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Limesink pond, seen from Patsy Pond Trail, Croatan National Forest. Photo by Andrew Walker.
Longleaf Destinations By Andrew Walker, USDA Forest Service
LONGLEAF ON NATIONAL FORESTS IN NORTH CAROLINA Two of the four National Forests in North Carolina fall within the range of longleaf pine. When planning your upcoming visit to Wilmington for the 14th Biennial Longleaf Conference this October, consider a detour (or two) to explore the unique longleaf of the Uwharries and Croatan. Uwharrie National Forest Historically, longleaf was abundant in the Uwharrie Mountains of Montgomery County. An 1883 forest inventory reported an estimated 80,000 acres of longleaf forest in the county (Hale), and in 1894, William Willard Ashe reported that this longleaf was “the finest body of pine for lumber now in the State, having been worked for turpentine for only four or five years.” This did not last long. Railroads made it to the area shortly after 1890, and a subsequent inventory of the forest resources of the county from 1918 reports, “Most of the timber, which was recently abundant…, has been cut within the past fifteen years.” (Pratt). With the majority of the seed trees cut, coupled with decades of fire suppression, longleaf declined dramatically in The Longleaf Leader | Summer 2022
the North Carolina Piedmont, to the point where all longleaf communities in the Piedmont are now considered rare. The majority are on the Uwharrie National Forest in Montgomery County, where we estimate 2,300 acres of longleaf habitat remain. Most of this habitat is found on silty soils in rolling terrain, and the longleaf is often mixed with other pines and oaks. In addition to the existing habitat, a potential natural vegetation model for the Uwharrie has identified a total of 7,560 acres of potential longleaf habitat on the Uwharrie NF, so there is much potential for restoration work. The U.S. Forest Service has managed the Forest with prescribed fire for decades and first conducted a growing[ 40 ]
Volume XV - Issue 2
