FW 321 Reserve Project Design Final

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Oregon State University, Corvallis *

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Geography

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Jun 4, 2024

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Jim Kelley FW 321 Reserve Project Design-Final Introduction A crisp spring day, not too hot and not too cold. The sun peaks over the menagerie of islands sprinkled with the sound of sea birds and the periodic splash of a jumping fish. This is the coast along Eastern North Carolina. An area teeming with life, and one that needs protection. Hurricanes are periodic disturbances that hit these shores. The most recent (Hurricane Florence) had devasting effects on the coastal ecosystem. The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries observed large areas of oyster kills post hurricane resulting in the earliest closure of commercial oyster harvest under the current management system (Harrison, 2019). Eastern North Carolina is home to a diverse commercial fishing industry as well as a sprawling tourism industry bringing beach goers and fishermen alike (North Carolina | Coastal Resilience 2021). Making the preservation of salt marsh ecosystems vitally important. One of those salt marsh ecosystems in need of preservation is Sugarloaf Island. Location Sugarloaf Island is a small island located within Bogue Sound in Eastern North Carolina Figure 1 . The island is a stone’s throw across from the town of Morehead City, a port town aptly named “Fisherman’s Paradise”. The island is roughly 47 acres in size (Robles, 2020). Sugarloaf island is currently preserved in the sense that development is not permitted and it is primarily used as an easy kayaking destination for tourists and others setting out from the (very) developed Morehead City waterfront just several hundred yards away.

Figure 1. Sugarloaf Island and the surrounding area is home to a salt marsh ecosystem containing, but not limited to, an array of bivalve, fish, crustacean, and bird species. Sugarloaf Island provides a number of ecosystem goods and services such as income from eco-tourism and recreational fishing. It also results in wave attenuation for the town of Morehead City. Conservation Goals and Management Actions Conservation Goal #1: Restore the shoreline habitat of Sugarloaf Island. Presently the southern shoreline (Figure 1.) of Sugarloaf Island is eroding at an alarming rate, taking with it trees and other vegetation, and reducing the marsh area along the Eastern shoreline (Boyd, 2022). Restoring the shoreline and riparian habitats will preserve sea bird nesting habitat and vital habitat for crustacean, bivalves and fishes. North Carolina

Management Action #1: Install Living Shoreline material along Sugarloaf Island’s southern and eastern fringes. Living shoreline material will be placed in the intertidal zone of the Island’s coastline. The purpose of placing a living shoreline is to attenuate wave energy, and promote sediment deposition and marsh plant growth. Living shorelines also provide habitat for fish and crustaceans, and sites for natural oyster recruitment (McKinney, 2022). A recent study conducted in Eastern North Carolina following Hurricane Florence supports the effectiveness of Living shorelines. The locations with living shorelines showed evidence of reduced erosion and promotion of lateral growth compared to un-protected control sites (Polk et al., 2021). Other studies examined the impact of living shoreline material on fish and crustacean communities. The study found that the greatest benefactors were Blue crabs ( Callinectes sapidus ) , Red Drum ( Sciaenops ocellatus ) , Speckled seatrout ( Cynoscion nebulosus ) , and Flounder ( Paralichthys sp.) showing 297% to 79% (respectively) higher abundance at living shorelines than control sites (Scyphers et al., 2011). Management Action #2: Plant Spartina Alterniflora along Sugarloaf Island to mitigate erosion and promote marsh growth. Spartina plays a large role in saltmarsh marshes, by reducing tidal energy and retaining sediment through below ground bio mass (CABI,2022). Spartina seeds will be collected from adjacent marsh areas, and reared off site prior to planting. Plants will receive salinity exposure during the rearing process, which studies have supported the effectiveness of this technique (Carrion, 2016). By coupling living shorelines with spartina plantings the shoreline of Sugarloaf Island will be armed with the best tools to retain sediment, withstand storm erosion and sustain a biodiverse community.

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