Download the Fall 2007 Newsletter.

NCBIWA Executive Director Goes to Washington
By Chris Wagner, Marlowe & Company LLC

Mayor Harry Simmons, Executive Director of NCBIWA, has been spending some quality time in Washington, DC lately. In August and September Mayor Simmons met with a number of outside interest groups to discuss common water resource interests and to help advance NCBIWA’s goals in Washington. Meetings with the National Marine Manufacturers Association, BoatUS, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Associated General Contractors of America, and the American Public Works Association have been very productive. NCBIWA will be continuing discussions with these groups over the coming months to develop an agenda that improves water resources policy and funding for North Carolina and the nation.

In addition, Mayor Simmons also met with the White House Office of Management and Budget. In that meeting he stressed the importance of supporting periodic renourishment and made a strong case for supporting Regional Sediment Management.

Simmons also had the opportunity in early September to testify before the U.S. Access Board regarding their proposed new guidelines to implement ADA standards designed to increase access for people with disabilities to federal outdoor areas, such as beaches that are a part of the federal program. The proposed guidelines are far reaching and unfeasible within the nature of a beach. Mayor Simmons’ comments were well received and NCBIWA and Marlowe & Company will be working with the Access Board to improve upon the guidelines.

Mayor Simmons also made it up to the Hill to visit Congressman Frank Pallone’s (DNJ) office. Rep. Pallone has always been a strong supporter of our coastal treasures and an ally of NCBIWA. He is also the Chairman of the Congressional Coastal Caucus. The topics of discussion at the meeting were Pallone’s bill to reauthorize the BEACH Act (beach water quality) and how to revive the Coastal Caucus in the 110th Congress.

Download the Summer 2007 Newsletter.

NCBIWA Receives Triad Foundation Grant
by Terry Calhoun 

A grant from a foundation established by the family of the late Roy H. Park, an American media giant with ties to North Carolina, will be used to help promote the outreach efforts of the North Carolina Beach, Inlet and Waterway Association, it was announced recently by the Foundation and NCBIWA executive director Harry Simmons.

The Triad Foundation, a charitable trust managed from Ithaca, N.Y., awarded $10,000 to NCBIWA to provide general support during 2007, “specifically to help broaden the organization’s educational capability, especially with statewide media outlets,” according to the citation accompanying the grant.

The Triad Foundation is one of several endowments from the estate of Mr. Park, who rose from a Dobson (NC) tenant farm family to eventually found Park Communications, Inc., a media consortium which controlled 21 radio stations, 7 television stations (including WNCT in Greenville, NC) and 144 print publications. Park acquired dozens of mostly medium-sized newspapers in 24 states and the company’s market reach was estimated at one quarter of all American households.

An NC State University graduate, Park settled in Ithaca in the 1940s at a time when his focus was on public relations. A high point in that initial career came after he paired the Grange League Federation with noted food critic Duncan Hines to found Park-Hines Foods, the company that introduced Duncan Hines Cake Mix. When that fledgling company was acquired by Procter and Gamble in 1956 Park moved on to P&G as a senior executive.

By the time of his death in 1993 Park was listed by Forbes Magazine as the 40th richest man in the United States and had been honored with the North Carolina Award, the state’s highest civilian honor. The Triad Foundation, which is chaired by Roy H. Park, Jr., principally funds graduate fellowships at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communications and the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, in addition to marine and tropical ecology and medical and scientific research.

“NCBIWA is grateful to The Triad Foundation for its generous support and will commit the award to the goal of communicating to all the people of North Carolina the story of our coast’s immense social and economic value,” said NCBIWA board chairman Rick Catlin.

Download the Spring 2007 Newsletter.

2007 Coastal Local Governments Winter Meeting

Local government leaders from coastal North Carolina came away from the North Carolina Beach, Inlet and Waterway Association Winter Meeting supplied with considerable information about the challenges facing the state’s ocean resources. But the local officials also came away with many questions about where the financial resources will come from to face those challenges.

The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores was the site of the February 22 and 23 meeting, with Mayor Joan Lamson of Pine Knoll Shores and NCBIWA Executive Director Mayor Harry Simmons opening the two days of presentations from scientists, engineers and state officials.

The local leaders paid particular attention to regulatory changes anticipated from the various divisions of the NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources sure to affect development in their coastal counties and municipalities. The group heard from Dr. Jeff Warren of the NC Division of Coastal Management on the future of vegetation lines and state-mandated building setbacks and an alternative view from Spencer Rogers of NC Sea Grant with the legal considerations of those requirements reviewed by Mack Paul of the law firm Kennedy Covington.

Tom Reeder of the NC Division of Water Quality discussed upcoming changes to coastal stormwater management and control requirements before the conference wrapped up with a panel discussion on the possible impacts of the proposed new state stormwater rules. Sitting on that panel were Dave Inscoe of the Carteret Economic Development Council, John Langdon, Carteret County manager, Randy Martin, Morehead City manager, home builder Joe Tarasco and NC Coastal Federation director Todd Miller.

Tom Jarrett of Coastal Planning and Engineering’s presentation urging state regulators to take a new look at the benefits of terminal groins to forestall erosion, especially in areas abutting inlets, was also a subject of much conversation.

Other presentations focused on abandoned vessels and debris in coastal waterways (Judy Hills of the Eastern Carolina Council of Governments), waterfront access (Dr. Michael Voiland, study committee chair from NC Sea Grant), the state and federal funding environment (John Morris of the NC Division of Water Resources and Paul Ordal of the Washington lobbying firm Marlowe and Co.), coastal insurance issues (Rodney Kemp of Chalk and Gibbs in Morehead City), and coastal governments and sea level rise (Dr. Courtney Hackney, chairman of the NC Coastal Resources Commission).

NCBIWA chairman Rick Catlin offered comments concerning the organization’s goals and strategies, asking attendees to come to a decision about funding the remaining components of an economic study of the value of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway in the state.

Informal discussions on meeting topics continued at a networking reception at the aquarium Thursday night hosted by the towns of Pine Knoll Shores, Atlantic Beach, Indian Beach, and Emerald Isle.

Sponsors of the annual meeting also included Progress Energy, North Carolina’s Electric Cooperatives, Kennedy Covington, Coastal Science and Engineering, Coastal Planning and Engineering, Inc., Kirkman Whitford Brady and Berryman, Chalk and Gibbs, Coastal Transplants, Emerald Isle Realty, First Citizens Bank, Local Government Federal Credit Union, Marlowe and Company, LLC, Sound Bank, Town of Oak Island.

Download the Winter 2006-2007 Newsletter.

Soldout! The 2006 Annual Conference
“Managing Coastal Sediment” confab hits all-time records

Nationally prominent scientists, engineers and researchers joined with North Carolina’s unified coastal advocacy organization November 13 and 14 at Courtyard by Marriott at Carolina Beach to update one another and the public on the issues presenting challenges to those whose lives and livelihoods depend on the effective stewardship of vital coastal infrastructure.

A highlight of the two-day annual conference of the North Carolina Beach, Inlet and Waterway Association (NCBIWA) was an update of an ongoing research project to determine the economic impact of recreational boating. That study begun in the spring of 2005 is being conducted by a team of researchers from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Appalachian State University in Boone.

The packed house also heard from representatives from the United States Army Corps of Engineers and from the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR), as well as a contingent of inlet and waterway stewards from Florida.

The condition of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW) which connects near-coast North Carolina with other Eastern states to provide commercial and recreational transport lane was a key focus of the 2006 conference.

Federal government abandonment of its historic role as the maintainer of the waterway led conference attendees to consider other options for funding critically needed dredging to keep the waterway, and inlets that provide access to the waterway from the open Atlantic, open and operational.

The economic study organized by UNCW chancellor emeritus Dr. James Leutze is expected to show the value of not only commercial but also recreational boating to coastal and surrounding counties and to gauge the potential for user-based fees to return the waterway to vitality.

Results of the Leutze study will be released in early 2007. The majority of the funding for the research came from the local governments organized by NCBIWA, with participation from North Carolina Sea Grant and NCDENR. Preliminary reports shared with the group at the November 13-14 meeting illustrated the results of surveys of boaters to determine how much a typical crew spends on fuel, lodging, launch fees, food and other provisions as they cruise the state’s inlets and waterways. Reports also showed what boaters told researchers about their willingness to pay an additional boat licensing fee, a fee increase which would be dedicated to waterway and inlet maintenance.

Dr. Jim Herstine and Dr. Chris Dumas of UNCW presented their update to the conference. Other researchers leading the project are Dr. Woody Hall and Dr. Ed Graham of UNCW and Dr. John Whitehead of Appalachian State University.

Using on-site survey teams, the study has collected and compiled information from approximately 1,500 boaters at Coinjock, the Great Dismal Swamp, Belhaven, Oriental, Beaufort/Morehead City/Atlantic Beach area, Swansboro, Scotts Hill, Wrightsville Beach, Carolina Beach and Southport.