Update March 18: The post has been updated to include the correct email address. The previously published email address was provided to Coastal Review in error.

Got a kayak, smart phone and basic math skills?

If the answer is yes, you’re eligible to participate in this year’s Terrapin Tally.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal management Coastal Reserve program and partners from the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, N.C. State Parks, Bald Head Island Conservancy, N.C. Audubon, N.C. Aquariums and National Park Service are seeking volunteers to count the elusive diamondback terrapin in their coastal habitat from Carteret County to Brunswick County.

This year marks the 11th Terrapin Tally, a community science project created to collect a snapshot of the diamondback terrapin population numbers in the state. Literal headcounts are conducted from volunteers on kayaks during specific times and predetermined routes.

These surveys, over time, will provide wildlife biologists with population statistics and trends of diamondback terrapins. Tallies collected have contributed to new research projects and management programs for terrapin populations at Masonboro island Reserve and other coastal sites.

“Many NC Coastal Reserve sites provide ideal habitat for diamondback terrapins, and we are excited to continue these efforts for the 11th year alongside the NC Wildlife Resources Commission,” Elizabeth Pinnix, Coastal Reserve southern sites manager, said in a release. “These data are important in understanding terrapin population trends and contribute to informed management decisions to protect this estuarine turtle.”  

Diamondback terrapins are the only reptile that can tolerate brackish waters, where salinity levels constantly change as freshwater runs off land and mixes with ocean saltwater.

The turtles were once abundant in salt marshes, estuaries and mangrove swamps along the country’s East and Gulf Coasts. But coastal development, habitat loss, commercial harvest and fishing interactions have contributed to a population decline.

Diamondback terrapins are a species of special concern in North Carolina.

“Data from the past ten years of Terrapin Tally events has helped point us to areas where further study is needed and has supported management actions that provide additional protection in specific coastal areas,” Wildlife Resources Commission Eastern Wildlife Diversity Supervisor Hope Sutton said in the release. “We hope to continue to contribute to broader conservation goals related to this special little turtle. It will take time and substantial effort, considering the extensive area of its potential habitat here in N.C.”

Volunteers must register to attend one training session in which they will learn how to use a smartphone application and sign up for at least one field collection session scheduled sometime between April 25 and June 15.

Training sessions will be held in-person 10 a.m.-noon April 12 at Carolina Beach State Park visitor center, Hammocks Beach State Park visitor center and via Zoom.

Collection sessions will be conducted in two-hour blocks on the following dates:

• April 25-27.
• May 10-11 and May 15-18.
• June 12-15.

Times may vary by site depending on the tide. Volunteers may choose the dates and number of sessions they would like to complete.

Tally sites this year include Cape Lookout National Seashore, Rachel Carson Reserve, Calico Creek, Hammocks Beach State Park, Lea Hutaff Island, Masonboro Island Reserve, Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, Zeke’s Island Reserve, Bald head Island and Bird Island Reserve.

For questions, email terrapintallync@ncwildlife.org.

Two beachfront state parks had more than a million visitors each in 2023, contributing to the total 20.1 million who visited the 42 sites in the North Carolina State Parks system last year.

Fort Fisher State Recreational Area in New Hanover County was the second most visited park in the state with 1.37 million visitors, behind Jordan Lake State Recreation Area in Chatham County, which had 2.5 million visitors.

The statewide park system had an overall increase of 4% in visitation since 2022, with the nine sites on the coast bringing in a quarter of those visitors, around 4.9 million, officials recently announced.

Fort Macon State Park in Carteret County brought in 1.05 million visitors last year. Other coastal sites that saw growth are Carolina Beach, Dismal Swamp, Hammocks Beach, Merchants Millpond and Pettigrew state parks while numbers for Goose Creek and Jockey’s Ridge state parks show a decline in visitors.

Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary Reid Wilson said in a statement that the growth in park visitation “puts an exclamation point on an incredibly successful Year of the Trail in North Carolina.”

The Great Trails State Coalition celebrated the Year of the Trail in 2023 as a way to promote supporting and investing in North Carolina trails.

“We were excited to welcome more visitors to enjoy our naturally wonderful state parks, especially as several of our parks have recently added new campgrounds and visitor centers and as we celebrated the Year of the Trail,” State Parks Director Brian Strong said in a statement.

Fort Fisher sees growth

Fort Fisher State Recreation Area, located 18 miles south of Wilmington, has a beach access and allows beach driving.

“It’s nice to see that people are really enjoying Fort Fisher State Recreational Area, so much so that it was the second busiest state park,” Superintendent Jeff Owen told Coastal Review, referring to the 1.38 million visitors to the New Hanover County attraction in 2023. The site had 1.11 million visitors in 2022.

“All areas of our park saw more people, particularly the four-wheel-drive beach and the pedestrian beach,” Owen said. “It has created a strain on our small staff, we only have four rangers, and has been a challenge on our natural resources. The biggest one being nesting sea turtles as their season coincides with our busiest visitation of the year.”

Rangers ask that visitors, whom Owen said “did a really good job last year,” continue to be vigilant when driving on the beach and look for signs of sea turtle nests that are always marked with signs and reflective tape. 

“Lastly, but most importantly, please check local weather forecasts before entering the water to swim,” Owen said, adding to ask a staff member what the conditions of the water are when you arrive before swimming or use the pedestrian beach monitored by lifeguards 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

Fort Macon numbers steady as park turns 100

Fort Macon State Park in Atlantic Beach is built around a restored pre-Civil War fort and offers beach accesses and a bathhouse.

Superintendent Randy Newman told Coastal Review that, “Overall, we’ve had great numbers.” The Bogue Banks state park averages a million visitors annually and 2023 with its 1.06 million was no different. The park saw 1.02 million visitors in 2022.

“This summer we had great weather and no storms, which always helps with visitation,” Newman said, explaining that much of Fort Macon’s numbers depend on the weather.

Upcoming events at the park include the Mosquito Endurance Run, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. March 23. The 12-hour race is to raise money to help the park preserve a North Atlantic right whale calf for educational purposes. It will also go to the upkeep of park trails and park enhancements. Register for the race via the Friends of Fort Macon website.

Newman said that the Bonehenge Whale Center in Beaufort is going to articulate the skeleton of the calf found dead in January 2023 near Morehead City so it can be displayed in the park’s visitor center, if feasible. Bonehenge focuses on research and education for whales, dolphins and porpoises found in North Carolina.

Because there’s so few of this endangered species, Newman said they’re hoping to use the skeleton as an education tool.

Looking ahead, the site will soon celebrate a century as a state park.

Fort Macon “will be 100 years old June 4 as a state park,” Newman said, and officials have planned several celebrations.

Starting June 1, there will be a Military Through the Ages event, when the grounds will be filled with reenactors from different periods.

This is the first event of its kind for the park and “Hopefully that’s going to be a success so we can build on in the future,” Newman said.

Newman added that a military band has been invited to perform June 4, and there will be an artillery barrage with cannon June 8.  Fort Macon will host a car show June 9 with 100 classic cars representing the 100 years. The regularly scheduled ranger-led programs will take place as well

Also in the works is a Halloween “haunted fort” event to take place the last two weekends of October, hosted by the nonprofit Friends group. Organizations and businesses can make a donation to decorate a casemate for the fundraising event that will support fort preservation.

Newman said last year was the first and this year will be even better.

Two exceptions

State Parks Public Information Officer Kris Anne Bonifacio told Coastal Review that all coastal parks saw small increases in visitation, except Goose Creek and Jockey’s Ridge state parks.

Bonifacio said Goose Creek dropped from 146,155 visitors in 2022 to 125,933 last year. She’s still looking into why that happened.

Rangers at Jockey’s Ridge, which had 982,328 visitors in 2022 but only saw 745,022 in 2023, according to the official count, mentioned that they were having issues with the vehicle counters.

Bonifacio said staff at the Outer Banks site estimate that their actual visitation was equitable or even greater than 2022 numbers, based on what they saw daily throughout the year.

“Visitation data for all of our state parks are estimates, since we have no way of counting every single person who visits each park,” Bonifacio explained.

North Carolina State University is working on a visitation study to review the formula used for vehicle counters. “That study will look at a few different sources of data to get a better idea of trends over the last few years. For our purposes, we are primarily focused on the trends, and we look at visitation numbers holistically and with other things such as reservations, annual pass sales, and events and programming,” she said.

Revenues

The nine coastal parks saw growth in reservations revenue from $690,529 in 2022 to $730,909 in 2023.

Bonifacio reiterated that the state parks system is “designed for the enjoyment of all and revenue generation is not a priority, it does reflect the overall trends” of more visitors coming to state parks.

“Even at our parks that may have gone down in visitation, like Goose Creek State Park, show an increase in overnight reservations, which makes sense given the improvements we have made in their camping facilities over the last few years,” Bonifacio added. “We hope to see the same at Hammocks Beach’s new RV campground for this year and the coming years.”

Hammocks Beach State Park in the Swansboro area is in the process of adding a recreational vehicle, trailer and tent campground as well as backpacking sites on the mainland.

“We anticipate we will open the campground in the summer,” Bonifacio said. The campground will include 12 full hookups sites, four camper cabins, similar to what is at Carolina Beach and Goose Creek state parks, seven drive-up tent sites, and will be three hike-in primitive sites. There will also be a centrally located bathhouse with hot showers.

“We are very excited to offer additional camping facilities at Hammocks Beach State Park, especially ones that are easier to access than the primitive campsites at Bear Island,” Hammocks Beach Superintendent Sarah Kendrick said. “We know our backpack-by-ferry and paddle-in campers have enjoyed the coastal overnight experience for many years, and we look forward to providing that opportunity to those who camp by RV, trailer, or car as well.”

Bonifacio said the former Teachers Building, which has been under restoration since early 2023, that African American educators used as a meeting place in the mid-20^th century, is to open this summer as well, “So we are very excited to have that reopen, and we hope our visitors will enjoy those new facilities.”

Growing park system

Also in 2023, the state parks system acquired more than 2,890 acres in the Piedmont and mountains. The system ended the year with 262,074 total acres.

“It was a productive year for the division by all accounts — land protection, planning, natural resource management, operations, safety, and interpretation and education,” stated Strong, the state parks director. “We look forward to the year ahead as we continue our stewardship of these beloved places in North Carolina.”

Bonifacio explained that the system did not have any land acquisitions in 2023 at any of the parks on the coast.

“Due to a multitude of factors, most of our land acquisitions are in the Piedmont and the mountains,” she said. “Land protection plans for many of our coastal parks have limited acreage, and some state recreation areas and state natural areas are at the max planned acres.”

There are some exceptions, notably Merchants Millpond and Pettigrew, which have thousands of acres in future needs as identified in their land protection plans. “We closed last month on three land parcels at Merchants Millpond actually,” she said.

Projects at three state parks on the coast will see some of the nearly $14 million in recent funding from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, or PARTF.

The North Carolina Parks and Recreation Authority, which oversees PARTF grants, approved $13.7 million to fund 11 capital improvement projects for state parks, state Division of Parks and Recreation announced Tuesday.

Of the money from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, 65% is allocated for North Carolina state parks capital projects, repairs, and renovations of facilities, and land acquisition. PARTF also provides matching grants to local governments to assist with public park and recreation projects.

The authority approved the capital projects funding Jan. 9 during its first quarterly meeting of the year.

Carolina Beach State Park was approved for $2.2 million for maintenance facility improvements, and Fort Fisher State Recreation Area was awarded $500,000 for repairs to beach access and boardwalks. Additionally, Hammocks Beach and Carolina Beach state parks were awarded $2 million for dredging projects.

“These much-needed park improvement projects will bring several of our state parks facilities at some of our most visited parks up to modern standards to improve our visitors’ experiences in the parks,” state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Secretary D. Reid Wilson said in a statement. “We remain grateful to the General Assembly and Governor Roy Cooper for providing significantly increased investments in the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund over the last two years, a clear recognition of the importance of our state parks to the people and economy of North Carolina.”

Other capital improvement projects funded include overlook and trail improvements at Crowders Mountain, a disc golf course at Falls Lake, family campground renovations at Hanging Rock, a new restroom at Mount Jefferson, and renovation of shower houses at Jordan Lake.

North Carolina State Parks, which manages more than 258,000 acres within North Carolina’s state parks, state recreation areas and state natural areas, welcomes more than 22.7 million visitors annually.

NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The Fort Fisher State Recreation Area invites the public to a ceremony on May 12 at 2 p.m. to dedicate the first Connect NC bond project to improve visitor facilities.

The park is expected to upgrade restroom and picnic facilities through a $488,000 investment from the Connect NC bond voters approved in 2016. The bond also released $75 million to enhance facilities at 45 state parks.

State officials, including Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources Susi Hamilton and members of the state Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, are expected to attend the event. Hamilton is scheduled to speak.

Architect Hipp Architecture and Development P.C. of Wilmington and contractor Keystone R&C Inc. of Wilmington began upgrading the park’s facilities in October.

The recreation area was established in 1986 and encompasses 287 acres.

Learn More

• Fort Fisher State Recreation Area website
• Learn more about the Connect NC bond

First of two parts 

WRIGTSVILLE BEACH — Ranger Patrick Amico will soon be firing up his four wheeler each morning to slowly scour the nine miles of sandy beaches at the Fort Fisher State Recreation Area for new sea turtle nests that may have been laid overnight.

“From May to September, the first staff member on site always does the turtle run,” he laughs. “I don’t mind at all.”

Turtle-nesting season begins May 1 along the beach of North Carolina, and park rangers and volunteers up and down the coast will begin watching the beaches for the tell-tale signs of activity.

At Fort Fisher, the first item of business is to look for tracks, and when a nest with eggs is discovered, the fun begins. GPS coordinates are recorded and a careful count of eggs is made. One egg is removed and sent out for a DNA study. A cage is installed around the nest to protect from predators, and the monitoring continues until the nest hatches – from 50-60 days later.

In its fourth year, the regional DNA study is returning some interesting data. “For example, one mother has nested at Fort Fisher four times in one season,” Amico says. “Another has laid nests in Florida, South Carolina and Fort Fisher all in one season and a single turtle laid five nests in one season.”

Following the data has been exhilarating for the staff, however there was only one problem: Too many eggs were being lost to predators.

“Predation levels were really devastating to the nests,” says Park Superintendent Jeff Owen.

Birds and ghost crabs have long been a threat to sea turtle nests. At Fort Fisher, red fox and coyote are now disturbing the nests, and eating a large percentage of eggs. Sometimes the animals dug up the nests before the rangers arrived to cage the nests in the morning. Other times, the fox completely undermined the cages to steal the eggs.

The numbers were shocking. In 2009, fox disturbed nine out of 14 nests, or 64 percent. A year later, it dropped to 32 percent, but increased to 42 percent in 2011. “The loss of eggs ranged from a few, to a dozen, to an entire cultch of up to 90 eggs,” Amico says.

It only got worse in 2012. Nineteen of the 30 nests at the park were disturbed by foxes. In one nest 52 eggs were taken. Two nests were a total lost, Amico said.

Amazingly, fox were even coming up to the nests at night, closely approaching the volunteers who were sitting with the nests. “We knew then that we had an extensive problem,” Owen notes. “We knew we had to change tactics.”

Owen joined Fort Fisher in 2008, and had followed a predator management plan that was initiated by the previous park superintendent. “For those first few years, our plan was simply to work to eliminate red fox and coyote from the park only when we saw them,” he says. Admittedly, they had little success.

After extensive research, Owen conferred with Kip Futch, a ranger at neighboring Carolina Beach State Park. Futch had been removing predators for years and agreed to lend a hand down at Fort Fisher.  “We saw evidence of a large canine population in the back dunes,” Futch says. “So we concentrated our efforts there.”

In December of 2012, the increased removal efforts began. Over a 10-day period, 15 fox and two coyote were permanently removed. Concentrated removals have continued twice a year, once in December and again in May before the peak nesting begins.

The fox population has been greatly reduced, Owen said. More importantly, predation levels of sea turtle nests have decreased significantly. “In 2013, only one nest was predated by fox, and in 2014, zero nests were predated,” Amico says.

Owen is amazed at the results. “To have such a sudden decrease in predation levels is incredible,” he said.

The Fort Fisher beach is home to between 15 and 50 nests a year. Each nest typically holds from between 80 to 110 eggs. Helping to ensure that these high numbers of eggs survive to hatch each year goes a long way to ensuring the future of sea turtles along the N.C. coast.  “When we consider that only one in 1,000 hatchlings survive the first year, and only one in 10,000 survive the 25 years until the time they begin to nest on their own, we know that every egg counts,” Owen smiles.

Ever the biologist, Amico is excited as well. “When I worked at Bald Head Island, I saw interns try many different techniques for prevention from spraying bobcat and coyote urine to sprinkling hot pepper and other organic items, but nothing really proved successful – physical removal has given us a great outcome,” he said.

The staff has noticed an additional benefit from removing the fox population. For the first time in nearly a decade, colonial shorebirds have returned to nest at Fort Fisher. “We saw least tern chicks as well as two American oystercatcher chicks,” Amico smiles. “It has been years since these birds were able to successfully hatch chicks on the beach here.”

Tuesday: On the Outer Banks with N.E.S.T.