DURHAM, N.C. – Orrin H. Pilkey, James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of Geology at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the North Carolina Coastal Federation (NCCF).

Pilkey, director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Duke, is an internationally cited expert on the geology of barrier islands and beaches.

Since arriving at Duke in 1965, he has written dozens of books and peer-reviewed papers, taken part in hundreds of town hall meetings, legislative hearings and public debates, and been cited in thousands of media reports on the transitory nature of barrier island geology and the need for sustainable development in ecologically fragile coastal ecosystems.

In announcing Pilkey’s award, the NCCF called him, “the man who saved our beaches.” They noted that his tireless, science-driven advocacy has been a key factor in persuading the N.C. General Assembly to enact two piece of landmark environmental legislation: The Coastal Area Management Act of 1974, which designated North Carolina’s beaches and estuarine shorelines as protected areas; and new state rules in 1985 prohibiting seawalls, jetties and groins along the oceanfront.

“Orrin Pilkey is no shrinking violet …it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t have a strong opinion about (him),” the NCCF committee noted. But it’s equally hard, they noted, “to find anyone … who would publicly disagree with his fundamental belief that our ocean beaches are more valuable to protect than private oceanfront property. Generations to come will always owe a big debt of gratitude to Orrin H. Pilkey for being the person most responsible for saving our beaches, and for making sure that the North Carolina coast remains the envy of the nation.”