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3) Many persons believe that this several thousand acre 

 tract of unbroken marsh has a great deal of esthetic value. 



4) The Cedar Island Marshes support possibly one rare 

 reptile and several rare birds (see above). However, some 

 less rare birds are also noteworthy. The Marsh hawk, if it 

 nest in the marshes, is probably at its southern limit here. 

 Perhaps, these marshes are most notable for the rail 

 populations present. Probably all U.S. species of rails 

 occur here (although the extremely secretive Yellow rail 

 has not been observed, it probably winters here). King 

 rails (special concern) occur here and may nest. Clapper 

 rails are common. Virginia rails are common here in winter, 

 and a few apparently nest. Here, they are at the southern 

 limit of their nesting range. Soras are probably common 



in migration. Although not seen or heard. Yellow rails 

 (undetermined status) might actually be common in these 

 marshes in winter. Rail-wise, perhaps the Cedar Island Marshes 

 biggest claim to fame is its Black Rail (undetermined) popu- 

 lation. Numbers of these secretive and apparently local 

 birds in these marshes apparently rival those at Elliott 

 Island, Maryland, formerly considered to have the largest 

 Black rail population in the United States. The importance 

 of the Cedar Island Marshes to the Black Rail population 

 in North Carolina may be considerable, but since it is 

 such a secretive species, no one knows if this is the case. 



Management Recommendations: 



A major value of the Cedar Island Marshes involves 

 its importance to several species of birds that are so 

 secretive that their exact status in these marshes, as 

 well as elsewhere in the state, is largely unknown. 

 Therefore, it would be presumptuous to suggest any hard 

 and fast recommendations. Clearly, this area deserves 

 further study. If the Fish and Wildlife Service plans 

 to impound any marsh acreage, then rail populations, 

 especially King, Yellow, and Black rails, should be 

 ascertained. 



Perhaps the best location for impoundments would be 

 adjacent to the mainland and adjacent to Cedar Island, where 

 the marshes have a higher percentage of Juncus roemerianus . 

 This would leave the marshes that are probably the best 

 rail habitat. This would also still leave a large 

 contiguous tract of unaltered marsh. 



Fire management should be studied. Probably, fire is 

 "beneficial" to the marsh, at least a certain amount of it 

 helps to maintain it. However, in regards to many of the 

 marsh inhabitants, the alternate burning of several small 

 areas might be desirable to the use of two or three fires 

 that burn the entire marsh and thus remove large areas of 

 cover at one time. 



Post, William and Frank Enders. 1969. Reappearance of the 

 Black Rail on Long Island, Kingbird. Vol 19:189-191. 



