ABSTRACT

The Outer Banks of North Carolina, a chain of narrow, sandy islands with a fringe of salt marshes, lagoons behind them, are one of the world’s best examples of a continuous offshore barrier system. While the development pressure has been deplored by conservationists, there has been little research on the effects of the stabilization that necessarily accompanies development on the barrier island system. Core Banks is an example of an overwash barrier combined with relic inlet deposits similar to the barriers of New Jersey described recently by Kraft. The effect of the barrier dune on the vegetation behind it has been to accelerate ecological succession in the direction of species less tolerant of flooding, overwash burial. The important point is that dunes, overwash, wind, grasses, inlets, storms are all part of a very flexible, changing environment, successful management must likewise become flexible. The lesson which emerges, however, is clear; man, the sea, is the worst enemy of barrier islands today.