WHAT YOU MIGHT SEE
ON YOUR WALK AT THE
Green Swamp Preserve
A “The preserve is amazing due to
34
WBM april 2018
SKIP PUDNEY
COLLEEN THOMPSON
SKIP PUDNEY
VENUS FLYTRAP
(federally threatened)
SUNDEW
BUTTERWORTS &
BLADDERWORTS
Four species of
PITCHER PLANTS
Numerous species of rare
ORCHIDS
HONEYCOMB HEAD
(the only North Carolina record)
CAROLINA GOLDENROD
(federally threatened)
AMERICAN ALLIGATOR
(federally threatened)
FOX SQUIRREL
CAROLINA GOPHER FROG
(federally threatened)
CAPE FEAR THREETOOTH
MOLLUSK
(federally threatened)
HENSLOW’S SPARROW
(federally threatened)
BACHMAN’S SPARROW
(federally threatened)
HESSEL’S HAIRSTREAK
BUTTERFLY
ROUGH-LEAF LOOSESTRIFE
(federally endangered)
GREEN SWAMP RESTORATION
NGIE CARL from the Nature Conservancy, a nonprofit organization with a chap-ter
in Wilmington, is directing a multi-year restoration project in the pre-serve.
The end goal is to recreate robust longleaf forest savannas like the
ones that existed long before development.
“We don’t want people to be concerned if they see logging,” she says.
“We’ve got more than a decade of research in the swamp to show us what
we need to do to restore the forest.”
Some species have become endangered as longleaf dwindled. This list includes the red-cock-aded
woodpecker, which makes its home almost exclusively in old longleaf pine trees.
Much of the preserve was owned and managed by Federal Paper Board until the company
donated it to the conservancy in 1977.
“The company planted slash pine as
a source for pulp to make paper,” Carl
explains. “We want to remove most of the
slash pine and plant longleaf pine trees.”
For the past decade, the conservancy has
contracted with a researcher who has been
studying research plots at the south end of
the preserve to determine what works best
for longleaf restoration.
“These longleaf pine ‘fire forests’ depend
on fire, the way rain forests depend on
rain,” Carl says. “We have pine trees whose
cones only open due to the heat of a burn.
We have grasses that only flower after a
spring or summer burn. The preserve has
all the makings of a longleaf forest, includ-ing
the groundcover that is necessary to
move fire through the forest. Our research
has shown that those plants are in the
seedbank, just waiting for sunlight to start
sprouting.”
The restoration could take years because
it can only be done in dry times to mini-mize
the effect of heavy equipment on
the forest floor. Because the restoration is
dependent on weather conditions, the con-servancy
doesn’t have a timeline for when
it will end. The preserve trail will remain
open throughout the restoration.
its high biodiversity,” Angie Carl
from the Nature Conservancy says.
“It has a good population of black
bears, bobcats, deer, and rare and
endangered birds and reptiles. But
the true magic lies in the plant spe-cies
living among our fire forest.
There are 21 different species of
carnivorous plants and 26 species
of orchids.”