BIRDS
NCWRC
NCWRC
NCWRC
Above: Students stand next to their signs, teaching beachgoers how to share the shore with nesting waterbirds.
Restoring Waterbird Habitat by Carmen Johnson, Waterbird Biologist I f you build it, they will come—nesting water- birds that is. For more than a year, Commis- sion staff have coordinated with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and other partners in the state on a project to restore an important water- bird nesting island near Cape Lookout National Seashore. The island, known as Sandbag Island, is owned and managed by NCWRC, and pro- vides greatly needed nesting habitat for several species of waterbirds. Unfortunately, recent storms led to rapid erosion, causing the island to shrink from roughly two acres in 2019 to under a 1/10 of an acre this winter. The Corps already had plans to dredge the neighboring channel that runs from Harkers
NEXT GENERATION LOGISTICS
Above: The hydraulic dredge pumping material from the channel to nearby Sandbag Island.
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15 2024 Wildlife Diversity Program Annual Report
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