Willow Pond
"I've spent a many a-hour in this place. It used to be full of quawks, night herons, ducks and geese of all kinds..." remembers David Yeomans. "It was big place and we'd come down here at night just to hear the birds. There was not a boy-youngern' on Harkers Island that didn't spend time hunting in Willow Pond."
David Yeomans, Harkers Island native
View this slide presentation which will give you a glimpse of the work that has taken place over the past several years to restore the Willow Pond.
Willow Pond - From the beginning ...
The Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center’s Willow Pond restoration and surrounding interpretive trails has given a new generation of young and old alike the opportunity to enjoy Willow Pond again, but for a much different purpose ... to learn!
Now, with increased appreciation for waterfowl and the changes in environmental conditions along the coast, the new focus for Willow Pond will be education, beauty, and providing a "safe harbor" for migrating waterfowl and shorebirds. This natural, freshwater pond allows the museum's interpretive programming to include the complete story from live ducks to decoys, the importance of providing clean and safe areas for our wildlife, and work toward increasing knowledge and appreciation for our natural coastal communities.
This feature of the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center gives museum staff, volunteers and visiting teachers a very important opportunity to carry the museum beyond the doors of the building and beyond collections of artifacts to the outdoors, where the story of waterfowling was --- and where the future of waterfowl is.
Along North Carolina's coast, where a rapidly changing environment is threatening wetlands and reducing clean and safe habitat areas, restoring sites specifically for native wildlife is becoming increasingly important. The Willow Pond project not only allows the ducks, geese, birds, and other species a place to rest and feed, but allows museum visitors the unique opportunity to see these beautiful creatures in their native habitat. Trails around the pond carry students, visitors, artists, photographers and researchers beyond the pond through maritime forest and onto Cape Lookout National Seashore’s soundside trails overlooking Core Sound, Brown’s Island and the marshes on the north side of Harkers Island.
This educational resource has been made possible through the financial support of the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, Ducks Unlimited, NC Wildlife Habitat Foundation, Tourism Cares for Tomorrow, Carteret County Community Foundation and the Hagan Family. Community volunteers include the Master Gardeners of Carteret County, Boy Scout Troop 252 of Davis, the Carteret County Wildlife Club and others who make sure the pond and trails are always ready for visitors. Cape Lookout National Seashore staff has also been instrumental in the planning, development and maintenance of the Willow Pond & Trails. The Willow Pond welcomes visitors daily until dark.