All of the described natural areas in Washington County, with 

 the single exception of Pettigrew State Park, are privately owned. 

 Lake Phelps, a 16,000-acre lake administered by the N.C. Division 

 of Parks and Recreation, is not described in this report. A second 

 natural area not described is the Pungo Lake National Wildlife 

 Refuge. The 10,000 acre refuge contains the lake (2,800 acres) 

 and adjacent altered pocosin and swamp forest lands. A research 

 natural area containing 1,000 acres of low shrub pocosin vegetation 

 is located on the east side of the lake. The primary natural value 

 of the refuge is as a wildlife habitat, principally for wintering 

 and migratory waterfowl. Portions of both Lake Phelps and Pungo 

 Lake Refuge are registered State Natural Heritage Areas. 



THREATS 



As discussed in several places in the following report, 

 the original forests of the county have been entirely removed 

 except for a few scattered remnant tracts or woodlots. The 

 total acreage of the six natural areas represents only 14,169 

 acres, or about 6.5% of the total land area in the county. 

 Large areas have been drained and cleared for agriculture, 

 particularly within the past thirty years. Much of the re- 

 maining area not devoted to row/crop agriculture is managed 

 for loblolly pine production. The remaining natural lands 

 are all threatened by eventual conversion to agricultural 

 or silvicultural production. The only natural areas presently 

 protected are located within the Pettigrew State Park at Lake 

 Phelps. Both the Van Swamp and East Dismal Swamp natural areas, 

 examples of a once extensive wetland swamp forest system, are in 

 immediate danger of being permanently altered by timber interests. 

 The Bull ' s Neck Swamp and Conaby Creek-Roanoke River natural areas 

 are less seriously threatened at the present time. These two areas 

 lie within extensive drainage basins , a factor which has impeded 

 development. The Chapel Swamp natural area, which contains the 

 only example of an upland forest type, is probably the least 

 threatened of the privately owned natural areas. It is also the 

 only one exclusively in family farm ownership. The others are 

 wholly or substantially controlled by large corporations. 



Peat mining is an additional threat to the remaining swamp 

 forest wetlands of the county, particularly those in Van Swamp. 

 Much of southeastern Washington County, which once was an ex- 

 tensive swamp forest and pocosin wetland, has been altered by 

 clearing and drainage operations connected with peat mining 

 operations underway there. 



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