TOP: Riggs often 

 stops along South 

 Nags Head to 

 discuss beaches 

 that have been 

 sandbagged 

 because of 

 extensive erosion. 

 MIDDLE: Riggs' 

 field trips often 

 reveal the dramatic 

 dynamics of the 

 North Carolina 

 coast. 



BOTTOM: 

 Riggs' new book, 

 published by 

 North Carolina Sea Grant, provides in-depth 

 information about the state's estuarine erosion rates. 



houses along a very wide ocean beach." 



In the late 1930s, the government built bar- 

 rier-dune ridges to prevent overwash and encour- 

 age other development, says Riggs, gazing at the 

 group with his gray-blue eyes. 



"By 1 999, you can see coastal N.C. 1 2 is 

 very close to the ocean, and all of the old houses 

 have been moved back significantly and are now 

 up against the highway," he adds. "The Seven 

 Sisters Dune Field also has been totally developed 

 by 1999." 



Oncejocke/s Ridge became a state park, 

 the human forces from large numbers of visitors 

 — in concert with extensive development and 

 vegetation growth around the park — began to 

 tear down the dune, says Riggs. "Over the years, 

 Jockey's Ridge has shrunk in size from 1 56 feet in 

 the 1 950s to less than 90 feet 

 f high today," he adds. 



Erosion at South Nags Head 



After leaving Jockey's 

 Ridge, Riggs, dressed in jeans, a 

 green jacket covered with a work 

 vest, tennis shoes and baseball 

 hat, leads the group for more 

 than 1 2 hours to various sound 

 and beach sites. He takes a 

 break from lecturing only when 

 _ <; =w traveling between stops. 



At South Nags Head, 

 Riggs walks at a brisk pace 

 down the beach past homes 

 that have been condemned 

 because major beach erosion 

 has exposed or eliminated septic systems. 



"Years ago, when this area was first devel- 

 oped, houses were built way back from the ocean," 

 he says. "But the very high rates of shoreline ero- 

 sion along this segment quickly encroached upon 

 them and began taking out the oceanfront houses. 



"At South Nags Head, the erosion rate is 

 up to 20 feet a year," says Riggs. "This caused the 

 second and third row homes to systematically 

 become oceanfront homes." 



Throughout the rest of the field trip, Riggs, 

 who often sounds like an evangelist giving a ser- 

 mon, keeps the group's attention by using colorful 

 anecdotes about the barrier island. 



Toward the end of the trip, Riggs' enthusi- 

 asm doesn't wane as he climbs more than 200 

 steps in the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. 



Standing at the top of the lighthouse that 

 overlooks the beach and woods, he describes the 

 ocean and estuarine dynamics maintaining the 

 barrier islands. He points out the classic beach 

 ridge sequences that make up the landmass of 

 Buxton Woods. 



"This area has the highest ocean wave energy 

 along the entire East Coast," says Riggs. "In addi- 

 tion, there is a very large estuarine sea, known as 

 Pamlico Sound, that works along the back side of 

 the barrier island." 



Riggs' last stop is at Hatteras Village, where 

 Hurricane Isabel cut an inlet 1 ,700 feet wide and 



up to 28 feet deep, in a weak segment of the 

 barrier island in September 2003. The U.S. Army 

 Corps of Engineers then filled the inlet with sand 

 dredged from the Hatteras Inlet channel and 

 rebuilt the barrier-dune ridge. The state rebuilt 

 N.C. 12. 



As the sun is setting at the former site of 

 Isabel's inlet, Riggs leads a group along the beach. 

 He points out the large peat blocks that are the 

 size of a wheel barrel. 



"This peat formed in the marsh about 200 

 years ago when the Hatteras Island shoreline 

 was about five football fields seaward of the 

 present location," he says. "The rapid recession 

 of this shoreline has moved the beach over the 

 former marsh, causing the peat to crop out in the 

 low-tide surf zone, where it has eroded during 

 storms." 



Further down the beach, Riggs holds up an 

 aerial photo of Isabel's inlet shortly after it opened 

 and took out a portion of N.C. 1 2. "If you walk 

 back into the marsh," he says, "you will see large 

 pieces of pavement from the old road." 



Riggs says that about 25 miles of N.C. 1 2 

 has "hot spots" that were either damaged or 

 destroyed by Hurricane Isabel and will continue to 

 be threatened by future storms. 



"In response to storms such as Hurricane 

 Isabel, the state of North Carolina must put the 

 science on the table before major decisions are 

 made concerning the long-term maintenance of 

 Hwy. 1 2, as well as future management decisions 

 concerning new inlets," he says. "Sea level will 

 continue to rise. Storms will continue to directly 

 impact our barrier islands." 



"The question is: can and will we learn to 

 live with the dynamic nature of barrier islands 

 — or will we destroy the barriers while attempting 

 to stabilize the islands to protect our economic 

 investments?" says Riggs. ™ 



The research presented in Drowning the North 

 Carolina Coast was funded by North Carolina Sea 

 Grant, U.S. Geological Survey, East Carolina University, 

 National Park Service, U.S. Fish &Wildlife Service and 

 Environmental Defense. The book was published with 

 grants from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Ad- 

 ministration, the N.C. Division of Coastal Management 

 and the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Program. 



Single copies of the book are $25. To order a copy 

 of the book, refer to publication UNC-SG-03-04 and 

 send a check to: North Carolina Sea Grant, NC State 

 University, Box 8605, Raleigh, NC 27695-8605. 

 Order forms are available from www.ncseagrant.org. 



COASTWATCH 15 



