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AUDUBON SOUTH CAROLINA SANCTUARY RECOGNIZED FOR INTERNATIONAL IMPORTANCE
Ramsar Certificate Awarded for Important Bird Area in Rare Ancient Forest
 The official designation of South Carolina's Francis Beidler Forest as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance underscores the need to protect the vital resource from a host of threats including sprawl, poorly controlled mining and timber operations, and industrial agriculture. The designation was celebrated May 30, 2008, at the annual meeting of the U.S. National Ramsar Committee, hosted by the Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies at the Hall of States on Capitol Hill. Click here to read John Flicker's remarks from the event.
Adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands promotes conservation of these vital habitats around the world. Renowned Ramsar sites include Africa's Okavango Delta and the Florida Everglades. Globally, nearly 1,750 sites have been designated as Wetlands of International Importance, covering a surface area of 161 million hectares, in the 158 countries that are Parties to the treaty. The relatively small Beidler Forest, covering 15,000 acres, will become the 23rd Ramsar site in the USA and the first Audubon Sanctuary in the country to achieve the Ramsar designation.
Beidler Forest is home to the largest remaining virgin forest of bald cypress and tupelo gum trees in the world, including 1500 year-old trees long vanished from the rest of North America. Audubon has managed the forest sanctuary for 35 years.
Favored by hundreds of thousands of birds that migrate to South Carolina after wintering in South America, the region was recognized as an Important Bird Area in 2001.
 Some of the 140 bird species that nest or make migratory stops in Beidler are on Audubon's list of Common Birds in Decline, including Northern Bobwhite, Eastern Meadowlark, Loggerhead Shrike, Field Sparrow, Common Grackle, Whip-poor-will, and Little Blue Heron. The forest's Red-headed Woodpecker, Swallow-tailed Kite, Wood Thrush, Prothonotary Warbler, Kentucky Warbler, Prairie Warbler, Painted Bunting, Rusty Blackbird, and Swainson's Warbler are on the Audubon WatchList. These wetlands are also home to rare plants, including Dwarf Trillium (Trillium pusillum) a rare flower found only in South Carolina at Four Holes Swamp at Beidler Forest.
"These wetlands are essential to the people of South Carolina," said Norm Brunswig, Director of Audubon South Carolina. "Beidler's 430,000-acre watershed represents one third of the total watershed of the longest, free-flowing black water river in the US, the Edisto. Audubon work upstream helps to guarantee the quantity, quality and delivery schedule of water downstream to places like the ACE Basin National Estuarine Reserve and Wildlife Refuge."
The Audubon Center at Beidler Forest offers a full range of environmental educational opportunities. In 2007 over 12,000 people visited the Center, contributing to the National Audubon Society's nationwide effort to connect people with nature.
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