Wild Georgia: Time to celebrate our national wildlife refuges
Oct. 14-20 is National Wildlife Refuge Week — and a good opportunity to talk about the nation’s system of refuges that protects 150 million acres of land and water from Maine to Alaska.
Of the nation’s 550 refuges, eight are in Georgia. This being one of the best times of the year to be outdoors, you might want to consider visiting a refuge, such as southeast Georgia’s world-famous 402,000-acre Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
The national system, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, provides natural habitat for more than 700 bird species, 220 mammal species, 250 reptile and amphibian species, and more than 1,000 species of fish.
Last year, more than 45 million visitors came to see, photograph or otherwise commune with this rich diversity. Most refuges offer hiking trails and boating routes. Several have auto-tour routes; many have visitors centers.
Georgia’s national wildlife refuges are:
- Okefenokee. Many alligators, sandhill cranes, songbirds and more than 400 other animal species; also, hundreds of plant species including carnivorous pitcher plants.
- Piedmont (35,000 acres) near Macon. Mature pine and hardwood forests; home to colonies of red-cockaded woodpeckers (an endangered species); numerous songbird species; wild turkeys. Fox squirrels are common; in winter, many duck species appear on the lake.
- Wassaw (10,040 acres) near Savannah. Undeveloped barrier island. Accessible only by boat.
- Bond Swamp (6,500 acres) in Bibb and Twiggs counties. Situated in the Ocumulgee River flood plain along the fall line.
- Blackbeard Island (5,618 acres) near Darien. Also an undeveloped barrier island accessible only by boat; maritime forest, vast salt marshes, beach with rolling dunes.
- Wolf Island (5,126 acres) near Darien. Mostly salt marsh fronted by long, narrow beach. Not open to public.
- Banks Lake (4,050 acres), Lanier County in South Georgia. Cypress swamp, marshes and open water — a natural pocosin, or sink.
- Harris Neck (2,762 acres), coastal McIntosh County. Salt marsh, maritime forest, grasslands and other habitats. In spring, thousands of herons, egrets, ibises and wood storks (an endangered species) congregate in the spectacular nesting rookery on Woody Pond.
A refuge directory is at www.fws.gov/refuges/profiles/bystate.cfm.
In the sky: The moon will be new on Oct. 15; by Oct. 16, look for a thin crescent low in the west at dusk, said David Dundee, an astronomer at the Tellus Science Museum. Venus rises out of the east two hours before sunrise. Mars is low in the west just at dusk and sets a few hours later. It will appear near the moon Oct. 18. Jupiter rises out of the east before dark.
