you can take the girl out of the parks...
Sep. 14th, 2005 03:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luciabI used to work for NC State parks, and spent a fair amount of time in many of them. I find myself following Ophelia with an eye to the impact it will have on the eastern parks. The Parks website said this morning that they've closed all of them east of I-95, which makes sense. Hammocks Beach is getting hammered right now with the western side of the storm, and Fort Macon (probably my fave) looks like it's going to be hit dead on in a few hours.
The mission statement of the parks talks about preserving the features included in the parks, and they have a slew of naturalists. The fact is that they also have to balance that with making the parks safe and inviting for the general public. The beach erosion that is inevitable with storms like this will trigger another bout of "beach nourishment"-- building the beaches back up with sand dredged from other sites where channels have to be deepened to allow safe passage for boats, both commercial and pleasure craft.
I wonder what the coast would look like if we really did allow nature to do what it does, without interference. It's ridiculous for us as humans to try to stop the forces of nature, after all. Yet we keep allowing development along the coast, and keep rebuilding when storms wash away those buildings. And yes, I admit that I enjoy going to the beach, and I am, after all, merely one of millions, and if I can go, so can they. And if they can afford to build there, they're going to do it.
The vast majority of homes that will be destroyed in this storm will be second homes, vacation homes. Yes, there are people who live there year-round, but not nearly as many as visit in the summers. And we will help pay to rebuild those homes, and we'll pay to nourish the beaches, and we'll keep going to the beaches. Because there is a deep, primal attraction there that I can't deny. It's just silly and arrogant of us to try to ignore the power of the ocean and its attendant storms, that's all.
The mission statement of the parks talks about preserving the features included in the parks, and they have a slew of naturalists. The fact is that they also have to balance that with making the parks safe and inviting for the general public. The beach erosion that is inevitable with storms like this will trigger another bout of "beach nourishment"-- building the beaches back up with sand dredged from other sites where channels have to be deepened to allow safe passage for boats, both commercial and pleasure craft.
I wonder what the coast would look like if we really did allow nature to do what it does, without interference. It's ridiculous for us as humans to try to stop the forces of nature, after all. Yet we keep allowing development along the coast, and keep rebuilding when storms wash away those buildings. And yes, I admit that I enjoy going to the beach, and I am, after all, merely one of millions, and if I can go, so can they. And if they can afford to build there, they're going to do it.
The vast majority of homes that will be destroyed in this storm will be second homes, vacation homes. Yes, there are people who live there year-round, but not nearly as many as visit in the summers. And we will help pay to rebuild those homes, and we'll pay to nourish the beaches, and we'll keep going to the beaches. Because there is a deep, primal attraction there that I can't deny. It's just silly and arrogant of us to try to ignore the power of the ocean and its attendant storms, that's all.
