A group of interns with the Bald
Head Island Conservancy inventory
one of numerous sea turtle nests
that hatched this summer.
Dr. Suzanne Dorsey agrees, “Our kids camps focus on both
getting kids into nature and developing an appreciation for it.
We also have guided nature tours, with a special look at some
natural habitats on the island. We educate over 20,000 people
a year.”
Founded in 1983, the Bald Head Island Conservancy
pledges to “foster community-based barrier island conserva-tion,”
and as such, the BHSC is devoted to finding practi-cal,
community-based solutions to growing conservation
challenges.
“The long-standing decision in this community is that
all development needs to be in harmony with nature,” says
Dorsey, who has been with the center since 2004. “The con-sensus
seems to be to protect the maritime forest at all costs;
by protecting the maritime forest, the healthy barrier environ-ment
remains intact. It grows the elevation of the island, pre-vents
over-wash and ultimately main-tains
a natural buffer against storm
systems to shelter not only the island,
but Sunny Point, the power plant
and the mainland,” she explains.
With a firm grasp on the forest, the
community’s top priority, Dorsey and her staff set out to mea-sure
the community’s caring capacity regarding hot-button
topics like the white-tail deer population.
“Do they care because the deer eat their roses? Do they
think killing deer is wrong? And are they opposed to killing
deer because of the safety issue, or the moral issue? It’s about
measuring people’s caring capacity. And then we try to reach a
consensus. Because with consensus, comes conservation.”
“We’ve been able to do a study that gives a number: When
the deer count is less than 200, there’s no measurable impact
60
WBM september 2012
N A T U R E T O U R S