A Vegetational Assessment of the Granitic Rock Outcrop Communities at Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Park

Woolsey, Jared; Walker, Gary

Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site Granitic Dome Management Plan and Environmental Assessment. Low-elevation granitic domes within the boundaries of Carl Sandburg National Historic Site (CARL) have been recognized as a critical resource within the Park (Hart 1993, Johnson 2003, White 2003). Protecting globally-rare granitic-dome communities and maintaining biodiversity has been listed as a primary objective at CARL (Johnson 2003). Granitic domes are unusual in that they form an abrupt, azonal community-type that has been classified as rare on a global scale. In addition, several of the Park’s granitic outcrops served as important cultural features in the historical period during which the Sandburg’s occupied the estate. However information such as: outcrop locations, their geologic and biological composition, historical extent, and visitor-use impacts, is necessary to make management decisions. This project was concerned with characterizing the plant communities that occur on the granitic domes at CARL, with an emphasis on their floristic composition, present and potential threats to community structure, and the age and structure of the encroaching forest matrix. This project was funded by National Park Service through the Southern Appalachian Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit. It is intended to present the baseline data needed to assist CARL management personnel in identifying damaged granitic domes, mitigating resource degradation associated with visitor use, preserving valuable outcrop resources, and directing the future management of this fragile community type. The present study is an extension of the cliff-face ecology and biogeographical investigations being conducted in the Southern Appalachian Region under the direction of Dr. Gary Walker and graduate students of Appalachian State University. Low-elevation granitic dome communities and their environs are of interest both because of their global rarity, and because they harbor a unique flora, which is often restricted wholly or essentially to granitic outcrop community types. The granitic domes of CARL contribute substantially to biodiversity both within the Park and regionally.

A Vegetational Assessment of the Granitic Rock Outcrop Communities at Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Park

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