Agenda - 08-25-1986 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• r, v (Chimaphila maculata) , violets (Viola spp.) , false solomon's seal (Smilacina racenosa) , evergreen ginger (Hexastylis spp.) , deciduous ginger (Asarum canadense) , and Indian pipe (Monotropa uniflora) . Lower vascular plants are represented by Christmas fern (Polystichum acrosti- coides) , maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatun) , ebony spleenwort (Asplenium platyneuron) , southern lady fern (Athyrium asplenioides) , rattlesnake fern (Botrychium virginianum) , resurrection fern (Polypodium polypodioides) , and ground cedar (Lycopodium flabelliforme) . Also present is a small popu- lation of ginseng (Panax quinquefoliun) , a species given Threatened Through- out status by state botanists. Another Cabelands conaunity of significance occurs on a large northwest-facing bluff approximately 80 feet in height overlooking the river. Found here are pine/heath species more typically associated with the Upper Piedmont or Mountain regions. Scattered Virginia pine (Pinus virginiana) stands are on the bluffs with a dense understory of mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia) , sparkelberry (Vaccinium arboreun) , trailing arbutus (Epigaea repens) , and galax (Galax aphylla) . The Carolina Darter, Etheostoma Collis, has been collected at the Pleasant Green Road bridge, about 0.75 miles upstream from the Cabelands natural area. This fish has been given Special Concern status by state icthyologists. The Pump Station Tract contains a rich beech-dominated woods which features yellow lady-slippers (Cypripdeiurn calceolus) and showy orchis (Orchis specta- bilis) among the abundant fern and wildflower understory. The tract also contains a relatively undisturbed bottomland hardwood forest composed of tulip poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera) , black gum- (Nyssa sylvatica) , red maple (Acer rubrun) , and sweetgum. Cabes Ford (or Cates Ford) is significant from both a faunistic and geologic standpoint. The Neuse River waterdog (Necturus lewisi) , a large aquatic salamander of Special Concern, has been collected there. Geologically, the site's significance is best described by the statement of Butler et al. (1975) : "This site is located in a rock shoal of the Eno River where early paleozoic metavolcanic rocks are exposed naturally and generally kept in a clean-washed state by the river when it is in spate. Thus it is one of the best natural exposures of a pyroclastic rock which is widespread through the Piedmont of the Carolinas. The outcrops show breccia which seems to be the result of volcanic explosion or possibly a lahar. The component fragments of the breccia vary in size from microscopic to many centimeters in maximum dimensions and comprise a wide variety of tuffaceous sediments both pyroclastic and water-laid as well as fragments of lava. A few of the fragments contain smaller fragments which suggests that they are the broken remains of an old breccia made by an earlier volcanic explosion. Other fragments are water laid tuffs with many thin beds whose average thickness is only a small fraction of a centimeter. It has been suggested that each indi- vidual varve or thin bed of such sediments represents the sediment washed off uplands that were blanketed in new-fallen volcanic ash. Apparently each thin stratum or varve represents the sediment pro- duced by a single rainstorm carried to a nearby lava-dammed lake and deposited on its bottom."