NTB with NC Coastal Federation partner on Living Shoreline Project

North Topsail Beach, NC – The Town of North Topsail Beach is pleased to announce the Town’s first living shoreline project in partnership with the North Carolina Coastal Federation (NCCF) and the Sandbar Oyster Company. This project intends to reduce sound side erosion and be implemented along a 195 ft. stretch of shoreline at Richard Peters Park in North Topsail Beach.

Living Shorelines use nature-based features, including oyster reefs and saltmarsh plants, to protect shorelines from degradation and erosion, and offer long-term resilience in the face of rising sea levels. “The Town of North Topsail Beach Living Shoreline Project is a great collaboration between our company (Sandbar Oyster Company), the North Carolina Coastal Federation, and the Town of North Topsail Beach. Our innovative “Oyster Catcher design provides excellent stabilization for eroding shorelines, and a unique structure to maximize oyster attachment. In turn, the restored oyster reef creates habitat for many estuarine and aquatic animals who need these areas to survive” -Neils Lindquist, Sandbar Oyster Company

 The proposed living shoreline for Richard Peters Park, will consist of an oyster reef marsh-toe revetment created within the intertidal Optimal Growth Zone for oysters using Sandbar’s patented/patent-pending biodegradable hardscape called Oyster Catcher. The tables will act as a reef scaffold on which immense numbers of oyster larvae will settle. Within 1-2 years, oyster growth will fill in the void space of the scaffold with tightly fused and intermingled shells of the growing oysters, resulting in an exceptionally dense and resilient oyster reef. Once installed, the Oyster Catcher marsh-toe revetment will provide immediate wave attenuation services and create an environment under and between the revetment and shoreline conducive to sediment accumulation that will facilitate the growth and

expansion of the existing Spartina alterniflora saltmarsh. “Partnership projects such as these demonstrate to property owners how living shorelines can protect property and our environment, are very cost effective, and increase the resilience of our estuarine shorelines during rising sea levels and increased storm effects”- Tracy Skrabal, North Carolina Coastal Federation

This planned project is a proactive approach to provide added shoreline protection and has been made possible by 100% grant funding made available to the NCCF by the North Carolina General Assembly. “The Town of North Topsail Beach is elated to plan and implement the first living shoreline project for the Town. Living shorelines are an innovative and environmentally sound option that uses natural materials, such as oyster shells to provide erosion and infrastructure protection at one of our greatest assets, Richard Peters Park” -Alice Derian, Town of North Topsail Beach