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cabins from the high day-use area around
the lighthouse, surf fishermen and daytime visitors would be separated. This option also maintains popular parking areas and would use existing ferry docks on the mainland and on the island.
Disadvantages: The Park Service has no presence at the mainland ferry dock, and visitors may be unaware that they are entering a national park. The mainland site doesn't meet Park Service standards, and the cabins at Great Island are generally in poor condition and don't meet current building codes. The camp caters primarily to surf fishermen, and other visitors have limited options for overnight accommodations. The camp is scattered over a wide area putting greater stress on the island's natural resources. The current regulations for using the parking lots place minimal limits on long-term parking of campers.
New Southern Camp
Raze and remove the cabins and ferry dock at the Great Island camp and build 15 duplexes at one of these locations south of the lighthouse: Les and Sally Moore's old fish camp, near the pine stand south of the lighthouse, or at the southernmost parking area near the residential area. At each location, water and septic systems would have to be built or improved. The Cape Lookout Environmental Education Center currently leases Les and Sally's old camp and is renovating the cabins. If a new camp is built there, the cabins would be torn down and the education center relocated to an undetermined location.
A vehicle ferry leaving from an improved dock at the Park Service office on Harker's Island would service the new camp. The Coast Guard dock would be redesigned to accommodate the ferry or a new dock would be built south of the lighthouse.
This option also includes revising the camper policy regarding parking fees, length of stay and capacity.
Advantages: Establishes a site on the
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mainland that is well-known and inviting to a variety of visitors, who will know that they are entering a national park. The substandard cabins would be replaced by modern duplexes that would be meet all building regulations and would appeal to a broad range of visitors. Two of the possible campsites are already at least partially disturbed and are not visible from the lighthouse.
Disadvantages: The existing traditional camp would be eliminated. The new camp would be farther from Drum Inlet, a major fishing area, than the existing one. Any camp near the lighthouse would concentrate all visitors in one area. Traffic on the south end would increase, possibly to the determent of piping plovers and nesting sea turtles. The traffic also would burden the roads on the south end, which would have to be better maintained, and could worsen air pollution. Depending on where the camp is built, water and septic systems would either have to be built from scratch or existing systems would have to be greatly improved. A normal northeast tide floods the Les and Sally site, and the campsite near the pines also is in an area prone to high erosion. That site is now undisturbed. Overhauling the Coast Guard dock would include building a breakwater to protect the dock. Building a new dock south of the lighthouse could disturb beds of eel grass that shellfish use as nurseries. The area also is heavily used by private boaters.
Two Camps
Build 8 duplexes at one of the three locations near the lighthouse and 7 at the Great Island camps. The existing cabins and the ferry dock at Great Island would be razed. The vehicle ferry would leave from the Park Service dock on Harker's Island and use the redesigned Coast Guard dock or a new dock south of the lighthouse. Visitors would use existing roads to reach the cabins, and a shuttle would be provided to the Great Island camp.
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