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The Blackwood Division of the Duke Forest is near Chapel Hill, in Orange County, North Carolina (35° 58' 41.430"N, 79° 05' 39.087" W, 163 m asl). Mean annual precipitation is 1140 mm, and mean annual temperature is 15.5 °C. Soils are low-fertility acidic Hapludalf in the Enon Series typical of uplands in southeastern USA, with a clayey loam in the upper 0.3 m, and clay below down to the bedrock at 0.7 m. Maximum soil moisture is 0.54 m3m-3. The local topographic variations are small (<5% slopes).
The site contains three vegetation types typical of succession after abandonment of agricultural fields in the region: A field covered with herbaceous vegetation (maintained at this stage by annual mowing); a pine forest established in 1983 as a plantation that currently contains more than 40 woody species, some in the canopy but mostly in sub-canopy positions, and an Oak-Hickory type forest with remnant pine component
The Environment
The Duke Forest lies near the eastern edge of the North Carolina piedmont plateau and supports a cross section of the woodlands found in the upper coastal plain and lower piedmont of the Southeast. A variety of timber types, plant species, soils, topography, and past land use conditions are represented.
Climate
Topography and Soils
15N Application
Forest Cover Types
Over 100 species of trees have been identified in the Duke Forest. The major types in descending order of prevalence are pine, pine-hardwood, upland hardwood, and bottomland hardwood. Pine stands grow on a variety of sites, which are usually the result of old-field succession or planting. The most common species of pine found within the Forest are loblolly, shortleaf and Virginia pine. Typically these pines grow on drier sites. Further detail.
Site history
Little is known on the history of the site prior to the purchase by Duke University, mostly completed in 1944. Records show that the site was occupied by the "Big Meadows" in 1921, with the herbaceous and grassy cover maintained through repeated burning by European settlers since the early 19th century, perhaps preceded by similar practice of the Native Americans. Local farmers harvested the meadow’s vegetation for hay. By 1964, the Big Meadows were occupied with forest in which junipers were large enough to harvest for posts, indicating that tree species colonized the meadow before or shortly after its purchase by Duke. In the late 1970’s/early 1980’s a large portion of the area now occupied by two of three AmeriFlux sites (Old Field and Pine Plantation) and the FACE site was cleared, and following site preparation a portion of it was planted into loblolly pine. Further detail.
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