4.3 Wetland Natural Communities
• Site protection and protection of surrounding areas through land acquisition or easements and cooperation with land trusts are urgently needed, as large acreages (>500 acres) are frequently clearcut all at once for agriculture, pine conversion, or development.
• Restoration eforts may be possible in some cases through partnerships with land trusts, the Nature Conservancy, and state and federal agencies.
4.3.8 Pocosins 4.3.8.1 Ecosystem Description
Pocosin habitats are those parts of eastern North Carolina characterized by fooded, acidic, anaerobic soils with limited decomposition and accumulating biomass. Peat deposits develop where the soil is saturated for long enough periods that organic matter cannot completely decompose. Once peat has developed, it holds water, raising water levels in the soil and making the site wetter. Te shallow water tables and patterns of normal fooding result in anaerobic soil conditions that slow decomposition of biomass. Soils are acidic and nearly sterile, with available nutrients provided from periodic surface fooding of adjoining landscapes and from precipitation. Te soils of streamhead pocosin habitats are fooded, acidic, and infertile. Peatland pocosins occur on nearly fat, poorly drained areas of the outer Coastal Plain and in large shallow depressions such as Carolina bays. Streamhead pocosin habitats are patchy and limited to ravines that are permanently fooded by acidic seepage and run-of from adjacent hills. Fire history, hydrology, and drainage infuence the composition of the community type, with some unfragmented examples occupying many thousands of acres. Natural community types are determined by variation in wetness, depth of peat, and fre dynamics and include: streamhead pocosin, low pocosin, high pocosin, Pond Pine wood- land, peatland and streamhead Atlantic White Cedar forest, and bay forest. Te distinction between these community types may seem clear, but there are signifcant overlaps in the characteristics of the soils, wildlife, and plant species that occur across them. • Streamhead pocosin plant community compositions can range from dense shrub thickets to treeless canebrakes. Te natural fre cycle results in open canopy pond pine forests. However, fre suppression leads to pond pine forests with a dense shrub under- story. Te understory is dominated by a dense evergreen shrub layer including several members of the laurel and holly families and is frequently tangled with Laurel-leaf Greenbrier. Herbs are nearly absent except in the edge (ecotone) with neighboring sandhill communities. Tese ecotones often support a high diversity of herb and shrub species including many rare ones.
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2015 NC Wildlife Action Plan
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