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GEORGIA: SAVANNAH NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
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Site Description and Location
The Savannah NWR contains approximately 28,000 acres, creating a wildlife corridor along a portion of the coast of Georgia and South Carolina. One of the nation's oldest refuges, Savannah NWR began on lands once occupied by century-old rice plantations. The areas proposed for purchase by the refuge include vital habitat in Chatham and Effingham Counties, Georgia, and Jasper County, South Carolina. These areas consist of many different ecosystem types including tidal freshwater marsh (a declining habitat), impounded freshwater marsh, bottomland hardwood, upland forest and floodplain. Many of these habitats include virgin hardwood trees, of which less than one percent remains on the East Coast because of extensive loggings in the past.
Ecological Values
The diverse habitats of the refuge provide home to a variety of wildlife species. Numerous alligators can be seen from the refuge's Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive and daily thousands of wood ducks arrive in the late afternoon returning to roost. The area supports abundant wildlife including several federally and state listed endangered species and many neo-tropical migratory songbirds. Wild rice, a unique plant to tidal freshwater, still grows and is used as a food source. The proposed expansion is identified as one of the important habitat conservation projects of the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture of the North American Waterfowl Management.
Public Use and Benefit to the Community
Visitors can enjoy a nature drive, miles of hiking trails, and an abundance of wildlife through observation or photography. These lands will offer excellent opportunities for bird and wildlife observation, hiking, canoeing/kayaking, fishing, and hunting. In addition, the acquisition will help meet the outdoor education needs of the local children as the Mill Creek Hunting Preserve contains an 8,000-square-foot handicapped accessible hunting lodge that could serve a variety of needs, including that of an education center. The establishment of a multi-functional facility on the historic Mulberry Grove Plantation would be a one-of-a-kind center based on the uniqueness of the land as a historical, cultural, educational and natural resource.
Threats
The proposed expansion lands face threats from urban sprawl, as well as increasing commercial, industrial and port development. Clear-cut logging threatens nearly 3,000 acres of mature bottomland hardwood habitat on Mill Creek, the only known nesting site for the swallow-tailed kite on the Savannah River. At greatest risk are the lands within the Savannah Floodplain Unit. The status as a foreign trade zone for Mulberry Grove and the adjacent Drakie Plantation threatens the future of these valuable properties. In addition, the historic Mulberry Grove is threatened by looting and continued logging. Oak Grove Plantation, the property surrounded by a tract of the SNWR and Mulberry Grove, is threatened by development with plans such as a landfill being discussed.
Acquisition Status
A proposed refuge expansion recommends the acquisition of 14,800 acres, which would increase the refuge to nearly 45,000 acres. For FY05, the refuge's priority acquisition site is the Savannah Floodplain Unit. The lands within these acquisition properties would add important habitat and, as the only remaining undeveloped river plantation properties, historically significant qualities to the refuge by preserving the land from looting, logging and development. An LWCF acquisition of $4 million is needed to acquire these vital habitats.
Public Support
Savannah NWR enjoys the support of the Ogeechee Audubon Society, the Coastal Sierra Group, Coastal Promotions Limited, Inc., the Hilton Head Audubon Society, the Mulberry Grove Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Trust for Public Land and the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan.
Habitat
Freshwater marsh
Bottomland hardwood forest
Upland forest
Floodplain
Threatened or Endangered Species
American Alligator
Florida Manatee
Peregrine Falcon
Bald Eagle
Short-nosed Sturgeon
Audubon Watchlist Species
Swallow-tailed Kite
Wood Thrush
Prothonotary Warbler
Cerulean Warbler
Bobolink
Chuck-will's-widow
Other Species
Northern Parula
Hooded Warbler
Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Turkey
Wood Duck
Black-crowned Night Heron
Pileated Woodpecker
Barred Owl
Bobcat
Otter
Black Racer
American Lady
Common Buckeye
Golden-Silk Spider
Fireflies
Southeastern Lubber Grasshopper.
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