. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. ATLANTIC OCEAN Fort Fisher r^l BALD HEAD ISLAND BY NANCY DAVIS Old Baldy stands watch over the island. The battleground was a small piece of paradise, 13,000acres of sand, marsh and maritime forest lying at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. It was North Carolina's first war of the coastal environment, and it raged for nearly two decades. Environmentalists fought for preser- vation. Developers sought a posh resort with a population as high as 180,000 and even an international airport. The prize was Bald Hea
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. ATLANTIC OCEAN Fort Fisher r^l BALD HEAD ISLAND BY NANCY DAVIS Old Baldy stands watch over the island. The battleground was a small piece of paradise, 13,000acres of sand, marsh and maritime forest lying at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. It was North Carolina's first war of the coastal environment, and it raged for nearly two decades. Environmentalists fought for preser- vation. Developers sought a posh resort with a population as high as 180,000 and even an international airport. The prize was Bald Head Island, which, along with Middle and Bluff islands, makes up the Smith Island complex off the Brunswick County coast. In the end, neither side won. Those who wanted the island to become a state park still shake their heads over a paradise lost. But there is a consolation, they say. If the island had to be developed, its latest owner has created an ac- ceptable blend of preservation and change. The developer agrees. "Bald Head Island should have been preserved," says Kent Mitchell. "But if it had to be developed, then I'm the best one to do it—without ; On Bald Head, nature has united an odd combination of temperate and tropical life. Large stands of palm trees grow farther north than they're supposed to, and temperatures average several degrees warmer than on the mainland just three miles away. At one time. Bald Head claimed the state's largest maritime forest. It is still the most popular nesting ground in the state for the en- dangered loggerhead sea turtle. "If Bald Head had been pre- served, it would be even more unique now," says Art Cooper, head of North Carolina State University's forestry department and one of the leading proponents of preservation. But like the rest of the Tar Heel coast, pressures to build won out over the push to preserve. Mitchell is the latest in a succes- sion of owners, and his plans for the island are l
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
