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The Neck Savanna Preserve

Neck Savanna Preserve Map

LOCATION:
Coastal Plain
Pender County

SIZE IN ACRES:
142

INVOLVEMENT IN ACRES:
NA


Sweet Pepperbush
Sweet pepperbush (© Hervey McIver)
Cooley's Meadowrue
Cooley's meadowrue (© TNC)

TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP:
Maple Hill and Maple Hill SW

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:
Wildflowers

OWNERSHIP & ACCESS:
This Nature Conservancy preserve is only accessible through the North Carolina Chapter’s field trip program.
(919) 403-8558

SITE INFORMATION:
Although it is hard to imagine when you walk amid the longleaf pines at The Neck Savanna, this area was under the sea 10 million years ago, as evidenced by the fossils of hundreds of marine species that have been found at the preserve. The Neck Savanna, formerly known as Lanier Quarry Savanna, contains an unusual community type: a longleaf pine savanna underlain by limestone or marl. The limestone infuses the preserve’s soil with nutrients and the soil’s unusually high pH supports many rare species.

Longleaf pine savannas are of great botanical interest because of their high plant diversity and increasing rarity. These unique natural communities have declined as they have been logged and converted to pine plantations or agricultural areas and as natural fires have been suppressed, allowing shrubs and other trees to overrun the savannas.  The preserve is home to at least five globally endangered plants: Cooley’s meadowrue, Carolina grass-of-Parnassus, savanna onion, golden sedge, and Thorne's beaksedge. The meadowrue is known to exist at only 12 sites in the world, six of which are within a four-mile radius of The Neck Savanna. A new species of sedge, golden sedge, was discovered growing in the natural area in 1991.

CONSERVATION HIGHLIGHTS:
The Nature Conservancy purchased the core area of this preserve from the Shepard family in the mid-1980s and has acquired other tracts since then, including a 50-acre tract donated by William Blanchard in 1997. Since the former owners of the preserve burned this area to enhance the Venus flytrap habitat, The Neck Savanna has retained its unusual botanical characteristics. The Conservancy maintains the savannas with prescribed fire.

DIRECTIONS:
Not available