Q: Field trip report: North Carolina (The Green Swamp and mountains) in 2003


A: In September 2003, I had a business trip to Arlington, Virginia. True to my usual modus vivendi, I padded the trip with a few days (in this case, several), so I could explore the wilds of North Carolina.

There were two legs of this trip. The first part of the trip was to the mountain district of North Carolina, i.e. the Appalachian Mountains in the western part of the state. There I hoped to see the federally endangered pitcher plant species Sarracenia oreophila and Sarracenia jonesii (=Sarracenia rubra subsp. jonesii). I knew the land manager who helps steward these sites, and she kindly gave me permission to visit the sites.

The second part of the trip was to the southeastern part of the state, i.e. The Green Swamp and surrounding lands. I had contacted a local from that area, and planned to meet with him for a tour of some excellent plant sites. He agreed to show me around, as long as I did not bring my GPS to record site locations. I appreciated this restriction (I have required the same when I take people in the field)--I immediately suspected that I was going to like this guy!

An important note to would-be travellers. I will under no circumstances disclose location data for the sites I mention on this trip. Poaching is simply too great a problem to risk revealing any kind of location information on the internet. The red zone I indicate on the western part of my North Carolina map above only indicates the mountain district of the state. The plants are somewhere in there--I will reveal no more!


See the field trip!
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Page citations: Personal observations.