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Review and Approvals Okefenokee National

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Review and Approvals Okefenokee National s REVIEW AND APPROVALS OKEFENOKEE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE FOLKSTON, GEORGIA ANNUAL NARRATIVE REPORT Calendar Year 1993 ate INTRODUCTION The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is situated in the southeastern Georgia counties of Ware, Charlton and Clinch and northeastern Florida's Baker County . The refuge was established by Executive Order in 1937 and consists presently of 395,080 acres . The primary purpose of the refuge is to protect the ecological system of the 438,000-acre Okefenokee Swamp . Approximately 371,000 acres of the Okefenokee Swamp wetlands are incorporated into the refuge, and 353,981 acres within the swamp were designed as wilderness by the Okefenokee Wilderness Act of 1974 . In 1986, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge was designated by the Wetlands Convention as a Wetland of International Importance . Okefenokee's natural beauty was first threatened in the 1890's, when attempts were made to drain the swamp to facilitate logging operations . The Suwannee Canal was dug 11 .5 miles into the swamp from Camp Cornelia . After the failure of this project, known as "Jackson's Folly," other interests acquired the swamp and began removing timber in 1909, using a network of tramroads extending deep into the major timbered areas . When logging operations were halted in 1927, over 423 million board feet of timber, mostly cypress, had been removed from the swamp . The establishment of Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge on March 30, 1937 0 marked the culmination of a movement that had been initiated at least 25 years earlier by a group of scientists from Cornell University who recognized the education, scientific and recreational values of this unique area . The Okefenokee Preservation Society, formed in 1918, promoted nationwide interest in the swamp . With the support of state and local interests and numerous conservation and scientific organizations, the Federal Government acquired most of the swamp for refuge purposes in 1936 . The Okefenokee Swamp is actually a vast peat bog filling a huge saucer- shaped sandy depression that was perhaps once part of the ocean floor . The upper margin of the swamp, or the "swamp line," ranges in elevation from 128 feet above sea level on the northeast side to 103 feet on the southwest side . The shallow, dark-stained waters of Okefenokee flow slowly but continuously across the swamp toward the two outlets--the famed Suwannee River on the southwest side and the historic St . Marys River on the southeast . The eight predominant habitat types on the refuge include swamp islands, prairies (freshwater marsh), shrub swamp, mixed cypress forests, blackgum forests, bay forests, pure cypress forests and managed upland pine forests . Three primary entrances and two secondary entrances exist on the refuge . With access via the Suwannee Canal, the east entrance which is the location of the refuge headquarters is located 11 miles southwest of Folkston, Georgia, and is managed solely by the Fish and Wildlife Service . The Stephen C . Foster State Park is located at the refuge's west entrance which is located 18 miles northeast of Fargo, Georgia . This state park is operated on refuge lands under the provisions of a long-term agreement with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources . The refuge's north entrance is via the Okefenokee Swamp Park which is located about 13 miles south of Waycross, Georgia . This park is administered by a non-profit organization on refuge and state forestlands . Kingfisher Landing located between Folkston and Waycross and the Sill area on the west side are considered the secondary entrances into the refuge . INTRODUCTION TABLE OF CONTENTS A . HIGHLIGHTS 1 B . CLIMATIC CONDITIONS 2 C . LAND ACQUISITION 1 . Fee Title (Nothing to Report) 2 . Easements (Nothing to Report) 3 . Other 5 D . PLANNING 1 . Master Plan (Nothing to Report) 2 . Management Plan (Nothing to Report) 3 . Public Participation 4 . Compliance with Environmental and Cultural Resources Mandates 6 5 . Research and Investigations 6 6 . Other (Nothing to Report) E . ADMINISTRATION 1 . Personnel 14 2 . Youth Programs 14 3 . Other Manpower Programs (Nothing to Report) 4 . Volunteer Program 15 5 . Funding 16 6 . Safety 16 7 . Technical Assistance (Nothing to Report) 8 . Other 17 F . HABITAT MANAGEMENT 1 . General 21 2 . Wetlands 21 3 . Forests 27 4 . Croplands (Nothing to Report) 5 . Grasslands (Nothing to Report) 6 . Other Habitats (Nothing to Report) 7 . Grazing (Nothing to Report) 8 . Haying (Nothing to Report) 9 . Fire Management 37 10 . Pest Control (Nothing to Report) 11 . Water Rights (Nothing to Report) 12 . Wilderness and Special Areas 46 13 . WPA Easement Monitoring (Nothing to Report) 0 G . WILDLIFE 1 . Wildlife Diversity 48 S 2 . Endangered and/or Threatened Species 48 3 . Waterfowl 53 4 . Marsh and Water Birds 55 5 . Shorebirds, Gulls, Terns, and Allied Species 55 6 . Raptors 55 7 . Other Migratory Birds 56 8 . Game Mammals 56 9 . Marine Mammals (Nothing to Report) 10 . Other Resident Wildlife 57 11 . Fisheries Resources 58 12 . Wildlife Propagation and Stocking (Nothi(Nothing to Report) 13 . Surplus Animal Disposal (Nothing to Report) 14 . Scientific Collections 58 15 . Animal Control 58 16 . Marking and Banding 59 17 . Disease Prevention and Control . (Nothing to Report) H . PUBLIC USE 1 . General 60 2 . Outdoor Classrooms - Students 60 3 . Outdoor Classrooms - Teachers 60 4 . Interpretive Foot Trails 61 5 . Interpretive Tour Routes 61 6 . Interpretive Exhibits/ Demonstrations 62 7 . Other Interpretive Programs 62 8 . Hunting 64 9 . Fishing 64 10 . Trapping (Nothing to Report) 11 . Wildlife Observation 65 12 . Other Wildlife-Oriented Recreation 66 13 . Camping (Nothing to Report) 14 . Picnicking (Nothing to Report) 15 . Off-Road Vehicling (Nothing to Report) 16 . Other Non-Wildlife Oriented Recreation (Nothing to Report) 17 . Law Enforcement 66 18 . Cooperating Association 68 19 . Concessions 69 I . EQUIPMENT AND FACILITIES 1 . New Construction 70 2 . Rehabilitation 70 3 . Major Maintenance 70 4 . Equipment Utilization and Replacement 70 5 . Communication Systems 73 6 . Computer Systems 73 7 . Energy Conservation 73 8 . other (Nothing to Report) 0 J . OTHER ITEMS 1 . Cooperative Programs 74 2 . Other Economic Uses (Nothing to Report) 3 . Items of Interest (Nothing to Report) 4 . Credits 74 K . FEEDBACK 75 L . INFORMATION PACKET --- (inside back cover) 1 A . HIGHLIGHTS M . Skippy Reeves assumes vacated manager position (Section E .1) . Gnatcatcher Wildfire (Section F .9) . Marajuana gardens discovered in and around refuge (Section H .17) . Perimeter Road bridges completed (Section I .1) . 0 2 B . CLIMATICCONDITIONS A severe winter storm hit the refuge in March . While precipitation amounted to only a light dusting (i .e ., no accumulation) of snow, winds were >50 mph . Damage to the refuge will be addressed in specific sections . Table 1 . Mean and absolute minimum and maximum monthly temperatures (F) recorded at Camp Cornelia during 1993 . Average Average Absolute Absolute Minimum Maximum Minimum Maximum Jan 48 .6 68 .5 31 79 • Feb 42 .2 65 .4 26 74 Mar 46 .9 72 .4 25 88 Apr 47 .8 80 .1 35 89 May 59 .5 87 .3 47 93 Jun 67 .1 93 .2 57 100 Jul 69 .4 96 .4 65 101 Aug 69 .9 94 .4 65 100 Sep 67 .0 91 .0 50 95 Oct 57 .0 79 .8 39 89 Nov 49 .8 72 .5 29 86 Dec 37 .9 93 .5 24 78 3 Table 2 . Nineteen ninety-three monthly and 48-year mean monthly precipitation amounts (inches) recorded at Camp Cornelia . Average 1993 1945-1992 Jan 6 .90 3 .38 Feb 2 .01 3 .52 Mar 4 .05 4 .20 Apr 0 .85 3 .39 May 1 .42 4 .01 Jun 4 .71 5 .89 Jul 4 .65 7 .74 Aug 1 .97 7 .32 Sep 4 .97 5 .27 Oct 6 .80 3 .06 Nov 5 .55 2 .15 Dec 2 .01 2 .85 TOT 45 .90 52 .85 0 4 30 60 25 50 c C 3 . 20 40 C aE 0 15 30 z Q Ir Q) C ~ 10 20 s 0 0 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Figure 1 . Nineteen ninety-three monthly (bars) and 48-year average, cumulative monthly (lines) precipitation amounts for Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge . Data were collected on the refuge's east side . 5 C . LANDACOUISITION 3 . Other The staff began management (i .e ., initial landowner contact) of the first of five FmHA easement properties . Mgrs . Reeves, Mallard and Earle met with landowner Jimmy Johnson and toured his 350-acre easement . Unlike most landowners, Mr . Johnson purchased the property because it was an easement . The land is mostly bottomland hardwoods in the Ogeechee River flood plain . Mr . Johnson uses the property as a hunting area and a weekend/vacation getaway . Other remaining FmHA landowners will be contacted in early 1994, and the easement boundaries marked . 6 D . PLANNING 4 . Compliance with Environmental and Cultural Resources Mandates Contractor Newell Wright completed work on a cultural resources inventory of the recently completed Swamps Edge Fire Break . The final report on this project has not yet been received . Chris Trowell, retired college professor, mapped archaeological debris in the area of the old logging camp on Billys Island . During the Gnatcatcher Fire, a fire crew located numerous Indian mounds on Blackjack Island . 5 . Research and Investigations The Role of Bacterial Processes in the Biogeochemistrv of Humic Substances in the Okefenokee Swamp Ecosystem - Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens Dr . R . E . Hodson and Dr . M . A . Moran will be the principal investigators for this study . This study is supported by the National Science Foundation and is a continuation of Hodson's previous study "Microbial Mediation of Organic Carbon Transformations in an Emergent Macrophyte-Dominated Habitat of the Okefenokee Swamp Ecosystem" . Sample collection will begin next year . The objectives of the study will emphasize the following : 1) the role of bacteria in the cycling of refractory dissolved organic carbon and 2) the role of humic substances in supporting bacterial food webs .
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