Boiling Spring Lakes Preserve

LOCATION:
Brunswick County

SIZE IN ACRES:
6,157

INVOLVEMENT IN ACRES:
N/A

TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP:
Bolivia, Funston, Lockwoods Folly, Southport

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/

ACTIVITES & AMENITIES:
Hiking/Birding/ Wildflowers

OWNERSHIP & ACCESS:
Plant Conservation Program, NC Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Plant Protection Section, P.O. Box 27647, Raleigh, NC 27611 (919) 733-3610

SITE INFORMATION:
Brunswick County may be well-known for popular beach towns like Ocean Isle and Sunset Beach, but botanists hold North Carolina's southernmost county in high regard for an entirely different reason - Brunswick County is home to the greatest number of rare plant species in the state.

Brunswick County is located in the heart of the Cape Fear region, which contains the richest flora along the Atlantic Coast north of Florida. The moderating effects of the Gulf Stream, the high occurrence of natural fires, the considerable amount of marl (limestone) underlying parts of the county, and the wealth of longleaf pine habitats and wetlands contribute to the region's extraordinary plant life.

Boiling Springs Lake wetland complex contains a fascinating cross section of the Cape Fear region's natural communities. Though the area's dense vegetation may look foreboding, this preserve offers a rare glimpse of a vanishing landscape. Located in near the town of Boiling Spring Lakes, the natural area contains a mosaic of unusual geologic features. A series of parallel ridges and swales are the remnants of an ancient dune system. A large concentration of Carolina bays (elliptical wetland depressions) studs the landscape. Fire-dependent natural communities, including high and low pocosins (evergreen shrub bogs) and longleaf pine savannas and flatwoods on the ridges and bay rims, form an intricate mosaic of habitats.

Human activities, including development and road building, have fragmented the Boiling Spring Lakes natural area. Years of fire suppression have allowed wood plant growth to invade the open longleaf savannas and overtake many plant species. Conservancy land stewards are actively working to restore the Boiling Spring Lakes Preserve to its natural condition by conducting prescribed burns in longleaf and pocosin communities and replanting longleaf pines. Learn more about prescribed fire.

CONSERVATION HIGHLIGHTS:
Located within the incorporated limits of the town that is its namesake, the Boiling Spring Lakes Preserve encompasses half of the incorporated area of the town. The establishment of the Boiling Spring Lakes Preserve is the result of a collaborative partnership between the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services' Plant Conservation Program, The Nature Conservancy, the City of Boiling Spring Lakes and the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program. The land is owned by the Plant Conservation Program and is managed by The Nature Conservancy.

In an average natural area, there are 8 to 10 species of plants growing in one square meter, but in the wetlands of Boiling Spring Lakes there are several times that number! A bounty of rare flora and fauna is found in this landscape, including the federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, a variety of carnivorous plants, rough-leaf loosestrife and a variety of orchids. The preserve contains more than 400 vascular plant species, including carnivorous plants such as the rare Venus flytrap. (View the carnivorous plants slide show.)

Completed in 2004, the Boiling Spring Lakes Nature Trail allows visitors to walk through a portion of the more than 6,000 fragile acres that make up the preserve.