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Aho 



JLhousands of years ago, lightning- 

 spawned fires raged regularly along North 

 Carolina's coastal plains, devouring 

 hundreds of square miles. Yet in their 

 wake, bounty followed. 



Orchids bloomed. Nature was reborn. 

 Lightning was the bearer of good. 



Rather than devastate the landscape, 

 the fires lit from the heavens consumed the 

 underbrush, allowing seeds to germinate. 

 As a result, whole generations of plants 

 adapted to life under fire and came to 

 depend upon it. The patchy nature of the 

 blazes often allowed animals to escape. 



By Odile Fredericks 



"The entire coastal plain portion of 

 North Carolina is one that has evolved 

 through time and been affected by fire, and 

 those fires - at least prior to humans - 

 were ignited by lightning," says Tom 

 Wentworth, a North Carolina State 

 University botany professor. "They were 

 spectacular fires - not in the sense that 

 they were destructive. ... They were light, 

 fast-moving fires that just consumed 

 surface materials and typically did not get 

 up into the crown (of a tree)." 



As old as time, lightning seems to 

 have had a predilection for North Carolina, 



feasting on some inhabitants while giving 

 life to others. 



Lightning is more apt to strike the 

 southeastern United States, according to a 

 1991 study by Texas A&M University. 

 Most of North Carolina received between 

 three and five flashes of cloud-to-ground 

 lightning per square kilometer that year, 

 while a small part of the southeastern 

 comer of the state was struck between five 

 and seven times. Central Florida experi- 

 enced the most intense concentration 

 nationally, with nine to 13 flashes per 

 square kilometer. Continued 



COASTWATCH 11 



