NAGS HEAD WOODS



Nags Head Woods

Ecological Preserve

Fiscal 2001 Annual Report

For the Town of Nags Head

April 4, 2001

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Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve

Annual Report

April 4, 2001

( overview

The past year was an extremely busy period at Nags Head Woods. The Nature Conservancy moved closer to acquiring additional property in the preserve. It also moved forward with plans to expand the preserve’s education program and to develop a new Outer Banks conservation learning center. And last month, we publicly launched a $25 million capital campaign to help fund these important conservation programs – and others throughout North Carolina. Because of our long partnership with the Town of Nags Head, we have tried to keep you abreast of these developments as they unfolded. However, there are still a number of issues we need to report on at this time; they may very well require your advice and support in the months to come.

Highlights from the past year include:

( conservation learning center – The Nature Conservancy sought and received approval from the Town of Nags Head to lease the former Outer Banks Medical Center and to renovate it for use as a major new environmental education center. We have contracted with the Nags Head architectural firm of Cahoon & Kasten to design the project and expect to begin construction in September or October 2001. Our goal is to have the center open for business by May 2002.

During this time we have also continued to refine our program concepts. We intend to offer a great variety of programs for all ages and many different user groups – all aimed at increasing the “ecological literacy” of the general public and at building greater public support for conservation.

This project has received enthusiastic support from the Nags Head Woods Advisory Board and the staff of the North Carolina Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. We believe it will give us a powerful new tool to pursue long-term conservation initiatives on the Outer Banks.

( capital campaign – On March 21, the North Carolina Chapter of The Nature Conservancy announced the public launch of a $25 million capital campaign called Forever Wild. The campaign is the largest private fund-raising effort for conservation in the history of the state – and it is off to a promising beginning. Already we have raised more than $10 million toward our $25 million goal.

Approximately $250,000 of the campaign have been earmarked for Nags Head Woods to develop the new conservation learning center. While this is a relatively small percentage of the overall campaign goal, it is significant in terms of our program goals at Nags Head Woods and will enable us to achieve our goals in a timely and effective manner. The Forever Wild campaign is an important undertaking. It targets critical natural systems in virtually every region of North Carolina. We are hopeful that our members and supporters on the Outer Banks will give generously to the campaign, for it certainly will provide major benefits for the quality of life in northeastern North Carolina.

( ecocamps – Our summer environmental education program continues to grow. We will again offer 10 of our popular EcoCamps for children from 5 to 13. With the first camp not scheduled to begin until mid-June we are already nearly 70 percent full. Because of space limitations at our existing facilities, we can offer no more programs, but the education staff plans to begin offering additional EcoCamps next year. We continue to market the EcoCamps locally and nationally through The Nature Conservancy’s state and local magazines – and this spring have begun listing them on the Conservancy’s Web site: . As in past years, children from Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills will receive discounts on camp fees.

( natural history adventures – We have begun offering a new series of Natural History Adventures that gradually will be expanded after the new education center is opened. Our first of these, offered last fall, was an opportunity for women to meet and learn about the ecology and natural history of the Outer Banks. Called Wild Women on the Outer Banks, the program was a tremendous success, filling up within hours after registration opened. We continue to receive inquiries about the program and plan to offer another session later this year. Our second Natural History Adventure is being offered later this month, on the weekend of April 27-29, on the Roanoke River. It will feature lectures by several scientists and historians of the Roanoke and will give participants an excellent opportunity to learn about the importance of this great Southern River. This program, too, has been well received. Early indications are that the market for such programming is a significant one and we expect to offer several such programs every year.

( deer management – We were surprised to learn that despite our efforts to set up a more intensive hunting program, the health of the Nags Head Woods deer herd has actually declined since it was last measured in 1995. We had assumed – based on advice from Wildlife Resources Commission biologists – that if enough animals were removed from the herd each year the size of the herd would decrease and the overall health would improve. Based on what we learned this fall it now appears that either we have not removed enough animals from the herd or that decreasing herd size has not led to health improvements. Before the 2001 hunting season begins in September we likely will need to meet with you again to discuss other options for managing the herd.

( fund-raising – We continue to have success with our fund-raising efforts. Under the able leadership of development officer Janet Owen, we raised $255,000 in fiscal year 2000 to support science, stewardship, education and other programs at Nags Head Woods. The preserve’s endowment provided an additional $84,000 for the year.

For the current fiscal year (2001), our operating budget is slightly more than $300,000. For next year (2002) it increases significantly to about $400,000 as we begin to unfurl the new education program and as we also continue our capital fund-raising efforts. Although we will use revenue from the endowment to support a portion of this increase, we expect to require additional support from the local community to make our new program a reality.

( staffing – Our staff continues to change and grow. We now have four full-time staff members and two part-time. Debbie Lewis was hired this past year as our administrative assistant and with the departure of Jennifer McNinch in December, Debbie was promoted to office administrator. In February we also added Karen Bachman to the staff as our first community outreach coordinator. As our education programs continue to expand, Karen will play a key role in helping us inform the community about them.

( conservation education

As one considers the long-term potential for conservation on the Outer Banks, one has to wonder: How is it possible to achieve meaningful conservation goals in an area that people have already changed in so many ways – and that apparently will undergo even more changes as more people live here and try to earn a living here, and even more people stream in as tourists or visitors.

We at The Nature Conservancy believe meaningful conservation is possible on the Outer Banks, but that a key aspect of an effective conservation program in such a setting must be public education. Just as much as the winds and waves that have shaped the barrier island strand, people are a part of this ecosystem. Although they may not have always been, they certainly are now. So any conservation initiative will have to take their presence into account.

It is through conservation education that we intend to do this – to reach out to the public, to give them sound, scientific information and to offer them opportunities to learn about natural systems and processes so that they will develop a greater understanding and appreciation for the place they live – and a greater desire to help conserve it.

That is the goal of our education program, and the formulation of a plan to achieve it has consumed much of our time during the past year. The Program and Facilities Planning Committee of the Nags Head Woods Advisory Board has met regularly throughout the year. We have gathered information from other organizations that offer similar programs in other geographic areas. We are beginning to fine-tune the details of what our program will look like in the years to come. We are excited about it.

EcoCamps – In the summer of 2000 we offered nine EcoCamps for elementary and middle school children and one for adults. This year we will offer 10 camps for children and none for adults. Attendance continues to increase 1996.

|EcoCamp Attendance, 1996-2001 |

|1996 |1997 |1998 |1999 |2000 |2001 |

|43 participants |69 participants |76 participants |84 participants |97 participants |72 participants |

| | | | | |(as of March 28) |

We currently do not have facilities to offer more than 10 camps each summer. But with the development of our new conservation learning center, we expect our EcoCamp program to continue to grow steadily in the years ahead.

Internships – The preserve also continues to offer internship opportunities to young men and women in college and graduate school. During the summer of 2000, we had two students serving as interns. This summer we will have three interns – including one, Patrick Ertel, who is returning for a second summer. Patrick has entered graduate school at Ohio University and will make his Nags Head Woods internship a part of his master’s program. His work will include both environmental education and conservation research. Our other interns are from Cornell University and the University of Massachusetts.

School programs – The preserve continues to provide free programs for children from the Dare County school system. In the past year we offered classes at the preserve or outreach programs at the schools to more than 400 children. We also provided continuing education programs to more than 20 local teachers.

( science and stewardship

Stewardship is the actual day-to-day business of monitoring and managing the natural system, and because our primary mission is to preserve the biological diversity of Nags Head Woods, stewardship is central to that task.

Preserve steward Aaron McCall has been busy during the past year addressing several key issues, including invasive species control and deer management.

Invasive species – We continued to focus significant energy on eradicating the invasive wetland plant Phragmites australis (common reed), and as in past years this continues to be an extremely high priority. We reported to you last year that we had begun experimenting with an approach to controlling Phragmites that requires cutting the stems short enough so that they are below water level throughout the year. This apparently has the effect of drowning the roots and preventing regrowth of new stems.

Based on results from several experimental plots that we established last year, it appears that this technique may indeed be effective against Phragmites. We will continue to apply it within the experimental plots and begin to expand it to larger areas this year. We are hopeful that we may have found an effective method of removing the plant from Nags Head Woods – or at least from the ponds where it is possible to cut the stems to below water level. In other areas, such as soundside marshes, this approach may not be applicable.

In addition, we also removed non-native water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) from two ponds on the perimeter of the preserve where it had been planted by a neighboring property owner. We believe we were able to remove this plant in its entirety. However, the seeds of this plant can remain viable for as long as 20 years, so we will monitor the ponds closely during the 2001 growing season.

Deer management – We had a significant drop-off in hunting during the 2000 hunting season, due largely to the fact that several hunters who had been among our most active (and successful) in 1998-99 were unable to hunt this year. As a result we had a reduction in the number of deer removed from the forest. More disturbing, however, were the results of autopsies performed on six deer from the herd in October as part of our ongoing monitoring program.

Biologists from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study Program at the University of Georgia visited the Outer Banks in October to examine deer from the areas around Nags Head Woods, the Wright Brothers Memorial and Bodie Island. Autopsies were conducted on six deer from the Nags Head Woods/ Wright Brothers area. Significant health problems were found in all six. The general conclusion is that this results from the herd being too large for the area and that the “carrying capacity” of the forest is being exceeded. Wildlife Resource Commission biologists have recommended that we become more aggressive in reducing the size of the herd.

Although we have seen a decline in herd health over the past six years, we do not have a baseline of data from earlier than 1995 and, as a result, do not know if the herd was ever as healthy as biologists believe deer should be; natural conditions in the maritime forests may cause stresses on deer that result in poor health. There may be no guarantee that we could ever reduce the size of the herd to the point where herd health improves substantially. We also do not know the exact size of the herd or exactly how many animals would need to be removed annually to stabilize or reduce the population.

The Nags Head Woods Deer Management Committee has met twice to discuss these findings and to consider alternative courses of action. We have also met with 10 of our most active hunters to seek their input. The Deer Management Committee will continue to meet in coming months to prepare a recommendation for the Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills Boards of Commissioners prior to the 2001 hunting season.

|Nags Head Woods Deer Hunting Summary -- 1992-99 |

|Year |Hunters |Hunters |Hunts |Does |Bucks |Road Kills |Total |

| |Registered |Active |Reported |Killed |Killed |Reported |Killed |

|1992 |15 |Not available |Not available |0 |1 |Not available |1 |

|1993 |31 |Not available |212 |0 |3 |4 |7 |

|1994 |65 |Not available |462 |4 |13 |10 |27 |

|1995 |46 |Not available |220 |6 |10 |15 |341 |

|1996 |43 |Not available |138 |11 |4 |17 |362 |

|1997 |64 |34 |256 |13 |6 |9 |303 |

|1998 |44 |22 |232 |21 |11 |12 |44 |

|1999 |35 |14 |253 |21 |11 |12 |44 |

|2000 |49 |16 |124 |124 |74 |6 |25 |

1 Includes three deer taken illegally by poachers.

2 Includes two deer taken illegally by poachers and two deer that died of unknown causes.

3 Includes one deer that died after being hit by hunter and not reported and one deer that died of unknown causes.

4 Includes the 5 females and 1 male killed during the deer health study in October.

Trails – Work has been completed on upgrading the Roanoke Trail with support from a $5,000 grant from the North Carolina Trails Council. We are also designing a series of colorful new interpretive signs for the visitor center and several of the trails. These new signs will be an attractive addition to the preserve, making hiking more informative for visitors and helping to increase their awareness about the importance of the preserve.

Digital Elevation Model – We contracted during the past year with L.R. Kimball & Associates to produce digital elevation model of Nags Head Woods, Jockey’s Ridge and Run Hill. We received the model in early March and are now working with it so that we can use it for a variety of projects. Once we have reviewed it thoroughly, we will share the model Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, Jockey’s Ridge State Park, Dare County and other agencies.

( administration and finance

Staff development – The Nags Head Woods staff continues to be on of the preserve’s strengths. We have placed a high priority on providing training and other growth opportunities for the staff.

( Janet Owen attended the The Nature Conservancy’s national fund-raising conference in Texas.

( Debbie Lewis attended general orientation, data systems and information systems training at the Conservancy’s national office and will soon attend a financial management system training program.

( Rhana Paris attended several professional development programs during the year, including the National Association of Interpretation annual meeting in Arizona.

( Aaron McCall attended the National Association of Interpretation annual meeting in Arizona and received training in prescribed fire and ecological burning.

( Jeff DeBlieu attended the national conference of the Natural Areas Association in Missouri, a program on Geographic Information Systems at Duke University and will soon attend a conference on the conservation of marine biodiversity in California.

( Karen Bachman will the Conservancy’s general orientation and other training programs in coming months.

Nags Head Woods Advisory Board – The Nags Head Woods Advisory Board is also one of our strengths. We believe our board – currently at 17 members – is stronger than it has ever been and provides us with essential representation in the local community. The board has played a central role in developing our plans to expand the education program and to develop a new education center. As our program grows, the board will be increasingly important to our success.

Fund-raising – The preserve’s finances are in excellent condition. Contributions from members and other supporters are growing, as is revenue from other sources such as the Nags Head Woods 5K Run and the Nags Head Woods Benefit Auction. In addition, we have seen healthy increases in the value of the preserve’s endowment funds, which has made it possible to establish a firm financial base for our operations.

During fiscal year 2000, we raised $255,000 to support science, stewardship, education and other programs at Nags Head Woods. The preserve’s endowment provided an additional $84,000 for the year. For the current fiscal year (2001), our operating budget is slightly more than $300,000. For fiscal year 2002, the budget will increase significantly – to about $400,000 – as we begin to roll out the new education program and conduct an aggressive capital fund-raising campaign. Although we will draw additional revenue from the endowment to support a portion of this

( municipal support

The Town of Nags Head allocated $28,000 to The Nature Conservancy to support the conservation program at Nags Head Woods during the current year. We are using $5,000 of this allocation to help pay the architect fees for designing the education center. The remaining funds are being used to support the preserve’s traditional conservation programs. Although it is difficult to place an exact dollar amount on the costs associated with managing the Town-owned portion of the preserve, we estimate these expenses for the current year as follows:

|Reception-interpretation for visitors |$5,000 |

|Literature-interpretive materials for visitors |3,000 |

|Communications and membership services |1,500 |

|Educational programming (including EcoCamps) |12,000 |

|Property monitoring-management |2,500 |

|Trail maintenance |1,000 |

|Science, stewardship and management (including hydrological monitoring, deer management, invasive |12,000 |

|species control) | |

|Planning and negotiation for property protection or acquisition (including appraisal fees for the |3,000 |

|Lake Drive Corp. property) | |

|Administrative costs |3,000 |

|total |$43,000.00 |

All expenses outlined above are associated directly with local operations and do not include those incurred by The Nature Conservancy at the state, regional, and national levels. In addition to those services provided locally, the Conservancy’s other offices have provided support during the past year in the areas of science, property acquisitions, fund-raising, GIS mapping, legal affairs, computer information systems, training and communications.

We thank the Town of Nags Head for its support and look forward to working with you and your staff as we continue to build on our partnership for community-based conservation.

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