. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Taking a hint from Mother You shouldn't try to fool mother nature, but sometimes it pays to steal from her. Sea Grant researchers Steve Broome, Ernie Seneca and Vince Bellis are taking nature's ideas for protecting the estuarine shores and experi- menting with planting grasses and trees. They figured if it worked naturally, it would work with a little help from man, too. And natural protection would be less expensive than bulkheading, they reasoned. "We've 'proved' it works, at least we've proved it w
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Taking a hint from Mother You shouldn't try to fool mother nature, but sometimes it pays to steal from her. Sea Grant researchers Steve Broome, Ernie Seneca and Vince Bellis are taking nature's ideas for protecting the estuarine shores and experi- menting with planting grasses and trees. They figured if it worked naturally, it would work with a little help from man, too. And natural protection would be less expensive than bulkheading, they reasoned. "We've 'proved' it works, at least we've proved it works in some places," said NCSU soil scientist Broome. "And we say it usually costs less than $1 a linear ; Broome and Seneca have been plant- ing marsh grass on eroding estuarine shores for the past two years. They have 11 test sites, some of which have been successful and some of which haven't. Leroy Voris, is a Pine Knoll Shores resident who lives in back of an experimental Spartina alterni- flora and Spartina patens patch facing Bogue Sound. The plot is working and Voris is extremely satisfied with the venture. "It's been very gratifying. We were having some erosion, but we didn't want to bulkhead. We prefer the natural shoreline, as long as it doesn't wash away. The grass seems to be doing fine and we enjoy the big white herons that come in. There have been a lot more birds since the grass was ; Seneca and Broome also planted grasses near Uncle Henry's Oyster Bar at Masonboro Sound. The Army Corps of Engineers was having erosion problems in the intercoastal waterway there and wanted to try grass planting. So far, it seems to work. Doubly good "By using a natural substance such as Spartina you accomplish two things at once," said David Frankensteen, a fishery biologist with the Corps. "Spartina is one of the most productive systems in the world in terms of energy and biomass and it provides detritus for all the little est
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
