Grant to preserve wetlands

Another piece of the puzzle to preserve Eagles Island as a "green" buffer between Wilmington and the burgeoning suburbs in northern Brunswick County has fallen into place.The New Hanover Soil and Water Conservation District late last month was awarded a $302,000 state grant to purchase 258 acres of mostly wetlands along the western bank of the Cape Fear River.The parcel, like most of Eagles Island, serves as important habitat for migrating waterfowl and the state's only known population of the Rare Skipper butterfly.District Director Shelly Miller said she understands why some might question the need to spend scarce grant dollars on a property that's almost all wet and nearly impossible to access without a boat."But as we've seen with evidence locally, there's always the possibility that wetland regulations can change in the future and this is just too important of a habitat not to protect," she said.Citing the ongoing nature of the negotiations with the district, current property owner V.A. Creech declined to comment on the proposed deal Friday.The district, working with Leland and Cape Fear Resource, Conservation and Development, has already preserved 264 acres on the uninhabited and largely undeveloped island.Much of the rest of the island is already in public hands, with large tracts owned by the N.C. Department of Transportation, state ports and Army Corps of Engineers.But that doesn't mean those parcels couldn't be sold or developed in the future.According to the district's application to the N.C. Natural Heritage Trust Fund, Eagles Island represents the largest area of tidal freshwater marsh habitat in the state.Andy Wood, education director with Audubon North Carolina, said the island fills an important ecological niche in Southeastern North Carolina."It's a pretty spectacular network of marsh habitats interspersed with tidal creeks, so it contains a diverse array of habitat types," he said.Avian visitors to the island include herons, red-winged blackbirds, migrating waterfowl, ospreys, king rails and several songbird species. Other animals found on or around the island, squeezed between the Cape Fear and Brunswick rivers, include deer, alligator and even the occasional bear and bobcat.The marshes and creeks, some of which are old rice canals, also serve as important habitats for many spawning and juvenile fish.Along with its environmental significance, Mike Marsh said Eagles Island is important for another purpose."There's no place like that so near Wilmington that offers those types of hunting opportunities," said the full-time outdoors writer and contributor to the Star-News.Miller said the district has no plans to curtail any recreational or hunting access to the site.She added that the district's long-term vision for Eagles Island, in conjunction with other state and local environmental groups, is to create a protected area that could be a magnet for wildlife, sportsmen and, potentially, eco-tourists with a canoe or kayak trail network.