Exploring North Carolina's Natural Areas: Parks, Nature Preserves, and Hiking Trails

by Dirk Frankenberg (Editor)

Overview

North Carolina boasts a natural environment of exceptional richness and diversity. From the mountains to the coast, the state is home to an extraordinary variety of publicly accessible sites that showcase aspects of its ecology, geology, biology, and natural history. This book leads the reader on thirty-eight field trips to some of the most interesting and instructive of these natural landscapes.

Written by leading naturalists from across the state, this collection of "eco-tours" includes excursions to each of its four major regions: the coast, the Coastal Plain, the Piedmont, and the mountains. Each trip traces a thirty- to seventy-mile driving route that connects preserved areas, hiking trails, scenic overlooks, nature trails, and other sites of interest. All entries provide a map of the route, describe what can be seen and learned along the way, and discuss especially noteworthy features.

An essential resource for anyone who treasures North Carolina's natural heritage, this book will inspire and inform travelers throughout the Tar Heel state.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807848517
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	05/01/2000
Edition description:	1
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	1,072,336
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.95(d)

About the Author

Dirk Frankenberg was professor of marine sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and author of The Nature of the Outer Banks and The Nature of North Carolina's Southern Coast.

Read an Excerpt

From Preface

This book owes its origins to the tagline of a previous book of mine, which characterized it as "an ecotourist's guide to the North Carolina coast." That phrase led Anne Taylor, director of the Office of Environmental Education of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, to corner me at a meeting and ask, "What can you and others like you do to help people better understand and appreciate North Carolina's natural heritage?" This led to a meeting of authors of books about the state's natural history to discuss her question in the summer of 1997. That meeting hatched the idea of a book that would present driving tours of some of the state's most attractive and interesting natural areas, identify learning experiences in each tour, and make the tours and experiences accessible to a wide general audience, from schoolchildren to adults.

The authors and other consulting naturalists worked together to develop a "must include" list of natural areas for the book. The areas included here were suggested by several naturalists, but many other suggested areas could not be included. As a result, we know that there are more great natural places in North Carolina than those described in this book. We see the present book as a first step in a continuing process of describing the state's natural areas for the public, and we hope a series of similar publications will follow from this one. The authors have also agreed to allow their work to be used as the basis for "virtual fieldtrips" to be developed by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and made accessible to schools on an Internet site. We hope these virtual fieldtrips will help meet the goal of making the book's content accessible to schoolchildren.

As you will see from the table of contents, the book is organized into five sections. The introduction is an overview of the state's geology, climate, and plant and animal life. This section is designed to introduce readers to the environmental processes that form and sustain the natural heritage of our state. The other four sections of the book describe tours of natural areas in the Coast, Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Mountain Regions of the state. Each tour can be accomplished in less than a day, but each can be expanded to several days if visitors choose to explore all stops along the route. Each tour has a map of the recommended route and identifies the things to be seen and learned along the way. Photographs are included of sites along most of the tour routes.

Many avenues for further reading and study are opened up by the broad range of topics touched upon in this book. The introduction describes geological phenomena from plate tectonics to sedimentation, climate from global change to microclimate, and biota from plant community ecology to species adaptation. The tours cover an even wider range of topics than the overview. Most are primarily ecological in approach, but some are geological and some mix biology, ecology, history, and culture. All tours identify natural areas where visitors can make firsthand observations from hiking trails, bicycle paths, and bodies of water. Thus it is not likely that any suggested readings list could cover all possible areas of reader interest, but the titles listed in the "Suggestions for Further Reading" section at the end of the book include those that authors of this book have found useful. They are listed in categories that reflect topics covered in the introduction and tours, that is, biota, climate, ecology, geology, and natural areas. All focus on North Carolina, although some describe phenomena of surrounding regions as well. Most entries contain a brief description of the book's coverage.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction / Dirk Frankenberg

The Coast
Old and New on the Outer Banks: Maritime Forests, Inlets, and Development / Dirk Frankenberg
Outer Banks from Ocracoke to Pea Island: Merging of Sand and Sea / Stanley R. Riggs
Downeast Lowlands: Being Swallowed by the Sea / Stanley R. Riggs and Dirk Frankenberg
Bogue Banks: Natural Habitats on a Developed Shoreline / Dirk Frankenberg
White Oak River from Source to Sea: Natural Communities on a Blackwater River / Dirk Frankenberg
Lower Cape Fear River by Car and Ferry / Dirk Frankenberg
Brunswick County: Savanna to the Sea / Dirk Frankenberg

The Coastal Plain
Currituck Sound's Mackay Island / Yates M. Barber
Wetlands, Swamps, and Forests: Merchants Millpond to the Great Dismal Swamp / Henry C. Hammond and Penny Leary-Smith
Lower Roanoke River Floodplain: Swamps and Wetlands / Ida Phillips Lynch and J. Merrill Lynch
Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula: Pocosin Lakes and Wetlands / B. J. Copeland and Lundie Spence
Where Fresh and Salt Water Meet: The Upper Pamlico River Estuary / Vince Bellis
Croatan National Forest: Wetlands and Wildflowers / Jean W. Kraus
Carolina Bay Lakes: Lake Waccamaw and Bladen Lakes / Diane Lauritsen
Southern Lumber River Region / Staff of Lumber River State Park
Land of the Longleaf Pine: Weymouth Woods and the Sandhills / Kim Hyre and Scott Hartley

The Piedmont
Rocks, Soils, and Plant Life in the Central Piedmont / Harry LeGrand
Ecological Succession and Old-Growth Forests of the Central Piedmont / Phillip Manning
Nature amidst Development: Wake County Natural Areas / Laura White and Mark Johns
Coastal Plain to Piedmont Transition: Natural Communities of the Sandhills and Uwharrie Mountain Regions / Alan Weakley
Uwharrie Lakes Scenic Loop: Grassy Island Crossing and Indian Heritage Trail / Alex Cousins
Uwharrie Minerals and Landscapes: Origins and Use / Jeff Michael
Lonely Mountains: The Sauratowns from Hanging Rock to Pilot Mountain State Parks / Marshall Ellis
The South Mountains Area / Anne L. Maker
Parks, Forests, and Geology of the Southwest Piedmont / Deidri Sarver

The Mountains
Northwestern Mountains: Stone Mountain, Mount Jefferson, and New River State Parks / Marshall Ellis
Blue Ridge Parkway: Grandfather Mountain Region / Curtis Smalling
Roan Mountain Highlands: Ecology, Geology, and Cultural History / Elizabeth Hunter
Linville Gorge: Deepest Wilderness Area in the Eastern United States / Allen de Hart
Mountain Touring: Linville Falls to Mount Mitchell through Gorges, Peaks, and Forests / Michael P. Schafale
Forest Communities of the Southern Appalachians: Asheville to Mount Mitchell / Carleton Burke
Big Ivy Road to Craggy Mountain Scenic Area / Ron Lance
Great Smoky Mountains National Park / Dirk Frankenberg
Hickory Nut Gorge: A Scenic Approach to the North Carolina Mountains / Elisabeth Feil
Blue Ridge Parkway Tour: Asheville to Cherokee / J. Dan Pittillo
Our Forest Heritage and Forestry Today / Cindy Carpenter
Cherohala Skyway to Joyce Kilmer Forest / J. Dan Pittillo
Blue Ridge Escarpment: Gorges of Lake Jocassee / Gary Kauffman

Suggestions for Further Reading
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Frankenberg . . . gives newcomers like me (and old-timers, for that matter) a fresh way to look at the state's geography—and tells you exactly how to get out there and find it.—MetroMagazine



Without question this guide is an essential resource for anyone who treasures North Carolina's natural heritage and wishes to see it preserved.—Winston-Salem Journal



There is much of use and value to be found in this book. . . . Clear . . . detailed. . . . With a good index and suggestions for further reading.—Durham Herald-Sun



This book will be a greatly helpful and educational guide for all North Carolinians and Americans interested in exploring the marvelous natural heritage of our state. A great many of our natural treasures are accessible by road, and this book will help its readers chart their travel routes for maximum enjoyment and appreciation of North Carolina's environmental legacies and beauty. Put the book in your car and take to the road! Then park your car and enjoy some of the best natural diversity in all of America!—Charles "Chuck" Roe, Conservation Trust for North Carolina

Editorial Reviews

A fresh way to look at the state s geography--and exactly how to get out there and find it.

"MetroMagazine"

Without question this guide is an essential resource for anyone who treasures North Carolina s natural heritage and wishes to see it preserved.

"Winston-Salem Journal"

A fresh way to look at the state 's geography--and exactly how to get out there and find it.

"MetroMagazine"

A fresh way to look at the state_s geography-and exactly how to get out there and find it.

"MetroMagazine"

A fresh way to look at the statea[s geography--and exactly how to get out there and find it.

"MetroMagazine"

A fresh way to look at the states geography--and exactly how to get out there and find it.

"MetroMagazine"

A greatly helpful and educational guide for all North Carolinians and Americans interested in exploring the marvelous natural heritage of our state.

Charles "Chuck" Roe, Conservation Trust for North Carolina

"A greatly helpful and educational guide for all North Carolinians and Americans interested in exploring the marvelous natural heritage of our state.

Charles ""Chuck"" Roe, Conservation Trust for North Carolina"

A fresh way to look at the stateUs geography--and exactly how to get out there and find it.

"MetroMagazine"

There is much of use and value to be found in this book.

"Durham Herald-Sun"

From the Publisher