 Forest
Type
SAF 102: Baldcypress-water tupelo, 14 acres
SAF 92: Sweetgum-Nuttall oak-willow oak, 4 acres
Total acres: 18
Description
The Guilliard Lake stand is a remnant of old
growth timber located in a narrow strip of bottomland
along the Santee River. It is a good example
of the alluvial river swamp type and includes
a small amount of second bottom type on the
natural levee. Some very large veteran trees
are present, whose age would be numbered in
centuries. The area contains large cypress knees,
a few as much as nine feet tall and three feet
in diameter at the base. The stand is subject
to flooding in the winter and early spring,
but it dries out and is easily negotiable at
other times.
Eighty percent of the area is alluvial river
swamp type dominated by baldcypress and water
tupelo (SAF 102). The rest of the area, second
bottom on the natural levee, is characterized
by sweetgum and the related species of SAF 92.
Prominent species include sweetgum (Liquidambar
styraciflua), green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica),
willow, water hickory (Carya aquatica), sycamore
(Platanus occidentalis), and willow (Salix caroliniana).
The replacement of Nuttall oak (Q. nuttallii)
by water oak is common in the southernmost range
of this type.
The baldcypress and water tupelo stand is
dominated by old and large trees with a great
deal of defect. Many cypress are completely
hollow. They have no better then average form,
while for of the tupelo is distinctly poorer
than normal. The stand is at a point in succession
where the old timber is breaking down and will
be replaced by other species because of the
drier drainage condition now existing due to
the Santee-Cooper Project upstream. By 1960,
green ash had become established in profusion.
Although cypress and tupelo are the sole dominants
in the swamp area, a wide variety of smaller
tree species can be found including red maple,
swamp cottonwood (poulus heterphylla), water
locust (Gleditsia aquatica), planer tree (Planera
aquatica), green ash (Fraxinus pennsylvanica,
and Carolina Ash (Fraxinus caroliniana).
Location
Berkeley County, South Carolina, within the
Francis Marion National Forest.
Access
From Jamestown,, South carolina, southwest
5 miles on south Carolina Rout 45. Left on Forest
Service Route 150 and 150C, 3 miles.
For information contact
Witherbee District Ranger
U.S. Forest Service
Moncks Corner, South Carolina 29461
or
Director
Southeastern Forest Experiment Station
Ashville, North Carolina 28802 |
