Posted on January 26, 2026
The Village of Bald Head Island officially joined other municipalities in the region on Friday in opposing a project to make the Cape Fear River deeper near the Wilmington harbor.
The Village passed a resolution against the harbor deepening last month. This month they signed on to a regional statement in opposition to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plan to deepen the harbor near Wilmington to accommodate larger commercial ships. The goal is to help the area become one of the most important shipping sites on the East Coast. (While Wilmington is the busiest of North Carolina’s two ports, it falls behind the volume of other ports such as Savannah.)
The deepening will increase the amount of water that eventually flows downstream near Bald Head Island and Southport. The City of Southport has already signed the regional statement.
Bald Head Island Village Manager Chris McCall said the purpose of the document is simple.
“The point of this is to urge additional study before this is done,” McCall said.
Bald Head Island and the other municipalities on the regional statement fear the environmental consequences of making the harbor deeper. Bald Head Island leaders have said previous similar operations have caused substantial impact on the island’s beaches. There is also concern about what the deepening will do to birds and fish that reside in area waters. Council argues the environmental damage caused by the project will far out weigh any positive economic benefits.
Mayor Peter Quinn said the statement is good for the people of his island.
“I like the way this is written,” Quinn said.
Many other organizations have expressed concerns about the project, including Audubon of North Carolina, the Southern Environmental Law Center and the North Carolina Coastal Federation.
In other discussion:
• Mayor Quinn continued a theme he has talked about in recent days: getting more input from citizens about programs on the island.
“I think a village forum would be a great thing,” Quinn said.
Councilor Scott Thomas said the Village needs to be open-minded about letting people communicate.
“We need to provide different ways for people to give opinions,” Thomas said.
• Council said more work needs to be done to get all the golf carts on the island registered. As of Friday last week, 2,172 golf carts have been registered out of the approximately 3,500 that are in use.
• Officials said the winter deer cull is complete, with 100 deer killed in a five-night period. The deer were given to the Dixie Deer processing company in Riegelwood and given from there to a worthy cause. The deer population was reduced because officials reported the population had grown to points where it is causing damage to the island’s environment.
• Island officials report they will honor their employee of the year next week at the Jan. 27 Village Staff Awards Banquet.
