Zeke's Island North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve

Part of the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve, Zeke's Island has interpreter led field trips which focus on the importance of estuaries to the North Carolina coast.

Preview your trip on the web: Zeke's Island North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve

Learn more

• The Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds Students can learn about watersheds and how to protect the nation's water resources.
• Estuary Live Video streaming allows you and your students to take live virtual field trips to the Rachel Carson Reserve in Beaufort, NC. The videos archived for use at any time.
• Lesson plan: StreamWatch This lesson is intended as a long term project to determine the overall health of a stream or wetland. Students identify seasonal changes that occur within the ecosystem, ideally with a minimum of bimonthly or monthly monitoring.
• Lesson plan: Changing with the tide Students will learn about and act out the functions of the salt marsh habitat.

Related pages

• Fort Fisher State Recreation Area: The Fort Fisher program introduces students to the habitat and life history of "colonial-nesting coastal birds." The program also focuses on endangered, threatened and special-concern bird species.

• Carolina Beach State Park: Developed in the late 1960s, this state park preserves the unique environment along the Intracoastal Waterway. The Venus Flytrap and other plant life, the dunes, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals are all protected in this special place.
• Currituck Banks: One of the four North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserves, Currituck Banks operates as a living laboratory for research, education and management.

Related topics

• Learn more about New Hanover County, North Caroline, biology and life science, ecology, ecosystems, environment, environmental science, estuaries, fish, habitats, marshes, nature reserves, and science.

Legal

One of 4 National Estuarine Research Reserve sites, Zeke’s Island operates as living laboratories for research, education and management. Zeke’s Island’s lagoon-like complex makes it one of the most unusual areas of the North Carolina coast. There are actually three islands which create this site. Each of them has extensive marshes and tidal flats. Groups may use the open tidal flats as long as they are not disturbed significantly.

Interpreter led field trips are offered to specific Reserve sites depending on accessibility and staff availability. Plan to make your reservations two seasons ahead of time. The entrance for these is on U. S. 421, just north of the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher. Access within the reserve is primarily by private boat while the barrier spit is accessible by foot or off-road vehicle.

For information or to make reservations, call 910-350-2027 or send email to snidera@uncw.edu.