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0000002851 00000 n “Do not drive off any paved, graveled, or sand roadway. “Hyde, Washington, and Tyrrell counties are looking to grow their tourism economies especially, and night sky ecotours would be a great addition to what they already offer.”“The sites with a shoreline are the best,” Riggs says. It belongs to the people.”

“There are plenty of reasons to compare Yellowstone with aspects of the OAP that require more introspection and contemplation. 0000102856 00000 n 0000010562 00000 n Riggs, now coastal and marine geologist with NC LOW (“North Carolina Land of Water”), is exploring the Outer Albemarle Peninsula after dark.“It’s truly a magic place,” he says, “once you get off the main highways.”Riggs first heard the “Yellowstone of the East” description of the peninsula from Mike Dunn, a naturalist and science educator, who worked with Riggs on earlier research. The Albemarle Sound soon became a very important thoroughfare, ... Pollution and development in recent years have depleted the fisheries of the Albemarle Sound by seventy percent.

“These are world-class natural resources,” says Stan Riggs. 0000010006 00000 n 0000004568 00000 n 0000015574 00000 n 0000007350 00000 n 0000017608 00000 n ... Albemarle Sound, shallow coastal inlet of northeastern North Carolina, U.S. 0000102382 00000 n 0000106174 00000 n “Educating the youth, public, and leadership of the Roanoke-Albemarle region is critical for the protection and management of this dark-sky natural resource, but also to capitalize on the potential for developing a sustainable ecotourism for the region’s future.”Riggs adds that this ecotourism doesn’t depend on clear skies. 0000032902 00000 n And it’s all dynamic, subject to high-energy storms that cause ongoing changes to the coastal system. endstream endobj 99 0 obj <>/PageMode/UseOutlines/Names 103 0 R/Outlines 215 0 R/Metadata 87 0 R/AcroForm 102 0 R/Pages 85 0 R/PageLayout/SinglePage/OpenAction[104 0 R/FitH 478]/Threads 100 0 R/StructTreeRoot 89 0 R/Type/Catalog/PageLabels 83 0 R>> endobj 100 0 obj [101 0 R] endobj 101 0 obj <

This part of the state remains mostly untamable, and, at night, strikingly dark.The Outer Albemarle peninsula belongs to red wolves, alligators, and many other creatures, including river otters like this one (below, photographed by Mike Dunn) and tundra swans (above, photographed by Allie Stewart/USFWS). Solutions to Ocean Noise Pollution 1. @ڊ���68����U�10�lҢ@�=@:��iR>�fbg �e`��Ҍ@� ����n1D�� � N��� By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of cookies and confirm that you are 16 or older. 0000007740 00000 n And it’s ours.

Again, for the Albemarle–Pamlico Version “Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds” was substituted for “Pamlico Sound”. 0000008050 00000 n

Since the early 1970s, North Carolina Sea Grant has supported numerous research initiatives Riggs has spearheaded, including his latest, the Night-Scape Resource Project. 0000000016 00000 n 0000004947 00000 n 0000013696 00000 n 0000012382 00000 n While spellbinding, the region’s unpolluted gateway to the celestial is only part of its hidden magic.“The best part of stargazing on the OAP often is the environment around you,” Riggs says. The estuaries are drowned river valleys that are bounded by the beaches and capes of the outer barrier islands. Wolves howl in the distance. 0000008750 00000 n 0000015643 00000 n On May 7, 2020, at 9:41 PM, James Shelton wrote: Richmond Birders Surf Scoters in the Chesapeake Bay prefer bent mussels to dwarf surf clams.

You can always opt-out (e.g. “The stage becomes much vaster.
0000008672 00000 n 0000129969 00000 n The biodiversity within OAP terrain rivals Yellowstone’s, for instance, even among the large animals — black bears, red wolves, porpoises, and sharks versus the famous park’s moose, elk, and grizzly bears — not to mention that the peninsula’s panoramas can compete with any location’s. The dark sky designation, Riggs adds, along with the accompanying stamp of approval from the International Dark Sky Association, would enhance the peninsula’s visibility, infusing the region’s slowly growing ecotourism industry with instant marketability.Jane Harrison, North Carolina Sea Grant’s coastal economics specialist, says tourism on the coast is a key economic driver. 0000009614 00000 n Protected from the Atlantic Ocean by the Outer Banks, it extends (east-west) for about 50 miles (80 km) and varies in width from 5 to 14 miles (8 to 23 km); nowhere is it deeper than 25 feet (8 metres). 0000010722 00000 n Hundreds of eager participants typically attend these events, which include a series of large outdoor telescopes and where “sky time” eclipses “screen time.”“Opportunities for building programs around the nocturnal environment and night sky are unlimited,” Riggs says. 0000007033 00000 n Your shoes will find solid earth, but the terrain also includes bays, marshes, ghost forests, and pocosins — wetlands built on sandy, peaty soil, saturated with groundwater, and made for boots. 0000105121 00000 n 0000093306 00000 n 0000004127 00000 n 0000130469 00000 n 0000007429 00000 n

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0000006795 00000 n James Shelton Sent from my iPod Touch. 0000007662 00000 n 0000003864 00000 n The teams would visit sites on national wildlife refuges (Alligator River, Pocosin Lakes, Mattamuskeet, and Swanquarter), state parks and reserves (Pettigrew, Somerset Place, and Buckridge), and vast parcels of public game lands (NC Wildlife Resources Commission). 0000018118 00000 n Museum of the Albemarle; CSS Albemarle; USS Albemarle; Related Research Articles.