This Land, Your Land

The Coastal Reserves Commission voted not to ban alcohol at its 10 sites this week, rejecting a proposal that was based on visitors trashing Masonboro Island over the 4th of July, the Wilmington Star News reports. The state Division of Coastal Management has final say.

The proposal, which would outlaw the possession and consumption of alcohol and other controlled substances on reserve property, is in line with restrictions at North Carolina's state parks and state forests.

The state's 10 coastal reserves serve as living laboratories for research, education and management, and are open for public recreation. Masonboro Island, off of Wilmington, is the largest undisturbed barrier island along the southern part of the North Carolina coast.

According to one report, trash covered a quarter-mile stretch of beach at Masonboro after the July 4th holiday this year.

While commission member Jim Leutz called the ban a knee-jerk reaction to a single problem, Rebecca Ellin, reserve program manager, said vandalism had occurred at other sites, and beer cans were found in the vicinity of those incidents.

The commission did support language banning public intoxication, the Star News said.

We've added photos from our recent visit to Bird Island, a nature preserve at the western tip of the island it shares with Sunset Beach, to the Coastal Reserves section of Carolina Outdoors Guide.