How to Visit North Carolina Estuaries

North Carolina has an extensive network of protected estuaries. The state's Atlantic coastline contains some of the finest estuaries on the Eastern seaboard. Estuaries in North Carolina provide critical habitat for migratory birds, and as such the habitat must be respected by visitors.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Journey to the 30,000-square-mile watershed of the Albemarle-Pamlico Sounds region and tour the seven sounds and five major river basins which make up the second largest estuarine system in America.

2. Visit the estuaries of northeastern North Carolina. Just 10 miles from the Virginia border is the Currituck Banks site, which is an undisturbed barrier island with a rare low-salinity estuarine system. Take NC 12 north past Corolla to get to the site.

3. Travel to the central coastal region to visit North Carolina's huge 18,000-acre Emily Richardson Preyer Buckridge reserve site. The estuarine reserve site is part of the enormous 320,000-acre Dismal Swamp wetlands complex. The site provides habitat for numerous rare, threatened and endangered species, including the red wolf, red-cockaded woodpecker and Atlantic and shortnose sturgeons.

4. Take a boat trip to the island complex of the Rachel Carson estuary in Carteret Count. The site, named for the famous ecologist, receives fresh water from two rivers, the Newport and North. The reserve hosts the marine research facilities of Duke University, University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University.

5. Go to the unusual Zeke's Island estuarine reserve 22 miles south of Wilmington. Zeke's Island has numerous habitats, including tidal flats, salt marshes, shrub thicket, maritime forest, sand dunes and ocean beach.