Woodlands on the North Carolina coast face increased risk of massive wildfires even as human development creeps ever closer. What problems have created this situation and what solutions could mitigate the hazard.
The massive Great Lakes Fire in April 2023, along with other recent wildfires along the North Carolina coast, pointed to concerns about the looming potential for disaster affecting both the region’s ecology and the people who live nearby. North Carolina leads the nation in wildland-urban-interface acreage, or WUI, where human habitation and development exist alongside natural spaces that are sometimes prone to fire. Those WUI areas in rapidly growing coastal communities like New Bern and Wilmington are only increasing. At the same time, a combination of climate change and the mistakes of past decades in forest management have made picosins and other ecosystems highly flammable. Forest managers, firefighters, local planners and others point to a range of solutions that could help mitigate this risk.
Coastal Kindling is a three-part investigative series from Carolina Public Press, being published daily beginning Sept. 16, 2024. The series has been made possible through the generosity of readers like you.
follow our three-Part InvestiGATION
Massive blaze struck Croatan National Forest in 2023. Next fire on NC coast could be much worse.
Lucky turn in weather, effective firefighting, previous controlled burns helped limit huge blaze in NC’s Croatan National Forest. This time.
Driving wildfire risk along NC coast. Terrain, past mistakes and climate change create volatile mix.
Management of NC coastal pocosin ecosystems is difficult. Changing climate, errors of past drainage programs have increased wildfire hazard.
Beating blazes before they spark. Strategies to limit fire hazards in NC coastal ecosystems.
Controlled burns, collaborative efforts between agencies, ecosystem restoration and less fire-prone developments are all key strategies.
Maps for the Coastal Kindling investigative series
Contributors
This series is produced by the news team of Carolina Public Press
Reporting by Jack Igelman
Photos by Jane Winik Sartwell and Jack Igelman with additional images provided by the U.S. Forest Service
Illustration by Mariano Santillan
Infographics by Mariano Santillan
Editing by Frank Taylor
