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    Congaree National Park
    Congaree National Park
    Congaree National Park
    Ebook150 pages42 minutes

    Congaree National Park

    By John E. Cely

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    Located in central South Carolina, only a few miles from the capital city of Columbia, Congaree National Park is the largest old-growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the country and one of the most biologically diverse parks within the national park system. Nearly 100 species of trees have been documented within the park, almost as many as in the entire Pacific Northwest. The park has one of the tallest hardwood forests anywhere in the temperate world and features numerous trees of record-setting proportions, a distinction that has earned it the name "Forest of Champions." This book discusses the early history of the area that later became the Congaree National Park, shows efforts to protect it from logging by a citizen's grassroots campaign, traces the park's early beginnings and development, and illustrates some of the park's notable flora and fauna.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateAug 28, 2017
    ISBN9781439662878
    Congaree National Park
    Author

    John E. Cely

    John E. Cely, a native of Columbia, South Carolina, is a retired wildlife biologist and still-active naturalist who has been exploring the Congaree National Park for more than 40 years. He graduated from Clemson University, twice, and currently serves on the board of directors of the Friends of Congaree Swamp. He is also a member of the COWASEE Basin Task Force. He lives in Columbia with his wife, Margaret, and two Jack Russell terriers, Buster and Belle.

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      Book preview

      Congaree National Park - John E. Cely

      15.

      INTRODUCTION

      The 26,539-acre Congaree National Park is located in rural lower Richland County in central South Carolina, a few miles south of the capital city of Columbia. Most of it consists of a low-lying floodplain forest two and a half to three and a half miles wide adjacent to the Congaree River, with a small portion along the lower Wateree River. Both are large brown rivers, meaning they carry loads of muddy sediment during flood events that occur within a 14,000-square mile watershed that stretches into western North Carolina. There are 28 miles of park riverfront along the north bank of the Congaree River and another four miles of frontage along the west bank of the Wateree River.

      Congaree National Park is not a true swamp, in the sense of there being permanent, standing water that requires a boat for access, but is a floodplain or bottomland forest that may flood a few times each year, typically in late winter and early spring. The rest of the year most of the forest floor is dry and suitable for walking and hiking.

      Congaree is the largest expanse of old-growth bottomland forest remaining in the United States. When the first white settlers arrived 400 years ago, some 50 million acres of bottomland forest existed along coastal rivers that stretched from southern Virginia to eastern Texas and north to Missouri. Now, only about half that amount exists. The remainder has been cleared for agriculture, logged, drained, channelized, filled, and flooded. The cut-over second- and third-growth forests that remain are far different from the original forest, a highly complex and diverse one characterized by a tall, dense tree canopy and plentiful fish and wildlife.

      Researchers have documented nearly a hundred species of trees at Congaree National Park, almost as many as the entire Pacific Northwest. And in terms of total woody plants—trees, shrubs, and vines—Congaree ranks second among national parks, being surpassed only by the Great Smokies, which is 20 times bigger. The large number of native vine species at Congaree, 26 (more than any other park), lends a characteristic subtropical feel to the place. Due to its pristine condition, fertile soils, abundant moisture and sunshine, and long growing season, Congaree supports one of the tallest hardwood forests anywhere in the temperate world. Five of the seven species of oak trees that regularly occur in the Congaree floodplain, for example, are the tallest ever measured for the species. One of these, a cherrybark oak 160 feet high, is the tallest oak tree ever measured in North America. Few areas of its size can boast of the number of national and state champion record trees as Congaree, a feature that has resulted in it being dubbed the Forest of Champions.

      But Congaree National Park is about much more than big, record-setting trees. It is a highly complex forest, in fact one of the most biologically diverse within the national park system, shaped by active and always-changing coastal rivers that regularly flood and deposit rich layers of sediment on the floodplain floor. Unlike most national parks that are like islands surrounded by a sea of development, Congaree is an open or flow-through system and vulnerable to events that may occur many miles away from its boundaries.

      Old-growth bottomland hardwood forests are some of the richest and rarest environments anywhere in the temperate world. One hallmark of these forests is the large amount of dead and dying wood, both standing and on the ground, a feature that results in unusually high populations of woodpeckers, owls, and other cavity-dependent wildlife. Another is an abundance of oak trees that yield rich crops of nature’s perfect wildlife food—acorns. Bottomland forests are inseparable from the rivers that feed and nourish them. They serve as spawning and nursery grounds for many fish species and link the aquatic world with the terrestrial one, a merging that supports river otters, beavers, waterfowl, and wading birds on the same ground as white-tailed deer, wild turkey, raccoons, and gray squirrels.

      Although small and young by most park standards, Congaree National Park is unique within the national park system. It can be thought of as an outdoor, living museum that provides a rare glimpse into America’s past, a past as a

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