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Bald Head Island
Takes Lead in
International Barrier Island Research
Press
Release
July 22, 2007 – Bald Head
Island, North Carolina
(NC) - The Bald Head Island Conservancy, an independent non-profit
organization, has launched an in-depth program to study conservation
and development strategies that promote barrier island
sustainability, taking a lead role in international barrier island
research. The program's objective is to better understand the
behavior of North Carolina's barrier islands and to identify
worldwide solutions to save and maintain these environments.
Previously recognized across
the region for its contributions in studying and protecting
Loggerhead sea turtles, the Conservancy is now planning the world's
first Barrier Island Study Center in response to growing global
concern regarding barrier island sustainability. The center will
promote community-based conservation by integrating scientific
research about barrier island sustainability and effective
management strategies.
The proposed Barrier Island
Study Center will provide a long-term and short-term facility
dedicated to barrier island research and education. Bald Head
Island's unique environment, which includes beach, marshland and
maritime forest in 12,000 acres, offers researchers both pristine
and developed habitats to study. Construction on the $2.5 million,
certified "green" study center will begin in the Fall of 2007, for a
2008 completion.
Ecologically critical to the
protection of the mainland, barrier islands stand as one of the
fastest disappearing habitats on Earth because of overdevelopment
and rising sea levels. In addition to analyzing barrier island
behavior, the study will examine the conservation efforts and
conscientious planning used on Bald Head Island by its owners and
developers, the Mitchell family.
"Bald Head Island is one of
the only islands that has taken a sustainable perspective in
development," said Conservancy Executive Director, Dr. Suzanne
Dorsey. "Here, there has been a developer who approached the island
with that purpose in mind."
Bald Head Island is a vacation
and second-home destination located two miles off the southeastern
coast of North Carolina - a 20-minute ferry ride from Indigo
Plantation and Marina in Southport, N.C. Open to the public, the
island features more than 800 homes, including condominiums and
single-family residences, with nearly 200 year-round residents. The
island also includes a 10-acre marina and a championship golf course
in one of the East Coast's most pristine barrier island
environments. Of the island's 12,000 acres, 10,000 acres of beaches,
salt marsh and maritime forest are protected and will remain
undeveloped. Visit
www.baldheadisland.com to learn more.
For more information on
barrier island sustainability, please contact the Bald Head Island
Conservancy at (910) 457-0089 or visit
www.BHIC.org.
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