Nearly one-third of the refuge is currently undergoing hydrology restoration. Areas that were previously ditched and drained in the refuge cannot support healthy wildlife habitat and are at extreme fire risk due to the dried peat soil. Restoration has been ongoing for more than 25 years, with a focus on restoring moisture, reducing mercury runoff into marine areas, conserving unique pocosin habitat, and preventing fires.
Past Wildfires
Two notable wildfires have burned within the Pocosin Lakes NWR since its protection. In April 1985, the Allen Road Fire ignited in the refuge, burning nearly 100,000 acres over three weeks and requiring assistance from the Marines to extinguish the peat 'ground fires' it left in its wake. On June 1, 2008, lightning struck the refuge and started a wildfire known as the Evans Road Fire that had,, spread to about, and burned much of the same land before it was completely contained. The fire was declared out on January 9, 2009.
History
Indigenous Occupants
Human presence in the Pocosin Lakes region likely dates back as many as 10,000 years. Though little systematic archaeological investigation of the Pocosin Lakes NWR has been undertaken, the adjacent Phelps Lake was found to contain more than 30 dugout canoes, some as many as 4,400 years old. Indigenous people likely lived nearby, and accounts from early in the refuge's documented history mention the presence of various Native American artifacts on the shores of Pungo Lake. The region was populated by tribes of Algonquian peoples up until the late Woodland period.The word "pocosin" itself comes from an Algonquian language via an uncertain etymology. While tribal organization and boundaries changed rapidly during the era of colonization, as conflict and disease inflicted high mortality rates on indigenous peoples, the Secotan and Machapunga tribes are both recorded in the area. The Machapunga people and Pungo Lake may share name roots; an 1888 account of a group of displaced "Mattamuskeet Indians" in Robeson County reports that they referred to Pungo Lake as Mattapungo.
Colonization and Development
Following European colonization, the pocosin lakes were quickly modified and developed in an attempt to expand available crop land. In 1840, the state began a decade-long attempt to drain Pungo Lake in what is now the Pocosin Lakes NWR. A 25-foot-wide canal was excavated by enslaved people, who worked knee-deep in water and were housed in "shanties" along the edges of the canals. Though efforts to drain the lake were eventually abandoned when little usable land was revealed, the canal construction did drop the lake's surface level by at least 5 feet, and the Pungo Lake Canal still extends from the lake to the Pungo River.
