Sunset Beach Tree Board moves to map town canopy, seeks Oak Island model and grant help

The Town of Sunset Beach Tree Board agreed April 15 to pursue a comprehensive tree inventory and related public education after hearing examples from neighboring municipalities and state forestry programs.

New board member Gail Treglia and long-serving members said the inventory would help the town understand which trees it owns or is responsible for, identify planting opportunities and maintenance needs, and support a long-term canopy plan. "I'm also interested in native trees as far as continuing to encourage our citizens to plant native trees," Treglia said after introducing herself to the board.

Becky Spach, a Tree Board member with a background in forestry and vegetation management, described Oak Islandwhich used a 2022 state Urban Forestry grant to inventory large "heritage" trees, mark them, and publish maps online. Spach said Oak Island later collected LIDAR to enhance its GIS mapping. "They marked every tree with a metal marker and then they did a geocache and they created maps," Spach said, adding that Oak Island invited Sunset Beach board members to a meeting to share methods.

Board members discussed technical choices, including whether to hire a consultant, recruit an intern through a university, or use volunteer training and off-the-shelf inventory software that can upload photos and GIS coordinates. "Depending on how sophisticated we want to get," one member said, "there are just a few properties which definitely makes sense" to target first, naming the town's new and old parks as priority areas.

Members noted legal and practical ownership questions: some streets and tree plantings fall in private developments or right-of-way areas (Sea Trail was discussed as an example), and those distinctions affect what the town can require or maintain. The board agreed the inventory should record ownership and maintenance responsibility as part of a comprehensive plan.

Board members flagged funding and supervision constraints for internships. Candace Seaman said previous attempts to place an intern through a university found there might not be faculty available to supervise a coastal project, and that grant timelines can be restrictive. The group agreed to pursue conversations with the state Urban Forestry staff (represented at Arbor Day by Justin Bennett) and to ask Oak Island about their grant source and contractor/intern model.

Next steps: the board agreed to form a small inventory subcommittee led by Susan Willis and Candace Seaman to contact Oak Island, ask state urban-forestry specialists about training and available lists of resources, and return recommendations to the full board. Members said they will evaluate scope against likely costs and council budget timing.

The board also reiterated that an accurate inventory will inform planting, maintenance and sponsorship strategies but acknowledged that significant grant or council funding would likely be required to complete a townwide, professionally supervised inventory.