Suddenly, a Navy jet comes screaming out of nowhere, on its way to a touch-and-go landing at the new outlying landing field built a few miles away. Without warning, a beautiful morning is tainted.
That image of the future has popped up in my brain more than once since the Navy announced it would buy up 30,000 acres and build a practice landing strip in Washington and Beaufort counties.
I typically don’t make it to that part of the world more than once a year. But anyone who takes in the pristine pine tracts, marshes and waterways is left with indelible impressions that last a lifetime.
Shortly after I married, I dragged my wife to Lake Mattamuskeet in adjoining Hyde County to see the tundra swans. It was the dead of winter, wet and cold, and we stayed at a tiny motel with hard beds and uneven heat. She wasn’t disappointed.
Almost 20 years ago, I made my first visit to Mattamuskeet. I vividly recall the nesting ospreys, wheeling overhead with threatening screams.
A good friend is a frequent visitor to the Cashie River, just to the north of the proposed landing field. He has great pictures and tales of black bears and a fat water moccasin that wanted a ride in his boat.
Of course, city slickers like us have far less to lose than the people who live in Washington and adjoining counties. There is little doubt that the Navy project will drastically change their lives.
But change is coming. I know the farmers, small business owners and retirees who live there don’t want to hear it, but all the lawsuits and town meetings in the world aren’t likely to stop the Navy.
Gov. Mike Easley recently named a group to negotiate with the Navy. Landing field opponents wasted no time calling it a diversion. They are probably right, to a point. The committee won’t be negotiating a new site.
What it can do is make sure the private landowners in Washington County get more than farm value for their property. The Navy project is an industrial use, and the property owners should be paid accordingly.
The group can also ensure that the Navy lives up to its promises to mitigate environmental problems, and take steps to lure the snow geese and swans as far away from the landing strip as possible.
Finally, this committee, North Carolina elected officials and the residents of Washington County need to pressure the Navy to get the biggest economic bang possible out of this project.
Thirty thousand acres is a huge tract of land. The Navy isn’t buying it without thoughts that it could eventually close Fentress Field, its current touch-and-go site in Chesapeake, Va., and move operations here.
As sad as it may be, this is probably the best North Carolina can do now.
Scott Mooneyham writes for the Capitol Press Association of Raleigh.
