Summer 2007 - SCANA Corporation

Vance-Providence
Elementary School
students experience
the mystery and
beauty of the Francis
Beidler Forest.
explains Norman Brunswig,
executive director of Audubon
South Carolina.
Nestled among towering
trees, the screened, open-air
classroom is perched on the
edge of the swamp, creating
the perfect opportunity for
spontaneous observation
sessions.
Sixty children from Vance-
Providence Elementary in
Orangeburg County are here to
participate. Vance-Providence
has a long-standing relationship
with SCE&G as one of the more
than 30 SCE&G Homework
Centers in schools in North
Carolina, South Carolina
and Georgia.
Managed by the National
Audubon Society, Francis
Beidler Forest, a registered
National Natural Landmark, is
a part of Four Holes Swamp.
The forest covers the central
and southeast portions of the
swamp-stream system as it
meanders through Orangeburg
and Dorchester counties on its
way to the Atlantic Ocean.
In the 1890s Francis
Beidler, a lumber baron,
purchased a tract of land in the
swamp with the intention of
logging its cypress. But after
journeying west and visiting
Yellowstone National Park, Beidler became a champion
of conservation and steadfastly refused to log in the area.
Following his death in 1924, family members
maintained the integrity of the land, and in the 1960s
The Nature Conservancy and the National Audubon
Society combined their resources to purchase what is
now Francis Beidler Forest. An additional 909 acres
were acquired in October 2003.
Visitors wander past ancient trees, blackwater
swamp, clear pools and wildlife along a 1.75-mile
elevated boardwalk that starts and ends at the visitors’
center. Along the self-guiding trek are plenty of
benches to pause for observation and reflection of this
pristine sanctuary.
In the still, humid heart of the forest, ancient
groves of bald cypress trees stretch skyward their
shaggy, reddish trunks, towering over clear pools and
blackwater sloughs. Within its 15,000 acres stands the
largest virgin bald cypress and tupelo gum swamp forest
left anywhere in the world. Some of the sanctuary’s
cypresses have been dated at 1,100 years old and exceed
nine feet in diameter.
Species of oak, ash, tupelo and black gum make up
an understory that grows as high as 70 feet, filling the
vaulted spaces between the towering cypresses. The
characteristic “blackwater” is actually clear but appears
black due to the tannic acid in the bark and leaf litter on
16 INSIGHTS • SUMMER 2007