least formerly, the seasonal high water table ranged up to 

 about the one foot depth over much of the site. Today, the 

 upper layers of the organic soils covering the area remain 

 dried out throughout much of the year. These generally 

 drier conditions are coupled with an absence of fire pro- 

 vided by the buffering effect of nearby fields. Sweetgum, 

 a typical "weed" tree which often invades heavily cut-over 

 or drained swamps, is now present within the natural area. 

 It is not known to occur in undrained palustrine swamp forests 

 in other areas of the Alligator River corridor. Probably this 

 species is a recent "invader" on the site. It is also a com- 

 petitor with cypress, and because of its less exacting germin- 

 ation requirements and fast-growth, it will likely increase 

 as the cypress gradually die out from natural diseases and 

 other causes. 



The prognosis for the natural area is not a good one. 

 Currently the site represents an excellent example of a 

 climax swamp forest palustrine wetland, and is probably 

 the nearest thing to virgin timber remaining in Hyde County. 

 It is a stand which is probably representative of the original 

 Alligator River swamp forests of Hyde and Dare Counties before 

 the advent of extensive logging operations. However, in a long- 

 term sense the stand is dying. In a large, unaltered and un- 

 drained wetland system a stand such as this might be expected 

 to continue indefinitely, if natural wildfires and other natural 

 conditions were allowed to exist. The present situation is far 

 from natural conditions. As already mentioned, the stand has 

 been almost completely isolated by adjacent land clearing oper- 

 ations. The natural hydrological patterns have been altered. 

 The stand now is even acting as a wind-borne sediment trap. 

 Large amounts of fine-grained peat and silt particles collect 

 on the leaves of the .vegetation, blown in from adjacent fields. 



Because of these man-induced conditions which appear to 

 be permanent and probably intensifying in the future , the 

 natural area is not given a high priority for protection, 

 although it is still considered a significant remnant example 

 of a swamp forest wetland. 



The soils within the natural area are mapped as the Dare- 

 Pungo-Dorovan association, very poorly drained soils with thick 

 to moderately thick organic surface layers which range from 

 51 to over 91 inches in depth (SCS, 1973). Soil Series desig- 

 nation for the natural area proper has not been made but it is 

 likely to be Pungo, classified as dysic, thermic Typic Medis- 

 aprists (based on soil mapping data from adjacent Dare County; 

 Barnes, 1981) . These deep peat soils are prominant throughout 

 much of the Alligator River corridor in Hyde, Dare, and Tyrrell 

 Counties. 



53 



