Sharing the beach
The beach is more than a place to come enjoy a warm, summer’s day, for sea turtles and many shore birds the beach is a nursery for their young. Some endangered plants, such as Sea Beach Amaranth, only grow on specific areas of the beach. And the wild horses of Shackleford depend exclusively on the resources of their island.
The National Park Service must balance the needs of those who use the beach for recreation with the needs of those who use the beach and islands for survival. For this reason, the park’s resource management staff spends most of the spring and summer monitoring and marking the areas needed by nesting shore birds and sea turtles as well as endangered plant species. The Shackleford horses are monitored all year.
The reports listed below tell us how we are doing in sharing the beach with those who need the beach for survival.
