COASTLINES LINES VOLUME 23 // ISSUE 1 // Spring 2023
CLOSING OUT 2022
WITH A
BANG By Shelagh Clancy
A
burst of closings in the last month of 2022 added 588 acres to the Coastal Land Trust’s roster of land preserved forever. Ecologically significant properties, preservationist donors, and a unique collaboration among neighbors made for a hectic and surprising month. “We’re trying to protect the diversity of natural areas along the coast,” said Coastal Land Trust Director of Land Protection Janice Allen. These important properties reflect that diversity. Here’s a peek behind the scenes of these acquisitions.
ROCKY POINT MARL FOREST PENDER COUNTY CLOSED: DECEMBER 2, 2022 ACRES: 32.16
Coastal Land Trust board member Linda Pearsall and Misty Buchanan, Director of the N.C. Natural Heritage Program, explore the Rocky Point Marl Forest looking for rare plants and trees, like the nutmeg hickory tree. Photo Credit: Scott Pohlman
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he Rocky Point Marl Forest, a wet marl forest natural community, is limited to a small region of Pender County and is not known in any other site in the world! Here wet loamy soil has a high pH due to the proximity of limestone, uncommon in the coastal plain. The site hosts a high diversity of oaks and hickories and combines Gulf Coast species with those of the North Carolina mountains and Piedmont. “Two of the state’s rarest animals – the eastern woodrat and canebrake rattlesnake – thrive in this dense wet habitat,” said Dr. David Webster, senior associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at UNC Wilmington. “For many years, I took my ecology students to this site so we could study the soil, flora, and fauna. Permanently protecting this site insures that this unique habitat, and its assemblage of rare plants and animals, will continue to survive.”
CoastalLandTrust.org
The sale was made possible thanks to landowners Diane Toothman, Sheryl Shelby, and Elizabeth Hunley, as well as funding secured from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s North American Wetlands Conservation Act. “Our thanks go to Diane Toothman and her son Byron in particular for working with us to conserve this little wetland gem. This wet marl forest property was near the top of our Top 40 list due to its biological uniqueness,” Janice Allen said. “We are incredibly thankful that the Coastal Land Trust was willing to take on the conservation of this precious habitat,” said Byron Toothman. “Rapid changes to the landscape, invasive species, logging, and mining have steadily chipped away at the already limited range of this unique community. It is difficult to overstate the importance of its preservation.” 2022 CLOSINGS, continued on page 4
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