Congaree National Park

I spent most of the day at Congaree National Park -- it was very cool and very big! Too much to do in too short a time.

Congaree NP was created to protect the largest remaining area of old growth, bottomland hardwood swamp left in the United States. Bottomland swamps would have been remarkably common throughout the southern coastal plain, where slow moving rivers meander towards the sea, overflow their banks and flood the surrounding land. Remnants of these swamps can be found everywhere. However hundreds of years of logging and clearing for farming and development  have reduced these areas to forgotten island wastelands. (Though they are still productive wetlands, if isolated.) So what makes Congaree special?

Big Trees: There are many champion trees and champion trees in the making in this forest. The national champion Loblolly Pine can be found here. (Loblollies are commonly found around St. Mary's County as well. Our largest is 76 years old and 86 feet tall.) This champion tree stands 168' tall, is nearly 5' in diameter and has a crown spread of 71'. This is a BIG tree!

Open Space

Open Spaces: Another characteristic of an old growth forest is open space on the ground. Young forests will have lots of understory and mid-story trees and shrubs fighting for sunlight. With older forests the fight is over, the large trees have spread their branches and it is their leaves that collect the sunlight far above the forest floor. This, of course,leaves little sun left for other plants.

Seep

Seeps: If you looked at the "wetland types" post a couple of days ago you would have seen the word "seep". Seeps are places where water seeps out onto the surface through peat or soil and spreads out across the ground. Congaree was full of such seeps.

Hydrology: One really can't talk about wetlands without thinking like water. Wetlands are wet, after all, and the water has to come from somewhere, go somewhere (or not) and do so either quickly or slowly, in large quantities or small. Bottomland wetlands are basically the floodplain of a river or creek. Here, the main influence on water levels in the swamp is the flooding of the Congaree River.


Other Interesting bits ... and photos:

Love Trees

Eastern Grey Squirrel

Love Trees: While canoeing (yes, I finally got the canoe wet!) cedar creek I came across these "Love Trees." Ok ... that's what I call them. Like a mother embracing a child the tree in the center is a water tupelo and the larger tree surrounding it is a bald cypress. Tolerance lives, even in nature - red in tooth and claw!

Switch Cane

Canebrakes: Switch cane (Arundinaria gigantea), a bamboo like grass native to the southeast, was once so abundant that it was described as a miniature forest spreading as far as the eye could see. Today, switch cane habitat is dwindling and finding a miniature forest is rare indeed. Switch cane is valuable as livestock fodder and is called "mutton grass" in places where it is grazed heavily by sheep. Interestingly, switch cane does not go to seed anually. It will produce seed once every 14 years or so, they die off. Certainly a great way to rejuvenate a plant! (This comes from "Greg" the ranger who I drilled with questions until he was absolutely sick of me!)

Spanish Moss

Spanish Moss: Spanish Moss (Tillandsia usneoides) is a flowering plant that, to my mind at least, is THE typical plant of the southeast. It is an epiphyte, or air plant, receiving all its nutrients from the air. It reproduces from seed, by bits of plant blown by the wind to other trees, even by birds carrying it around as nesting material. Our area is about as far north as you will find it. Look for it at Sotterley Plantation near the canoe launch area.

Dorovan Muck

Dorovan Muck: Dorovan  is a wetland soil type found in the southeast from Alabama to South Carolina. It was famous, briefly, in the 1980's, for its unparalled ability to break down pollutants. If it ain't biodegradable in dorovan muck, it ain't biodegradable!

Flared Tupelo

A typical wetland tree adaptation is flared trunks as can be seen on these Water Tupelo trees. If the flared trunk is deeply creased it is called a buttress. Other adaptations include long surface spreading roots, adventitious roots and knees.

Bald Cypress