“All I know is that it will be different, maybe even very different.” “Will we still be here in 30, 40, or 50 years?” Hallac mused during a recent tour of Cape Hatteras. The accelerating impacts are also threatening the future of the seashores themselves. Department of Interior, including historic lighthouses, visitors’ centers, staff housing, parking lots, hiking trails, and marinas. Billions of dollars-worth of assets are at risk, according to a 2015 study by the U.S. In addition to their traditional roles as stewards of some of the last undeveloped shorelines in the United States, superintendents of the seashores now find themselves wrestling with the intensifying impacts of climate and weather changes. Meanwhile, along Gulf Islands National Seashore in Florida and Mississippi, rising water, more intense storms, and erosion are a constant threat, federal reports show. Sea level rise and shoreline shifts are also considered threats to wildlife at pristine Cumberland Island National Seashore in southern Georgia.
At Cape Cod and Point Reyes, towering dunes and sea cliffs are eroding as a result of rising seas and thrashing surf. These days climate-related issues are creating an array of unanticipated challenges for the nation’s 10 national seashores, from Massachusetts to Northern California.
We even had a kitchen sink wash up on the Seashore miles from where one house collapsed.” “There was wood, concrete, exposed septic tanks,” Hallac recalled. But a miles-long trail of trash - some of it dangerous - spewed along the Seashore’s nearby beaches. Contractors had hauled away debris from the private properties. Historically, the area has some of the highest rates of erosion on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, due in part to seas that have risen about one foot in the last century. In recent months, five houses had crashed into the Atlantic Ocean along a two-mile stretch of Rodanthe, one of eight resort villages embedded within the National Seashore. But this was no ordinary time for the superintendent of Cape Hatteras National Seashore, which encompasses 67 miles of rolling sand dunes, pristine beaches, and sprawling salt marshes and is considered one of the jewels in the nation’s network of over 400 national parks, seashores, and other sites. Recreational shellfishing advisories - N.C.On a recent spring morning, Dave Hallac probably should have been at his desk in the regional offices of the National Park Service in Manteo, North Carolina, reading mail and going over budgets.Rip currents on high risk days are life-threatening to anyone entering the surf. High risk means that wind and/or wave conditions support dangerous rip currents. Only experienced surf swimmers should enter the surf on moderate risk days. Moderate risk means that wind and/or wave conditions support stronger or more frequent rip currents. Low riskmeans that wind and/or wave conditions are expected to support the development of rip currents. Reinflate tires to normal pressure as soon as possible after returning to paved roads. The softer the sand, the lower the pressure needed. Before driving on designated off-road vehicle routes, we strongly recommend that tire pressure be lowered to at least 20 psi.Off-road vehicle (ORV) Frequently Asked Questions.