Let's Hear It For The Seeps!

Dr. Dan Tufford, Department of Biological Sciences at the University of South Carolina, has an interest in watershed ecology and water resources management. Along with Steve Bennett, herpetologist for SC Department of Natural Resources (SC DNR), they have been studying the hydrology and salamander communities for seeps at the Francis Beidler Forest and the Wannamaker Nature Preserve near St. Matthews. The boards in the image are placed and then revisited once salamanders and other fauna have sought shelter beneath them.

Seeps are small, poorly-understood wetlands that occur at the base of slopes, generally at the outer edge of a floodplain or stream corridor. They are supplied by groundwater flow from adjacent sloping land.

"There is a need to better understand the characteristics, functions, and landscape matrix within which seepage wetlands occur so that we can know their ecological roles, rather than infer them as is currently the situation. Filling the knowledge gap about these wetlands is particularly urgent at this time. The Coastal Plain is under increasingly intense development pressure. Although these wetlands may be ubiquitous in a particular landscape, individually they are frequently quite small and are perceived by many to be unimportant, and thus expendable. A lack of knowledge of the ecological and environmental roles of these wetlands makes it difficult to argue persuasively for their protection. "--Tufford, Nelson, Bennett (SC DNR), Harrison (CofC)

Today, Dr. Bud Badr, Chief of Hydrology; Dr. Bill Clendenin, State Geologist, and Dr. Ralph Willoughby, geologist, all from SC DNR, were present to visit the Beidler Forest seep sites and to hear a research proposal from Tufford and Bennett. The proposal calls for geologists to determine the geologic profile for the land around the seep and for hydrologists to create a model to determine the area around the seep necessary to maintain water flow within the seep. As noted in the paragraph above, a better understanding of "characteristics, functions, and landscape matrix within which seepage wetlands" is critical to understanding how to protect these specific wetlands.

Beidler Forest in the News

Audubon South Carolina has been promoting the upcoming (Feb. 15-18, 2008) Great Back Yard Bird Count. Today, we got some help from the Post & Courier's article. Remember, you do not need to be a bird expert or spend more than 15 minutes in order to participate in this citizen science opportunity.

Previously, this blog has noted the unique mircohabitat referred to as a seep. Today's Post and Courier provides coverage of Dr. Dan Tufford and SCDNR's Steve Bennett and their continuing research into these poorly-understood wetlands. "There's something about the plumbing of these things that's going to be interesting to understand," Tufford said.

Brad Nettles/The Post and Courier
Tufford checks to see the kinds of wildlife that inhabit a Beidler Forest seep.

Summer Camp 2011

The Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest offers a choice of three week-long summer day-camps during June and July. Francis Beidler Forest contains the largest remaining stand of virgin, cypress-tupelo swamp in the world. This is the perfect setting for stimulating a child’s love for nature!

With plants as the theme, campers will become amateur naturalists themselves by engaging in science, hands-on activities and crafts. See the tentative schedule here.

The programs for the summer camp are geared for grades 1 through 6. The camp day will last from 9:00 am until 2:00 pm. The cost is $85 per camper.  Please call Beidler Forest at 843-462-2150 to secure a place for your child in the week of your choice or send an email to Mark Musselman.

The dates for the 2011 summer camp are:

Session I: June 13-17

Session II: June 20 – June 24

Session III: July 25-29

There are still spots for all camp sessions, but there is a limited capacity of 30 campers.

An enrollment form can be downloaded here.

New!
Advanced Swamp Camp

Starting this year, the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest is offering a day-camp for teenagers (ages 13-16) from 9:00 am until 2:00 pm from July 18th through July 22nd. The cost is $100 per camper.

Campers will spend the days outside exploring the various habitats throughout the sanctuary with in-depth looks at conservations projects, including the Project PROTHO bird banding research, spotted turtle research, amphibian/seep habitat research, and longleaf pine restoration.

Limit: 15 campers. Call Beidler Forest at 843-462-2150 or send an e-mail to Mark Musselman.

Images by Mark Musselman

Master Naturalists Visit

Yesterday, the master naturalist class from the Lowcountry Institute on Spring Island visited the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest.  What a difference a day makes!  A visit today, after the passing of the cold front, would not have produced the variety of wildlife sightings described below.

Upon entering the swamp, a Winter Wren (Troglodytes hiemalis) greeted us with a call as it flew inches off the ground between its inspections of decaying logs.  With the water level remaining low due to the lack of rain, we concentrated our wildlife searches around the few shallow creek channels.  Either the wildlife lives in the water or it eats something in the water.  We had our first hit along the channel near #5.  As we pointed out a frequently used deer trail, free of leaves and with fresh tracks embedded in the mud, a member of the group spotted an Eastern Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus piscivorus) wedged low between two trees.

Eastern Cottonmouth - Mark Musselman

As photos were being taken, another member of the group spotted a second cottonmouth nearly obscured by a log off the other side of the boardwalk.  A brief walk to #8 and another cottonmouth was discovered basking on a log.

All was relatively quiet at Goodson Lake and around to #14, which is halfway back on the return loop.  Beyond #14, a Barred Owl (Strix varia) was spotted low on a branch a few meters left of the boardwalk.  For several minutes, the owl tolerated the group of twenty-five adults along with the "aahs" and clicking camera shutters.  Eventually, it flew to a slightly more distant perch and gave a brief hoot to let us know it was time to move along.

Barred Owl - Mark Musselman

As we turned, we spotted the owl's mate ahead of us on the hand rail.  The second owl attempted to catch something on the ground to the left of the boardwalk and then flew to a low perch next to the hand rail.  Again, the cameras came up as the model posed patiently for the art gallery shots.

Barred Owl - Mark Musselman

Barred Owl - Mark Musselman

Having not yet finishing discussing the fortuitous close encounters with the owls, we came upon a large Banded Water Snake (Nerodia fasciata fasciata) that appears to have sensed the cooling weather and has established a den near the fallen water hickory.

Collis Boyd repairing boardwalk - Mark Musselman

We continued on to the nature center for lunch and then made the short drive to the marl bluff along the southern edge of Mallard Lake.  The Six-lined Racerunners (Cnemidophorus sexlineatus) were absent this trip, but we did capture a young Southern Fence Lizard (Sceloporus undulatus) in the dry, sandy upland habitat.  A short walk down the steep slope, approximately 20' change in elevation, brought us to a seep.  Seeps form when rain peculates vertically through the soil until it reaches the impermeable layer of marl.  Water then travels laterally until emerging from the base of the slope in a narrow (5'-6') and short (20'-25') wetland.  The cool, permanent and fish-free water is prime amphibian, especially salamander, habitat.  We quickly located a Slimy Salamander (Plethodon glutinosus) and a Southern Two-lined Salamander (Eurycea cirrigera) before being distracted by a small, beautifully colored Eastern Cottonmouth.  The snake quickly retreated to its likely den in an exposed root mass and we moved away from the bluff to explore the dry swamp.

An immediate and somewhat satisfying find was the skull of a wild pig (Sus scrofa), a scourge we have discussed previously in this blog.  Note the gnawing by other wildlife, mainly rodents, as they seek to meet their calcium needs.  Stirring leaves and rolling a few logs produced a variety of frogs, including a Southern Cricket Frog (Acris gryllus), a Green Treefrog (Hyla cinerea) , and a Pine Woods Treefrog (Hyla femoralis) as well as a beautiful Marbled Salamander (Ambystoma opacum)!

Wild pig skull - Mark Musselman

Marbled Salamander - Mark Musselman

Marbled Salamander - Mark Musselman

Pine Woods Treefrog - Mark Musselman

Finally, before heading back up the bluff to the vehicles, Kelley Luikey snapped a photo of a richly colored Marbled Orbweaver (Araneus marmoreus).  With today's cool, breezy weather portending overnight freezes, these spiders will not be around much longer.

Marbled Orbweaver - Kelley Luikey