Cape Lookout National Seashore
| Cape Lookout National Seashore | |
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IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
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| Cape Lookout Lighthouse
Cape Lookout Lighthouse
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| Location | Outer Banks, Carteret County, North Carolina, United States |
| Nearest city | Harkers Island, NC |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Area | 28,243 acres (11,430 ha)[1] |
| Established | March 10, 1966 |
| Visitors | 508,116 (in 2011)[2] |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
Cape Lookout National Seashore preserves a 56-mile (90-km) long section of the Southern Outer Banks, or Crystal Coast, of North Carolina, USA, running from Ocracoke Inlet on the northeast to Beaufort Inlet on the southeast. Three undeveloped barrier islands make up the seashore - North and South Core Banks and Shackleford Banks. The seashore includes two historic villages on Core Banks, Shackleford's wild horses, and the Cape Lookout Lighthouse, which has a black-and-white diamond pattern. A visitors center for the seashore is located on Harkers Island.
The National Park Service, as part of their Centennial Initiative celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2016, is planning to rehabilitate the Lighthouse and restore the Cape Lookout and Portsmouth Village Historic Districts.[3]
History
The National Seashore was authorized on March 10, 1966. It was named a North Carolina Natural Heritage Area on May 23, 1986. The seashore was designated the Carolinian-South Atlantic Biosphere Reserve on June 16, 1986. Near noon on September 9, 2007, Tropical Storm Gabrielle made landfall at this exact point with winds of 60 mph (97 km/h). Damage was light but flooding and beach erosion affected this lookout. On August 27, 2011, Hurricane Irene made landfall near Cape Lookout as a Category 1 storm with 85 mph sustained winds. Hurricane Arthur also made landfall near Cape Lookout as a Category 2 storm with 100 mph sustained winds.
Laws
The Corolla Wild Horses Protection Act (H.R. 126;113th Congress), if passed, would take wild horses from herds on the Cape Lookout National Seashore and introduced them to the herds in the Currituck National Wildlife Refuge in order to ensure genetic viability.[4]
Wildlife
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Core Banks - Tern - 01.JPG
Common tern Sterna hirundo driving intruders away from the nest site.
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Core Banks - Black Skimmer nesting site - 3.JPG
Black skimmer Rynchops niger nesting site near Cape Lookout Point at southern tip of Core Banks
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Core Banks - American Oystercatcher - 1.JPG
American oystercatcher Haematopus palliatus
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Core Banks - Pelican.JPG
Brown pelican Pelecanus occidentalis
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Core Banks - Gull - 03.JPG
Laughing gull Leucophaeus atricilla
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Core Banks - Egret - 2.JPG
Great egret Ardea alba
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Core Banks - Shark.JPG
Small shark
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Live lightning whelk Busycon contrarium
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Core Banks - Hermit Crab - 2.JPG
Hermit crab, possibly flat-clawed hermit crab Pagurus pollicaris in a shell of knobbed whelk Busycon carica
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Core Banks - Moon Snail.JPG
Shark eye moon snail Neverita duplicata in a shallow water on a sand bar
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Core Banks - Fiddler Crab.JPG
Fiddler crab
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Core Banks - Green Anole - 1.JPG
Carolina anole Anolis carolinensis
Bibliography
- The National Parks: Index 2001–2003. Washington: U.S. Department of the Interior.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Notes
External links
- Official NPS website: Cape Lookout National Seashore
- Cape Lookout Studies Program
