BeachHuggers of the Outer Banks represents a coming together of many people dedicated to the preservation of one of the last natural, unspoiled seashores on the east coast of North America. If  you are a lover of the seashore, especially North Carolina's wonderful Outer Banks, then you are a "beachhugger." We welcome you aboard.

The Outer Banks seashore has long been recognized as one of nature's most wonderful creations; a visual experience and feeling of the heart that  has stood the test of time.  Enduring countless hurricanes and hundreds of coastal storms, "our seashore" (yours and mine) has always bounced back, clean, refreshed and more beautiful than ever. 

Our natural shoreline is abundant with seashells and many species of shorebirds and aquatic creatures.  Our fishing, swimming, surfing and family atmosphere is simply the best.  All of this makes for a combination found on very few, if any other beach on the east coast. That is why so many people love to visit, and often stay to live and raise families and retire on the Outer Banks.

Today, some will tell you that the northern Outer Banks are threatened to the point of extinction by a terrible act of nature they call "beach erosion."  This is simply not true. 

For we will always have, not just a beach, but a beautiful seashore all along the Outer Banks, as long as there is the beauty of the Atlantic Ocean and as long as we work with and try not to fool  mother nature.  Our seashore may move, sometimes westward, sometimes to the east; but it will be there.

Only over-development, that un-natural disaster attributable mankind, can spoil the beauty of the Outer Banks. Unfortunately, this is exactly what is happening today, at a pace faster than the forces of nature can absorb or heal.

Excessive development is destroying the natural life-blood of the Outer Banks. It is plain and simple. 

And, today, our local officials, to whom we entrust much of the care for this beautiful area  believe  they can fool mother nature. They want to "renourish" our seashore, with alien sand, pumped from far out in the sea; sand that will be completely void of seashells; and sand or other materials from the bottom of the ocean that may well be un-natural to the sea life so accustomed to living here today.

The swash-zone along our Outer Banks seashore  is hundreds of years old. It is abundant with sea life.

It's a proven fact that in many other areas where beach nourishment has taken place, whether successful in the short-run, or a complete failure, that shorebirds and other aquatic creatures often suffer, die or leave and do not return in the same numbers as before.  Even fishing declines.

If one has doubts, just visit beaches where re-nourishment has occurred. Count the fishermen, the seabirds. Try to gather natural seashells.  Then compare your success with what we have on the Outer Banks today.

Only then will you see why so many people drive hundreds of miles every year, past other, nourished beaches, to get to the Outer Banks.  And, the complaints we hear about over-development here on the Outer Banks far, far outweigh anyone's concerns about beach erosion.

 Make no mistake about it, the eco-system of our seashore will be disrupted by beach nourishment. Experts and residents whose families have lived along the Outer Banks for hundreds of years will tell you; "our beaches will never be the same as before if beach nourishment, as currently proposed, becomes reality."

Furthermore, most locals will tell you that the Outer Banks, the "wild stallion" of all east coast beaches cannot be tamed; and no one, not even proponents of beach nourishment, can turn it into a 'circus pony' for the sake of a tourist dollar.  "Beach  nourishment on the northern Outer Banks will not be successful.  It will be a waste of taxpayer dollars," says most experts and local residents.

Still, our local government officials, the majority who have large investments in oceanfront properties, are determined to prevail.

As always, they put the concept of "beach nourishment" before us,  in the name of creating more blanket space in the sand, and with a misguided idea that they are "protecting our beaches." This is combined with an even worse perception that beach nourishment will provide more security for our tourist economy and for the $$ million private investments and mini-hotels that are springing up on a daily basis; all too close to the ocean we love so much.