State

Page Eighteen THE STATE November 18, 1933 A Coastal Park for North Carolina NORTH CAROLINIANS os a whole are greatly interested in the proposed national coastal park, which it is proposed to establish in the eastern section of this state. Frank Stick, of Manteo, tells you of some of the advantages which would be derived from a proposition of this nature. Mr. Stick is an artist, an engineer and a builder. Coming to North Carolina from the North, he has been making his home near Manteo for several years and has be¬ come keenly interested in the development of resources of that section. By FRANK STICK - ★ IT appears that wo arc progressing toward an achievement, which, in its final consummation may de¬ stroy precedent and convention and topple over national conceptions which have come in some minds to bound and measure all forms of natural grandeur and of beauty. Our Federal government has created twenty-three national parks, with a combined area of «right million acres, and sixty-five national monuments containing nearly three million acres, these in addition to several hundred million acres of United States Forest lands. Virtually all of these scenic and recreational reservations are lo¬ cat'd in the extreme western part of the United States, and only one na¬ tional park of the first order is so situated as to Is* reasonably easy of access to more than ten per cent of our population. It is an unassailable fact that our national park system is uuci|tialh‘d for grandeur among the nations of the world, and we neither protest their extent nor their location, yet it ap¬ pears to us a strange; an unfathom¬ able thing, that no effort has hereto¬ fore been made to retain for the use of the people, in all its natural beauty and appeal, a stretch of our coast land which might in some measure be pro¬ portionate to the requirements of tin* citizens of a territory which contains seventy per cent of our population, and which, incidentally, pays about seventy-five per cent of the national tax. That particular stretch of eoastlaml which we of North Carolina hope ami expect to see eventually accepted and maintained l»v the Federal government, either under the National Park or the National Forest Service, is unique among all the lands of the earth, yet it abundantly contains those distinc¬ tive features discoverable only upon our ocean beaches. It reaches for more than a hundred miles in a gen¬ erally northerly and southerly ilircc- tion and at its easternmost point is more than thirty miles distant from the mainland and within fifteen to eighteen miles of the Gulf Stream. This affords a winter climate which varies little from that of Northern Florida and a summer temperature more favorable than is found at fa¬ mous watering places of New Jersey. Contained within its marches would he such outstanding points of historic interest as Old Fort Raleigh, the fa¬ mous Wright Memorial and Kill Devil Hills, far famed Cape Jlatterns, the great dunes of Dare County, mid Cape Lookout. It is potential of ««very recreational facility common to sea¬ side resorts, and in addition, because of location anil unusual physiographic characteristics, the sportsman, the camper ami nature lover here discov¬ ers his veritable "land of promise.” It is worthy of note, also, that this is the last «wean frontage of any extent in the Fast, if not in all America, which may be thus perpetuated for public us«« and enjoyment ; a territory which may be retained in its natural aspects and attractions; unspoiled by unsightly cottages, pavillions and hot dog stands; unpolluted bv industrial waste and hv municipal filth. With the far flung slopes of the Great Smokies to the West, and this shining stretch of golden beach, meadow and forest bounding our eastern border; with every inter-lying county and com¬ munity tendering some distinctive at- ★ traction of nature’s or of man’s arti¬ fice; with Carolinas’ proverbial hos¬ pitality as an added measure, no state in th«« East could offer more to those thirty million or more annual health, rest and recreation seekers who dwell within a day’s motor journey of our borders. In addition to the setting aside of this coastland as a national recreational area, there exists distinctive economic features of the project which have ap¬ pealed forcibly to Public Works Ad¬ ministration representatives. In the labors of sand fixation, reforestation and highway construction, immediate employment would be given to from one to two thousand people in a ter¬ ritory, which because of crop losses, face an extended period of unemploy¬ ment and of privation. The halting of erosion through natural and arti¬ ficial upbuilding of the barrier dunes, would serve not only to safeguard the lives and property of the two thousand or more residents of this particular territory, but it would also prevent tidal inundation at far distant points on the mainland. As pointed out by state and Federal bureaus, a fish and shellfish industry which once brought in five million dollars annually to Coastal communities, would be reju¬ venated. The zoning of 100,000 or more acres of Federal waters adjacent to the reser¬ vation ns waterfowl and commercial fish sanctuaries, would mean the preservation for all time of many val¬ uable species of migatory game birds, and would prevent the disasters which intensive commercial fishing methods have brought to Northern waters, par¬ ticularly in regard to nnndrnmous fish. In conjunction with sand fixation, the work of mosquito control would be car¬ ried forward. In fact, to a consiiler- able degree, this is a kindred endeavor. The value of a coastal highway to the Coast Guard servico is well understood and its worth as added protection in possible time of war ean not be over estimated. Once the vegetation is brought back to the eighty-five or ninety per cent of this territory, which we know to have been once heavily forested, scientific and controlle«l lum¬ bering 0|>erations may again be <«ar- ried on, and as this locality is far re¬ moved from other sources of timlier (Continued on jnigc. hr rn! yd wo )