Author: William Johnson
Top photo by J. Fields: Longleaf Pine Trail at Carvers Creek State Park
Today we'll begin the second part of our exploration of the Longleaf Pine Trail. Beginning at the 2-mile marker, we'll follow the trail to where it ends at the beginning of the Turkey Oak Loop Trail.
If you are walking the trail when we publish the newsletter in July, you will immediately notice that the area you are walking in has recently burned. The ground has a layer of black from the fire, with spots of green already pushing skyward as the area goes through the fire cycle. This is a result of what we call a "prescribed fire." Fire professionals, such as wildland firefighters, state resource managers, burn bosses, and even members of your local state park staff who have completed the required training, use fire to maintain healthy conditions in parks and other wild areas. For example, here at Carvers Creek State Park, we've burned about 1,300 acres so far this year, which helps limit the amount of available fuel of the ground, recycles nutrients back to the soil, and promotes the growth of native trees, wildflowers and other plants.
Prescribed fire is much like a prescription a doctor might give you to help stay healthy. Prescribed fires are planned and controlled by experienced and qualified firefighters and natural resource managers. Prescribed fire is medicine for the longleaf pine ecosystem. Without fire, the longleaf pine areas would sicken and die. The longleaf itself would not grow, and the area would quickly be taken over by dense, heavy underbrush that would drive out the animals and plants that rely on the longleaf for life.
When European settlers first came to this country, they found longleaf pine growing from Virginia to Florida and west to Texas. It covered around 90 million acres. Overtime, the longleaf pine was reduced to about 3% of that area. That's due to a combination of the longleaf pine being tapped for turpentine production and timber, population growth and the conversion of the longleaf habitat to other uses, like farming. Why is that important? Well, imagine finding out that you could only use 3% of your house! That would probably have a pretty big effect on your life.
As you walk the trail, you'll soon see the other side of the Fox Squirrel Loop Trail and another bench, and then, not far beyond, you'll cross Carvers Creek itself, which flows across the trail about a half mile from where we started today, or roughly 2.5 miles from the parking lot.
Keep following the trail as it winds through the swamp bottomland and slowly begins to climb to the top of the Sandhills ridges that wind throughout the park. Do you notice a change in the temperature and humidity as you move from the lowlands to the ridges? Continue past the 3-mile marker, and soon you'll see the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Loop Trail on the right. For now, let's continue to the left on the Longleaf Pine Trail. You are now walking through mature, open longleaf pine forest. Look for the wide white bands painted on some of the trees; those are markers for red-cockaded woodpecker nesting trees.
Did you know that some animals rely on fire? In the western U.S., there are owls that hunt by perching on the edge of burned areas. Since the fire has burned down the small plants and young trees that would normally hide movement, the owls can easily prey moving in the burned areas. Here in the Southeast, there are many animals that rely on fire to provide a healthy habitat: not only the red-cockaded woodpecker, but the gopher tortoise, white-tailed deer, pocket gopher, bobwhite quail, fox squirrel, wild turkey, white-footed mice, and countless different types of insects.
Before too long, you will reach the far side of the Red-Cockaded Woodpecker Loop Trail to your right, while the Longleaf Pine Trail continues to your left. The section on the left side of the trail was burned about a year ago. You can see how quickly new bluestem and wiregrass take hold. Think about the difference between how these areas look versus the low-lying areas that haven't been burned. Do you see a difference in the types of plants and trees that are growing? Do you any difference in how thick the underbrush is?
Take a moment and imagine that you are a bobwhite quail, about 6 inches tall. If you get down on the ground and rest your chin on the ground, your eyes will be just about the right height. Go ahead and try it — nobody's watching! Now imagine you are surrounded by dense, thick underbrush, roots and stems sticking up everywhere. Leave and interwoven branches cover your head. But you aren't small and agile like a sparrow; it's much harder for you to push your way through the brush to find food or a place to nest.
But now the scenery changes. You are still a bobwhite quail, but now you're moving through the wiregrass and bluestem clumps, with tall longleaf pine trees covering the sky. It's much easier to move and quickly hide from a predator or to find a tasty seed to eat. It only gets thick down near the streams and seeps, and you can avoid those if you need to. Without the open areas provided by the longleaf pine, you might now be able to survive long.
Continuing your walk (as a human now!), just ahead you see a powerline opening that runs past a small pond on the left. This is the end of the Longleaf Pine Trail and the beginning of the Turkey Oak Loop Trail. If you walk towards the pond on the powerline, you'll find a park picnic area with some tables — a perfect spot to take a rest before you begin your 4-mile journey back to the parking lot!
July Book Recommendations
For anyone who would like to learn more about nature and the outdoors:
- "Longleaf, Far As the Eye Can See: A New Vision of North America's Richest Forest," by Bill Finch, Beth Maynor Young, Rhett Johnson and John C. Hall, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2012. Well-written with plenty of quality pictures of the longleaf pine habitat in all its aspects.
- "A Field Guide to Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region: North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia," by Bruce A. Sorrie, published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2011. Our go-to book to help identify the many wildflowers that grow throughout the park. Highly recommended.
- PBS recently aired a special about local efforts to help the red-cockaded woodpecker. Go to PBS.org and look for the series "Wild Hope, Episode 103: Woodpecker Wars," or access it at the link below:
Carvers Creek Trail Quest
Come join us in celebrating the Year of the Trail by walking 100 miles throughout 2023!
Hit 100 miles by walking on Carvers Creek's own trails! Visit our Sandhills access or Long Valley Farm access to hike and work towards milestone prizes! Pick up a mileage log at our park office to get started.