Charleston Regional Development Alliance

Berkeley, Charleston & Dorchester Counties

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National Audubon Society's Francis Beidler Forest to add 909 acres

Oct. 1, 2003
Charleston Post and Courier
The National Audubon Society's Francis Beidler Forest soon will grow by 909 acres in Berkeley and Dorchester counties.

The Nature Conservancy purchased the Mizzell Tract from MeadWestvaco Corp. for $1.65 million and will transfer majority ownership to Audubon.

"This is the wonderful culmination of a very long conversation," said Norman Brunswig, Audubon South Carolina executive director, of 15 years of discussions with MeadWestvaco.

Brunswig described the tract as a remarkable acquisition and invaluable habitat. It will expand the sanctuary to 12,723 acres. The tract, which is near the road leading into the preserve, borders Interstate 26 on the northern side of the swamp and extends 1-1/2 miles farther upstream within about a mile of the sanctuary.

"It is one of the top three protection priorities for Audubon at this site," said Brunswig.

The streams are close to pristine and include a black-water stream that flows several feet deep even during dry seasons, he said.

About 750 acres of bottomland cypress-tupelo forest have not been cut in about 70 years, and Audubon will manage 100 acres of pine plantation as natural pineland.

While the sanctuary has other types of habitat, Brunswig said, "We do not have enough high bottomland hardwoods ... This might be the most complete piece of property we ever have added."

Mark Robertson, the conservancy's South Carolina state director, termed the tract a critical addition to Beidler.

By working with Audubon and many other partners, he said, "We were able to accomplish habitat conservation on a large enough scale to make a difference for future generations of both birds and people."

In all, $1 million toward the purchase will come to Audubon from the federally funded North American Wetlands Conservation Act. Audubon and the conservancy applied for the competitive grant, said Michael Prevost, who led the conservancy's work on the proposal.

The act provides money to protect habitat for wetland-dependent migratory birds and high-quality wetlands in general, said Prevost, adding that the competition was rigorous.

"The program chose to fund the project because of the exceptional array of species and wonderful wetland habitat," said Craig Watson, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who administers the conservation program.

"Add the environmental significance to the exceptional nature and numbers of partners, and this project became the highest ranking coastal project in the entire country," Watson said.

Audubon and the conservancy each contributed $200,000 toward the purchase. Pine Tree Conservation, which provided the remaining $250,000, often joins with Audubon to acquire priority migratory bird habitat, said Prevost.

The project received the first loan granted by the new Conservation Loan Fund, administered by the Community Foundation in Charleston. The fund, established this year through grants from the Merck Family Fund and the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, provides interim financing to conservation groups for land acquisition.Audubon will manage the tract and have primary ownership; the conservancy and Pine Tree Conservation will retain part ownership, said Brunswig, who described that as a perfect relationship.

The conservancy and Audubon together protected the first 3,400 acres of Beidler Forest in 1969, including some 1,700 acres of virgin black-water bald cypress and tupelo gum forest.

It is now registered as a National Natural Landmark and is part of a Globally Important Bird Area, listed by the American Bird Conservancy.

"Oh, the songbirds!" Brunswig said of the sanctuary and the new tract. Half the songbirds using the sites are Neotropical migrants, whose numbers are declining, he said. Audubon breeding-bird inventories at Beidler for 25 years suggest high concentrations of prothonotary, Swainson's, northern parula and hooded warblers and wood thrushes nest in the sanctuary.

"This (the addition of the Mizzell Tract) is a huge step forward for Beidler, Four Holes Swamp and the ACE Basin," Brunswig said, adding that the sanctuary and new tract help protect water flowing down the Edisto River into the ACE Basin just south of Charleston.
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