The Battle for North Carolina's Coast - by Stanley R Riggs & Dorothea Von Der Porten Ames & Stephen J Culver & David J Mallinson (Paperback)

About the Book

The North Carolina barrier islands, a 325-mile-long string of narrow sand islands that form the coast of North Carolina, are one of the most beloved areas to live and visit in the United States, and they are in jeopardy. In this book, four experts on coastal dynamics examine issues that threaten this national treasure.

Book Synopsis

The North Carolina barrier islands, a 325-mile-long string of narrow sand islands that forms the coast of North Carolina, are one of the most beloved areas to live and visit in the United States. However, extensive barrier island segments and their associated wetlands are in jeopardy. In The Battle for North Carolina's Coast, four experts on coastal dynamics examine issues that threaten this national treasure.

According to the authors, the North Carolina barrier islands are not permanent. Rather, they are highly mobile piles of sand that are impacted by sea-level rise and major storms and hurricanes. Our present development and management policies for these changing islands are in direct conflict with their natural dynamics. Revealing the urgency of the environmental and economic problems facing coastal North Carolina, this essential book offers a hopeful vision for the coast's future if we are willing to adapt to the barriers' ongoing and natural processes. This will require a radical change in our thinking about development and new approaches to the way we visit and use the coast. Ultimately, we cannot afford to lose these unique and valuable islands of opportunity. This book is an urgent call to protect our coastal resources and preserve our coastal economy.

Review Quotes

"The Battle for North Carolina's Coast clearly identifies the potential effects of sea-level rise on North Carolina's coast and answers the question 'Why should I care?' about policy decisions and coastal management. This is an important educational book for the general public and decision-makers to read." -- Betsy Bennett, director, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences

"The Battle for North Carolina's Coast provides a flood tide of fascinating insights based on decades of keen observation and scientific research. It is a must read to fully understand our dynamic North Carolina coast and its future." -- Todd Miller, executive director, North Carolina Coastal Federation

"An exceptional, affordable book with clear prose, succinct logic, a fine bibliography, and 72 superb color illustrations . . . . Riggs and colleagues offer a reasonable plan that, if implemented soon, will protect the natural shore system and mitigate its erosion rates, as well as nourish North Carolina's resource-based coastal economy over the long term. Highly recommended." -- CHOICE

"Readers will walk away with a deep understanding of the forces that created and continue to rework North Carolina's unsettled coast." -- Raleigh News and Observer

"Riggs and his co-authors deserve a lot of credit for their ideas. Hopefully somebody will take them seriously." -- Lawyers, Guns and Money blog

"The authors make you feel being physically on the North Carolina barrier islands, and they make you see how both gradual processes and events shape the barriers, erode inlets, close inlets again, etc." -- Geologos

"The real strength of The Battle for North Carolina's Coast is the numerous photographs, diagrams, and maps (most of which are in color) that do an excellent job of illustrating North Carolina's coastal dynamics. . . . It would be difficult to find authors better acquainted with the geology of this particular coastline." -- Environmental History

About the Author

The authors are members of the geological sciences department at East Carolina University. Stanley R. Riggs is Distinguished Research Professor and Harriot College Distinguished Professor; Dorothea V. Ames is research instructor; Stephen J. Culver is Harriot College Distinguished Professor and chair; and David J. Mallinson is associate professor.