MANAGING BARRIER ISLAND: ROLE OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

Local governments on barrier islands are in a unique position to plan for and manage coastal development. While Federal and state policies, programs and regulations clearly have significant impacts on island development, local governments on these islands have the prime opportunity to execute comprehensive and integrated measures to control or manage growth. Barrier island local governments should strive to approach the tasks of land development control agressively and comprehensively. Their challenge is to select and implement environmental management and development guidelines that are workable within the unique constraints present in their island environments. For illustration, a number of experiences and techniques used by exemplary island communities are discussed in the paper. Refs.