigh with a business card and a 

 marketing budget will claim to be from "Down East" North 

 Carolina. But the original Down East, the real Down East, 

 begins where most people's geographic knowledge of the state 

 ends: Stacy, Smyrna, Harkers Island. A lot of folks drive 

 through — on their way to catch the Cedar Island ferry to 

 Ocracoke — but few linger. Free-lance writer Eddie Nickens 

 did. And he came back with savory slices of local lore and 

 melt-in-your-mouth images of maritime forests, marshes and 

 islander memories 2 



Seashell Fever 



If you've ever wondered what makes a seashell or had your 

 curiosity aroused by these shapely, colorful beach treasures, 

 this is the story for you. Free-lance writer Lynn Houser reveals 

 the secret lives of shells and the people who love them 8 



Stars of the Sea 



With their dazzling symmetry and wriggling tube feet, 

 starfish are a coastal showstopper. Coastwatch staffer 

 Rachel Wharton combs the Tar Heel seafloor to investigate this 

 curious echinoderm. Learn how North Carolina's most com- 

 mon starfish devours a mollusk while it's still inside the shell, 

 and discover the hydraulic system that powers the stellate 

 creature across the sandy bottoms 14 



A Greener Way to Shore up Streams 



Development has pushed the limits of inland urban streams, 

 many of which look more like concrete ditches than North 

 Carolina's veins to the coast. But a new technique — which 

 combines plants and natural fibers with man-made structures — 

 is promising to infuse life back into streams. Coastwatch staffer 

 Carla Burgess looks at an experimental stream repair project at 

 N.C. State University 16 



A Historian 's Coast: 



Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang 



It's hard to imagine walking on the beach and not spying a 

 single gull or tern. Or strolling beside a salt marsh without 

 glimpsing one egret or heron. But a hundred years ago, such 

 occasions were stark reality. Coastwatch history columnist 

 David Cecelski narrates the grim demise and the subsequent 

 triumph of North Carolina's coastal bird population 20 



Departments 



Book Review. 

 Aft Deck. . . . 



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COASTWATCH 



