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This Study 



This study was conducted from July to December 1980. 



During July and August, we did preliminary literature 

 searches and mapping. We reviewed the Natural Heritage 

 Program computer print-out on Carteret County, contacted 

 several persons who are knowledgeable about different 

 aspects of the natural areas of the county, reviewed 

 orthophotoquads , 1971-1979 aerial photography, and topo- 

 graphic quadrangles, and reviewed the unpublished Soil 

 and Conservation Service soil survey of the county. We 

 purchased several 1971ASCS aerial photographs for use in 

 field work. Some persons contacted were: Dr. Gene 

 Huntsman, Bob Simpson, Rick Carraway, and Mike Alford — 

 all local outdoorsraen; Dr. Frank Schwartz — ichthyologist 

 at UNC Institute of Marine Sciences; Dr. Julian — 

 herpetologist at College of Charleston, has done much 

 collecting in this county; John Collier — county land 

 surveyor; Susan Schmidt — Office of Coastal Management 

 at Morehead City; and Charles Johnson — invertebrate 

 zoologist at the N.C. Marine Resources Center on Bogue 

 Banks . 



WTiile designating and mapping tentative natural areas, 

 we stressed areas in which significant physical features, 

 plant communities, and special habitats were "clumped". 

 We also thought in terms of a general cross-section of 

 physical and biological features, e.g. what is the best 

 example of Pleistocene beach ridges, Holocene beach 

 ridges, Carolina bays, pocosins, etc. 



On 25 August, we made a systematic two hour flight 

 over the county with the county surveyor, John Collier. 

 We hoped to further evaluate potential naturel areas 

 from the air and to ascertain if all the large roadless 

 areas shown on the most recent State Forest Service map 

 of the county (shows all roads) made in 1978 were still 

 intact. Our flight accomplished the second goal but not 

 the first; we found aerial photographs to be more helpful. 



From the first week of September through November, we 

 surveyed 23 areas we had identified as being of potential 

 interest. We compiled four long reports and 19 short 

 reports on these areas. In general we made long reports 

 for the most significant or most complex areas, and made 

 short reports on the less significant or the "simplest" 

 (although these might be significant) areas — e.g. a 

 tract of pocosin that's primary value is in its large 

 roadless extent. We made no report on one very signifi- 

 cant area — the largest pocosin in Croatan National 

 Forest. However, we did survey three adjacent smaller 



