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ed they would open rice trunks on the reservoir dam and allow the water to flow downhill through channels and into the rice fields if the rice fields needed to be drained rice trunks at the lowest points of the fields would be opened allowing the water to flow out of the fields and into channels leading to a creek or river as you can see changing a mature swamp to a rice plantation alters not only the vegetation of a swamp but the entire landscape as well this level of landscape modification would wreak havoc on the ecology of an area like the i on swamp some animals or plants undoubtedly benefited due to the change from dense swamp forest to a more open marshland say for example some species of migrating shorebirds or waterfowl but the overall impact was negative for the majority of the species that were originally present the peripheries of the i on swamp experienced development for rice cultivation as early as the 1750 s if not a bit earlier at this time the swamp was known as the wappetaw swamp wappetaw was a sewee indian term meaning sweet water and was a name that tribe had given the swamp from the 1790 s to the 1810 s more and more plantations popped up in the area many of which were pushing further and further into the swamp at the same time several of the richer plantation owners in the area began buying out some of the smaller plantations to consolidate land they did this to both expand their rice production and perhaps most importantly gain more thorough control of the water for their fields as this consolidation occurred a few big name plantations that controlled thousands of acres formed these were the fairlawn plantation in the southern portion of the swamp the wythewood plantation in the northwestern portion and the clayfield plantation in the eastern portion the early owner of the clayfield plantation was jacob bond i on which is where the current name for the swamp stems from from what i could gather most people called this swamp the wappetaw swamp during the 1700 s and 1800 s and the name didn t transition to the i on swamp until the 1900 s as an interesting aside this part of the lowcountry spoke non rhotic english in the 1700 s and early 1800 s meaning that people born and raised in this region did not pronounce the r sound in words jacob bond i on s last name is actually a modification of the name iron this name was modified to reflect how people were pronouncing the name and the spelling stuck both with the i on family but also the i on swamp old wythewood plantation rice dike the trail running through the right side of the photo by the mid 1800 s essentially all of the i on swamp had been modified for rice cultivation however that isn t to say that all the land had been turned into rice fields there were probably still pockets of young secondary growth swamp forest in places that had originally been logged in order build canals and dikes but that were not ultimately used as a rice field when the civil war broke out in 1861 the rice industry in the south collapsed essentially all the commercial rice cultivation in the i on swamp ceased by 1870 although commercial production ceased after the civil war subsistence rice production by now freed african americans continued in small tracts around the i on swamp for the next 30 years most prominently in what had been the wythewood plantation a plantation which will come into play later on in this story the forest began to regrow in any part of the swamp which were not being used for subsistence farming during this post civil war period hardwood trees characteristic of southern bottomland forests various oaks tupelos sweetgum etc began recolonizing the abandoned fields and dikes by 1900 essentially all of the i on swamp was reforested by a young secondary growth forest this extensive tract of hardwood trees was quickly noticed by a booming southeastern timber industry between 1900 and 1910 a large timber company bought most of the old plantation lands in the i on swamp by 1920 1925 this company had clear cut nearly all the trees throughout the i on swamp various hardwood species regrowing in the i on swamp after timber companies clear cut the i on swamp and nearby swamps such as the wambaw and hellhole swamps the land lost its value at least in the eyes of the timber companies the government however saw some promise and the department of the interior began purchasing these tracts of land starting in the late 1920 s these newly purchased lands became the foundation for francis marion national forest which was formally established in 1936 nowadays the majority of the coastal land between charleston and georgetown is part of this national forest and that includes most of the i on swamp itself for the rest of this post i want to focus on the ivory billed woodpecker carolina parakeet and the bachman s warbler these three species all of which are now extinct used to inhabit swamps throughout the southeastern united states including the i on swamp itself sadly most of the swamps in the southeastern united states have been heavily modified or completely destroyed by humans over the past 300 years and these actions have either directly or indirectly led to the extinction of these three bird species i want to explore how human land use of the i on swamp over time impacted these three birds and how and why they became extirpated locally extinct in the i on swamp ivory billed woodpecker john james audubon letters and drawings 1805 1892 ms am 21 31 houghton library harvard university i ll begin with the ivory billed woodpecker as this was the first species to become extirpated in the i on swamp the ivory billed woodpecker required mature bottomland swamps a habitat that used to exist in large tracts across much of the southeast in the 1800 s especially after the civil war the majority of these virgin swamps were either logged drained or in some other way modified with the destruction of the ivory billed woodpecker s habitat the ivory billed woodpecker s populations followed the ivory billed was known to be common throughout the swamps in the lowcountry of south carolina and they most certainly inhabited the i on swamp for hundreds if not several thousands of years their time in the i on swamp probably came to an end between 1750 and 1770 when the swamp experienced the first wave of logging and modification to make way for rice fields from historical and contemporary accounts that i ve read on the plantations of the i on swamp there were a few sections of the swamp forest that remained relatively unscathed during this early agricultural time it s possible that these tracts could have harbored a few individuals into the mid 1800 s but these tracts were most likely too small for a population of ivory bills to sustain itself topographic map of eastern francis marion national forest with the names of main swamps added in for a greater geographical context just past the bottom left hand corner is the charleston sc area and outside the top right corner is georgetown sc this map was modified from a usgs topographic map the last confirmed ivory billed woodpecker in south carolina was observed in 1938 on wadmacon island wadmacon island is an island in the lower santee swamp which runs along the santee river and is only a mere 20 miles north of the i on swamp although ivory bills were without a doubt gone by 1915 from the i on swamp itself which if you remember from earlier was completely clear cut by this point a few individuals did indeed remain in the greater region in the few pockets of remaining mature bottomland swamps the last confirmed sighting in the united states occurred in 1944 in louisiana by the late 1900 s it was generally assumed the ivory billed was extinct the ivory billed woodpecker however recently jumped back into the public eye after a handful of credible but not 100 confirmed sightings from louisiana arkansas and florida came to light in the early 2000 s this raised the question as to whether the ivory billed was truly extinct or if tiny populations remained in remote and relatively untouched bottomland swamps around the southeast sadly even if the ivory billed woodpecker is not truly extinct and a few individuals are indeed still alive in one or a handful of swamps around the southeastern us the species is still functionally extinct any such population if one were to truly exist would be too small to be viable over the long term carolina parakeet painting by john james audubon 1825 new york historical society the carolina parakeet was the second species to become extirpated from the i on swamp the carolina parakeet the only parrot species that was native to the eastern us was a denizen of mature swamps and forested floodplains filled with either american sycamores or bald cypresses the carolina parakeet used to be quite common throughout the appropriate habitat in the 1700 s but their populations began plummeting in the early 1800 s the exact causes for the decline and ultimate extinction of the carolina parakeet are still debated but most agree it was probably a combination of several factors habitat destruction via logging unchecked hunting to attain their colorful feathers unchecked hunting by farmers who viewed them as pests and other factors all contributed to the decline and eventual demise of the carolina parakeet carolina parakeets living in the i on swamp probably began facing trouble in the late 1700 s as the mature bald cypress trees whose cavities they nested in throughout the swamp were cleared to make way for the rice plantation fields when did they most likely disappear from the i on swamp although i can t find any specific reports of this species from the swamp i would say that the carolina parakeet was most likely extirpated from the i on swamp by 1810 1840 based on two details first many naturalists noted that carolina parakeet sightings were rarely made outside of florida by the 1850 s which suggests that most of the populations in south carolina were probably gone by the early 1800 s second most of the i on swamp was already intensely farmed for rice by 1820 1830 which means that most if not all of the appropriate carolina parakeet habitat was gone no carolina parakeet habitat no carolina parakeets by 1904 the last known wild individual was observed and promptly killed the year 1918 saw the death of the last captive individual by 1939 the species was declared officially extinct although tantalizing reports of carolina parakeets trickled in from florida georgia and south carolina between 1930 and 1960 the santee swamp was one site of such reports with a handful of unconfirmed sightings of carolina parakeets inhabiting the dense relatively untouched swamp were made throughout the 1930 s if you remember this is the same swamp which harbored ivory billed woodpeckers into the 1930 s and is only 20 miles north of the i on swamp as well several credible people such as bird wardens hired by the national audubon society reported seeing carolina parakeets in the santee swamp including on wadmacon island the same island where the last confirmed ivory billed woodpecker in south carolina was observed although these sightings were never confirmed the existence of a small remnant population of carolina parakeets existing into the 1930 s in the santee swamp seems plausible despite such thoughts they are certainly extinct now bachman s warbler painting by john james audubon 1833 reynolda house museum of american art the final species i want to discuss is perhaps the reason why the i on swamp is famous in the world of birders and naturalists the i on swamp was the last known refuge for the bachman s warbler the bachman s pronounced back man s warbler was a small migrant songbird which bred in swamps throughout the southeastern united states and overwintered in cuba the bachman s warbler was always a mysterious and hard to find species it was first described by john james audubon in 1833 when an individual was discovered in south carolina over the next few decades more individuals were recorded in other southern states but the species seemingly disappeared from south carolina the bachman s warbler was rediscovered in south carolina by arthur t wayne a victorian ornithologist in 1901 the individual that wayne found had been inhabiting the remnants of the fairlawn plantation one of the old rice plantations found on the southern end of the i on swamp as an aside arthur t wayne lived an absolutely fascinating life filled with ornithological endeavors i highly recommend reading this short 6 page biography on the man wayne who lived in the charleston area began systematically searching for more bachman s warblers in the i on swamp specifically throughout the old fairlawn plantation property in 1906 he found two nests providing evidence that the warbler did indeed breed in the i on swamp and didn t just use the swamp as a migration stopover over the next several years he found many more individuals and nests as i said the bachman s warbler was always hard to find and its ecology is rather misunderstood there have been no actual studies ever done on this species prior to its extinction everything we know comes from naturalists in the 1800 s and early 1900 s who thankfully recorded bits and pieces of information on the species whether it was the habitat one was found in or the behavior of an individual or what have you the last confirmed sighting of a bachman s warbler was in 1988 and the species is almost certainly extinct the cause for the extinction of the species has been subject to debate and several hypotheses have been put forth about the cause nearly everyone agrees the bachman s warbler went extinct due to habitat destruction but no one knows what type of habitat the warbler exactly required the bachman s warbler vanished before any thorough studies of its habitat requirements could be conducted the little habitat information we do have is confusing and contradictory which further complicates matters for example some naturalists found the bachman s warblers in mature swamp forests others found it in young successional swamp forests if habitat destruction was the killer of the bachman s warbler what specific habitat feature was destroyed that the bachman s warbler relied on although bachman s warblers had been recorded in mature swamp forests it seems unlikely that they depended on such a habitat like the ivory billed woodpecker did between 1948 and 1953 there were many bachman s warblers observed throughout the i on swamp which if you remember was all but a young secondary growth swamp forest at that time after the period of intense logging between 1900 1920 the prevalence of the bachman s warbler in the i on swamp when it was a young secondary growth swamp forest has made some scientists hypothesize that the species relied on disturbed successional areas within swamps similar to how the blue winged warbler and prairie warbler rely on 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