How Snow's Cut Park is Slipping into the Sea
Text and Photos by Susan Hart

Snow’s Cut Park on River Road is facing a precarious future.
Eroding at 20-30 feet per year in spots doesn’t leave much for a park.
What, if anything, can be done?

Not long after I moved south (from New Jersey) to my new home in Wilmington in the winter of 1994-95, a friend and I stumbled upon Snow’s Cut Park. It was a nice day, sunny but cool, so we turned into the park and decided to explore. After a while we perched on a bench in the sun overlooking the waterway and ate our sandwiches. Nearby a father held his small child up to the water fountain to drink, other children were on the swings behind us and a little further down from where we sat, a family was enjoying a barbecue in one of the shelters with a great view of the waterway.

On my most recent visit to Snow’s Cut Park I found all of that was gone. No water fountain, no swings in the pine trees, our bench had disappeared and so had that particular picnic shelter – along with many of the pine trees. They were all victims of erosion along the banks of the park, taking everything with them to the beach and water below.

Not that I was surprised. I have continued to visit this delightful park (usually with dog in tow) over the years and witnessed its slow disintegration. There is still a lot left to enjoy – a kids’ playground was constructed in 1999 close to the bridge and away from the cliff, a couple of shelters continue to offer places for enjoying a picnic and one gazebo is still a popular spot for weddings—but there is no doubt Snow’s Cut Park is gradually disappearing into the waterway.

Neal Lewis, director of the New Hanover County Parks department, confirmedthat the park land on the northern bank of Snow’s Cut is being lost at the rate of about 20-30 feet per year, depending on the number and severity of the storms as well as other factors.
“We move the fences back twice a year,” he told me, “10-15 feet each time.” The main reasons for the erosion, according to Lewis are “the very steep sand bank, wakes from boat traffic, surface run-off from River Road through the park and storms, (especially) nor’easters and hurricanes.”

Snow’s Cut Park started life as a North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT) rest center back before the current Snow’s Cut Bridge was built in the 1960s. (You can still see the remains of the old bridge at the park.) The land is leased from the US Army Corps of Engineers, which owns 1,000 feet, end to end across the waterway.

New Hanover County began operating the park in 1981 and developed a plan for its use which, said Lewis, “included two gazebos, an observation platform, an additional restroom and two picnic shelters.” Implementation of the plan was made possible by three grants from the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management. Once completed, the park became a popular spot for residents and visitors alike. Here, they could enjoy a walk through the trees, a stroll along the sand, fishing from a jetty, and picnics in the shelters.
An important aspect of management of the park is the safety of the public, which means constant inspection of the fence and the facilities, including the children’s playground (at the bridge end of the park), which is inspected monthly.

What, if any, are the Army Corps of Engineers’ responsibilities to the park? According to Lewis, the Corps is only interested in the Cut as a means of navigation and its responsibility is limited to dredging the waterway to maintain its depth and to keep it clear, but it has no responsibility for maintenance of the (leased) land on either side.

Penny Schmitt, Chief of Public Affairs for the Wilmington District of the Army Corps of Engineers stated the following in an e-mail: “The Corps is aware of erosion on its lands adjacent to Snows Cut. Much of this land is leased... For the past several years, the Corps has requested funds…as a first step toward studying the erosion issue. These requests have not yet led to inclusion of funds for a Snows Cut 216 Study either in the President’s Proposed Budget or budgets passed by Congress.”

Regarding responsibility and public safety, if the rate of erosion keeps up its presentAn important aspect of management of the park is the safety of the public, which means constant inspection of the fence and the facilities, including the children’s playground (at the bridge end of the park), which is inspected monthly.

What, if any, are the Army Corps of Engineers’ responsibilities to the park? According to Lewis, the Corps is only interested in the Cut as a means of navigation and its responsibility is limited to dredging the waterway to maintain its depth and to keep it clear, but it has no responsibility for maintenance of the (leased) land on either side.

Penny Schmitt, Chief of Public Affairs for the Wilmington District of the Army Corps of Engineers stated the following in an e-mail: “The Corps is aware of erosion on its lands adjacent to Snows Cut. Much of this land is leased... For the past several years, the Corps has requested funds…as a first step toward studying the erosion issue. These requests have not yet led to inclusion of funds for a Snows Cut 216 Study either in the President’s Proposed Budget or budgets passed by Congress.”

Carolina Beach State Park
Is it suffering the same fate? Yes, and no. According to Jeff Davis, (CQ) a park ranger there for 15 years, there has been erosion along areas of the park’s banks every since he can remember, with trees constantly falling into the water. “Every year we would have to move back the Snow’s Cut trail (that ran along the Cut) away from the erosion,” said Davis. “So finally we decided to move it right back (100 feet). Now there aren’t the great views (of the water) that there were but it’s still pretty back there,” he added. And safer for walkers. The campgrounds and picnic areas are far enough away that they are not bothered by the erosion.

Did You Know?
Snow’s Cut is a land cut in the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AIWW) and was constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers. It opened in 1934.

It was named for the man in charge, Major William A. Snow, Wilmington District Engineer at the time of the dredging. The local populace asked that this stretch be named for Major Snow because they were pleased … the cut avoided the need to build a lock, thus lowering costs and avoiding impediments to traffic.

The reason for its construction was to create: “…a navigation highway designed to shelter maritime commercial traffic from the open ocean. The cut carries AIWW traffic from Myrtle Grove Sound to the Cape Fear River.”

Dimensions: length 9,000 feet, width 90 feet,
depth (of the main navigation channel) is 12 feet, but, as with all of the AIWW, actual depths vary depending on shoaling conditions.

November 2008