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area will eventually be completely destroyed. Preventing this or 

 reducing its impact can probably only be accomplished through 

 negotiation between the land owners and government. 



Just maintaining the integrity of this area is dependent on 

 the prevention of peat mining and the prevention of further agri- 

 cultural expansion from the north. If this is accomplished, the 

 blockage of only a few roads would prevent human access producing 

 an excellent wilderness sanctuary. Landowners should be contacted 

 and encouraged to register the portions of this area that they know 

 will not be developed. 



22. Rating (County perspective): 



1) high priority 



2) X medium priority 



3) low priority 



State Natural Heritage rating: regional (medium) significance. 



23. Prose statement of site significance 



The Washington-Hyde-Tyrrell pocosin system covers about 125 

 square miles with about 66 square miles in Washington and Hyde 

 counties and the remaining 59 square miles in Tyrrell County. Most 

 of the land in Washington and Hyde counties was converted to agri- 

 culture in the early 1950 's but this project failed and the land is 

 now slowly returning to its original composition. The area des- 

 cribed in this report is part of that original conversion attempt. 

 This section was either abandoned first or has had the least subse- 

 quent disturbance because the vegetation in this area is much 

 better developed than most of the pocosin further west. Con- 

 sidering the amount of modification in this huge pocosin system it 

 seems advisable to place a relatively high preservation priority on 

 any natural or semi-natural portions that are left. 



Pocosins are difficult or imposssible to walk through, they 

 have generally been regarded as economically worthless, and even 

 their ecological significance has been questioned. For these 

 reasons, research on pocosins has long been neglected. This par- 

 ticular area presents the opportunity to develop a much better 

 understanding of one aspect of pocosins, that being, successional 

 change. Due to the pattern of abandonment from agriculture dif- 

 ferent stages of succession are all present in the same general 

 area making this an excellent place to gather this needed data. 



This area in its present condition would make a good wildlife 



sanctuary. It is remote from any state roads and by blocking only 



a few canal roads it could be completely cut off from human inter- 

 vention. 



