Posted on April 9, 2025
Buxton Civic Association (BCA) Co-Vice President Brian Harris and North Carolina Beach Buggy Association (NCBBA) President Bill King recently joined forces to bring Buxton Beach remediation issues to a national audience.
The pair represented their respective organizations at the annual American Shore & Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) Summit in Washington D.C. on March 25-27, and met with the Environmental Compliance Team at the U.S. Department of Interior headquarters. The yearly conference and meetings introduced a wave of new contacts that will be instrumental in the next steps for preserving Buxton Beach, and identifying a long-term solution.
This is not the first time that the BCA has introduced the problematic Buxton shoreline to new circles of influence.
In November 2024, BCA representatives attended the North Carolina Beach, Inlet and Waterway Association (NCBIWA) Conference, which resulted in a flood of support from statewide representatives, consultants, and legislators.
The ASBPA Summit in D.C. was similar in that the roughly 250 attendees had never heard of Buxton before the three-day event, but were on board with assisting the Buxton community by the end of the conference.
ASBPA Summit.
However, according to Harris, the key difference between the two conferences is that the BCA’s new allies from the D.C. Summit are more infiltrated into the top tiers of federal government, and have more power when it comes to generating funds and action to improve Buxton Beach.
“This was by far the biggest conference we’ve gone to in the past 13 months,” said Harris. “The entire first day of the conference was basically explaining how to lobby, who you need to talk to, and how to go forward… and the contacts we made allow us to get Buxton directly in front of the top decision makers.”
The long-term goals for Buxton Beach are currently twofold.
A roughly .3-mile section of shoreline in Buxton has been closed to the public since September 2023, when two offshore hurricanes revealed leftover infrastructure from a 1956-2010 military base, as well as sporadic but strong petroleum smells.
Buxton Beach on Sunday, September 29, before the USACE response action.
The U.S. Amy Corps of Engineers conducted a response action in the fall of 2024, removing tons of debris and petroleum-contaminated soils in the process, but leftover contaminants remain, buried underneath the surface of the 50-acre site.
Meanwhile, the BCA and Dare County are launching a new effort to repair the Buxton jetties that are adjacent to the closed section of Buxton Beach. Installed by the Navy in the late 1960s, and unmaintained for more than 25 years, the deterioration of the jetties has led to increased erosion in the area, as ocean currents power through the numerous underwater holes in the structures.
A Buxton Beach nourishment project is planned for 2026 to rebuild the shoreline, but the BCA and county officials are hopeful that the jetties can be repaired before this project begins, in order to preserve the soon-to-be widened beach as much as possible.
“It’s all so intertwined right now – both the Buxton Formerly Used Defense Site and the jetties,” said Harris. “When all this erosion and mess first happened in Buxton, one of the first things we said was ‘fix the jetties to catch the sand.’ I think everyone who lives here understands that fixing the jetties will help preserve the beach and Highway 12.”
The Corps’ response action at Buxton Beach in the fall of 2024.
Meanwhile, King said that the NCBBA’s attendance at the ASBPA Summit was to support the Buxton Beach remediation efforts, and further the NCBBA’s own goals of continual beach access along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
“That’s our mantra. We’re all about public access,” said King. “It’s a public safety situation in Buxton, but it’s an access situation as well, because they closed the beach.”
Attending hearings at Capitol Hill, and tuning into presentations on how to lobby for funds and attention, King and Harris said that the three-day ASBPA Summit was a masterclass in how to get multi-faceted projects like Buxton Beach accomplished.
Perhaps most important, however, is that the BCA and the NCBBA now have additional avenues to speed up Buxton remediation efforts and the jetty repair project, thanks to new relationships with federal legislators and organizations, including the head of the U.S. Department of the Interior.
“This conference was the next step,” said Harris. “Last year, we began to work with the county and have built a great relationship. That relationship helped pave the way for [the North Carolina Beach, Inlet and Waterway Association] and forming relationships with our state leaders, which have also resulted in a great working relationship. We went to D.C. with that focus – to form new relationships with the federal officials in D.C. We now have connections at every level of the government.”
Buxton Beach in March.
The response on a national level is just one more piece of good news when it comes to progress at Buxton Beach.
In late March 2025, The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that the Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) members had been selected for the Buxton FUDS property, with the first meeting to be held on Thursday, April 10, at 6:30 p.m.
In addition, and following the 60-day response action by the USACE, the Corps of Engineers is also planning a comprehensive soil and groundwater sampling project, with a contract for the project awarded in November 2024.
Despite these multiple and promising steps forward, however, Harris says that the BCA can’t take their foot off the gas pedal when it comes to advocating for Buxton Beach, and Hatteras Island in general.
“These conversations from the [ASBPA] Summit in D.C. are just beginning,” he said. “We’re going to keep pushing, and keep going after all options, until we get all these things that need to happen in Buxton done.”
For more information and to get involved:
- The first Buxton FUDS Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) meeting is scheduled for April 10 at 6:30 p.m. and is open to the public. The RAB meeting will be held at the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club at 47231 Light Plant Road in Buxton.
- The Buxton Civic Association will have its monthly meeting on Wednesday, April 9, at 7:00 p.m. at the old Buxton Fire Station, next to Burrus Field. The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.
- More information the NCBBA and its many events, including the annual Red Drum Tournament, can be found on its website at https://www.ncbba.org/ and on the organization’s Facebook page.
- Developing info from the Buxton Civic Association can also be accessed via the organization’s website at BuxtonCivic.com or through the BCA’s official Facebook page.
