Tar Kiln Swamp
While Tar Kiln Swamp may sound like something out of a cheap fantasy novel you picked up at the library, it is a very real place. It sits on the 16,000-acre wildlife reserve in South Carolina known as the Belle Baruch Marine Institute. Named for the kilns that produced barrels of water-proofing tar for ship building, the 60-acre swamp is home to a very real and very fragile ecosystem.
Rising sea levels means saltwater is pushing further inland, threatening Tar Kiln Swamp and other wetlands and swamps both in South Carolina and along the coast. In the areas where salinity has invaded, only invasive
Phragmites spp. grass and the mighty swamp cypress still stand. But even the cypress has its limits, and will eventually succumb.
The cypress is an ancient tree: a living fossil. They are the fifth oldest trees in the world. In the swamps and wetlands where they grow, they put out massive root systems with “knees” that stick out of the water. As such, they are very stable, and are rarely blown over by storms. They grow to immense size; the largest at Tar Kiln is around six feet in diameter. They reach generally reach their maximum height of around 150 feet at 200 or so years. Some individuals of the species have been known to survive for 1,000 years.
The Boneyard is an ancient palm forest. It shows how low sea levels were during the last Ice Age. This saltwater intrusion has happened in the past: here lies the problem. Us. In undeveloped areas, the ecosystem just naturally retreats further inland, but here, human progress prevents this, putting the wetlands in danger. As they die off,
there is nowhere else to go.
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Click on images for full size. All photos taken by me at Belle Baruch Reserve.
Boneyard, Debidue Island ||
Cypresses at Tar Kiln ||
Cypress with Spanish Moss
Cypress with Fungal Infestation ||
Canopy at Tar Kiln ||
Cypress and Underbrush 
