11a. Prose Description of Site: 



Roper Island is part of an extensive wetland corridor 

 along the Alligator River in the northern portion of Hyde 

 County. The most extensive natural lands remaining in the 

 county occur along this corridor which stretches from the 

 New Lake Fork Pocosin natural area on the west across Roper 

 Island, and to the Alligator River-Swan Lake natural area 

 on the east, a distance of over 21 air-miles. When com- 

 bined the three natural areas encompass over 35,000 acres. 



The Roper Island natural area is about 9500 acres in 

 size. It is located in a wide bend of the Alligator River, 

 which forms a natural boundary on three sides. The southern 

 boundary is along the Intracoastal Waterway (IWW) , a man- 

 made channel constructed during the 1930' s creating Roper 

 Island (see map) . Much of the land across the IWW from the 

 island was formerly pocosin and swamp forest but has now 

 been cleared for agriculture. Lands opposite the Alligator 

 River (in Tyrrell County) from the natural area are generally 

 forested wetlands although former wetlands in the vicinity of 

 Gum Neck are now in agriculture. 



The Alligator River channel upstream from the Northwest 

 Fork confluence is a typical coastal plain blackwater stream 

 characterized by a series of sharp meanders. The slow-moving 

 river maintains a channel width of about 400-500 feet in this 

 section. Three small blackwater streams drain into this sec- 

 tion of the river along the western side of Roper Island. 

 These streams originate h to h mile in the island interior. 



Downstream from the Northwest Fork confluence, the Alli- 

 gator River widens considerably to about 1500-3000 feet and 

 becomes an embayed estuarine stream. The river continues to 

 widen gradually to the confluence of the IWW at the extreme 

 eastern end of the natural area. 



The topography of Roper Island is essentially flat. 

 Elevation of the natural portions ranges from sea level 

 along the river, to about four feet msl. The only signifi- 

 cant topographic relief on the island is along the IWW spoil 

 banks where the elevation reaches 8 feet msl. This sandy 

 spoil bank varies from 100-300 yards wide and is approxi- 

 mately seven miles long, paralleling the north bank of the 

 IWW. 



The remainder of the island is dominated by peaty sands 

 and shallow to deep peats. 



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