Agenda - 11-27-1995 - C-1-b - Laserfiche WebLink

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0110 The second source, based on actual field surveys, is the Inventory of the Natural Areas and Wildlife Habitats of Oran a County N.C. which provides information concerning "palustrine" or wetland communities. The most common of these communities are the Piedmont Alluvial Forest and the Piedmont Bottomknd Forest associated with the floodplains of streams and rivers. Much more uncommon is the Piedmont Swamp Forest, which is restricted to the Triassic Basin area found only in the southeastern comer of the county. One of the best remaining examples of this natural community in the eastern Piedmont is the old growth swamp forest of the Big Oak Woods. Since Orange County is a headwater region, large streams are lacking. Only at the southwestern comer, where the Haw River forms several miles of the county border, is there a large enough river system to deposit the amount of sediments needed for the development of the Piedmont Levee Forest community. This community, dominated by river birch, box elder, and ash, occurs only in a narrow portion of the Haw River. Three other wetland communities have a restricted distribution in Orange County. The Rocky Bar mad Shore, dominated by perennial herbs, is present on shoals in the Eno River. Several beaver ponds, classified as semi permanent impoundments, occur on smaller streams throughout the county, most notably in places where the natural topography allows for the development of a wide impoundment, as at sites on tributaries of the Little River. At these locations, marshes have developed in the wetland produced by the beaver ponds. A third uncommon wetland community, the Upkmd Depression Swamp Forest, is found in flat or depressed upland areas that hold water for long periods of time. Such upland depressions vary in size. One depression in the Blackwood Division of Duke Forest covers dozens of acres,while several much smaller pools near the Eno River are less than an acre. These depressions are characterized by species that are more common to low-lying swamp forest. Wetland communities identified in the Inventory of the Natural Areas and Wildlife Habitats of Oran a County. N.C. are listed in the accompanying table by type and location. Because there is considerable overlap between satellite and data, only bottomland hardwood forests and the system of streams, marshy areas, and ponds from the NWI are shown on the Wetlands Map. The location of each wetland cone mity site is shown on the Natural Areas/Wildlife Habitats Map.