11a. Prose Description of Natural Area 



INTRODUCTION 



Located between Lake Mattamuskeet and Pamlico Sound in 

 the southern part of Hyde County, the Gull Rock Game Lands 

 Natural Area encompasses a variety of wetland habitats ranging 

 from hardwood-dominated swamp forest and pond pine pocosin to 

 shrub marsh and brackish marsh systems. This wide band of 

 contiguous wetland habitats forms an uninterrupted transect 

 which begins in the Hydeland sweetgum-mixed hardwoods swamp 

 forest, proceeds through the extensive pond pine pocosins 

 in the central portion of the natural area, and includes an 

 area of open, low shrub pocosin. Beyond that the natural 

 area extends to the Pamlico Sound brackish marshes. 



This wide band of natural wetlands is split into four 

 distinct habitat units based on differences in soils, hydrol- 

 ogy, and fire regime. The four major vegetation associations 

 correlated with each unit are discussed in the following pages 

 along with their soil-habitat relationships, general ecology, 

 and wildlife components. 



The Gull Rock Game Lands natural area, about 10,575 acres 

 in size , is bounded on the east by the Lake Mattamuskeet Out- 

 fall Canal (SR 1164) and on the west by agricultural fields 

 near SR 1122 (in the vicinity of Hydeland) and the Swanguarter 

 National Wildlife Refuge boundary. Much of this immense tract 

 is located within the boundaries of the state-owned Gull Rock 

 Game Lands, but there are also privately-owned tracts along 

 the northern periphery and in the central interior. 



In terms of local topography, the entire natural area is 

 a broad, very poorly drained flat associated with the head- 

 water region of the Juniper Bay Creek drainage system. Overall 

 drainage is poorly developed but water flow appears to be in a 

 southwestward direction into Juniper Bay Creek. Elevation 

 ranges from sea level to about 4 feet. 



Soils of the natural area have been mapped as four dis- 

 tinct soil associations (SCS 1973) . No detailed soil mapping 

 is currently available. These four soil associations occur 

 as wide bands trending generally east-west parallel to the 

 long axis of Lake Mattamuskeet and the Pamlico Sound shore- 

 line. There is a significant correlation between the soil 

 associations and the four habitat units which comprise the 

 natural area. The four soil associations are (north to 

 south) : 



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