The property of the Sylvan Heights Waterfowl Park & Eco-Center includes approximately four acres of pristine cypress swamp. From the beginning of the eco-park project, the goal has been to preserve and utilize this area as a resource for wetlands education.

Many species of waterfowl face loss of habitat, reduced egg viability resulting from water pollution and a host of other dangers that could ultimately lead to the extinction of many species. Preservation of four acres of wetlands and their associated eco-systems in their natural state will allow the visitor to envision a powerful conservation message. The program is designed to provide school groups and the general public with entertaining programs demonstrating the ecological importance of wetlands to wildlife and how human actions affect aquatic environments. 

Sylvan Heights plans to build an ADA-approved pathway from the Eco-Center to the wetlands area, with the last portion being an elevated boardwalk leading to an observation platform at the edge of the wetlands. Here students would be within a short distance of the vast diversity of flora and fauna living in and near the water. Students would able to observe some of the animal species that frequent the swamp, such as beavers, a diversity of reptiles and amphibians, raptors and other birds.

Adjacent to the observation platform, a large tree house will be constructed by Forever Young Treehouses, a company which has built similar structures for Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Camps. Standing high among the tall white oaks, the spacious treehouse would provide educators room to conduct informal programs on the importance of wetlands, while maintaining a birds-eye view of the habitat they are studying. A special feature about this structure is that access is completely ADA-approved, so that visitors with special needs are able to take full advantage of this eco-experience.

A program is also planned to safely lead smaller student groups into the swamp itself. This highly interactive ecology-based excursion will allow students to wade into the swamp under the supervision of one of our park educators and conduct field research on some aspect related to the natural history of the wetlands environment.

Sylvan Heights’ Education Coordinator, Dan Louk, is in the beginning stages of developing a Swan Migration Research Program. When implemented, staff and area students will coordinate with researchers to track migration patterns of the Tundra Swan. "Thousands of Tundra Swans make Eastern North Carolina their winter home, so it’s important that we determine how human development may have affected their migration patterns,” said Louk. Wetland areas located just outside of Scotland Neck have become a major winter migration destination for thousands of Tundra Swans.