North Carolina could increase to more 

 than 2 million by the year 2030. 



"Unless this activity is regulated, 

 the future is going to be that tens of 

 thousands or more acres in North 

 Carolina are going to be pine tree 

 farms," Carter says. "This is the single 

 greatest cause of wetlands degrada- 

 tion. There's not even a close second." 



The tree companies, who already 

 own more than 2 million acres of 

 coastal Tar Heel wetlands, say 

 degradation is too strong a word. No- 

 where in the South are pine trees 

 grown so well as on intensively 

 managed wetlands. 



They say changing a pocosin or 

 other wetland into a pine plantation 

 doesn't change the fact that the land is 

 still a wetland. They challenge envir- 

 onmentalists to prove that intensive 

 forestry is bad for the environment. 



"We contend that their activities 

 modify the hydrology and quality of 

 water entering the sounds," Carter 

 says. "There are off-site effects of the 

 activities." 



Carter says the goal of environ- 

 mentalists is to maintain water quality 



woodpecker of pine barrens and 

 savannas — are endangered or 

 threatened. 



Pocosins, which at first glance 

 seem to lack much diversity of fauna, 

 are the natural home of the black 

 bear, the gray fox and a host of other 

 smaller animals. Swamps are the 

 pecking grounds of the ever-growing 

 wild turkey population and the free 

 range of the populous white-tailed 

 deer. 



Pine plantations, say the environ- 

 mentalists, do not provide the floral 

 diversity required to sustain these 

 animal species. 



"They (the timber companies) 

 say the wetland is not lost when it's 

 changed to a pine plantation, but we 

 disagree," Carter says. "From an 

 ecological perspective, it's no longer 

 a wetland because we've lost so 

 much of the function and value of the 

 land." 



Can the two sides strike a 

 balance? 



The timber industry has noted 

 that they are achieving a balance 

 already. They say they are changing 



an environmentally safe manner. 



But environmentalists say the 

 balance won't come until the timber 

 industry's wetlands operations come 



Pocosins, which at 



I 



first glance seem to 

 lack much diversity 

 of fauna, are the 

 natural home of 

 the black bear, the 

 gray fox and a host 

 of other smaller 



animals. 



under some kind of fair permitting 

 process. 



"Our goal is not to turn these pine 

 plantations back into wetlands," 

 Carter says. "We're not fighting to 

 undo the past. We're fighting to get 

 some review where there currently is 

 no review. 



"This case, this suit against 

 Weyerhaeuser, is only going to decide 

 if permits should be required for 

 Weyerhaeuser on East Dismal 

 Swamp," he says. "But, it could be 

 used as a precedent for future cases 

 that are similar." 



The balance will never be 

 achieved if large timber companies 

 are kept out of the regulatory process, 

 Carter adds. "Once they're in, there 

 are mechanisms built into the process 

 to strike the balance," he says. 



Until the suit comes before a 

 judge, environmentalists are keeping a 

 close watch on the East Dismal. So 

 far, Weyerhaeuser has kept chainsaws 

 and log trucks out of this piece of 

 wetlands. □ 



Back hoe on a superfarm 



as well as the biological diversity of 

 the wetlands. 



Wetlands are home to a variety of 

 plant and animal species. Some — 

 such as the insectivorous plants of 

 eastern swamps and the red-cockaded 



largely unproductive land into land 

 that provides a much needed com- 

 modity — pulp for paper and lumber 

 for furniture and housing — at a 

 fraction of the cost of growing it 

 naturally. They say it's being done in 



COASTWATCH 13 



