Based on comparative assessments to other natural areas 

 in other North Carolina coastal counties, the DNRCD Natural 

 Heritage Program rates the Tyrrell County natural areas on 

 a statewide perspective as follows: 



Statewide significance (high) 



Upper Alligator River Pocosin 



Regional significance (medium) 



Harvester Road Tall Pocosin 

 Buck Creek Bay Forest 

 Frying Pan White Cedar Stand 

 Upper Alligator River Marsh 



Local significance (low) 



Scuppernong River Swamp 



Albemarle Sound Low Shoreline 



Alligator Creek - Second Creek Swamp Forest 



In addition to this survey report, Drs. Ash and 

 McDonald prepared topographic maps on which they mapped 

 vegetation covers for the entire county. This remark- 

 able "snapshot" of land use in Tyrrell County in the 

 fall of 1980 can be compared to pocosin maps and aerial 

 photographs to document the extraordinarily rapid clear- 

 ing, draining and land conversion activities which have 

 been occurring in Tyrrell County since 1974, 



The Office of Coastal Management, and the Coastal 

 Resources Commission which it serves, implement the 

 Coastal Area Management Act of 1974 (CAMA) . Under this 

 statute, the North Carolina Coastal Management Plan has 

 been prepared and approved. It includes the definition 

 and designation of various Areas of Environmental Concern 

 (AEC) . In some cases, AECs may coincide with natural 

 areas that are herein recommended for preservation or 

 special management. 



Peat mining has particular implications for these 

 natural areas, some of which overlay exploitable peat 

 deposits. Mining will remove natural vegetation, perma- 

 nently alter the hydrology of the region, lower surface 

 soil types from high organic histosoils to the clayey, 

 sandy, and loamy soils typical of other parts of the 

 outer coastal plain. Thus, natural communities, once 

 mining is complete, almost certainly could never be re- 

 established or reclaimed on mined-out land. Preservation 

 of the best natural areas, and appropriate hydrological 

 management, is necessary prior to and during active peat 

 mining. 



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