THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 30, 1994 TAG: 9406300562
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940630 LENGTH: COROLLA
The decision by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, announced Wednesday by a member of the Corolla Wild Horse Fund, culminates a five-year effort to protect the horses and clears the way for construction of the fence north of Corolla.
{REST} The estimated 22 wild horses will be corralled away from the more populated Corolla beach subdivisions and on to 1,800 acres of government-controlled land.
``I'm very happy,'' said Rowena Dorman, sanctuary officer of the Wild Horse Fund. ``We can't wait to build the fence.''
The group will meet Tuesday with the Division of Coastal Management about construction guidelines. Bids then will be solicited for the fence's construction, Dorman said. No cost estimate is available yet.
Under an agreement reached with the county, the Wild Horse Fund will pay to extend an existing fence that marks the southern end of Currituck Banks Estuarine Research Reserve north of Corolla - and the northern end of N.C. Route 12.
The fence will include a cattleguard to allow four-wheel drive vehicles to continue to drive to the state's northern beaches, a gate on the beach for emergency vehicles and passageways for people walking along the beach.
The completed 4-foot-high wood-and-wire fence will be about one mile long.
The wild horses have moved south in recent years, attracted to Corolla by grass planted at homes.
The herd has been allowed to roam throughout the Currituck County beach communities at will.
The horses have become a favorite attraction for annual visitors who rent cottages at the Currituck County beach communities and the hundreds who climb to the top of the Corolla lighthouse each day.
But as development continues on the northern beaches, concerns for the horses' safety mount. Since 1989, at least 15 horses have died after being hit by motorists.
The Corps of Engineers notified the county of its decision to authorize construction of the fence in a June 24 letter.
The plan faced opposition from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, whose representatives fear the additional horses will damage valuable waterfowl habitat, nests of the endangered piping plover and stands of a threatened dune plant, the seabeach amaranth, found on some of the federal refuge lands.
Earlier this year, the Coastal Resources Commission, a panel that regulates development along the state's coast, gave its permission for the horse fund to build the fence.
The state and county plan to study the effects that moving the herd north to federal- and state-owned land might have on the vegetation and wildlife there while they develop a management plan for the wild horses.
The study and plan development are expected to take at least three years.
by CNB