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Myrtle Head Savannah Preserve

Myrlte Head Savannah Map

LOCATION:
Coastal Plain
Brunswick County

SIZE IN ACRES:
72

INVOLVEMENT IN ACRES:
NA


Prescribed burn
Prescribed burn at Myrtle Head Savanna
3 months after burn
Myrtle Head Savanna, three months after burn
(© Margit Bucher)

TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP:
Juniper Creek, Old Dock

Topographical maps are available by contacting:
NC Geographical Survey.
1612 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1612.
(919) 715-9718
www.geology.enr.state.nc.us/

ACTIVITIES & AMENITIES:
Hiking / Wildflowers

OWNERSHIP & ACCESS:
This Nature Conservancy preserve is only accessible through the North Carolina Chapter's field trip program.

SITE INFORMATION:
Myrtle Head Savanna is a healthy example of one of the most endangered natural communities in the Southeast, a wet longleaf pine savanna. The preserve harbors the largest known population of Cooley's meadowrue, a federally listed endangered plant species and one of the rarest plants in eastern North America. Less than 20 populations of Cooley's meadowrue survive in the world, nearly all of which occur in North Carolina, including a population at The Nature Conservancy's Neck Savanna Preserve, also discussed in this guide.

Cooley's meadowrue grows in moist savannas and requires some form of disturbance, such as fire, to maintain its open habitat. Without disturbance, other plant species often outcompete Cooley's meadowrue for limited nutrients and sunlight. Fire suppression and silvicultural and agricultural activities are primarily responsible for the plant's decline.

The savanna harbors many other rare species, including wireleaf dropseed, a grass known from only about twenty locations in North and South Carolina and Georgia. The preserve is also home to small populations of other globally rare plants, including Carolina grass-of-Parnassus and pineland plantain, each known from about twenty sites in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida.

CONSERVATION HIGHLIGHTS:
The Nature Conservancy purchased Myrtle Head Savanna from Georgia-Pacific Corporation in 1990.

DIRECTIONS:
Not available