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Bonner Bridge and a real "refuge" at Pea Island



I'm a birder, and I'm also interested in ornithology, so I have to acknowledge that Highway 12 on Pea Island has caused significant adverse impacts to bird habitats: large areas of historical shorebird habitat are buried under a massive, artificially constructed and maintained, storm berm (not dune) that drastically reduces overwash. Wilson's and piping plovers, American oystercatcher, least and common terns, black skimmer, and others have lost huge areas of habitat on Pea Island because of the road, and if it comes out, the birds will regain that habitat. With such losses of habitat occurring across this country and the resulting large decreases in shorebird populations, I support the long bridge and no road -- an option that actually would make Pea Island a refuge again.

Highway 12 repeatedly has shown that a road and overwash are incompatible. Without a storm berm, the road will not last even 6 months due to storms. With a berm, we then have erosion on both sides of the island (as is currently occurring), rather than erosion on the ocean and growth on the sound side from the sand from overwash and the natural creation of marsh that follows overwash.

Realistically, if a long bridge is built, most, if not all, of the road is history, if for no other reason that it will be too expensive to maintain. From 1987 to 1999, about 50 million taxpayer dollars were spent to maintain the Bonner Bridge and Highway 12. FWS certainly doesn't have that kind of money to throw into the ocean, and one of the main points of the long bridge is that DOT finally be have a reliable transportation corridor for 75 years. Even if they could find the money to maintain the road, in several places on PINWR, it is so narrow that DOT is almost out of room to move the road further west, so for that reason also, a road is unrealistic.

Discussion about "eliminating" access falsely presumes there is only one kind of access: using a vehicle. Actually, removing the road will provide the a chance for a type of recreational experience that doesn't currently exist on any beach in Dare County: the chance to bird, walk or hike, or canoe or kayak in a wilderness setting. About 80 miles of road in Dare County are parallel to the ocean; Pea Island has about 12 miles. Those who like to bird in wilderness beach habitat finally would have a place where they can go and look for birds without being subjected to engine noise from the almost unbroken line of vehicles that crowd Highway 12 during the summer.

I hope my bird friendly vision will prevail, but others are pushing other alternatives. There will be plenty of time for public input before the decision is made. I hope others in birding community do not reflexively react, without carefully considering all the issues. Some here in Dare County who probably have never birded a day in their life -- but are hostile to environmental protections -- recently seized on birding as a way to block the long bridge.

I was going through the very early issues of the Chat at NCSU a couple of months ago, looking for articles discussing Piping and Wilson's plovers in North Carolina. I found a few (Wilson's plovers once were common on Pea Island, before the berm), but what also was interesting was how the birders before us not only enjoyed birding, but also had a strong conservation ethic: they wanted to take actions that helped the birds they so enjoyed watching, so the birds would be around for future generations to enjoy. I know that view still exists, and I hope those birders will express their support for the long bridge and no road. With piping plover breeding pairs here at the Seashore plunging from 15 pairs in 1989 to just 1 this year, we can't ignore habitat destruction if we are going to have this species and other shorebirds at the Seashore and Refuge for future generations to enjoy.

Sidney Maddock
Center for Biological Diversity
Buxton, NC (Hatteras Island)