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P.O. Box 2642 | Darien, GA 31305 | Tel 912-437-8164 | FAX 912-437-8765 | |
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P.O. Box 2642 | Darien, GA 31305 | Tel 912-437-8164 | FAX 912-437-8765 | |
| Home | About Us | River News | Wildlife | Advocacy | Education | Events & Meetings | Resources | Links | Newsletters | ||
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ARK Members Visit Moody SwampThis meaningful trip of Moody Swamp was made available to ARK donors who have given $500 or more in support of our work. Please give generously and we will plan another trip in 2004. To join ARK online, visit our membership page. Walking among the three and four hundred year-old virgin long leaf pine trees on Moody Forest Natural Area we forgot the cold and chilly day. ARK members were thrilled to be visiting one of the largest tracks of old-growth long leaf pines in North America to hear a reading by our favorite author and a founding board member of ARK, Janisse Ray. The Nature Conservancy, in conjunction with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, purchased the tract, now totaling about 4000-acres, in 2001 to preserve an intact farm with a virgin grove of long leaf pine trees and a large bottomland swamp forest of cypress and tupelo. The farm, near Baxley, GA, is on the Altamaha River. Nature Conservancy biologist, Alison McGee explained the farm represents a cultural history of the Moody family who lived on the property since the mid 1800's and preserved the property as a legacy for their love of the land. The farm provides the habitat for species such as the red cockaded woodpecker, gopher tortoise, fox squirrel, indigo snake and the eastern diamondback rattlesnake, just to name a few. The area is also home to Janisse Ray, who grew up just miles down the road. When Janisse read from for her two best selling books: Ecology of a Cracker Child hood and Wild Card Quilt amidst the long leaf pine community, ARK guests could experience the inspiration for her writing and understand her commitment to restoring an almost vanished forest ecosystem. We learned a lot about pine trees that day, Alison explained how to tell the difference between long leaf, loblolly, and slash pine trees. Moody Farm remains natural in its vegetation and trees, unlike most of the southern longleaf pine forests that have been timbered since the 1940's, and replaced with the faster growing slash and loblolly pines. Today's pine farms are planted so close together they over crowd native vegetation and plants cannot survive in the dense shade. The diminishment of the diversity of the long leaf pine forest has lead to the loss of flora and fauna, like the gopher tortoise that lives among the long leaf pine and must have a sunny spot to lay its eggs. We found a burrow in the Moody forest and learned the animal shares its home with hundreds of other animals, like the eastern diamond back rattlesnake, frogs, rabbits, mice, skunks, armadillos, lizards, moths, beetles and crickets. Luck allowed us to see a tiny red cockaded woodpecker. The birds are only 3-4 inches in length and are black with white checks on their backs with large white cheek patches on their face. The male has a small red dot on its head. Alison was proud to share that when TNC bought the farm they banded all of the cockaded woodpeckers on the property which amounted to only three individual birds but now the population is back up to seven. The red cockaded woodpecker makes his home in the long leaf pine trees by excavating a cavity in the trunk about 20 to 50 feet above ground. The bird pecks at the opening of the cavity working out the sap and the dripping sap protects the woodpecker from rat snakes and other predators. The birds are very territorial and mate for life so their life span of approximately eight years is generally spent in one area.  Another
highlight of the walk with Janisse and Allison was a sanctuary of old growth
cypress and tupelo trees on approximately three acres of bottomland swamp.
The trees are over 600 years old and grow like temples from a slough in
the swamp. The trees were huge. We measured the circumference of one tree
and it was 24 feet. Few examples of these sacred areas are left. Lunch and a final reading from Janisse on the porch of one of the original 1870 heart pine cabins that was home to the Moody's gave us one more chance to share in the bountiful spirit of the family who preserved their home and farm. And like Janisse and the Moody's too, we came away with the feeling that our culture is tied to the longleaf pine and maybe one day we will allow the cut over forests to return to their former grandeur and longleaf pine forests will grow wild. |
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