Rocky Point Marl

In December of 2022, the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust purchased 32.16 acres in Pender County, a very special property that lies within the larger Rocky Point Marl Forest Significant Natural Heritage Area. The land is considered an “exceptionally significant site” by the NC Natural Heritage Program.

This little wetland gem, described as a ‘wet marl forest’ was near the top of our Top 40 list due to its biological uniqueness. We secured funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA) grant program to conserve it, with thanks to the Toothman family for the “bargain sale” which allowed us to purchase the property for less than market rate.

This small-but-mighty site is quite special. Eric Bolen, professor emeritus of biology and marine biology at UNC Wilmington, included this site in his 2022 book with James Parnell, An Abundance of Curiosities: The Natural History of North Carolina’s Coastal Plain (University of Georgia Press). According to Professor Bolen, the Wet Marl Forest community highlights the region’s biodiversity and occurs where a high water table overlies flat-lying deposits of limestone – an exceedingly rare occurrence. This natural community features nutmeg hickory (the northernmost range of occurrence for this species which has a primary range in the lower Mississippi River valley), roughleaf dogwood (at one of the two sites in which it is found in North Carolina) and a thick cover of dwarf palmetto. It also home to and provides habitat for a relict population of eastern wood rats.

Mike Schafale, an ecologist with the NC Natural Heritage Program, remarked, “The Wet Marl Forest natural community at Rocky Point occurs nowhere else in the world. Of the highest priority, irreplaceable sites that were known when I started my career in the early 1980s, almost all have seen some substantial amount of protection over the years. Rocky Point is one of the last to see any protection success. HOORAY!”

“We are incredibly thankful that the Coastal Land Trust was willing to take on the conservation of this precious habitat. 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. There are no better hands in which to leave the stewardship of this parcel than the Coastal Land Trust. In addition to its protection, our hope is that the conservation of this land may also help seed the restoration of adjacent lands where wet marl forest once existed” said one of the landwoners, Byron Toothman.