What it takes to sustain the Wildlife Refuge
These markers are along the Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive
Prescribed Burning for Public Health and Safety
The industries in Savannah and Port Wentworth, Georgia stand above the horizon, less than three miles away from this overlook. A wildfire in Savannah National Wildlife Refuge could threaten these communities. Wildfire produces tons of smoke and ash, which spread for great distances. Airborne particles of organic matter and carbon in smoke are pollutants. They threaten persons with asthma and other respiratory ailments. Smoke pollution also impacts transportation. At night, smoke settles near the ground, lowering visibility on highways and at airports.
The Fish and Wildlife Service uses prescribed burning to help prevent wildfire and air pollution in nearby communities. When necessary, trained crews burn this marsh and adjacent lands to reduce the accumulation of “fuels” (dry grass and wood). This process significantly reduces the chances of wildfire and widespread smoke. Prescribed burns are short-lasting and are scheduled so that smoke disperses away from populated areas.
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| Plantation Cistern |
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| Plantation Cistern |
2. Plantation Cistern
This small island of trees was a slave community on Recess Plantation, which bordered Laurel Hill Plantation. Called a hammock, it was a small area of high ground in a sea of wetland rice fields. The round brick structure, just ahead in the woods, was a cistern that stored drinking water and perishable foods. The cistern was needed because well water in the area often was unfit to drink. Rainwater probably was collected from the roofs of six slave’s quarters and funneled into the brick-lined reservoir. The cistern was about seven feet deep. A wooden lid kept out animals and debris.
Explore Recess Hammock
Look for Chinese parasol trees with pale green trunks and 5-lobed leaves. The Asian trees were planted for shade on Low Country plantations. Notice periwinkle, a purple-flowered vine once cultivated as ground cover. Watch and listen for birds — warblers, thrushes, wrens, and sparrows — that nest and feed in the hammock’s mature hardwoods.
Rainwater was collected at slave quarters and funneled to the cistern.
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| Rice Field Trunk |
3. Rice Field Trunk
This water control structure is called a trunk. It is similar to trunks used to manage water flow to and from plantation rice fields. At Savannah National Wildlife Refuge, trunks are operated to set water levels in impoundments (reservoirs).
A trunk is a long wooden box with a heavy “flap gate” at either end. This dike crosses over the trunk. Only the gates and their support structures are visible. The gates facing the canal and the field are often kept closed.
To flood the nearby impounding: The trunk’s tide creek/canal side gate is raised. Raising tidewater flows through the trunk and forces open the opposite field-side gate, letting water into the impoundment. When the water reaches the preferred depth in the impoundment, the water pressure pushes the field-side door shut. Both gates are kept closed to hold water in the fields.
To drain the fields: The field-side gate is raised allowing water to drain out to the tidal creek/canal during low tide.
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| Managing Water for Wildlife Moist Soil Management |
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| Canal |
4. Managing Water for Wildlife Moist Soil Management
Nearly three thousand acres of former rice fields are managed to benefit wildlife at Savannah National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge provides 18 impoundments (reservoirs) with nearly 50 miles of earthen dikes and a variety of trunks (floodgates). Similar to the way water was controlled in plantation fields, freshwater from the Little Black River is raised and lowered in these impoundments to produce diverse habitats. The managed wetlands benefit fish, shorebirds, wading birds, and waterfowl–including nearly 25,000 ducks annually.
Aquatic management keeps wetlands flooded for several years to encourage plants with high food value and cover for wildlife. Aquatic impoundments also provide breeding habitats for birds, amphibians, and fish. These animals, in turn, are prey for alligators, river otters, ospreys, and bald eagles.
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| Alligator |
Moist soil management produces shallow water and mudflat habitats. Water is drained during the growing season to promote plants preferred by wintering waterfowl, breeding birds, and other wildlife. Countless invertebrates that thrive within decaying plant litter provide valuable sources of protein for migrating shorebirds and ducks.
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| Using Fire to Benefit Wildlife |
5. Using Fire to Benefit Wildlife
This freshwater wetland is a productive wildlife habitat. The scattered pond's diverse vegetation offers water, food, and shelter for countless birds and other wildlife. If left untended, however, the marsh will become clogged with a few species of invasive perennial plants. To preserve this ecosystem, the Fish and Wildlife Service uses a variety of management tools.
One of the most effective tools is prescribed burning–the planned application of controlled fire, under an appropriate condition, for specific purposes. Here, burning is used to eliminate invasive and exotic perennials such as cattails, cut-grass species, and rattle-bush. Annual plants soon colonize the bare soil and yield seeds of higher value to wildlife. Burning also removes tons of dry, dead vegetation that could fuel a destructive wildfire.
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| Laurel Hill Plantation |
6. Laurel Hill Plantation
Framed by three massive live oak trees, this grassy knoll was a home site on Laurel Hill Plantation before the Civil War. Savannah National Wildlife Refuge includes portions of 13 former rice plantations. Ten including Laurel Hill were located in South Carolina. Laurel Hill was nearly 400 acres in size and belonged to several owners during the years of rice cultivation in the Savannah area (1750-1860). The most prominent owner was Daniel Heyward (1810-1888). He was a nephew of Thomas Heyward Jr, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and of Nathaniel Heyward, the greatest rice planter of his day, who once owned 10 South Carolina plantations and 2,000 slaves.
Motorists are welcome on the Laurel Hill Wildlife Drive, off of S.C. 170, which meanders along four miles of earthen dikes through managed freshwater pools and hardwood hammocks. Many hiking and biking trails are also available to the visiting public.
Some of the critters we saw
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| Birds |
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| Orange Snake |
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| trees along the trail |
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| alligator |
The Savannah NWR Visitor Center is located on U.S. 17, seven miles north of downtown Savannah, Georgia, or seven miles south of I-95 at Hardeeville, South Carolina.
We stopped at the Visitor Center watched a ten-minute video, walked through the museum and gift shop, then rode through the Wild Life Refuge.
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| Visitor Center |
