If you have a waterfront home you may have inherited riprap, bulkhead or other hard materials used to armor shorelines and prevent erosion — but did you know those methods aren’t the best for the bay?

Morgan Rudd of Living Shorelines, left, and Grainger Coughtrey of Restoration Systems place mesh bags filled with oyster shells along a shoreline in Bogue, NC in an effort to restore salt marsh ...

Property owners with bulkheads along North Carolina’s sounds and Intracoastal Waterway tend to build their homes closer to water and suffered more damage during 2016’s Hurricane Matthew, according to ...

Scientists and coastal advocates agree: Bulkheads are bad news for salt marshes. The vinyl or wooden structures that have long been the go-to solution along North Carolina’s estuaries and sounds, but ...