11a. Prose Description of Site: 



INTRODUCTION 



The East Dismal Swamp Natural Area is a 1630-acre tract 

 containing a mixture of bottomland hardwoods and swamp forest 

 vegetation situated on a poorly drained upland flat along the 

 western margin of the Pamlico Terrace. The natural area con- 

 tains the best remaining example in Washington County of re- 

 latively undisturbed natural vegetation within the once vast 

 upland swamp and pocosin wetland complex known as the East 

 Dismal Swamp. 



It should be noted here that the natural area was dis- 

 covered at a rather late date during the course of field work. 

 Consequently, the authors were unable to survey the vegetation 

 communities and other biological aspects of the site with the 

 same amount of time and detail other natural areas received. 

 However, an initial assessment of the site's ecological sig- 

 nificance was determined, based on observations made during 

 a single site visit. The conclusion is that the site is of 

 medium to high significance due to the relatively undisturbed, 

 old-growth condition of the plant community and its status as 

 the only known well-preserved example of a swamp forest eco- 

 system remaining in the East Dismal Swamp. Further field 

 work is urgently needed to document and substantiate the 

 significance of the site which, based on preliminary obser- 

 vations, appears to have countywide or regional significance. 



Pre-1950 topographic maps show the East Dismal Swamp 

 covering almost all of Washington County from Lakes Phelps 

 and Pungo west to the Union Chapel Scarp (N. C. Highway 32) , 

 and from U. S. Highway 64 south into Beaufort County. 



During the 1950' s much of this swamp was drained, cleared, 

 and converted to agricultural production by "super-farm" cor- 

 porations. The remaining small blocks of wooded land have 

 either been drained and converted to pine plantations by the 

 timber industry or have been almost completely cut -over, 

 leaving a heavily disturbed woodland bearing little, if any, 

 resemblance to the swamp forest wetland system which once 

 covered this region. 



The original extent of the East Dismal Swamp in Washington 

 County alone is estimated to have comprised at least 70,000 

 acres. This figure is based on the wetland soil acreage de- 

 rived from the county's general soils map (SCS 1981). Using 



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