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<br />Inventory of Significant Natural Areas and Wildlife Habitats Morgan Creek Watershed <br />Orange County, NC <br />Orange County Natural Areas Inventory <br />JORDAN LAKE MACROSITE <br />' New Site 2004 <br />Site Number: Macrosite #4 Size: 983 acres in Orange County <br />[7,963 acres in Durham & Chatham counties] <br />Site Significance: State USGS Quads: Chapel Hill, Farrington <br />The Jardan Lake Macrosite sprawls over portions of three counties. Aside from the obvious <br />recreational benefits of the lake, the area features a diversity of plants, animals, and natural <br />communities that is unmatched in the northeastern piedmont of North Cazolina. This is <br />especially true along the streams entering from the north and northwest, such as Morgan <br />Creek and New Hope Creek. <br />In the Orange County portion of the macrosite, Morgan Creek flows through a deep rocky <br />gorge past several bluffs supporting Catawba rhododendrons (Rhododendron catawbiense), <br />here disjunct from the mountains, and spills out into a broad floodplain replete with <br />magnificent bottomland and swamp forests. The geological transition from the broken <br />topography of the Carolina Slate Belt to the smoother contours of the Triassic Basin is sharp; <br />many plants and animals that occupy one do not occur in the other, thus creating an overall <br />diversity that is very high. Morgan Creek is a critical corridor for the movement of animals, <br />be they permanent residents, summer breeders, migrants, or winter residents. These <br />movements follow connections throughout the Triangle and beyond. Decades of <br />observations and reseazch along Morgan Creek and at the Mason Farm Biological Reserve <br />have yielded impressive numbers of carnivores (including bobcat), raptors, amphibians; <br />reptiles, and breeding neotropical birds. <br />The Jordan Lake Macrosite is of state significance. The Orange County portion includes five <br />standard sites, from Morgan Creek Bluffs (M08) down to the Morgan Creek Floodplain <br />Forest (M12). Additional standard sites are included within the Durham and Chatham county <br />portions. Among the many natural community types represented, most notable are the <br />extensive floodplain forests (three distinct kinds) which include some of the oldest trees in <br />the county and which support nesting Swainson's warblers (Limnothlypis swainsonii). The <br />state's best example of a Basic Oak-Hickory Forest occurs at Mason Farm (M10). Other <br />communities of note include vernal pools vital for amphibian breeding, rhododendron bluffs, <br />and cultivated fields which maybe 200 years old and which provide abundant edge and <br />clearing habitats. <br />Rare species documented from the Orange County portion of the macrosite include nesting <br />sharp-shinned hawks (Accipiter striatus), four-toed salamander (Hemidactylium scutatum), <br />sweet pinesap (Monotropsis odorata), and lazge witch-alder (Fothergilla major). <br />173 <br />