The maritime holly forest is a unique assemblage of species dominated by the broadleaf evergreen, Ilex opaca (American holly). Due to the highly restricted occurrence of this forest community to only two locations on barrier islands in New York and New Jersey, it has been classified as a critically imperiled community (global conservation status rank of G1; NatureServe 2004) because of extreme rarity or very few remaining acres. The only two examples known of the maritime holly forest include: the Sunken Forest (SF; 16 ha) occurring on Fire Island National Seashore, a barrier island...