- 2 - 



Public lands that contain significant areas of 

 physical features, plant communities, and special habitats 

 are Cape Lookout National Seashore (generally unaltered 

 barrier islands); Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge 

 (vast area of mostly unaltered irregularly-flooded salt 

 marsh-brackish marsh) ; Croatan National Forest (Pleistocene 

 relict beach ridge complex with Carolina bays, pocosin, 

 freshwater ponds, exemplary longleaf pine savannah); 

 Theodore Roosevelt Natural Area (Holocene relict beach 

 ridge complex vegetated with maritime forest and other plant 

 communities) . 



Previous Work on Natural Areas of County 



Being the site of one or more marine science labora- 

 tories since the turn of the century, Carteret County 

 has long had a wealth of literature dealing with the 

 marine biology and ecology of the area. However, broad 

 studies of terrestrial sites and land plants and animals 

 have begun only recently. The broadest (in terms of 

 area covered) studies we have seen are Engels (1952) 

 (vertebrate animals of Shackleford Banks); Fisher (1962) 

 (geology of all former inlet sites); Fisher (1967) 

 (geology of relict beach ridges on mainland and barrier 

 islands); Au (1969) (ecology, plant communities, plant 

 species lists of Shackleford Banks); Godfrey and Godfrey 

 (1976) (geology and ecology of Core and Shackleford 

 Banks); Mixon and Pilkey (1976) (detailed geology of 

 majority of county); Fussell (1978) (plant communities 

 and terrestrial verebrate animals of Bogue Banks); 

 Osborn and Custer (1978) (thorough censuses and maps 

 of all wading bird colonies in 1975 and 1976); Synder 

 (1978) (plant ecology, plant communities of portion 

 of Croatan National Forest); Parnell and Soots (1979) 

 (thorough censues and maps of all waterbird colonies in 

 1977). In addition to these major papers, we have in 

 the past and as part of this study gone over many 

 (probably hundreds) papers dealing either directly or 

 indirectly with the geology and biology of the county. 



Our primary source of information regarding the 

 numerous localities of endangered, threatened, and other 

 rare species was the Natural Heritage Program's data bank 

 computer printout of reported occurrences. 



Thirteen reports to the Natural Heritage Program on 

 significant natural areas in the county - Fuller (1978), 

 Wilson (1978), Wilson and Fuller (1978), Fussell and 

 Wilson (1979), Otte and Whetstone (1979), Wilson and 

 Fussell (1979), and Fussell and Wilson (1980) - have 

 been done prior to this study. They include some of the 

 highest priority areas; these reports are included with 

 this study. 



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