“Patterns of protection: Natural and social values of the Nags Head Woods maritime forest”

Join us for the December 2025 installment of the "Science on the Sound" Lecture Series at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. This monthly, in-person lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in northeastern North Carolina. This month, the students of the Outer Banks Field Site (OBXFS) will present the findings of their Capstone Research Project in a presentation entitled, “Patterns of protection: Natural and social values of the Nags Head Woods maritime forest”. The program will take place at 3 PM on December 11, 2025, at the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus.

The UNC-Chapel Hill Institute for the Environment’s Outer Banks Field Site (OBXFS) is a semester-long, interdisciplinary residential learning experience for undergraduate students hosted by the Coastal Studies Institute (CSI) on the East Carolina University (ECU) Outer Banks Campus. Each fall since 2001, OBXFS students have spent the semester taking classes, engaging in internships with local organizations, and completing a Capstone research project as a group. This year’s Capstone research examines the maritime forest within the Nags Head Woods Preserve. The students interviewed stakeholders about the values that they ascribe to the Woods and collected data about the salt spray, vegetation, and wildlife within the Woods. We hope you will join us to hear about the patterns that they found. The program will last approximately 90 minutes including presentation, questions, and discussion.

The program is free and the public is encouraged to attend.