Beach Vitex (Vitex rotundifolia), a highly invasive plant along the coast of North Carolina and South Carolina, has been identified on your property.
This deciduous woody plant from Asia was introduced to the southeastern U.S. in the mid-1980’s as a landscape plant. Many oceanfront homeowners planted beach vitex to protect their property from coastal erosion. By the mid-1990’s, biologists recognized its invasive qualities and potential to become a serious threat to natural beach and dune ecosystems. Beach vitex shades out and kills native dune species such as sea oats, American beach grass and bitter panicum that are known dune stabilizers. This plant may also negatively affect habitat for rare animals such as sea turtles, shorebirds and rare plants such as seabeach amaranth. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture (NCDA) classifies beach vitex as a "Class B" State Noxious Weed. This means that it is prohibited to move the plant from quarantine areas without a certificate or permit.
Recognizing the significant threat this invasive species poses to the dune system and native ecosystems on Topsail Island, the Towns of Topsail Beach, Surf City, and North Topsail Beach jointly applied for funding through The Division of Water Resources (DWR) of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) to help fund eradication efforts. The Topsail Island Vitex Eradication Project (hereinafter referred to as “Project”) was selected for funding assistance through the Coastal Storm Damage Mitigation (CSDM) grant.
If you believe Beach Vitex exists on your property, please complete the online form to give your consent for Town Staff or their Designee to access your property to investigate. The Town' will be creating a database of properties to treat depending on the amount of funding available.
The Towns will select a qualified contractor for this project. The first treatment phase is planned to begin in the Spring of 2025, continue through the summer, and end in the fall of 2025. A second phase of treatment is scheduled for the following spring - fall of 2026. The project is proposed as a 4-year project which includes further treatment and extraction of the vitex, as well as planting native dune species to stabilize the dune, but funding has only been secured for the first 2 years of the project.
All we ask is your permission and cooperation.
