Bald Head Island Takes Lead in International Barrier Island Research
Previously recognized across the region for its contributions in studying and protecting Loggerhead sea turtles, the Bald Head Island 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."
For more information on barrier island sustainability, please contact the Bald Head Island Conservancy, an independent non-profit organization, at (910) 457-0089 or visit www.BHIC.org.