Agenda - 08-25-1986 - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • t', 'a. • e Significance: State Significance. Duke Forest contains some of the best examples of mature, second-growth forest communities remaining in the North Carolina Piedmont region. The university-managed forest is one of the few extensive tracts of Piedmont woodlands protected for research, recreational, and educational purposes. The forest has been the principal research location for the development of theories on old-field plant succession in the Piedmont (Oosting 1942; Keever 1950; Peet and Christensen 1979, 1980) . The following areas have been identified as the Duke Forest sites best exemplifying Piedmont natural communities (Edeburn 1981) : A. New Hope Creek Natural Area 1. This tract of land on either side of New Hope Creek contains a variety of distinct habitats on the north- and south-facing rocky bluffs, the alluvial terraces and adjacent slopes, and . the flooded depressions. The landforms support bottomland hardwood forest, mesic hardwood forest, and upland oak-hickory forest. The xeric south-facing bluffs sustain blackjack oak, post oak, and red cedar. The mesic north-facing bluffs, on the other hand,support chestnut oak, willow oak, white oak, shagbark and bitternut hickories, with tulip poplar, beech, sycamore, sweetgum, and sugar maple (Ohmann 1980; Ebert 1957; posting 1942; Peet and Christensen 1981; Edeburn 1981) . 2. Several uncommon ferns as reported from rock outcrops, including the lip ferns--Cheilanthes lanosa and C. tomentosa-which are near the eastern limits of their distribution (Oosting 1942) . . 3. The Wooden Brid a Bluff supports the highest herbaceous species diversity known In the Duke Forest, making this steep, 110 ft. high north-facing bluff one of the most interesting botanical features in the forest (Christensen, pers. comm. IN: Ohmann 1980) . The well-developed mixed mesic hardwood forest community on the Wooden Bridge Bluff is one of the least disturbed communities in Duke Forest; the cover canopy is dominated by tulip poplar, mockernut hickory, red oak, and beech with white oak and red maple also in abundance (Ebert 1957; Ohmann 1980) . Indian physic 1Gi.11enia stipulata) is an endangered peripheral in North Carolina which was collected on Wooden Bridge Bluff by Ebert in 1957, see Table 1. 4. The Rhododendron Bluffs are so called because a nearly pure understory stand of Purple laurel (Rhododendron catawbiense) covers the steep north-facing bluffs. This association is not common in the Piedmont and is generally considered to be a "relict" of an age when a colder climate prevailed throughout North America (Ohmann 1980) . The bluffs area also contains a representative beech forest community with scattered shortleaf pine (Ebert 1957) . Carolina beechdrops (Monotroesis odorata) , a North Carolina threatened peripheral species has been collected on the Rhododendron Bluffs (Duke Univ. herbarium 1933, 1973) .