Publications

Abstract: This inventory of the significant natural areas, natural communities, and rare species of Scotland County was funded by the North Carolina Natural Heritage Trust Fund and by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. This report identifies the most significant natural areas in the county, describes their features, and documents all of the natural communities and rare species of plants and animals associated with them. Recommendations for management and protection of each of these sites is given. A total of 31 significant standard sites, and two large managed areas, are described. Both of the large managed areas – Sandhills Game Land and Camp Mackall Military Reservation – are Nationally significant for containing large numbers of rare species and exemplary examples of sandhills communities; previously identified natural areas within these managed areas are only briefly discussed in this report because they are already in conservation ownership and are not “newly-identified” or “newly-described” sites. Of the standard sites described here in detail, the only Nationally significant natural area is the McIntosh Bay Complex, a group of at least four clay-based Carolina bays. There are several State significant natural areas, a few of which are in private (or nearly all private) ownership and are not protected. The county is fortunate that it lies in both the Sandhills region and the Southern Inner Coastal Plain region, with the former occupying roughly the northwestern half of the county. The latter region contains dozens to hundreds of Carolina bays, though most have long ago been cleared for agriculture or utilized for timber production. Relatively few intact bays exist in the county or in neighboring counties, and protection of them is urgent for both rare plant species and rare amphibians and reptiles. The sandhills region of the county contains the two large managed areas and thus has much protected land already. However, because of the very large number of relatively rare species of plants and animals, some restricted to the sandhills area of the Carolinas, and the alarming decline in acreage rangewide of the longleaf pine and its associated habitats, protection of remaining sandhills habitats, along with prescribed burning on a several-year rotation, is also urgently needed. Lastly, the Lumber River (and its upper reach named Drowning Creek) and several of its tributaries provide important recreational opportunities and provide habitat for a wide array of plants and animals. Very little of the floodplains of the river and creeks (such as Juniper, Jordan, and Shoe Heel) are in conservation ownership. Thus, much work remains to be done in order to protect the best and most significant natural features of Scotland County.