Shell Point Picnic Area Temporarily Closed Due To Shoreline Stabilization Work

Date: January 18, 2008
Contact: Wouter Ketel, [phone] Ext. 3005

Harkers Island, North Carolina. The National Park Service (NPS) reports that the Shell Point picnic area and picnic area parking located at the seashore Harkers Island Headquarters will be closed  temporarily, beginning Monday, January 21.  This closure will last several weeks. Visitors can also expect some delays on the roads in the NPS Harkers Island area during the day as trucks deliver rock for the project. Visitors can call the park office at 252-728-2250 extension 3001 for information updates.

The shoreline protection project was designed and planned in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the entire project should be completed in about four months.  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 project is necessary 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 an environmentally preferred method  often referred to as a “living shoreline.” Once in place, marsh vegetation should be able to re-establish between the rock sill and the existing shoreline.