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Black Ankle Bog Preserve

Black Ankle Bog Map

LOCATION:
Piedmont
Montgomery County

SIZE IN ACRES:
284

INVOLVEMENT IN ACRES:
NA


Purple Pitcher Plant
Purple pitcher plant (© TNC)
Green Frog
Green frog (© Scott Michael)

TOPOGRAPHICAL MAP:
Seagrove, Star

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. More information at: (919) 403-8558

SITE INFORMATION:
Walking from the forested ridges of this preserve down into the streamheads that contain one of the few remaining Piedmont bogs, the vegetation shifts from plant communities requiring dry conditions, such as longleaf pine and chestnut oak woodlands common to the nearby Uwharrie Mountains, to the treeless areas of the bog community. Blackjack oak, post oak, and dense huckleberry and blueberry shrubs surround mats of sphagnum moss and patches of habenaria orchids, milkworts, sedges, cinnamon ferns, and trumpet and purple pitcher plants. Downhill from the bog the habitat blends into a dense thicket dominated by alder, sweet bay, sweet pepper-bush, Virginia sweet-spire and the endangered bog spicebush grows in these low areas.

A patch of climbing fern, a large stand of sweetleaf, and the rare large witch-alder grow in the preserve. Birds such as wild turkey, hairy and pileated woodpeckers, and broad-winged hawk, which are commonly found on large tracts of unbroken woodlands, also inhabit Black Ankle Bog.

Black Ankle Bog contains scattered longleaf pines, reminders of the trees that were once prevalent in this area on the border between the Coastal Plain and the Piedmont. The North Carolina Chapter is working to restore these pines by setting prescribed burns and replanting longleaf. Apparently the name Black Ankle was inspired by the sight of someone walking through the area after one of the frequent fires that occurred here historically.

CONSERVATION HIGHLIGHTS:
The North Carolina Chapter purchased this tract in 1991 from the Dassow Property Corporation. For the next 20 to 25 years, The Nature Conservancy will continue to restore the preserve to its historic condition by conducting prescribed burns and planting longleaf pine seedlings grown from local seed sources. The North Carolina Zoo, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, and N.C. Division of Forest Resources are actively supporting The Nature Conservancy in this restoration effort.

DIRECTIONS:
not available