Tabb’s Trails: In our new photo-essay series, coastal reporter, photographer and hiking enthusiast Kip Tabb takes you along, starting with this easy half-mile loop around a pond and marsh in Kitty Hawk.
parks-refuges
Bodie Island Lighthouse to open for climbing this month
Beginning April 18, tickets will on sale to visitors who want to climb the Bodie Island Lighthouse’s 214-step spiral staircase.
Outer Banks educators to celebrate Earth Day with fair
The Coastal Environmental Educators Network is hosting a free fair in celebration of Earth Day on April 22 at Jockey’s Ridge State Park.
Buxton restoration advisory board to meet for first time
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will host the first restoration advisory board meeting 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday, April 10, at the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club in Buxton.
Coastal reserve committees to hold spring meetings
Local advisory committees for the Rachel Carson Reserve and Kitty Hawk Woods Reserve are scheduled to meet later this month.
Carolina Beach State Park wetlands restoration in final year
A three-year partnership between park officials and the North Carolina Coastal Federation to replace invasive plants with native species is to include construction of an observation platform this year for visitors to learn about wetland habitats.
Survey open on proposed Dismal Swamp heritage area
The National Park Service is asking the public to provide input for a study to determine the feasibility and suitability of designating a future national heritage area that includes the Great Dismal Swamp and other areas in North Carolina and Virginia.
Boardwalk beneath the bridge
An angler recently tries his luck from beneath the Scuppernong River Bridge on the the Scuppernong River Boardwalk at the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge visitor center in Columbia, in Tyrrell County. Money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law was appropriated to replace the boardwalk, a project that was announced to take place in fiscal 2026. Congress directly appropriated $455 million to the refuge over five years for programs related to the previous administration’s America the Beautiful initiative announced in 2021. The nonprofit National Wildlife Refuge Association has said that continuing resolutions, such as the emergency funding bill signed into law last week, throw refuges into chaos and uncertainty and can prevent new project starts. Photo: Mark Hibbs
Volunteers sought to count for coastal ‘Terrapin Tally’
The 11th annual volunteer headcount of diamondback terrapins in coastal waters from Carteret County to Brunswick County kicks off next month.
Mattamuskeet’s invasive carp boycott carp-removal effort
“What we found is we’re not finding the carp numbers in the lake that we thought were there,” Kendall Smith, refuge manager at Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, told the Lake Mattamuskeet Watershed Restoration Plan Core Stakeholder Team at a recent meeting.
NC Trails Program announces grants for trail projects
Grants through the state’s Recreational Trails Program support greenways and trails for hikers, bikers, paddlers, equestrians and off-road vehicle operators.
Freedom Trail tells of Roanoke’s formerly enslaved people
Kip Tabb, an Outer Banks resident who reports for Coastal Review and other area publications, documents his walk along the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site’s Freedom Trail, which is lined with interpretive signs that illustrate the history of the Freedmen’s Colony of Roanoke Island.
Old-Growth Forest Network adds Bald Head Island Reserve
A nearly 200-acre forest of large, old live oak trees on Bald Head Island has been added to the national Old-Growth Forest Network.
Not fog of war
Fog blankets the cannons Monday at Fort Macon State Park at the east end of Bogue Banks in Carteret County. Built during the decade after the War of 1812 to defend Beaufort Inlet, the fort was taken by Union forces early during the Civil War and was never again relinquished to the Confederates. Fort Macon is one of the state’s most visited parks, welcoming more than a million visitors annually. Photo: Dylan Ray
Audubon sanctuary gets $3 million for work to save marsh
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation awarded the money to the Donal C. O’Brien Sanctuary and Audubon Center at Pine Island in Currituck County “to fund innovative marsh restoration pilot projects.”
Just trying to blend in
An immature white ibis nearly blends into its surroundings as it forages just off a Bodie Island trail that ends at a series of creeks southwest of the lighthouse. Photo: Kip Tabb
