white cedar stands upstream from Milltail Lake, to the 

 southeast of Sawyer Lake, and to the north and 

 southeast of Whipping Creek Lake are the only ones 

 on the Dare peninsula that are associated with 

 streams or bodies of water. 



The largest monospecific cedar stands of 

 the region are relatively young. Generally they date 

 from the period of intense timber harvest that ended 

 before 1920; most of the stands that regenerated ear- 

 lier than the 1 920's have been harvested again or are 

 under contract to be cut. The majority of the acces- 

 sible pure stands are composed of trees 23 cm or 

 less in diameter; stands with an average diameter of 

 less than 25 cm are not economical to harvest today. 

 If they are within 425 m of a road, pure stands as small 

 as 4 ha are economical to harvest (G. Henderson, 

 pers. comm.). Remnants of older age-class stands 

 occasionally border clear-cuts. The largest and 

 oldest white cedars in Dare County are found in ma- 

 ture non-alluvial swamp forests, where they co- 

 dominate the canopy with the lowland conifers bald 

 cypress, loblolly pine, and pond pine. Black gum is 

 the most important hardwood species of this as- 

 sociation in terms of frequency and percent cover 

 Individual cedars range from 46 to 69 cm in diameter 

 and from 24 to 27 m in height. At many sites, majestic 

 straight-trunked cedars tower above the surrounding 

 mixed hardwood/conifer swamp forest. 



Recent establishment of the dense cedar 

 stands here, as in other parts of the species' range, 

 has commonly followed removal of competing 

 vegetation by clearcutting of similar stands or of 

 mixed swamp forest. The type of hydric soil, whether 

 a deep or shallow histosol or mineral soil, does not 

 appear to be a major limiting factor to cedar estab- 

 lishment in western mainland Dare County. The 

 hydrological patterns adjacent to the Alligator River 

 seem to affect the development of swamp versus 

 pocosin vegetation, rather than pure versus mixed 

 cedar associations. 



Though old growth canopy specimens 

 predominate, subcanopy and juvenile cedar are also 

 present in the mixed swamp forest (Peacock and 

 Lynch 1982; USFWS 1982; S.W. Leonard and J. 

 Moore, unpubl. field notes). Comparison of white 

 cedar wetlands on the Dare mainland as mapped 

 using 1976 aerial photography (USAGE 1982) with 

 those mapped in 1984 by the National Wetlands in- 

 ventory (USFWS, progress reports) reveal the exten- 

 sive harvest that occurred during that period (Figure 

 40). Cedar continues to be cut under long-term tim- 

 ber contracts. 



7.3.2 Wetlands Classification 



Wetland mapping has been completed for 

 mainland Dare County through a cooperative effort 

 between the National Wetlands Inventory (USFWS) 

 and the North Carolina Department of Natural 

 Resources and Community Development. 



All cedar associations in the Dare region are 

 classified as palustrine wetlands with a saturated 

 moisture regime (Cowardin et al. 1979; and see Sec- 

 tion 1 .2). Water is at or near the surface during most 

 of the growing season, but since standing water is 

 not necessarily present, the wetland character of the 

 cedar forests is not always evident. 



Although some cedar stands do not occur 

 over deep organic soils, the National Wetlands I nven- 

 tory maps use the descriptive symbol "g" (indicating 

 an organic substrate) to separate cedar forests from 

 other wetlands dominated by needle-leaved trees. 

 On the wetlands map, pure and mixed cedar associa- 

 tions as well as the variable canopy composition of 

 mixed associations are reflected in the symbols 

 which indicate the estimated ratio of evergreen to 

 deciduous needle-leaved trees (bald cypress), or to 

 deciduous hardwoods and occasionally, evergreen 

 broad-leaved trees (e.g., loblolly bay [Gordonia 

 lasianthus] or sweet t)ay [Magnolia virginiana]). 



7.3.3 Pure Stands 



The dense, pure white cedar stands of ail 

 age classes are characterized by a distinctive 

 ground-surface layer made up of a jumble of fresh 

 and partly decomposed cedar trunks and intertwined 

 greenbrier {Smilax spp.). Access into the stands is 

 difficult; seemingly solid substrate may collapse 

 under full body weight. Surface water is only occa- 

 sionally evident, though the soil is almost constantly 

 saturated. Where the density of trees is lower, the 

 ground surface is less cluttered and more level, and 

 shallow pools of water are present. A low diversity of 

 associated species is characteristic. Few to no 

 canopy or subcanopy trees interrupt the continuous 

 dark-green cedar foliage. Black gum and, infre- 

 quently, red maple extend into the canopy but are 

 more commonly a part of the subcanopy along with 

 red bay, which varies greatly within and between 

 stands both in height and density. Where the canopy 

 is not completely closed, red bay may form a dense 

 subcanopy above an evergreen shrub layer; oc- 

 casionally it is within the shrub layer (Peacock and 

 Lynch 1982). Generally the density of the shrub layer 

 is determined by the maturity of the canopy, being 

 most dense and impenetrable in the youngest 

 stands. The shrub species present most consistently 

 are fetterbush (Lyonia lucida), highbush blueberry 



73 



