11a. Prose Description of Site: 



The New Lake Fork Pocosin is a 9300-acre tract of various 

 pocosin habitats located about one mile southeast of Alligator 

 (New) Lake. The predominantly high pocosin vegetation of the 

 tract is associated with a long, finger-like extension of deep 

 peat which occurs along the drainage and headwaters region of 

 the Alligator River. The natural area contains a representative 

 example of high pocosin vegetation which has not been drained 

 and which is contiguous with other pocosin and swamp forest 

 wetlands in the Alligator River drainage corridor. Other poco- 

 sin vegetation types present are pond pine woodland and possibly 

 pond pine forest. These and the high pocosin type are categories 

 of pocosin vegetation proposed by Otte (1981) . His definitions 

 of the types are summarized in Table 1. 



The natural area is bordered on the west and southwest by 

 drained pocosin and cleared fields. The southern border is 

 along the Intracoastal Waterway and the east and north boundary 

 is the New Lake Fork of the Alligator River. 



The entire natural area was intensely burned during the 

 spring of 1982. This fire completely killed about 90% of the 

 pond pines; the remaining 10% were resprouting from the trunk 

 during our visit. At least some sections of the pocosin peat 

 were still burning in August. Smoke rising from a bed of peat 

 near Boundary Road was observed. 



Before the fire the site was dominated by an open stand of 

 low, second-growth pond pines ( Pinus serotina ) , about 15 feet 

 tall with average dbh's of 4-6 inches. Several different age 

 classes of taller pines were also present. Trees in the 30-40 

 foot height range were fairly common but widely scattered. A 

 few old-growth, flat-topped pines 60-70 feet tall were also 

 present. Frequent fires and/or timbering probably removed 

 most of the old-growth trees, leaving a thicker growth of 

 scrubby, second-growth trees. 



The post-fire community has a distinctly different aspect. 

 Standing dead pond pine trunks are numerous and are variable 

 in height depending on age class as discussed in the previous 

 paragraph. This skeleton forest extends along both sides of 

 Boundary Road as far as one can see. 



The shrub layer underneath the pine trunks is very dense , 

 averaging 2-4 feet in height. The fire burned most of the 

 shrub stems to the ground but there was vigorous new growth 

 from root sprouts. Although a close examination of the shrub 



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