Wells Savanna
Restoration of a Wet Pine
Savanna Community
Wells Savanna is located 5 miles northwest of Burgaw in Pender County, North Carolina. The site consists of two mowed transmission line rights-of-way and an adjacent 117-acre overgrown pond pine woodland. It is believed that the adjacent woodland is the result of fire suppression, and would resemble a savanna with scattered pond pines under a natural fire regime.
Wells Savanna was discovered in 1997 by a botanist from the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program. The transmission line rights-of-way were identified as natural areas containing a diverse assemblage of native plants associated with wet pine savanna communities. The adjacent woodland was also surveyed and found to contain pockets of the same native plants. It was recognized that there was potential to expand these native communities found in the transmission line rights-of-way by clearing the woodland of woody vegetation.
Restoration of this site is considered important, as savannas were once prevalent in the southeastern United States. Prior to European settlement, savannas occurred naturally in the southeast from Virginia, south to Florida, and west to Texas (Taggart, 1990). These species-rich, fire-maintained grasslands with scattered pines once covered millions of hectares. However, the area of extant savanna is now a fraction of its original range as alternative land uses and fire suppression have reduced this ecosystem to a series of small and scattered islands within a highly managed and manipulated landscape (Johnson and Tothill, 1984).
The Coastal Land Trust purchased Wells Savanna in the spring of 2002 and will begin restoration efforts in 2003.
Click on the links below to learn more about the many aspects of this restoration project.