Pocosins: The Overlooked Bogs That Store Carbon and Curb Wildfires

Pocosins were once written off as worthless land and drained for development. That turned out to be a mistake. These shrubby coastal bogs quietly do a great deal of work: they shelter wildlife, reduce wildfires, store carbon and hold back floods.

Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, North Carolina. Credit: NOAA.

What a pocosin is

A pocosin is a wetland bog with sandy peat soil and woody shrubs throughout. Pocosins are generally found on the Atlantic coastal plain of the United States, from southern Virginia to northern Florida, in broad, low, shallow basins that do not drain naturally. They form as organic matter — something like black muck — builds up over thousands of years, which makes their soil highly acidic and poor in nutrients.

Lost for the wrong reason

Pocosins were once prominent ecosystems in the southeastern United States. They disappeared quickly because they were thought to have little value for the environment and a lot of value for land development.

What healthy pocosins do

Restored, healthy pocosin wetlands benefit land and water ecosystems and the people who live near them. They:

• provide habitat for wildlife
• make wildfires less frequent and less severe
• lock away carbon, nitrogen and mercury, acting as a carbon sink
• protect the water quality of estuaries
• control flooding in low-lying coastal areas

Restoring pocosins also helps ecosystems adapt to sea level rise, by preventing soil loss and encouraging new soil to form.

Sources

Based on "What is a pocosin?" from NOAA's National Ocean Service, a work of the United States government in the public domain.