COASTLINES VOLUME 21 // ISSUE 4 // Winter 2021
The false turkey tail mushroom (Stereum ostrea) is a type of fungus that grows in large layered clumps on stumps and logs of deciduous trees, especially oaks. All mushrooms are fungi, not all fungi are mushrooms. Mushrooms are essentially the fruiting body of a fungus. Mushrooms are important in decomposition and they require a substrate that is high in decaying plant material.
Coastal Land Trust Responds
to Demand for
More Parks By Janice Allen, Coastal Land Trust Director of Land Protection
T
his fall, I backpacked in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After several long and wet days of hiking and high-water stream crossings, my ascent to the top of Clingman’s Dome was a slow and arduous one.
Preservation of Springer’s Point
is Complete! T
he North Carolina Coastal Land Trust has purchased 8.63 acres at the entrance to the Springer’s Point Preserve on Ocracoke Island, describing the acquisition as the “final puzzle piece” in the protection of Springer’s Point. “Springer’s Point is an ecological and cultural treasure of Ocracoke and North Carolina,” said Walker Golder, Executive Director of the Coastal Land Trust. “This latest acquisition was essential to protect the overall integrity of the Preserve.”
The newly expanded 132-acre Springer’s Point Preserve permanently protects important and declining habitats of maritime forest and maritime shrub communities, tidal red cedar forest, and estuarine marsh, enhances water quality and protects riparian buffers along the Pamlico Sound and Old Slough, and bolsters the overall ecological integrity and resilience of Springer’s Point Preserve. The Preserve, which overlooks Teach’s Hole, has intriguing local lore as the reputed lair of Edward Teach, better known as Springer’s, continued on page 4
Reaching the 6,600+ foot peak was important to me as the pinnacle of this year’s backpacking trip. I was looking forward to seeing the amazingly vast expanse of Southern Appalachian forest that lies along the TennesseeNorth Carolina border from the very top. I was definitely not alone. I was impressed not by the vista (the fog set in and you could not see a thing!), but with the huge number of visitors at Clingman’s Dome that day. Yep, people love national parks. According to N.C. Division of State Parks, North Carolinians are visiting state parks in record numbers (in parks, continued on page 4
Photos by Walker Golder Above: Wind and weather shaped this live oak tree at Springer’s Point. Top: Gaillardia blooms along the shore at Springer’s Point.
CoastalLandTrust.org
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