closely trimmed and nibbling bark off 

 the trees. Without the goats, the forest 

 wouldn't be penetrable by man, says 

 Wood. 



Cattle and horses graze mainly in 

 the grasslands, with the cattle prefer- 

 ring the upland areas and the horses 

 opting for the salt marshes when they 

 are green. 



To determine the impact the 

 animals have on island vegetation, 

 Wood set up exclosures to keep them 

 from grazing on small one-tenth-acre 

 areas. In enclosures in the marsh, he 

 found that "the areas would produce 

 substantial amounts of cordgrass if the 

 animals weren't grazing." 



Wood says his studies show that the 

 animals should be removed from the 

 island to avoid over-grazing. "But, be- 

 cause of the possible historical links of 

 the horses, a lot of people will demand 

 they be left on the island. If that is 

 done, the number of horses that will be 

 maintained must be matched by the 

 island's ability to feed them." 



Wood says his data suggest the 

 horse herds are increasing by 15 per- 

 cent each year. In a 1980 aerial survey, 

 he counted 108 horses, 74 cows, 144 

 sheep and 65 goats. Since those are 

 numbers of animals he actually saw, 

 Wood estimates the populations are 

 probably higher, particularly for the 

 goats, which often graze in the forest. 



Rubenstein, who's been studying 

 the horses for the past 10 years, dis- 

 agrees with some of Wood's conclu- 

 sions. He says, "The population main- 

 tains itself. They are not overgrazing 

 the island." In the past 10 years, the 

 horses have maintained a steady pop- 

 ulation of about 100, he says. He at- 

 tributes the slight rise in the popula- 

 tion in recent years to a few hard win- 

 ters during the late 70s. Then the num- 

 bers were reduced to about 83 and the 

 population has been recovering since 

 then, not actually increasing, he says. 



Rubenstein says that nature is doing 

 an effective job of managing the horse 

 population, without the help of man. 

 He says the horses won't increase their 

 numbers beyond what the island's 

 resources can support. 



Rubenstein says the horses are uni- 

 que, that their value to science de- 

 pends on their being left alone. Any 

 management, he says, even so much as 

 removing part of a horse herd from 

 Shackleford, will destroy the natural 

 scientific laboratory the island offers. 

 "If they manage it, it's no laboratory." 



But Wood predicts eventual over- 

 population of the island, tremendous 

 attrition in animal condition and mass 

 starvation if the populations aren't 

 managed. "In my opinion, letting 

 nature take its course would be a 

 serious mistake," Wood says. 



Another scientist, Rolf Hoffman, 

 predicts a similar doom for the horses 

 on Carrot Island. As a Duke Univer- 

 sity graduate student in biology, 

 Hoffman wrote, "The results ... in- 

 dicate that Bird Shoal-Carrot Island 

 may reach its carrying capacity for 

 large mammals in the foreseeable 

 future." He recommends the state 

 develop a management plan to avoid 

 over-population, deteriorating health 

 of the animals and the eventual 

 destruction of their habitat. 



The state recently purchased Carrot 

 Island for inclusion in the N.C. 

 National Estuarine Sanctuary. 



According to Hoffman's figures, 

 there were 24 horses on Carrot Island 

 in 1977. By 1982, that number had 

 grown to 50. Hoffman says that if that 

 growth rate continues, the population 

 would reach 80 by 1985, resulting in 

 over-grazing of the island, an increased 

 shortage of water and higher competi- 

 tion for good grazing areas. He 

 proposed keeping the population to 50 



horses by removing five to eight foals 

 each year. 



Bill McElyea of the Office of 

 Coastal Management, says a manage- 

 ment plan is being developed for 

 Carrot Island. "We'd like to let the 

 horses remain because they're a part of 

 the aesthetics of Carrot Island. People 

 in Beaufort have a strong attachment 

 to Carrot Island and to the horses. 

 We're going to encourage further 

 research regarding the horse popula- 

 tion," says McElyea. 



But there may be a complication in 

 the state's attempt to manage the 

 horse population on Carrot Island. A 

 Greensboro man says he owns the 

 horses and would like to leave them 

 there. 



Whatever the fate of the horses on 

 Shackleford Banks and Carrot Island, 

 it is sure that they are both a tourist 

 attraction and a sentimental tie to the 

 past. Each weekend during the sum- 

 mer months, 83-year-old Grayden 

 Paul boards a double-decker English 

 sight-seeing bus and leads tourists 

 through Beaufort. He points out the 

 horses which roam Carrot Island 

 across the water from Beaufort and 

 says, "I was born and raised right here 

 with those ponies." 



— Nancy Davis 



