Shoreline Stabilization Work To Start at Shell Point, Harkers Island

Date: January 4, 2008
Contact: Wouter Ketel, 252-728-2250 ext. 3005

Harkers Island, North Carolina. Superintendent Russ Wilson announces work has started on a contract to protect the shoreline and facilities at the Shell Point area of the seashore Harkers Island headquarters. The project, designed and planned in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, began on about December 27, 2007 and should be completed in four months.

During construction, the public can expect temporary closures of some of the facilities near Shell Point, including: the picnic area, nature trails, and portions of the end of Harkers Island Road. Please call the park office at 252-728-2250 extension 3001 for information updates.

This project will place a rock sill in the water roughly parallel to the shore beginning at the picnic area running to the east and then around Shell Point where it connects with the boat basin bulkhead. The seashore boat basin will be enlarged slightly and a bulkhead on the south side of the basin will be replaced. From the boat basin the rock sill will continue about 1200 feet northward along the shore.

The shoreline stabilization project is necessary in the wake of Hurricane Isabel, to repair damage to the shore and the boat basin bulkhead and to prevent continued loss of the shoreline which ultimately threatens the park facilities at the eastern end of Harkers Island.

The use of stone sills to protect shorelines from erosion is one of the environmentally preferred methods often referred to as “living shorelines.” Once in place, marsh vegetation should be able to re-establish between the rock sill and the existing shoreline.