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SITE DESCRIPTION 



This 300 acre tract (see map 9) consists of about 200 acres of a 

 Pinus palustris / Aristida striata community that lies on wide and low sand 

 ridges, about 50 acres of medium-height pocosin that lies in the inter- 

 ridge swales, and about 50 acres of a poorly defined intergradation of Pinus 

 palustris / Aristida stricta with low pocosin along the southern boundary of 

 the tract. (In this report, we use the term pocosin in the broad sense, 

 i.e., area dominated by broadleaf evergreen shrubs, regardless of the 

 topography of the area. ) 



Ostensibly the tract is nearly level; the slopes between ridges and 

 swales would be imperceptible at most points were it not for the very 

 noticeable differences in plant cover and soil moisture. However, there 

 are moderate slopes at the eastern and western borders of the tract, adjacent 

 to the Peak and Millis "Swamps" (actually bay forests). Along the ridge 

 "crests", the soil is usually xeric; in the swales, only a foot or two lower, 

 there are a few inches of standing water during much of the winter and the 

 soil is usually moist in summer. However, in the early fall of 1980, after 

 a very dry siimmer, the soil surface in the swales, away from Sphagnum cover, 

 was almost dry. 



The sand ridges in this tract are a small part of a large complex of 

 basically NE-SW oriented ridges in this section of the county - the "Ne'^rport 

 Barrier" (see Mixon and Pilkey 1976). Apparently, these ridges are relict 

 beach ridges formed during the last major regression of sea-level in the 

 late Pleistocene. In the study area, the three easternmost ridges are well- 

 defined and definitely lie NE-SW. The ridge pattern in the western half 

 of the tract is more irregular and appears to some extent to be the result 

 of an original more prominent pattern that has been dissected by a drainage 

 system that has developed perpendicularly to the ridge-swale pattern. 

 There appears to be one "partial" Carolina bay at the southern edge of the 

 tract. 



Plant Communities 



The Pinus palustris / Aristida stricta sections of the tract are subjected 

 to prescribed burns about every 3 years. In June 1980, a wildfire swept 

 through the tract, burning the pocosin areas that had not burned for several 

 years. Thus, the physiognomy of this area was slightly different in the 

 fall of 1980 from what it was previously. 



(1) Pinus palustris / Aristida stricta . All canopy height sized trees 

 are Pinus palustris ; trees occur in a generally sparse stand. Canopy height 

 is about TO'; canopy trees are probably mostly about 50 years old. However, 

 the presence of red-cockaded woodpecker cavity trees in the eastern half 

 of the tract suggests that some trees may be up to about 75 years old. The 

 largest trees are not much over 12" D3H. Ver;;- striking is the almost total 

 absence of vegetation at subcanopy and shrub levels. Also striking is the 

 near absence of xerophyllic oaks. In 198O, because of the J'une fire, Aristils 



stricta was especially prominent - about 3 feet tall and fruiting throughout 

 the tract I giving it a prairie appearance). It varied from a dense cover 

 on the ridge slopes to a sparse cover on sections of the ridge centers. 

 Herbaceous species composition varies in a continuum from the ridge centers 

 to the ridge slopes. 



