Natural resource condition assessment: Cape Lookout National Seashore

Burkholder, JoAnn; Allen, Ellen; Kinder, Carol; Flood, Stacie

doi:10.36967/2240259

The two major goals of this report were to (i) inventory the natural resources of Cape Lookout National Seashore (CALO, or the seashore, or Cape Lookout NS) along the Outer Banks of North Carolina, including synthesis of available information and collection of geospatial data layers and maps; and (ii) develop a set of indicators, quantitative insofar as possible, for natural resource conditions that can be tracked over time. The natural resources that were evaluated included climate, air quality, geology and soils, groundwater, surface water, terrestrial, wetland, and aquatic biota, and species of special concern. This analysis emphasized the most recent years of available information through 2012, especially for water quality and biota, so that the national resource assessment and “Report Card” would target present/recent conditions. Cape Lookout is a dynamic barrier island system that forms the southern portion of the Outer Banks, one of the nation’s major natural, highly dynamic geological wonders, and among the most remote of national parks despite its close proximity to the mainland. It is about 11,430 hectares (28,244 acres [ac] or 44.1 mi2]) in extent, and more than one-third of the area is water. Its ocean side beaches span a length of 91 kilometers (56.5 miles [mi]), stretching from Ocracoke Inlet southwest to Beaufort Inlet. The three main barrier islands or “banks” of Cape Lookout—also known as part of the “Crystal Coast of North Carolina”—are only 1–2 kilometers (0.6–1.2 mi) wide. From north to southwest, they include North Core Banks, South Core Banks, and Shackleford Banks. The highest topographic features of Cape Lookout, sand dunes, rise approximately 3.7 meters (12.1 ft) above mean sea level on North and South Core Banks, and about 10–13 meters (32.8–42.7 ft) on Shackleford Banks. The seashore headquarters, on Harkers Island, hugs the mainland and is accessible by automobile, but the three barrier islands are accessible to the general public only by ferry service and there are no connecting roads. The ocean side seashore boundary is mean low tide, and the sound side boundary extends 45.7 meters (150 ft) from the shore into the water. Given this definition of park boundaries, together with accelerating sea-level rise from climate change, Cape Lookout NS boundaries area constantly shifting. Climate change is rapidly advancing in the Southeast—including Cape Lookout—and is manifested through warming temperatures, altered patterns and amounts of precipitation (droughts, floods), and storm frequency. The seashore sustains a high frequency of naturally occurring storm-, wind-, tide-, and wave-driven processes of erosion, accretion, and overwash that cause it to migrate landward. The narrow barrier islands of sand, very near to mean sea level, are extremely vulnerable to climate change impacts such as inundation from sea-level rise. The predicted changes would dramatically impact the natural resources of this seashore. Park staff and the Southeast Coast Network are proactively engaged in planning efforts to better prepare for those impacts. The Cape Lookout barrier islands are separated from the mainland by two shallow, narrow sounds, Core Sound and Back Sound, which are only 3.2–6.4 kilometers (2–4 mi) wide. In addition, the northwestern edge of North Core Banks abuts the wide expanse of Pamlico Sound (24–48 kilometers [15–20 mi]) in width. Moderate noise and light pollution from the Morehead City-Beaufort population center on the mainland likely adversely affect the closest barrier island, Shackleford Banks, which has been proposed as and is managed as a Wilderness Area by the National Park Service. Mainland water pollution impacts, such as chemical substances and sea trash, are a potential concern on the barrier islands. Air pollution from mainland urban and agricultural areas has caused poor air quality as an ongoing, serious problem in the seashore. Low fecal coliform bacterial densites indicate...

Natural resource condition assessment: Cape Lookout National Seashore

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