r o m sound to sea 



Peeking into Pocosins 



The dense, shrubby pocosin 

 wetlands that cover more than a half- 

 million acres of the Tar Heel coastal 

 plain are a curious wonderland. 



Their acidic, nutrient-poor soils 

 give rise to odd greenery — trees and 

 shrubs that thrive in the wake of a 

 wildfire, plants that "dine" on insects. 



Consider the scattered, gnarly pond 

 pines, a common sight in pocosins 

 (pronounced puh-kos-uhns). Their 

 closed cones, when heated by a raging 

 blaze, burst open like grenades, 

 scattering seeds that will rejuvenate 

 the forest. 



The trumpet-like leaves of some 

 species of pitcher plants trap insects to 

 supplement their otherwise nutrient- 

 poor diet. Insectivorous plants such as 

 butterworts, bladderworts, sundews 

 and flytraps also flourish in pocosins' 

 low, shrubby areas. 



Pocosins also harbor titi, honeycup, 

 bitter gallberry and sweet bay in their 

 shrubby undergrowth. 



North Carolina's coastal plain is 

 home to 70 percent of the nation's 

 remaining pocosins. These peaty, fire- 

 adapted wetlands are little understood 

 and often unappreciated. 



Pocosins apparently originated 

 more than 10,000 years ago from 

 drainage basins blocked by sand and 

 layered with clay, according to a U.S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service report. 

 Anaerobic conditions in the water that 

 accumulated fostered accumulation of 

 organic matter or peat. Eventually, the 

 open water was replaced with swamp 

 forest. 



As the peat surface gradually 

 accumulated, nutrients from upland 

 areas no longer entered. The forest 

 was replaced by pocosin. 



The name pocosin was derived 

 from an Algonquin Indian term that 

 means "swamp on a hill." Pocosins 

 are characterized by tangles of thick- 

 leaved evergreen (and a few decidu- 



ous) shrubs, pond pines and bay trees. 

 The soil is typically highly organic, 

 drains poorly and is periodically 

 saturated with water. 



The highly flammable vegetation 

 and soils have left pocosins vulnerable 

 to fires, and the environment has 

 adapted. Pond pines and shrubs sprout 

 profusely after a blaze. Pocosins regain 

 their biomass at an astounding rate 

 after fire, also. 



But although fire has figured 

 naturally into pocosin biology, popula- 

 tion explosion and the surrounding 

 developed areas mandate strict man- 

 agement of pocosin fires. 



Pocosins have succumbed to 

 intensive development — less than 

 one-third of the 2.2 million acres 

 recorded in North Carolina in the 

 1940s and 50s remain unaltered. In the 

 past, conversion of pocosins for 

 agricultural purposes was popular. 

 Today, pocosins are increasingly 

 altered for silviculture. 



Peat mining is a relatively new use, 

 and when perfected by miners may be 

 another source of destruction in 

 pocosins. 



Meanwhile, scientists are grasping a 

 better understanding of the importance 

 of these wetlands to water quality, 

 wildlife habitat and the well-being of 

 the environment. 



Pocosins are not regarded as the 

 most productive wetland areas. But as 



adjoining wetlands are developed, the 

 declining black bear population and 

 other animals seek refuge in these 

 large tracts of undisturbed land. 



Because of their dense vegetation, 

 pocosins attract mostly air and tree 

 foragers, and mainly cater to insecti- 

 vores and omnivores. Bobcats are the 

 only true carnivores found in po- 

 cosins, according to the U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service. 



Pocosins cleanse, retain and store 

 rainwater. Draining and ditching of 

 pocosin wetlands on a large scale can 

 be detrimental, resulting in a surge of 

 fresh water and excess nutrients to 

 coastal basins. 



"Primary nursery areas are fed by 

 waters that originate in pocosins," 

 says Mark Brinson, professor of 

 biology at East Carolina University 

 and a wetlands scientist. "They 

 (pocosins) should be maintained for 

 their capacity to produce high quality 

 water." 



Major timber companies own 

 about 44 percent of the state's 

 pocosins, the N.C. Environmental 

 Defense Fund reported in 1989. Large 

 farms own 21 percent; state and 

 federal agencies, about 20 percent. 



Brinson says the most valuable 

 resource of pocosins is peat, "not for 

 fuel in the future, but for producing 

 much of the landscape there." He 

 prizes the areas for their contribution 

 to global health. 



As the water table of a pocosin is 

 lowered, the peat is vulnerable to 

 oxidizing by exposure to the atmo- 

 sphere and from fire, increasing the 

 concentration of carbon dioxide in the 

 atmosphere. 



"A good policy in terms of global 

 change would be to protect areas like 

 (pocosins) and actually convert them 

 into carbon dioxide accumulators," 

 Brinson says. 



Carla B. Burgess 



COASTWATCH 1 5 



