lib. Prose Description of Site Significance: 



The Chapel Swamp Natural Area contains the best examples 

 of alluvial floodplain swamp forest and upland hardwood com- 

 munities known in the county. The swamp forest dominated 

 by water tupelo is the only example of that community type 

 known in the county and is also significant because of the 

 old-growth age of the stand and the relative lack of dis- 

 turbance. The upland hardwoods community is equally sig- 

 nificant in that it represents an old-growth, relatively 

 undisturbed example of a climax forest type which is very 

 limited in the outer coastal plain and which has in most 

 regions been almost completely cleared for agriculture. 

 Although the site contains no plant or animal species listed 

 as endangered in the state, it does contain a significant 

 population of silky camellia ( Stewartia malacodendron ) 

 a tall shrub which is uncommon and local in the North 

 Carolina coastal plain, and a breeding population of red- 

 shouldered hawks, a species considered to be threatened 

 throughout the state (Cooper, et al, 1977). The locally 

 rare white-breasted nuthatch, a species of small bird, 

 also occurs on the tract and is one of only three breeding 

 populations known in the county. 



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