DATE: Monday, September 22, 1997            TAG: 9709220068

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LIZ SZABO, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   72 lines

CHESAPEAKE: EPA BACKS RESEARCH ON CEDAR TREES' STRANGE WAYS

The Atlantic white cedar - a tree that needs a good catastrophe every once in a while - has long been one of the great mysteries of the Great Dismal Swamp.

The Atlantic white cedar grows only in coastal swamps, but it requires an occasional drought. It is nurtured by wetlands, but its survival depends on devastating forest fires, which clear away underbrush that would otherwise stunt its seedlings' growth. Quick-burning mature cedar trees often fall victim to the very fires that help their seedlings survive.

Scientists may soon decipher this cedar's secrets, thanks to a $700,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to Christopher Newport University. It's the largest grant in the university's history, said biology Professor Robert B. Atkinson. He expects to involve at least 35 students in the research.

The grant is also the largest research study in the history of the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, where a 7,000-acre Atlantic white cedar stand is one of the world's largest, said refuge manager Lloyd Culp.

Researchers hope to learn how to preserve the cedar, Atkinson said. While the Atlantic white cedar is not considered to be endangered, its forests are on the decline, largely because of logging and habitat destruction.

``The decline really started 100 years ago,'' Atkinson said. ``It's fire-dependent, but we often suppress fires. It's restricted to coastal areas, which are often heavily developed. And in many cases the wetlands where they live have been drained.''

The Great Dismal Swamp has been logged for more than 200 years, Culp said. Its wetlands are drained by 150 miles of ditches.

``We are beginning to see some of the trees die,'' Culp said. ``If something isn't done to restore these cedar stands, they will eventually die out.''

But a forest of Atlantic white cedar would be difficult to manage even under the best circumstances, Culp said.

The trees' seeds can't germinate, nor can its seedlings grow, in the shade, Culp said. Atlantic white cedars only prosper when fires clear away other trees and remove the leaves and undergrowth. And while the trees need a swampy environment, too much water will kill them.

``We had an 18-inch surplus of rain in 1996, and we lost some cedar seedlings in the swamp because there was just too much water,'' Culp said. The swamp conducted ``prescribed burning'' earlier this year; lightning strikes later kindled the drought-parched undergrowth during the summer. ``But the areas where the natural fires occurred weren't among the cedar stands,'' he said.

It's easy to see why wildlife resource managers like Culp need all the help they can get. Culp hopes the research will help him assess the success of the refuge's decade-long effort at restoring the cedar, as well as increasing habitat diversity in general.

``We've focused on the cedar and the bald cypress as indicators of how we're doing restoring natural forest types in the Dismal Swamp ecosystem,'' Culp said. ``They were once much more prevalent than they are now. The red maple and gum trees have taken over because of the changes in hydrology,'' or ground water.

Researchers will use satellite photos from the 1970s to evaluate how the forest has changed, Culp said. They'll also study how wildlife use the trees, and how the wetlands recycle nutrients in the soil.

D.A. Brown, a graduate student and environmental scientist with Geo-Marine Inc. in Newport News, plans to measure the elevation of the mounds where cedars thrive. Among the species' other quirks, it grows well on the slopes of small mounds - but not at the crest of a hill or in standing water, he said.

Brown, who's been studying the Dismal Swamp's cedar stands for two years, hopes his research will lead to commercial applications as well.

In addition to cedar's well-known fragrance, the wood is valuable timber. Its solid, light quality is suitable for such diverse products as ships and shingles, Brown said. Its wood is remarkably resistant to rot - so much so that scientists have unearthed intact, 100-year-old cedar logs from bogs in New Jersey.

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