North Carolina

E

Soils

North Carolina’s well-drained mature soils belong mainly to the group known as the red-yellow podzolic soils (ultisols), that covers most of the southeastern United States. In the mountains are gray-brown podzolic soils and a few small areas of podzols, two soil types that are similar to the soils of the northeastern United States.

Most of the soils of the Atlantic Coastal Plain are light colored and of sandy texture. They are low in most elements essential to crop growth and are moderately to strongly acidic. Many of them respond to proper treatment and become quite productive for agriculture when limed and fertilized. Drainage is the major soil problem of the Atlantic Coastal Plain.

Clay and clay loam textures typify Piedmont soils, and stoniness is common. Many of the flatter upland areas and some basins have light-colored sandy and sandy loam soils. The parent material, which is derived from old deeply weathered crystalline rocks, is high in iron oxide, which gives most Piedmont soils their distinctive red color. Piedmont soils are richer in most essential elements than are most Coastal Plain soils. Some of the Piedmont’s best crop soils are derived from water-laid, or alluvial, materials on river floodplains and terraces.

Most of the mountain soils are thin, stony, and not fully developed. At lower elevations are many red-yellow podzolic soils typical of the Piedmont. In the higher parts the cooler climate accounts for gray-brown podzolic soils. The best agricultural soils are on floodplains and terraces in valleys and basins.

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F

Plant Life

Forests today cover 59 percent of North Carolina’s total area. Originally they covered the entire land area, except for grassy marshes and some bald treeless areas at high elevations. The highest proportion of forest land exists where there is little farming, in the steep mountains and the poorly-drained outer Coastal Plain.

The forests of the Atlantic Coastal Plain consist largely of southern loblolly pines and longleaf pines. Cypresses, gums, Atlantic white cedars, and other water-tolerant species are found in river bottomlands and in Coastal Plain swamps. A rare carnivorous plant called the Venus’s-flytrap is native to the swamps of southeastern North Carolina. The coastal pine forests have been cut over repeatedly, and all that remains is second-growth timber.

The forests of the Piedmont and the mountains at the time of the European settlement consisted of red oaks, white oaks, hickories, gums, yellow poplars, and other deciduous trees mixed with smaller numbers of pines. Pines predominate in some parts of the Piedmont today, but most of the region is covered by a mosaic of hardwood and pine stands. In the mountains low temperatures, a shorter warm season and abundant rainfall have favored northern species and abundant undergrowth. These species include the maple, birch, beech, hemlock, fir, and spruce.

G

Animal Life

Although North Carolina’s wildlife has diminished over the years, it is still plentiful and varied. Land birds include quail, doves, wild turkeys, and many songbirds. Ducks and geese are plentiful near the coast. Most wooded areas have squirrels, rabbits, opossums, raccoons, foxes, and other small game. Deer are widespread. Bears are not numerous but are found in the mountains and the Coastal Plain swamps. Wild boar can be found in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Nantahala National Forest. Snakes, including poisonous species such as rattlesnakes and water moccasins, are common throughout the state, and even alligators are native to the southeastern corner of the state. Most inland waters are stocked with fish, including trout, bass, bream, and perch.

H

Conservation

Twenty divisions of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources are responsible for aspects of environmental quality. Included are the Division of Air Quality, which monitors the quality of outdoor air (including problems such as smoke, haze, and noxious fumes), and the Division of Water Quality, which monitors the quality of surface and groundwater resources. Each of these agencies also carries out enforcement actions against violators. The Division of Soil and Water Conservation conducts programs to slow loss of topsoils, control agricultural pollution, protect watersheds, and map wetlands.

In 2008 the state had 32 hazardous waste sites on a national priority list for cleanup due to their severity or proximity to people. Some progress was being made in efforts to reduce pollution; in the period 1995–2000 the amount of toxic chemicals discharged into the environment was reduced by 29 percent.

III

Economic Activities

From colonial times to the 1920s, agriculture dominated the economy of North Carolina. Manufacturing surpassed farming as a source of income in the 1920s and as a source of jobs, as well, by the 1950s. In the late 1990s manufacturing remained the principal economic activity, but government, commercial and financial services, and tourism also were important. In addition, a large number of research and development industries have been established in North Carolina, in facilities such as Research Triangle Park, located between Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill. Handicrafts, such as baskets and pottery are important products of the Blue Ridge and Piedmont regions.

North Carolina had a work force of 4,257,000 in 2008. Of those, the largest share, 33 percent, worked in the diverse services sector, doing such jobs as working in tourist facilities or computer programming. Another 20 percent of the workers were employed in wholesale and retail trade; 13 percent in manufacturing; 17 percent in federal, state, or local government, including those in the military; 6 percent in construction; 17 percent in finance, insurance, or real estate; 19 percent in transportation or public utilities; and 3 percent in farming (including agricultural services), forestry, or fishing. Only 0.2 percent held jobs in mining. In 2007, 3 percent of North Carolina’s workers were unionized, one of the lowest rates in the country. The state has a right-to-work law, which prohibits union membership as a condition of employment.

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