Many visitors to the Island want to know where are the best places to see wildlife.  For variety and consistency I would have to say the Dungeness area on the south end of Cumberland, especially the quarter mile stretch between the Miller Greene cemetery and the beach.  Within this relatively short distance several Island eco-systems come together to create a bottleneck effect where animals from these converging habitats live together in close proximity.  At the center of this wildlife corridor is a boardwalk that borders a tidal creek and saltmarsh.  During high tides, Bottle nosed dolphins will sometimes move up this creek to feed.  In the warmer months, both alligators and manatees also frequent the waterway as well.  At low tide the creek is greatly reduced in size leaving a large area of exposed oyster beds and mud flats.  This is when wading birds and some shore birds move in to feed.  Raccoons find a buffet of things to eat here but are most often found digging fiddler crabs along the mud flats.  Occasionally river otters can be seen catching fish and blue crabs that congregate in the deeper areas of the creek at low tide.

Much of what happens in a saltmarsh eco-system can be observed from the south side of the boardwalk, but turning to the north side the vegetation of a maritime forest borders these wetlands.   Large live oak and red cedar trees grow here and are interspersed with a profusion of under growth that attracts a great variety of migratory song birds in the spring and autumn months.  Leaving the boardwalk on the east end, visitors are surprised to see the remnants of a maritime forest that was killed by migrating sand; here the twisted remains of dead live oak trees reach up through the sands of the large active dune that killed them.  This surreal landscape is a favorite location for photographers as a foot trail to the beach winds through the area.  A number of game trails also converge in this crossing zone between the habitats of saltmarsh, maritime forest, inter-dune meadows and the nearby beach.  The mostly night time activities of animals can be seen etched in the sand every morning.  This is an area we cover with our early morning birding tours that can quickly turn into tracking tours, depending on the amount of animal use the night before.  The easy to observe signs left here by wildlife tell a revealing and often dramatic story.  Signs of fighting, mating, searching for food and territorial marking with scat are just part of the story.  It’s easy to see which animals travel between habitats in this location and how often they pass through.  Understandably, reptiles such as lizards, snakes and alligators are only active during the warmer months.  But even then, their use of this cross over is infrequent.  Bobcats and coyotes hunt the area year round but may not be seen for intervals of up to a month.  However raccoons, opossums, armadillos and deer leave tracks almost every night:  especially raccoons.  This is one animal that really thrives on Cumberland because it can find food in all of the various habitats on the Island, while there are plenty of suitable den trees in the forest area as well.

In an area with s0 much wildlife I often think about the carrying capacity of the eco-systems they are a part of.  In other words, the number of species and the numbers within each species these areas can support.  This is an exercise for trained wildlife biologists but most people can understand that a natural area will only accommodate a certain number of animals.  If these numbers are exceeded; starvation, disease and damage to the habitat itself soon follows.  National Park lands such as Cumberland are managed to maintain a natural balance of native species.  This may include re-introducing native predators that were exterpated earlier in order to control prey species that can overpopulate.  Proper wildlands management also includes removing non-native species that upset the natural balance that developed over evolutionary time.  The Park Service also recognized the impact humans can have.  That is why they have a limit on the number of people allowed to visit the Island on a daily basis.

I wonder if scientists will ever identify the human carrying capacity for coastal eco-systems in relation to the heavy development that is occurring along the east coast, and will the government ever regulate these numbers?  One thing I know for sure, is that after talking with thousands of visitors to Cumberland over the years there is a growing awareness of what is being lost to development in other coastal areas.