Huge preserve is Audubon’s main focus in Corolla

Mark Buckler is a quiet, devoted wildlife advocate who serves as director of the Audubon’s Pine Island sanctuary. He is not the kind of person who would relish being at the center of a controversy.

Try to engage him in the politics of environmentalism in our region and he becomes uncomfortable. It’s not that he’s afraid to defend the mission of Audubon. It’s just that he’d rather talk about birds, flowers and wildlife and what his employer is doing to help preserve that habitat.

He obtained his B.S. in wildlife biology from the University of Vermont, and has 20-plus years of experience in coordinating and conducting field research as well as 15 years serving as a high school teacher in biology and ecology. An avid photographer, he has just published a book of his work along with a local photographer.

I met Buckler at the Audubon site in Pine Island on a beautiful, sunny Outer Banks day. His “office” is a house that was part of Earl Slick’s old hunting lodge and family compound. The first thing we did was take a quick tour in Buckler’s four-wheel-drive vehicle along some dirt and sand trails.

Buckler is quick to point out signs of nature. He points to the ground: “turtle nest raided by raccoons.” We stop and view some impoundments that Audubon, like Pea Island to the south, can flood during migration to provide a haven for wading birds such as stilts and avocets. They will also attract pintails, black ducks, even some red heads and other species.

A red-shouldered hawk swoops past as we drive along, expertly dodging the trees and branches until he lands within sight of our vehicle. Red-bellied woodpeckers undulate across the now dry impoundment.

Along the marsh areas, Buckler tells me Virginia, clapper and sora rails reside, a favorite species for birding enthusiasts. He is hoping surveys will also reveal the presence of the elusive black rail. Several species of owl are present, warblers “fall out” here on their way northward after migrating from Central America and the Caribbean.

Next we board a boat and head out into the sound. An osprey circles at the same time one of those ubiquitous airplanes pulling advertising banners advertises a local restaurant.


Within the ownership of Audubon’s sanctuary are 2,000 acres of marsh, 600 acres of upland, maritime forest and countless islands. The tract is so large it includes areas of Currituck’s mainland near Narrows Island.

While much of the sanctuary is closed to the public, Audubon allows existing duck blinds and hunt clubs on the islands to continue. And boaters fish freely in the waters near the islands. Buckler reiterates Audubon “has no conflict with responsible hunting” and also told me he has solicited help from Ducks Unlimited specialists to help Audubon maintain the duck habitat.

Anglers will benefit from the maintenance of small creeks, marsh grasses and other areas necessary for fry fish to hide, feed and mature into those “keepers” visitors and locals spend thousands of dollars to pursue.

In short, this west side habitat contains numerous distinct coastal habitats and protects several rare species of flora and fauna in addition to providing a rest area for migratory birds and even butterflies. One can go miles without encountering any evidence of development. And, for much of the park, public access is restricted or denied, giving wildlife an unfettered existence, at least as far as humans are concerned.

Across the street, on the 13 acres Audubon has under contract for sale, the habitat is not much different than the already developed beach habitat to the north and south. In fact, most of the grasses and flowers I found in walking along the road frontage I was able to locate on the grounds of the adjacent Hampton Inn, including some flowers happily growing alongside the hotel’s dumpster inside cracks in the asphalt.

Along the beach, the same shorebirds present in the developed areas were within the confines of the Audubon land, including the seagulls and terns sitting along the hotel beach. Nothing is there to stop beachgoers from traversing or even setting up on the beach in front of the Audubon parcel.

In short, all Audubon owns is 1,000 feet of land between the asphalt of the Hampton Inn and the mansions of Pine Island, where paved cul de sacs, driveways and swimming pools with decks cover the landscape. Beyond the dune, the same state easements apply to their property providing access to the mean high-tide line, and east of that, the beach is state property.

The distance from the hotel to the next portion of the Pine Island residential development is relatively small. For the money Audubon hopes to make from the sale of land they consider too hemmed in by development to maintain distinct species, Buckler hopes to improve the quality of the impoundments, conduct field research and build suitable habitat for researches to learn more about the vast holdings on the west side of the road.

All told, the 13 acres offered for sale to a development company planning to build a hotel, condominiums and shops comprise less than 1 percent of the total Audubon holdings in the area.

When asked if selling this land is somehow hypocritical given Audubon’s actions in Hatteras, where the organization wants to greatly restrict human access to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Buckler is not defensive. Audubon’s mission, according to Buckler, has been consistent: “Achieve the best possible conservation outcome” given the situation. “In some cases that means protecting a resource, in some cases, it means leveraging the value,” he said, to achieve a better outcome elsewhere.

Given that Audubon found the southern tract of its original oceanfront holding not worthy of environmental concern, it readily swapped that land for habitat considered more valuable to the group — the west side along the sound.

From Buckler’s vantage point, the situation is no different today. Instead of swapping the land, Audubon is selling the parcel, but the goal is to improve and maintain the habitat that was always more valuable to the conservationists — the completely undeveloped 2,600 acres of land bordering and contained within 5,000 acres of Currituck Sound waters. And without that original swap, a significant part of Pine Island subdivision would not be there to challenge the current sale in court.

Audubon opposed any development of the area prior to the 1980s. Once N.C. 12 was built and the dam broke, Audubon has been waging a rear-guard action. For two decades now, Audubon has swapped oceanfront holdings for development to add to its west-side habitat.

Part One: Audubon’s benefactor in Corolla wore two hats »

Part Two: Pine Island leads the fight against hotel project »

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