North Carolina Reserve

North Carolina Reserve

The Masonboro Banks Component


Flora (plant life), Fauna (animal life) & Endangered Species Tidal Range & River Flow, Soil Types & Geology Cultural History

The largest undisturbed barrier island along the southern part of the North Carolina coast is Masonboro Island, located in New Hanover County between the barrier island towns of Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach. The city of Wilmington lies 5 miles to the northwest. The component is accessible only by boat. The Masonboro site is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the east, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway to the west, Masonboro Inlet to the north and Carolina Beach Inlet to the south. The 8.4 mile long island encompasses approximately 5,046 acres, 87 percent of which are covered with marsh and tidal flats. The remaining 619 acres are composed of beach uplands and dredge material islands. The island is located in the most populous part of the North Carolina coastal area.

Habitat
Isolated eelgrass bed, subtidal softbottoms, intertidal mud and sand flats, regularly-flooded (low) salt marshes, irregularly-flooded (high) salt marshes, shrub thicket, maritime forest, dredge materials and spoil areas, dunes or grasslands and ocean beach.

Watershed
The Cape Fear estuary drains the largest watershed in North Carolina, containing 27 percent of the state's population. The Cape Fear River itself (about 320 km in length) is formed in the Piedmont province by the confluence of the Haw and Deep Rivers in Chatham County. It is joined by two tributaries just upstream of Wilmington: the Black River and the Northeast Cape Fear River. The Black River drainage represents about 17 percent of the Cape Fear drainage system and the Northeast Cape Fear River about 18 percent.