Carolina Vegetation Survey
Curriculum in Ecology, CB#3275
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3275
SUBJECT: Deliverable 1.9, Prospective locations for summer 2010 vegetation sampling.
A document prepared by the Carolina Vegetation Survey
for the Ecosystem Enhancement Program,
North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources,
in partial fulfillments of contract D07042
We propose two sampling activities for spring/summer 2010:
1. North-central Piedmont vegetation of Caswell, Person, and Granville Counties, North
Carolina (May 15-22)
Except for a few nonalluvial wetland vegetation types that were sampled during Stephanie
Seymour’s Piedmont seep and depression swamp study in 2009, the vast majority of the northcentral Piedmont of North Carolina remains underrepresented in the Carolina Vegetation
Survey (CVS) database. There are a number of upland and wetland vegetation types located
across this vast area and large expanses of both public land (e.g. Caswell Game Lands) and
privately-owned tracts to locate and inventory these types. The Carolina Vegetation Survey
proposes to conduct an 8-day Pulse event throughout the north-central Piedmont region of
North Carolina in May 2010. We will sample areas owned by the North Carolina Wildlife
Resources Commission (e.g. Caswell Game Lands), Mayo River State Park, and a multitude of
private landowners. The emphasis will be to sample within the many upland vegetation types
of the region, including heath bluffs, xeric hardpan forests, dry-mesic oak-hickory forests, basicmesic forests, and mixed mesic hardwood forests. We will also examine wetland communities
of this area of the state, including Piedmont alluvial forests, levees, low elevation seeps, and
upland depression swamp forests. Collection of floristic and environmental data from
vegetation plots in western Rockingham, Caswell, Person, and northern Granville and Vance
Counties will enhance our understanding of the northern range of these community types
found in North Carolina. We anticipate collection of approximately 60 vegetation plots.
2. The Western Mountains of North Carolina - Including Madison County and Cherokee
County (June 13-20)
The first round of our understanding of the floristic composition of mountain vegetation
community types within North Carolina is nearing completion. High-quality, quantitative data
exists for most plant communities throughout the region, except in a few broad-scale areas. The
Carolina Vegetation Survey lacks information on any natural vegetation type within the region
of northern Buncombe and Madison Counties and the far western corner of the state--Cherokee
County. Because of these gaping holes in the montane landscape, the Carolina Vegetation
Survey proposes to conduct its second 8-day Pulse event within both the Madison County and
Far Western Corner regions of the North Carolina Mountains in June 2010. Our efforts will
focus on obtaining data from a variety of community types in these two regions. These data
will provide a better extent of environmental gradients of the NC Mountains, and better explain
how these gradients influence regional vegetation composition.
Respectfully submitted,
M. Forbes Boyle
Robert K. Peet
Thomas R. Wentworth
Michael P. Schafale
Alan S. Weakley