Last updated: November 13, 2024
Article
Terrestrial Vegetation Monitoring 2022 Data Summary for Moores Creek National Battlefield
NPS graphic / Mallorie Davis
Overview
Vegetation communities are dynamic entities influenced by environmental factors and impacts from natural and anthropogenic disturbances. The diversity of plants within the southeastern Coastal Plain contributes to a range of ecological services, provides habitat and resources to an array of wildlife, and functions as nature’s backdrop—usually the primary visual cue pulling us toward an appreciation of the outdoors. Determining trends in vegetation communities over time and identifying plant stressors is therefore vital to understanding the ecological health of terrestrial ecosystems within Southeast Coast Network (SECN) parks. Collectively, this information can be used to guide management actions that sustain a park’s ecological integrity and support plant conservation across a diversity of spatial scales for generations to come.
Methods
The Southeast Coast Network collects long-term data on terrestrial vegetation within its parks using a peer-reviewed protocol similar to other NPS Inventory and Monitoring networks in the eastern U.S. and is modeled after the approach used to describe natural vegetation in the Southeast developed by the Carolina Vegetation Survey. Permanent plots are used as the sample unit to determine a site’s (1) vascular plant richness and abundance for all native and non-native species; (2) basal area, density and health for all woody species; (3) density of forest floor fuels; (4) community level disturbance events, including presence of insect pests and disease; and (5) abiotic condition (e.g., landform shape, soil nutrients, canopy coverage and height). Plots are randomly located across broadly defined habitat types within SECN parks. Our sampling effort focuses on dominant (> 30% coverage) habitat types within these parks, but when time and resources allow, the sampling effort is increased to include less dominant types. The 2019 Terrestrial Vegetation Monitoring Protocol provides detailed descriptions of field and data processing techniques used by the Southeast Coast Network.
Study Area
Moores Creek National Battlefield (MOCR) is in Pender County, North Carolina, approximately 12.4 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of Wilmington. The park is approximately 40 hectares (88 acres) and named for Moores Creek—a tidally-influenced tributary of the Black River situated in the Cape Fear Watershed. Moores Creek National Battlefield was founded in 1926 to commemorate a pivotal battle during the Revolutionary War where American Patriots incurred a significant victory over Scottish Loyalists at Moores Creek Bridge. Vegetation communities within the park include alluvial floodplains adjacent to Moores Creek, pine-dominated uplands across the park’s southern and eastern ends, and a wet meadow (“savanna”) west of the park’s visitor’s center. This wet meadow has been the focus of park resource management over many years because of the number of rare plants historically found within this habitat. This protocol was first implemented at the park in 2022, and these data represent the baseline status of vegetation and associated abiotic elements from the three aforementioned broadly defined habitats. Eleven plots were established in June 2022 (see map above).
Significant Findings
Site and Environmental Factors
Moores Creek National Battlefield lies within the Middle Atlantic Coastal Plain (Carolina Flatwoods) Ecoregion of southeastern North Carolina. This ecoregion is defined by low elevation relief, wide upland surfaces, and poorly drained soils. Historically, pine flatwoods and savannas were common across this area; however, artificial drainage and persistence of loblolly pine for timber production has altered this ecoregion’s natural vegetation patterns. Within the Coastal Plain, current vegetation diversity patterns are influenced by these historical land use impacts as well as by complex edaphic factors and their relationship with site hydrology and disturbance patterns (e.g., fire, storms). At Moores Creek National Battlefield, these environmental conditions were observed in the landform, soil, and disturbance data collected from vegetation plots.
NPS graphic / SECN staff
Vegetation
Two hundred and twenty-nine plant species were observed across all plots, including 30 taxa not detected in previous plant surveys. Two new-to-park species included Oriental lady’s thumb (Persicaria longiseta) and cogongrass (Imperata cylindrica) which are listed as invasive by the North Carolina Invasive Plant Council. Rare species were encountered throughout all wetland habitats surveyed within the park and included a state species of special concern, small-leaved meadowrue (Thalictrum macrostylum). Overall plot level native plant richness ranged from 34 to 86 species with highest richness found in Nonalluvial Wetland plots. Herbaceous species dominated both wetland habitats and tree species dominated the upland habitat within the park. Nonnative species were frequent within Alluvial and Nonalluvial Wetlands but occurred in low abundance across all plots. Four Rank 1 invasive plants were observed in Alluvial Wetland plots during this monitoring effort, including mud-annie (Murdannia keisak), sericea lespedeza (Lespedeza cuneata), Chinese privet (Ligustrum sinense), and Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinense).
NPS graphic / SECN staff
Other Findings
- Hydrologic patterns and natural fire events within Nonalluvial Wetland and Open Upland Woodland habitat in the park have been disrupted by former land use activities such agriculture, grazing, timber management, ditching for water control, and fire suppression. Reintroduction of frequent fire in these habitats over the past several decades has improved vegetation conditions. To promote longleaf pine (Pinus palustris), historically the matrix canopy tree of these habitats, plantings may be needed in addition to continued use of prescribed fire.
- All plots are scheduled to be resampled in spring/summer 2026.
Full Report
Terrestrial Vegetation Monitoring at Moores Creek National Battlefield: 2022 Data Summary
About the Southeast Coast Network
In 1999, the National Park Service initiated a long-term ecological monitoring program, known as “Vital Signs Monitoring,” to provide the minimum infrastructure to allow more than 270 national park system units to identify and implement long-term monitoring of their highest-priority measurements of resource condition. The overarching purpose of natural resource monitoring in parks is to develop scientifically sound information on the current status and long-term trends in the composition, structure, and function of park ecosystems, and to determine how well current management practices are sustaining those ecosystems.
The NPS Vital Signs Monitoring Program addresses five goals for all parks with significant natural resources:
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Determine the status and trends in selected indicators of the condition of park ecosystem,
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Provide early warning of abnormal conditions,
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Provide data to better understand the dynamic nature and condition of park ecosystems,
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Provide data to meet certain legal and Congressional mandates, and
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Provide a means of measuring progress towards performance goals.
The Southeast Coast Network (SECN) includes eighteen administrative areas containing twenty park units, fifteen of which contain significant and diverse natural resources. In total, SECN parks encompass more than 184,000 acres of federally-managed land across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Florida. The parks span a wide diversity of cultural missions, including four national seashores, two national historic sites, two national memorials, six national monuments, two national military parks, as well as a national recreation area, national battlefield, national historical park, and an ecological and historic preserve. The parks range in size from slightly more than 20 to nearly 60,000 acres, and when considered with non-federal lands jointly managed with the National Park Service, the network encompasses more than 253,000 acres.
For More Information
SECN Home Page
(https://www.nps.gov/im/secn/index.htm)
SECN Reports and Publications
(https://www.nps.gov/im/secn/reports-publications.htm)
NPS Inventory and Monitoring Program
(https://www.nps.gov/im/index.htm)
Data Downloads via the Natural Resource Information Portal
(https://irma.nps.gov/portal/)