land swap good for corolla’s wild horses?

road on the beach
The "beach road" in Carova. Photo courtesy Corolla Beach Music.

Currituck County will get 719 acres in Carova and US Fish & Wildlife will get 383 acres on Knotts Island as the county and federal government trade land. According to Dee Langston writing for the Outer Banks Voice, the deal will add a much needed swath of land to Mackay Island National Wildlife Refuge and the county would gain control over land use in the Carova area. The swap has the potential to help grow the Corolla Wild Horse herd and protect access to Carova on the northern Outer Banks.”If a land swap involving Currituck County, the federal government and The Conservation Fund goes through, people headed to Currituck’s northern beaches won’t have to worry about federal beach driving restrictions preventing them from getting there.

Herd of Corolla Wild horses on the Carova Beach--part of the area of the land swap between USFW and Currituck County. Photos, CWHF
Wild horses on Carova beach. Photo courtesy of the Corolla Wild Horse Fund.

But driving on the beach or arriving by boat will be the only way to access the four-wheel-drive area because the agreement’s terms prohibit construction of a permanent, all-weather road along the drive aisle.”

[box type=”bio”] Get more info about what this land swap will mean over at the Outer Banks Voice.[/box]