
The most common practices associated with land planning include setbacks, buffers, and no action.

This includes utilizing the land as it exists without construction of shoreline stabilization methods. Land planning is designing your property around existing conditions and possible erosion. A few of the below methods, such as vegetation, oyster reefs, or marsh sills, can actually improve habitat rather than eliminate it. Below are various shoreline stabilization methods allowable in North Carolina. Although the most commonly used method is a bulkhead, there are many other options available. Shoreline stabilization is defined as the use of engineered structures, vegetation, or land management practices to provide protection of a shoreline from future or existing erosion. As coastal populations encroach on estuarine shorelines, states are required to strike a balance between the need to provide protection to the public from coastal hazards with the need to maintain the integrity of the natural system.īecause estuarine shoreline erosion is common along North Carolina’s broad sounds and tidal rivers, many property owners would like to slow or prevent further erosion by stabilizing their shorelines.


Land is lost by short term processes, such as, erosion by storms, boat wakes, and tidal currents within the long-term process of rising sea level. Estuarine Shoreline Stabilization OptionsĮstuarine shorelines are dynamic features that experience continued erosion.
