The
Green Swamp is located on the Coastal Plain in SE North Carolina extending towards the South Carolina border. The array of wetlands also includes Lake Waccamaw, the Upper Waccamw River drainage and the Green Swamp Preserve itself.
Though home to large extents of open water and wet areas, it also contains some of the
country's finest examples of longleaf pine savannas. The open savannas have a
diverse herb layer with many orchids and insectivorous plants. Much is also
comprised of a dense evergreen shrub bog (pocosin) dominated by gallberry,
titi, and sweetbay. Many of the plants in the Green Swamp benefit from periodic
burning; pond pine's cones burst and release seeds after being exposed to very
high temperatures and wiregrass flowers vigorously after a fire. Longleaf pine
seeds need bare ground to germinate and plenty of sunlight to grow, typical
traits of plants that evolved in a landscape with frequent fires. The grasses
and sedges of the Green Swamp have roots that are protected from the hottest
fires, as do the orchids and insectivorous plants.
The Green Swamp contains many
different species of:
·
Insectivorous plants like Venus flytrap, Sundew and 4
species of pitcher plant.
·
Rare animals like American alligator, fox
squirrel, Henslow's sparrow, Bachman's sparrow and Hessel's airstreak butterfly.
For a terrific slide show by the Nature Conservaqncy on the carnivorous plants of the region click here .
Lake
Waccamaw State Park, Southeast North Carolina
A large shallow lake west of
Wilmington is one among hundreds of Carolina bays in North Carolina. The term
‘bay’ originates from the fact that there is an abundance of sweet bay,
loblolly bay and red bay trees growing beside these watery, oval depressions in
the earth. The limestone bluffs give the lake its neutral pH which provides
habitat for several rare fish, mussels and snails, some of which are only found
at Lake Waccamaw. At Lake Waccamaw one can find several endemic species
of fish (Waccamaw darter, Waccamaw silverside, Waccamaw killifish), mussels and
clams (Waccamaw spike and Waccamaw fatmucket) and snails (Waccamaw amnicola, Waccamaw
siltsnail).
Green
Swamp Preserve, Southeast North Carolina
 The Venus' flytrap Dionaea muscipula is one of the most
astonishing plants in the world. A relative of the sundews, this remarkable
species' native habitat is a narrow strip of coastal land approximately 10
miles wide and 100 miles long in North Carolina and adjacent to South Carolina.
When triggered by an insect, the leaf blade folds closed along its midrib
bringing the two halves together. Three bristle-like hairs near the middle of
the upper side of the leaf blade are sensitive to touch and cause the blade to
snap shut. A fringe of stiff hairs around the edge of the blade become
interlocked (intermeshed) when the blade folds close, thus trapping the insect
like bars in a jail cell. Then, the digestive enzymes from glands on the leaf
surface break down the proteins of the imprisoned victim, and the plant gets a
supplemental source of nitrogen. (The pic above is that of Green Swamp Preserve, NC)
The Green Swamp
 The Green Swamp, located near Lake
Waccamaw State Park, is an area of major biological significance in North
Carolina. It was designated by the U.S. Department of the Interior as a
national natural landmark in 1974. The 15,722-acre Green Swamp Preserve
features pine savannas, bay forests and pocosins with hundreds of different
plant species. Besides, the swamp also includes the endangered red-cockaded
woodpecker, the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, Bachman's sparrow and the
American alligator. The preserve is located in Brunswick County, North
Carolina. (The pic above is that of Pine Savannah at the Green Swamp, NC by Jeffrey Pippen)
To see a case study of the industrial impacts of Green Swamp click here
To read a report on Waccamaw Watershed click here
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