home

R

ealtor. Environmentalist. They are not always words one sees in the same sentence.

But Saturday Oriental realtor Allen Propst (and owner of Mariner Realty) was saluted by the NC Coastal Federation at their annual awards luncheon in Pine Knoll Shores, NC. Propst was one of 15 winners of the 2014 Pelican Awards. Pelican Awards recognize exemplary action to protect and preserve the coastal environment. The winners come from all walks of life, from our town’s realtor to a commercial fishermen to the library staff at UNC Wilmington.

NC Coastal Executive Director Todd Miller, Allen Propst, and NC Coastal Federation VP Lauren Hermley

As a result of Allen raising the alarm and galvanizing residents and county commissioners into action, the EPA is now investigating this apparent attempt to convert wetland in to upland. At the Coastal Federation’s award ceremony Saturday at the NC Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores, Allen told the crowd that how EPA dealt with these 4600 acres in Pamlico County would be a litmus test for enforcement throughout eastern NC.

Audio from the award’s ceremony. Introduction from Todd Miller, followed by Allen Propst:

Propst speaks after receiving the Pelican Award

From the NC Coastal Federation:

From Another friend of the coast is Allen Propst, a realtor from Oriental — a town in Pamlico County – who blew the whistle on the illegal ditching and draining of wetlands in the area.

“When Buck told me about this wetland forest conversion of the Atlas Tract to agriculture land, I was stunned,” Propst said. “I had spent about a week on this property about three years earlier trying to sell it as hunting/forestry land for Copper Station, one of the prior land owners. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that the vast majority of this 4,700 acres was wetland forest.”

His efforts resulted in hundreds of people writing emails and attending county commissioner meetings, letters from county leaders to federal agencies, and what appears to be enforcement action by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The country is losing wetlands at a rate of seven football fields each hour, and Propst showed that much of this loss occurs because regulatory safeguards for wetlands are not enforced.

“Continued diligence must be taken to prevent further degradation of these valuable wetlands now and in the future,” said Propst.

Related Links:

Lower Neuse Watershed Being Destroyed

Posted Monday August 4, 2014 by Keith N. Smith