Dixie Transforming

Southwings, a noble environmental advocacy organization operating out of Ashville, NC, posted a short story on their website that summarizes my flight experience with them on March 19.

Click here.

During my stay in Manteo last weekend, I managed to get over to the Outer Banks and drive around a bit.

The Outer Banks of North Carolina

Leaving Manteo and going over the Crotoan Sound Bridge, you have two directional choices.  Take a left (north) and you pass through the towns of Nag’s Head, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, etc.  This route is not for sightseeing.  The towns have little spatial distinction – you do not know when you have left one and entered another.  The highway functions as one long strip mall with lots of chain restaurants, “Wings” gear stores, taffy and ice cream shops, miniature golf places, and condominium developments.   The condo and housing developments are anywhere between 3 and 5 stories tall.  Views to the ocean from this part of the road are obscured.  The housing stock looks relatively new, perhaps built or refurbished in the last 20 years.

Bright yellow Wings stores are all over the place in the Outer Banks.

Your other choice is to take a right and head south along highway 12.  You soon understand why the communities to the north look the way they do.  The first thing you encounter is the welcome sign to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore area.  For the next 40 miles it’s more or less wide and open.  The sand dunes still block your view to the ocean, but commercial intrusion is absent.  Every 5 miles or so, you’ll come upon a new town (Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo, Avon, Buxton, Frisco, and finally, Hatteras) but their impact on the landscape is minimal compared to what you find north of the bridge.

These towns within the Cape Hatteras National Seashore have an interesting relationship with the National Parks Service.  Their beaches are managed by NPS whose mission includes safeguarding viable habitat for many species of migrating water fowl and shore mammals.  The NPS regularly closes sections of the coast where it is believed species of concern will nest.  Whenever the NPS announces closures, the towns cry foul play.  Closed beaches mean tourists fail to stopover, bypassing each town’s modest taffy and fudge stores, excursion operators, cafes, and beach gear shops.  Vestiges of public protest mark the roadside.

Endangered plovers are a bird species that will cause areas of the Outer Banks to close this season.

The scope of problems facing the Outer Banks is not merely commercial or economic in character. It is downright physical.  As a series of barrier islands, the Outer Banks are in a state of southerly migration.  Shifting sands here have created trouble for its tourism-based economy.  The government has made efforts to fight nature back.  Ten years ago, the iconic Cape Hatteras lighthouse was relocated almost half-mile inland to prevent the structure from literally falling in the sea.  Below a photo of the lighthouse location before it was moved:

You can go to the old lighthouse location and get a view of the new location in the distance, as I did below.  As the biggest tourist attraction in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore area, there was little question that the lighthouse needed to be “saved” from coastal erosion.  Many millions of dollars were spent to relocate it.  Still, there is little understanding of how long the investment will last given the latest predictions about sea level rise.

The granite slabs show the footprint of the original lighthouse location.

My trip to the Outer Banks was originally scheduled to have a 4 day stop on Ocracoke Island, the most southerly island within the National Seashore area.  I ended up canceling the Ocracoke leg of the trip, so none of my work there was done.   I intended to spend time investigating how Ocracoke’s version of tourism differs from tourism in towns outside of the boundary of the National Seashore area (Kill Devil Hill’s, Nag’s Head, etc).  The following questions are interesting to me: To what extent do activities for tourists in these designated areas have a distinct dependence on a healthy landscape?  How is the identity of the village of Ocracoke tied to these park assets?  Does Ocracoke intentionally forgo opportunities to develop parts of the island as a way to distinguish itself from other parts of the Outer Banks?

The EPA issued groundbreaking new regulations to limit water pollution caused by mountain top removal mining practices.  This kind of mining is actively practiced in Eastern KY and West Virginia.

The new regulations on water pollution will in effect make it very difficult for mining companies to deposit blast material into adjacent valleys  (the material is termed as  “overburden” by the mining industry).   Limiting valley fills will make it very difficult to practice mountaintop removal mining.

There are many people in Eastern Kentucky who have worked diligently to organize around the issue of mountaintop removal mining and bring it to the attention of their Congressional representatives and government administrators.   People living in these parts of Appalachia do not object to mining in general – it is their historic livelihood.  But the practices of MTR do more than just harvest coal – streams are choked by valley fills, people’s homes are rocked by persistent blasting, and mountains are literally dissolved into rubble.  I appauld the efforts that made these regulations happen today.

Click here to read the NY Times’ article.  Click here to read the Washington Post’s article.

Before two days ago, I’d never set a foot in Manteo, NC.  But arriving there on Friday evening,  I knew exactly what I should look for and where to go.  Not once did I make a wrong turn.  I even knew where to find the post office (at the Chesley Mall).  It was a strange feeling, indeed.

This town of 1000 or so people is a place most students of landscape architecture and city planning at UC Berkeley are very familiar with.  We use the town as a case study of community design and planning in classes taught by Randy Hester and Marcia McNally.

Located on Roanoke Island, about 8 miles from the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Manteo suffered decades of decline after the Outer Banks highway project bypassed the town.   In the early 80s, Prof. Hester and his wife Marcia McNally began working there with NCSU students on a plan for the town’s economic and physical revival.  The fruits of their labors are evident today in Manteo, which offer residents and tourists a sense of traditional village life along the NC coast.  Click here to look at my Manteo photo album.

The purpose of my visit to Manteo was mainly to resolve a deep curiosity I’ve had about the place since I first learned about it five years ago.   The town’s struggle to find a balance between tourism and its historic economic drivers (fishing, boat building) also seemed a good fit for my fellowship project.

My Manteo visit took place during what people in the tourist trade call the “shoulder season” – the sweet spot between high season and the off season.  The shoulder season in Manteo means that you will not encounter crowds.  You can find parking in a snap.  Hotels want to give you 3 for 2 offers (stay 3 nights for the price of 2).  Though few restaurants are open, the ones that are serving are pleased to see you.  Out on the boardwalk, absent the throngs of out-of-towners, I was able to clearly observe how locals use public spaces in Manteo.

Conversations I overheard tended to reflect on slow pace of things around town, but how it will all change “just like that, after Memorial Day.”  I observed several group of rambunctious teenagers making the most of the cold afternoon, playing tag and defending their turf from each other – some kids were grouped at the corner of Jule’s (Bicentennial) Park and others congregated out on the lighthouse pier.  For readers here who have not studied Manteo, then none of this stuff probably reads very interesting.  But if your curiosity has been tickled, just click here to find out for yourself.

I apologize for the span of more than 1o days without writing anything on here.  I was off the road for a week a few days back visiting family.  I’m just a bit intimidated at all the writing I need to do to get caught up.  I’m hoping this little prep entry will get me in position to knock out a few more in the next couple days.

What I’ve seen and done since the last entry:

1.  aerial tour of hog farms of Duplin County, NC

2.  various technology campuses in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area

3.  a pilgrimage to the town of Manteo on Roanoake Island, NC

4.  a day of driving along the outer banks, Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, getting my Mazda3 stuck in the sand (d’oh)

This is where my front tires became immobilized today.

5.  various barbeque meals (that means pulled pork in NC)

As I promised, there is good stuff to come.  Had my car not required a tug out of the sand today, I would have knocked out two entries by now.  Sending a big thanks to AAA contractor Mike of Nag’s Head, NC.

I will find out shortly if the small aircraft fight I have worked for weeks to organize will take place.  Although the forecast for the Raleigh-Durham area is supposed to be idyllic this Thursday, conditions for coastal North Carolina include drizzle and low visibility.  I’m waiting to hear from my Southwings pilot for the green or red light.

Last week was extremely busy.  I drove from Tennessee to Kentucky twice in the span of 4 days.  The third leg on this journey involved a two-night stop over in Kingston, TN.  I’ve already posted photos from Kingston on my photos page, so if you haven’t seen them you’ll want to click here.

Kingston is one of several stops on this trip where my focus is the the wastes of coal-fired energy and its detrimental impact on the landscape.   In December of 2008 an estimated billion gallons of coal ash slurry broke out of a containment pond at the TVA’s Kingston Coal Fire Plant.  The wall of toxic sludge overwhelmed several homes, deposited enormous “icebergs” of coal muck into recreational waterways, and forever changed patterns of daily life for hundreds of people who lived under the ominous shadows of the plant’s two towering smoke stacks.

Home along Swan Pond community engulfed in coal ash sludge.

This containment pond filled with 50 years worth of sludge ruptured (left edge) sending a billion gallons of liquid coal waste into the surrounding community of Kingston, TN.

Since early last year, TVA has been depositing the coal sludge into rail cars bound for rural Perry County, Alabama.  The clean up continues today, more than 15 months after the initial spill.  Trains will continue to depart from Kingston for another 6-9 months.

These rail cars filled with ash stored in plastic "burrito" wrappers are sent daily to rural Alabama.

In the wake of this disaster, all the bad things you can expect have happened.  People’s homes, some worth upwards of a million dollars, have no value on the open market.  The homes are uninsurable.  Waterfront uses on the properties of Swan Pond (boating, docks, catch-release fishing, etc.) are prohibited.   The patterns of daily life and rituals the community developed living so close to the water may bypass the next generation.  People who have refused the unfavorable government buyouts are scared – community trust is low.  Access in and out of the area is tightly controlled in order to keep the media at bay.  There is weak confidence that the TVA will complete the clean up and repairs in a way that will prevent such an event from happening in the future.

Kingston community members remain hopeful despite the struggles of the last year.  The long-term outlook for the Kingston-Harriman community, ironically, may very well be not too bad if the TVA cleans up the waterways, helps to resolve the community’s real estate quagmire, and radically considers changing the ways it stores coal ash.  Many changes to the status quo are needed from an agency not well-known for its flexibility, adaptability, or sympathy for the natural world.  Even if TVA commits to improve coal ash management practices, it will be a steep, painful and uphill battle for Kingston.

There is hope for the Kingston community despite the challenges before it.

Photo credits: photos 1 and 2 were taken from the Carbon Free Economy blog site.

In many post-industrial cities of the American South there is measurable excitement when the terms “life science”, “biotech” or “nanotech” are mentioned.

Southern cities that have experienced a difficult transition period out of manufacturing are today optimistic about a future that embraces science-based jobs.  Cities are partnering with their universities to embark on ambitious development endeavors that not only create new places for academic research, but also places that serve broader economic development goals.  As state and private universities try to address the need for physical expansion in an environment of endemic budget cuts, they find themselves simultaneously courting investment and resources from the private sector.

The result of the courtship is the well-publicized “research and technology park”.  With a start in 1950′s at the Research Triangle Park (a collaborative effort between cities and universities of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina) the newest technology parks are marketing themselves as a lifestyle choice, not simply stand-alone employment centers.  Design of the research park campus now addresses issues never previously considered such as walkability, schools, energy sustainability, reuse of the urban fabric, pedestrian environment, mass transit, and access to consumer and lifestyle services.

Although traditional industrial parks still thrive, as seen in Chattanooga’s Enterprise South Industrial Park, campuses that focus on bioscience and related technologies appear to have a greater growth potential.  Cities in North Carolina (Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Raleigh and Chapel Hill) have taken steps to build their life and biosciences sectors through partnering with their most prestigious academic institutions.  Even the state’s land grant and historically black colleges and universities are getting in on the action.  The University of NC  at Greensboro and the North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University recently unveiled the Gateway University Research Park where a Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering will be located.  University officials expect that over the next 20 years, Gateway University Research Park will contribute $250 million to the economy of the region.

One the Gateway’s web site the following is written:

“This novel joint venture between NCA&T and UNCG is designed to facilitate collaborations between world-class researchers and businesses – to move scientific discoveries from the lab to the marketplace benefitting the local community, region, and North Carolina by transforming cutting-edge intellectual properties into thriving business ventures.”

This week I will meet with a former mayor of Chapel Hill and both the campus architect and landscape architect of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to hear and see work in progress on Carolina North.  Carolina North is how UNC Chapel Hill plans to expand its physical boundaries and cultivate the economic sectors with the greatest potential for growth in the region.  These individuals, among many others, played key roles in laying the groundwork between the Town of Chapel Hill and UNC to meet mutual growth goals.  They are also the key informants on how this research campus will eventually look, feel, and function.  Carolina North’s design aspires to be a model for sustainable building for the entire region.

If you’ve never made the time to spend a day with a retired underground coal miner, then I suggest you look at your calendar and block out a date to do it.  I did so myself a few months back.  Last week I finally met Carl Shoupe in person.

For the last several years, Carl has become an outspoken representative for the Tri-City community (Cumberland, Lynch and Benham, KY) in the fight to hold coal mining companies accountable for the harm inflicted on Eastern KY’s signature mountain landscapes.  New forms of mining developed to achieve efficiencies for mining companies have created immeasurable ecological, safety, and public health issues.  The biggest issue debated today is the present and future of mountain top removal mining.  It keeps Carl busy most days.

Carl’s network of friends in and around town was astonishing.  His past as an individual advocating for miners’ livelihoods lends to the sense of conflict within him in his newest role promoting sustainable energy initiatives and responsible mining practices in Harlan County.  Right now there is talk  about pilot wind power projects.  The problem with getting a wind project online in a place like Harlan is that all the best sites (mountain ridge lines) are owned by coal interests.  The ridge lines may not be there for much longer, so the sense of urgency grows with time.

Carl spent last Friday afternoon with me.  The next day he was headed to Washington, DC as a member of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth (KFTC) to do a variety of lobbying activities around town.  I hope all went well for Carl and friends in our nation’s capital.

After my visit with Carl, I met some other people involved in eastern KY’s social and economic advocacy network and even got to go up to a retired surface mine to plant some native hardwoods.  My neck and shoulders are still in pain from that one, but it was well worth it.  I just hope some of those little trees survive come 10 years.  Click here to see my surface mine photos.

Later, my friend Nathan Hall suggested some other places where development and mountain top removal mining have come face to face, peak to peak, toe to toe, so to speak.  On my way out of Kentucky, I passed through Hazard County and visited the Lowe’s and Walmart complex.  This generic strip mall was created by the obvious blasting away of several small mountains.

Building inside the mountains - click photo for enlarged image.

The mining industry argues that flat land created by MTR is needed for economic development.  While the community of Hazard now has a Walmart, in the process it probably lost some local, family-owned businesses in the process – local businesses that one could have possibly walk to and from their home.  Now residents of Hazard County personally foot the bill for gas and the inconvenience of traffic in order to have the privilege to shop there.  Seems like an interesting deal.

A mountain was unbuilt to make room for Lowe's.

It’s 8:30 PM and I am getting comfortable in my room.  This inn happens to be a converted school building, where children of coal miners went to both elementary and high school.  The place reminds me of Portland’s Kennedy School, minus the big crowds, bars, and outdoor seating.  In Washington, DC, an old grade school on Capitol Hill was converted into a fitness gym.  Both are extremely successful private investments.  While I shake my head at the closing of urban schools, I do welcome the fact these buildings are getting a second chance to contribute to urban life in two of America’s finest cities.   (Er, three finest cities, including Benham!)

I believe locals see the Benham School House Inn with the same degree of success.  With this inn, the town has the capability of hosting larger gatherings or meetings, weddings, and the odd out-of-towner such as myself.  Heck, I’d be staying off the interstate in a SleepInn if not for Benham’s fine centrally located accommodations.  My only complaint is that there wasn’t an obvious shop I could buy a snack from when I rolled in around 4:30pm.  You get what you can, I guess!

Tomorrow I meet with Carl Shoupe, a retired coal miner and currently a member of Benham’s city council.  His work is promoting sustainable initiatives in Benham, as well as campaigning against mountain top removal mining.  Look forward to having breakfast with him in the A.M.