Figure 41. This windthrown bitternut hickory on 

 Special Management Area (Oconee National Forest, 

 created by this natural event. In mature forests 

 provide vegetation in all states of succession, 

 system of uneven-aged management. 



i 



the floodplain of the Murder Creek 



GA) illustrates the large opening 



such openings are common enough to 



The virgin forest thus has its own 



formerly bore forests of very large 

 cypress. Klawitter (1962) discussed the 

 three periods of baldcypress logging on 

 the Santee River (SC). 



Clearcutting of hardwoods other than 

 baldcypress may also lead to entirely new 

 forest overstories. Sweetgum and shade- 

 intolerant hardwoods pioneer after clear- 

 cutting in the Congaree Swamp (Gaddy 

 etal. 1975), and mid-seral sugarberry- 

 American elm-green ash stands follow 

 extensive logging of Zone IV (Nuttall oak- 

 willow oak) forests in the Mississippi 

 Valley. 



Agriculture 



The growing of rice 

 altered many floodplains 

 was introduced around 1700 in 

 swamps on smaller streams that 

 into large navigable rivers (e.g. 

 Creek and Santee River, SC). 

 dams were constructed across small feeder 



has completely 



Rice culture 



Zone II 



emptied 



, Wambau 



Reserve 



creeks, providing a reservoir to supply 

 water to the rice fields, even on coastal 

 islands (e.g., Hobcaw Barony, SC). This 

 system persisted until 1885 (Klawitter 

 1962). When the tidal flooding method was 

 developed in South Carolina in 1750, 

 large-scale rice plantations became feasi- 

 ble, and entire floodplain forests of 

 cypress were burned or buried by slave 

 labor (e.g., Santee River, SC). The fields 

 with their remnant levees from these 

 plantations are used today as waterfowl 

 refuges (Figure 42). 



Unsuccessful attempts at cotton and 

 other agriculture have taken place on many 

 southern floodplains, especially in the 

 great fall line swamps of the Flint and 

 Oconee Rivers in Georgia (Wharton 1977). 

 These abandoned areas support a variety of 

 forest cover. One area on the Roanoke 

 River (NC) bears an almost pure stand of 

 large cottonwoods. Boxelder flats can be 

 found in such disturbed areas along the 

 Chattahoochee and Alcovy Rivers (GA). 



79 



