Agenda - 08-25-1986 - Laserfiche WebLink

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M 3 S The land on which Duke Forest was established in 1931 included homesites, cultivated fields, fallow fields, and fields abandoned 10 to 100 years. Also there were bottomlands and occasional wooded margins left uncultivated and bluffs and rocky ridges which apparently had never been cleared (Ousting, 19421 Four basic cover types are found now in Duke Forest: bottomland forests, mesic forests, upland forests, and pine forests. Mesic and upland forests may be further subdivided into hardwood and mixed pine- hardwood forests (Ohmann, 1980) . Nine sites have been selected as the most outstanding and highest quality natural areas in Duke Forest. The following descriptive summary was prepared by Norm Christensen (1981) . More detailed floristic and soil analysis is available on each site (Ohmann 1980; Peet and Christensen 1981) . The acreage in the Duke Forest proposed for designation the mature Natural Heritage Areas encompasses the full range communities found on the eastern Piedmont. The Duke Forest is situated on a complex of soil types weathered from Triassic sediments as well as acid igneous, basic igneous, and metamorphic (Carolina slate) rocks. Within its boundaries are included the range of site moisture conditions from riparian and poorly-drained swamp habitats to. austere monadnocks. As in much of this region, land use practices of the eithteenth and nineteenth century are still evident in many of the forests. The ongoing process of forest development is certainly a most interesting and important aspect of our natural heritage. Much of the area designated along the New Hope Creek represents some of the richest riparian and mesic ("cove") habitats still extant in the Piedmont. Soils in this area are generally base rich and moisture conditions favorable, resulting in strikingly diverse plant communities. Bluffs along the creek support many species which are more typical of mountain habitats. A large tract near Couch Mountain in the Durham Division has also been designated as it represents a continuous expanse of white oak-hickory forest which was probably characteristic of much of the Piedmont prior to colonization. Within this area small remnants of that original forest with oaks exceeding 300 years in age. This forest type is typical of upland sites on soils derived from acid igneous rocks and Triassic sediments. In the Blackwood Division several unique forest types have been designated. A well-developed stand of post.oak-blackjack oak is to be preserved at the east end of that division. This forest type is typical of soils with a high content of montmorillonite clay. Areas on Blackwood and Bald Mountain are designated which support chestnut oak dominated forests. These are on soils derived from quartz-rich rocks and represent the most nutrient poor end of a continum of ecosystems. Along old Highway 86 we have designated an area of "swamp forest" . This is a poorly drained area which often has saturated soils and a very unique assemblage of species. In both the Durham and Korstian Divisions, considerable acreage of pine has also been included. These pine stands range from 30 to -over 100 years since abandonment and they are exemplary of the process of secondary succession which is occurring on more than 90% of the forested land on the Piedmont. For each of these stands there exists an extensive data base so that this process can be monitored in a statistically meaningful way into the future.