OK, it doesn't look like a swamp. But actually, parts of it, known
as pocosins, feature spongy soils that give the pocosin a bog-like feel. The dense
shrubbery in the background of the photo above is the border of a pocosin.
About 13,000 of the Green Swamp Preserve's 16,000 acres are pocosin, so the
word "swamp" is more appropriate than the pictures on this site indicate.
North Carolina's coastal plain is the world epicenter for this
unusual landform whose name is derived from the Algonquian word for "swamp
on a hill." In addition to spongy soils, pocosins feature pond pines and
dense evergreen plants such as gallberry, titi, and sweetbay.
The long leaf pine savanna that you see in the foreground is the
other predominant landform in the Green Swamp. In fact, the Green Swamp
Preserve contains some of country's finest remnant stands of these savannas.
This forest type once occupied 55 million acres between Virginia and Texas,
but only about 1 percent of this original range remains undisturbed. In recent
years huge swaths of long leaf pine savannas have been converted to loblolly
pine plantations.1
These savannas are characterized a dense undergrowth of wiregrass.
Additionally, the savannas of southeast North Carolina, including this one,
feature orchids and globally rare insectivorous plants, such as the venus
Fly Trap and the Sundew.
The long leaf pine savanna is a fire-dependent ecosystem. The
cones of pond pines require high temperatures to germinate, and the long
leaf pines need bare ground and plenty of sun. Without frequent fires, these
savannas will turn into a dense mixed hardwood forest within a few decades.
Consequently, the Nature Conservancy uses prescribed burns as one of its
tools in managing this highly unusual ecosystem.
For more information, call The Nature Conservancy's Southeast Coastal
Plain office at (910) 762-6277 or visit their
page
on the Green Swamp Preserve.
1Dirk Frankenberg,
Exploring North Carolina's Natural Areas: Parks, Nature
Preserves, and Hiking Trails
, p 80.
