LEFT: Volunteer, John Davis, helps identify some of the participants' amazing discoveries at low tide in the pristine estuarine waters. 



RIGHT: Monica Dozier Powers, a National Estuarine Research Reserve fellow, is conducting important research on habitat preferences of the red drum — the state's 

 popular saltwater fish. At the Rachel Carson Estuarine Research Reserve, they seem to prefer oyster reefs — where prey items are plentiful. 



The larger picture 



The federal Coastal Zone Management 

 Act of 1972 created the National Estuarine 

 Research Reserve System to provide states 

 with matching funds to preserve, protect and 

 manage these important coastal and marine 

 resources. 



The Rachel Carson Estuarine Research 

 Reserve near Beaufort is one of four in the 

 North Carolina National Estuarine Research 

 Reserve (NCNERR) program. The others 

 are Currituck Banks near Corolla, and 

 Masonboro Island and Zeke's Island near 

 Wilmington. 



Another six uniquely sensitive coastal 

 sites are part of the state's broader, protected 

 coastal reserve system. These include Kitty 

 Hawk Woods, Buxton Woods, Permuda 

 Island, Bald Head Woods and Bird Island. 

 The Emily and Richardson Pryer Buckridge 

 reserve in Tyrrell County is the state's first 

 inland reserve site — and the largest, with 

 1 8,000 acres of important freshwater wetlands. 



The N.C. Department of the Environ- 

 ment and Natural Resources' Division of 

 Coastal Management oversees the estuarine 

 reserve program in partnership with the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis- 

 tration (NOAA), other state and federal 



agencies, and a number of nonprofit 

 conservancy groups. 



In North Carolina, the estuarine reserve 

 program is a management tool, says John 

 Taggart, reserve program manager. The 

 multiuse reserves are protected from 

 development, but they are not "no-take" 

 zones or off limits for recreational use, as is 

 the case in some states. 



Taggart heads a team of five full-time 

 staff members charged with research, 

 management, education and outreach 

 responsibilities. 



"The North Carolina National 

 Estuarine Research Reserve Program was 

 established in 1982 to preserve these natural 

 areas and the variety of life they support — 

 and to learn from them," Taggart explains. 

 "Essentially, the reserves are living 

 laboratories for research and education." 



The 10 sites also represent thousands of 

 acres of prime coastal real estate that are 

 becoming islands in a sea of rapid coastal 

 development. Increasing resource pressure 

 underscores the need to understand the 

 relationship between human activity and 

 these vast ecosystems, Taggart says. 



The Rachel Carson research reserve, for 

 example, is an undisturbed island complex 



just across from Beaufort — one of the prime 

 communities in the rapidly growing middle 

 coast region. 



Deja vu 



Meanwhile on the shoals, our young 

 visitor watches the fiddler crabs burrow into 

 the mud, then walks, ankle-deep, through clear 

 estuarine waters to catch up with the group. 



"Elevation matters in the tidal zone," 

 John Davis is explaining. He points to the 

 shrub thicket, surrounded by salt marsh 

 grasses. "A small difference determines 

 whether shrubs or trees will be the dominant 

 habitat feature. Here we are surrounded by salt 

 water, yet these green plants tell us there is 

 fresh water present." 



Fresh water also supports an array of 

 wildlife, including feral horses, fox, raccoons 

 and deer. 



"The saltmarsh cordgrass is the main 

 food source for the feral horses," Mary Ann 

 Davis tells the group. The horses know how to 

 avoid getting mired in the soft mud in pursuit 

 of the delicacy. "They also know where and 

 how to dig in the marsh to expose a freshwater 

 lens for drinking." 



The visitors may or may not get a 

 glimpse of the people-shy horses on this trip, 



18 HOLIDAY 2002 



