■2- 



F) Pocosin/Bay forest. A heterogenous assemblage of community 

 types that can vary considerably in general aspect. All 

 develop in peat soils and are characterized by an impenetrable 

 shrub layer. Areas that are open or have a high canopy 

 dominance of pond pine would be called pocosin. Areas with 

 significant numbers of red bay and loblolly bay would be 

 called bay forest. 



G) Old pine stands. Planted loblolly pines that exceed about 30 

 years. Few such areas are intensively managed so old pine 

 stands have started to develop stratification into canopy, 

 subcanopy, shrub, and herb layers. 



H) Young pine stands. Planted loblolly pines that are less than 

 about 30 years. The pines are still so dense that vertical 

 stratification has not yet developed. 



I) Unmanaged early serai. Most recently logged and abandoned 

 areas in swamp forest. Also used to designate recently 

 disturbed areas anywhere that the future use of the land could 

 not be determined. 



J) Agricultural fields. Land devoted to row crop agriculture. 



K) Urban. 



As reconnaissance and mapping progressed, lists were being compiled 

 of the plants and animals that were encountered. These lists of 227 

 plants and 89 animals (See Tables 1 and 2.) represent only a portion of 

 the natural diversity but they do give an idea of the types of organisms 

 and amount of diversity present. Vouchers are deposited in the ECU 

 herbarium. 



Once mapping was complete, the next task was the selection of 

 potential natural areas. Since the extensive mapping amounted to an 

 initial investigation of all potential areas it was not necessary to 

 designate a large number of areas and then "sift out" those of little 

 potential as might have been done if the initial reconnaissance had been 

 limited to aerial observations or map inspection. Areas were selected 

 on several criteria: a) those areas without recent disturbance that 

 have developed into exemplary examples of Coastal Plain plant 

 communities; 2) those areas that seemed to have potential for harboring 

 rare or endangered organisms; 3) those isolated areas that might serve 

 as wildlife sanctuaries; and, 4) those areas with high scenic or 

 aesthetic value. Naturally enough, each of the selected areas qualified 

 for more than one of the above reasons. As measures of comparison we 

 used our general knowledge of the Coastal Plain and our more extensive 

 knowledge of Tyrrell County. Ultimately some of the selected areas may 

 be found to have only local or regional significance while others, 

 hopefully, will be significant of the state or even national level. 



The site specific investigations of each potential area con- 

 centrated on the development of a good description of that area usually 

 based on quantitative samples. This information could be gathered in a 



