PREFACE 



The North Carolina Office of Coastal Management and the North 

 Carolina Natural Heritage Program, both units of the Department of Natural 

 Resources and Community Development, have commissioned a series of 

 natural areas inventories for ten counties in the coastal zone of this 

 state. The Gates County inventory was conducted in 1981 and was financed 

 by a Coastal Energy Impact Program (CEIP) grant. CEIP funded the Gates 

 County survey because of the potential environmental impacts of energy- 

 related development. 



The recommendations made in this report are by Cecil C. Frost. His 

 inventory and recommendations are designed to help state and federal 

 agencies, county officials, resource managers, landowners and developers 

 work out effective land management and preservation mechanisms to protect 

 the seven outstanding or exemplary natural areas described in this report. 

 Agencies such as the N. C. Division of Environmental Management, Division 

 of Land Resources, Division of Marine Fisheries Service, Wildlife 

 Resources Commission, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and 

 Environmental Protection Agency should find this report useful, as may 

 university researchers, private consultants, and private conservation 

 groups. The Office of Coastal Management will use the report in assessing 

 permit applications and for federal and state consistency reviews. 



Cecil Frost is an experienced field biologist, with initmate 

 familiarity with Gates County. The former ranger-naturalist for 

 Merchants Millpond State Park is a candidate for a doctorate in botany 

 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The investigator 

 was exceptionally well qualified to identify, describe, and evaluate the 

 most outstanding natural areas of Gates County. 



The project investigator was instructed to identify those natural 

 areas that contain highly unique, endangered, or rare natural features, or 

 highest quality representations of relatively undisturbed natural 

 habitats. The investigator was instructed to include the portion of the 

 Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Gates County in his survey report 

 because the state's scientific community is generally unfamiliar with the 

 ecological resources of the refuge. 



The Natural Heritage Program is most pleased to have had this 

 opportunity to conduct this project for the Office of Coastal Management. 

 The inventory has documented a number of high-quality natural areas that 

 possess natural elements of statewide priority and are important parts of 

 North Carolina's natural diversity. The Natural Heritage Program hopes 

 that these areas will be protected for the benefit of present and future 

 generations of North Carolinians and for the preservation of the state's 

 truly exceptional natural heritage. 



Charles E. Roe, Coordinator 

 N. C. Natural Heritage Program 

 November 16, 1982 



