Mountains and Piedmont

Bluff Mountain Fen

  • Location: Bluff Mountain Preserve in Ashe County, NC
  • Wetland Type: Southern Appalachian Fen
  • Owner: The Natural Conservancy
  • Unique Feature: Only known wetland type in the region
  • Factsheet
  • Directions 

Photo provide by The Nature Conservancy

Croatan National Forest

  • Location: Craven, Carteret, and Jones counties, NC
  • Wetland Types: Pocosins, Carolina bays, salt marsh and more
  • Owner: U.S. Forest Service
  • Unique Feature: Approximately 75% of the Croatan may be considered wetlands with pocosins comprising the majority of the wetland acreage.
  • Factsheet
  • Directions


Photo by David Blevins

Merchants Millpond

  • Location: Gates County, NC
  • Wetland Type: Cypress Gum Swamp (Blackwater)
  • Owner: North Carolina State Parks
  • Unique Feature: Created 190 years ago, coastal pond and southern swamp forest mingle, creating one of North Carolina’s rarest ecological communities.
  • Factsheet 
  • Directions

Photo courtesy of Chuck Richardson

Santee Coastal Preserve

  • Location: Charleston County, SC
  • Wetland Type:
  • Owner: South Carolina Division of Park and Recreation
  • Unique Feature: Once a rice plantation, this reserve provides essential habitat for many species of wildlife, including migratory and wintering waterfowl, shorebirds and wading birds, and Loggerhead sea turtles.
  • Factsheet 
  • Directions 

Photo by Charles Slate

Woods Bay 

  • Location: Florence, Clarendon, and Sumter counties, SC
  • Wetland Type: Carolina Bay
  • Owner: SC Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism
  • Unique Feature: The park is the home to one of the last remaining, relatively undisturbed, large Carolina bays on the Mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain.
  • Factsheet 
  • Directions 

Photo courtesy of Regina Huff

Bluff Mountain Fen

  • Location: Bluff Mountain Preserve in Ashe County, NC
  • Wetland Type: Southern Appalachian Fen
  • Owner: The Natural Conservancy
  • Year Nominated: 2019
  • Unique Feature: Only known wetland type in the region
  • More Information: Factsheet
  • Plan a Visit: Directions 


Brogden Bottomlands 

  • Location: Johnston County, NC 
  • Wetland Type: Cypress Gum Swamp and Bottomland Hardwood Forest/Slough 
  • Site Owner: Triangle Land Conservancy
  • Year Nominated: 2020
  • Unique Feature: Large, intact floodplain area along the Neuse River just east of Raleigh with a variety of habitats. 
  • More Information: Fact Sheet
  • Additional Resources: 
  • Triangle Land Conservancy


Hemlock Bluffs

  • Location: Wake County, North Carolina
  • Wetland Types: Floodplain pools, bottomland hardwood forest
  • Owners: State of North Carolina and Town of Cary
  • Year Nominated: 2018
  • Threats: Habitat fragmentation from surrounding neighborhoods and roads. Polluted runoff from adjacent land use.
  • More Information: Hemlock Bluffs Factsheet 
  • Plan a Visit: Directions


Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve 

  • Location: Wake County, NC  
  • Site Owner: City of Raleigh 
  • Year Nominated: 2023
  • Wetland Types: Floodplain Forest consisting of bottomland hardwoods and a system of natural river levees 
  • Unique Feature: The North Carolina Natural Heritage Program has designated the floodplain forest that surrounds the meadow as a Significant Natural Heritage Natural Area providing habitats for diverse numbers of plants and animals. 
  • More Information: Wetland Treasure Factsheet 
  • Plan a Visit: City of Raleigh


Kanuga Bog

  • Location: Henderson County, NC
  • Wetland Types: Bog
  • Owner: Kanuga Conference and Retreat Center
  • Year Nominated: 2017
  • More Information: Factsheet (updated 9/20/2023)
  • Plan a visit: https://www.kanuga.org/directions/


Mason Farm

  • Location: Orange County, NC
  • Wetland Type: Piedmont swamp forest, alluvial forest, bottomland forest
  • Owner: North Carolina Botanical Garden - UNC Chapel Hill
  • Year Nominated: 2016
  • Unique Feature: This site includes two valuable wetland areas—Big Oak Woods and Morgan Creek Floodplain Forest—are highly significant both for wildlife habitat and for water quality.
  • More Information: Factsheet 
  • Plan a Visit: Directions


Panthertown Valley Bog 

  • Location: Jackson County, NC 
  • Wetland Type: Southern Appalachian Bog 
  • Site Owner: U.S. Forest Service
  • Year Nominated: 2020
  • Unique Feature: One of the rarest wetland types in the SE in an unmatched setting of granitic domes. 
  • More information: Fact Sheet
  • Additional Resources:
  • US Forest Service
  • Friends of Panthertown
  • NC DWR video


Richardson-Taylor Preserve

  • Location: Guilford County, NC 
  • Wetland Type: Beaver Marsh
  • Site Owner: Guildford County Parks
  • Year Nominated: 2021
  • Unique Feature: Influenced by beaver activity, resulting in shallow open water habitat with scattered dead trees, small shrubs, and clumps of herbaceous wetland plants. 
  • More Information: Wetland Treasure Factsheet
  • Plan a Visit: Guildford County Parks

Robertson Millpond

  • Location: Wake County, NC
  • Wetland Types: Riverine swamp forest, non-tidal freshwater marsh 
  • Owner: Wake County Parks and Recreation
  • Year Nominated: 2017
  • More Information: Factsheet
  • Plan a Visit: Directions


Scuppernong River Swamp

  • Location: Tyrrell County, NC
  • Wetland Types: Non-riverine swamp forest, riverine swamp forest, hardwood flat, headwater wetland
  • Owner: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
  • Year Nominated: 2017
  • More Information: Factsheet
  • Plan a Trip: Map


West Branch Nature Preserve


Weymouth Woods Nature Preserve 

  • Location: Moore County, NC 
  • Wetland Type: Seep
  • Site Owner: North Carolina State Parks
  • Year Nominated: 2021
  • Unique Feature: Nestled within longleaf pine savanna, rainwater percolates through the sand soil to form the seep providing refuges for plants and animals. 
  • More Information: Wetland Treasure Factsheet
  • Plan a Visit: NC State Parks
  • View Video