Alex Floyd

Guest columnist

Brothers and sisters, we are to the point “it ain’t getting any wetter, it’s just getting deeper”. It feels as though we’ve got a foot of rain per week for two months. Many times, in July and August, we get concerned about fires in the woods but this year I’m more worried about my crawdads drowning.

You’ll note that we’ve gone from a dozen log trucks a day in Pembroke to 3-4. I usually get behind a dump truck or two in the mornings on 204 but they’re getting fewer and farther between also. The old saying goes “if you want to make God laugh tell him your plans”. It’s almost like God listened to the folks plotting to pave, vinyl-box and warehouse Bryan County into oblivion and said “I’ll show you”.

Summers like this one can serve to make us aware of the critical role our swamps and wetlands play in Bryan County. If your neighborhood or subdivision is flooded, chances are there were cypress trees pushed up and bay galls filled in to build it. On the bright side, the real estate moguls have plenty of “waterfront property” and “duck hunters paradise” listings to pick from.

Swamps and wetlands serve as storage capacity for the hundreds of thousands of gallons of stormwater a few inches of rain create. They then filter that water through roots and plant systems releasing cleaner and cooler air back into the atmosphere. What the plants can’t use gradually seeps through the soil recharging the aquifers that all life depends on. Swamps are a keystone ecosystem for hundreds of birds, fish and other animals and thousands of plants and bugs. Granted some of them (especially the bugs) are not always pleasant (I have had to stop typing to scratch the poison ivy I encountered this week), but most of them are really cool and a huge part of what makes our area special.

These plants and tree species have adapted to their host soils over thousands of years and they can withstand our summer afternoon storms and even hurricane force winds. Leaving these areas intact, and not replacing them with non-native trees that break in a breeze, can save our infrastructure and keep homes and streets safer. These plants and trees also harbor tannic acids in their foliage and when it falls it gives the water its beautiful, signature, translucent- black color.

Finally, we have to consider that there are just some places on this earth that are meant to be wild. It’s a sad childhood indeed that never encounters a swamp. I’m not suggesting kids explore them alone as there’s plenty of critters that don’t want you there. I am however suggesting that as you ride by these spots at least point them out to kids and explain to them how important they are (now that you know).

Places to see the swamp “in action.

Afternoon trip: Sterling Creek Park, Richmond Hill J.F. Gregory Park walking trails, Richmond Hill Savannah-Ogeechee Canal Park, 681 Fort Argyle Rd (Hwy 204).

Day Trip: Fort McAllister State Park, at the end of Hwy 144 spur.

Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (largest intact blackwater swamp in North America), Folkston, Ga George L. Smith State Park, Twin City, Ga And if you really want to get out there: Wilderness Southeast “WiSE”, Blackwater Creek Paddle tour of Ebenezer swamp, Effingham County.

Alex Floyd is an nth generation Bryan Countian and enjoys a good swamp.