Name of area: Orton Pond ?Iatura.l Area 

 County: JErunswick 



Location description: Orton Fond is reached by travelling 12.^ miles 

 south on highway ?'C 153 fror. its junction with highway US 17, to the 

 roint --/here the ro?,d forks; proceed l.'i- niles south on the left-hand 

 fork (S.S. 1529), at which point the road crosses the Orton Pond dam. 

 The Orton Fond ."Jatural Area is bordered on the north and west by TIC 133» 

 on the sDuth by the Sunny Point y.ilitary Ocean Terminal (KCTSU), and 

 exce-ot in the ir.nediate Orton Creek (dan) vicinity, on the cast by S.IJ, 

 I529I 



Elevation: Sea level to 15 ra (50 ft.) above sea level. 



Topographic quad map reference: Carolina Beach 



Ownership information: Kenneth M. Sprunt 



1726 Fairway Drive 

 '.-.'ilnington, 11. C. 23^03 



1:24000 (maT3 attached) 



or Orton Plantation 



Clarendon, :i.C. 25^32 



Report prepared by; 



Ti:nothy D. Nifon^'^ 

 Box 29, Coker Hall 

 Dept. of Botany, U!IC 

 Chapel Hill, N.C, 2751^ 



Zd-ar P. Roberts, Jr. 

 2710 Bartrar, Road 

 Winston-Salem, N.C. 2710^ 



Other persons knowledgeable about the site: 



Dr. James F. Parnell ,. 



;• Der.t. of Biolof-y, UNC-V/ 



,. . • yiimington, N.C. 28401 



Current use and protection status: 



The entire Orton Pond area is privately owned and under private adn:in- 

 istration, and is zealously guarded against outside trespass or other unau- 

 thorized use of the area. It is probable that it is this very close atten- 

 tion which has allowed this unique area to remain in a relatively undisturbed 

 state as compared to the surrounding area, and which has perpetuated the 

 high site quality relative to vegetational communities, as well as actual 

 and potential wildlife usage. 



Orton Pond itself is used pri:;:arily for hunting and fishing by a small 

 number of individuals, which has very little lasting impact on the area. 

 No other human activities in the area are known, although it is ^^robable 

 that some merchantible timber either exists or has been harvested adjacent 

 to the upper reaches of the pond. 



It is quite possible that some future detrimental effects could occur 

 among the plant and animal species assemblages that occupy the Tom's Branch 

 arm of Orton Pond, as a result of saline contamination resulting from 

 s^lt seepage into the groundwater from spoils material deposited b;- the 

 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the drainage areas adjacent to Tom's 



173 



