11 A. Prose description of site: 



Chowan Swamp is a continous wetland forest, overlying a 

 peat deposit along the southern boundary of Gates County. It 

 extends from the point at which the Chowan River bends eastward 

 around the southwestern corner of the county, to the Chowan 

 County line. The average width is about 3 miles. 



All of the natural area studied lies within boundaries of 

 several tracts of land which have just come into public ownership 

 within the past 10 years. These are the Forestry Foundation 

 property, consisting of 3,800 acres on both sides of the mouth of 

 Bennett's Creek; 6,500 acres (in 3 tracts) purchased with funds 

 for Merchants Mill Pond State Park, and the land donated to the 

 Wildlife Resources Commission just west of US 13, consisting of 

 about 900 acres. Collectively, this 11,000 acres comprises over 

 12 miles of shoreline along the Chowan River. 



The natural area can be divided into four broad ecosystem 

 categories: swamp forest, which includes over 90% of the site; 

 the mesic islands described later; the two freshwater marshes 

 at the mouth of Bennett's and Sarem Creeks, and the mesic slopes 

 of the escarpment forming the transition between swamp and 

 adjacent sandy uplands. The marshes have the greatest species 

 diversity to be found in the swamp, and include such unusual 

 wetland species as Zizaniopsis miliacea (southern wild rice) and 

 Spartina pectinata (freshwater cordgrass) . 



A variety of studies of the area have been carried out by 

 several agencies. Deyle and Smith (1976) explored the State Park 

 properties for two days and prepared a report for the Department 

 of Natural and Economic Resources. Wilkinson (1978) submitted a 

 site report on a portion of the same properties to NC Natural 

 Heritage Program staff. Pitchford and Stuart (1978) inventoried 

 aquatic and wetland plant species of Sarem and Bennett's Creek 

 marshes, and submitted a report to Lytton J. Musselman in 

 fulfillment of class requirements for Biology 418 at Old Dominion 

 University in Norfolk. Mead and Gammon (1981) mapped the regional 

 vegetation of the area including Chowan Swamp, on a scale of 

 1:24,000, using color infrared aerial photography. A report has 

 been prepared by a study group at NC State University (Kaplan 

 et al. 1978) on the potential for development of an environmental 

 education and study center adjacent to the 3,800 acre Forestry 

 Foundation property. The most detailed vegetation study to date 

 was carried out in 1980 and 1981 by Snead and Frost (results 

 reported in the present study (Fig. 16). 



164 



