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NatureScene Opening (music only)
JW: Hello and welcome to NatureScene. I'm Jim Welch with Naturalist Rudy Mancke and
we're at the Congaree Swamp National Monument, 20 miles SE of Columbia, SC; fifteen thousand
acres protected by an act of Congress in 1976 and protected, I guess Rudy, because of some
of
the record trees that are in the swamplands.
RM: This is really a spectacular place because of the great diversity of hardwoods here,
um, Jim, that do well and get to be very large. I like to think of this place, um, as the
land of
giants, um, giant trees. Really this in a sense is the Redwoods of the East, so to speak.
Um, it's
also a natural laboratory that's a lot of fun to really come to and visit and see what
nature can do
with trees when you leave her alone. We're really going to be looking at a floodplain
- it's called
Congaree Swamp National Monument - we'll see some some wet, swampy areas - but most of
this is really a floodplain forest and I suppose we'll have to talk a little about what a floodplain
forest is. We're really starting out on a part that's really not the floodplain - this
is a little higher
ground. And if you look kind of behind us and around us you don't really see tremendously
large
trees right here. This is an area that has been farmed a good bit. But this is a little
bit of a buffer
zone that the Park Service got to introduce you to the area and then once you walk down
just a
few feet you see you are on to the ah floodplain and the whole world changes. You see that
the
uh great diversity of hardwoods down there. And there'll be some sunshine and there'll
be some
shade because when you get trees that high and a summery day like today uh the sun'll
be goin'
in and out.
JW: And perhaps some animals, uh, will there be, will we see some snakes?
RM: Well I think this is a place where you can expect, near the water especially, to
see
a snake every now and then. But, uh, the reptiles are already out - take a look right there
on that
uh pine. . .
JW: . . .it's a large lizard. . . is it a lizard?
RM: . . It's a lizard - see real shiny scales, uh, there, one of the skinks, and then look
at the front
end, a relatively bright red head and very broad head on it. That tells you it's a male
that red
color. And the common name for that one would be the Broad Headed Skink. And it feeds on,
uh,
mainly invertebrates, insects and uh and spiders, which it catches probably right there uh under
the uh the log that it's sunning on.
RM: This is gonna be a lot of fun. I think we'll be struck with the size of the trees
and the great
diversity of life on the floodplains.
JW: We're gonna go lower.
RM: Yep. Let's just head down the way.