National Great Outdoors Month is celebrated in June and serves as a reminder to enjoy and appreciate our state parks and wildlife refuges. This observation, begun in 1998, encourages us to explore our parks and enjoy the beauty that awaits us in our natural world.
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Hurricane Hugo damage revisited – Here we see further evidence of damage caused by Hurricane Hugo. The tall canopy trees like pines, oaks, and palmettos have been stripped bare. Nature is slowly...
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Foothills- “flat rock communities” can be found here: outcroppings of rock with standing water. Endemic flowers are a species of flower only found in these communities, such as Cottony Groundsel...
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Rudy and Jim visit Forty Acre Rock, which is in Flat Creek Heritage Preserve, in Lancaster, S.C. Pine Forest - The forest, once dominated by hardwood trees, is now populated with mostly pine trees...
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Damage from Hurricane Hugo, seen with some of the pine trees knocked over by high force winds, still remain. Yellow Jessamine and Japanese Honeysuckle plants can be seen growing over the damage left...
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At the same stop, Rudy and Jim come across a few common species of insects which populate the area: a male Tiger Swallowtail butterfly, a Sunflier dragonfly, and a cluster of Fall Webworm silk is...
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The significant amount of warm rain water greatly benefits the plant and animal life here. In one of these pools of water found in the rock outcroppings, Spotted Salamander egg masses can be seen...
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Rudy and Jim discuss the process of exfoliation, which commonly takes place on rock outcroppings such as this one. Here, on this island of soil, we see more yellow jessamine, moss, red cedar trees...
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Vernal Pools - Red Cedar trees commonly populate these rock outcropping areas. Lichens break down the rock surface, creating the dirt in which plants can grow. Black Rock Moss Haircap Moss...
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Large masses of granite such as this one, are sometimes called “Plutons,” named after the Roman god of the underworld. This is due the hot liquid granite coming up from the ground and cooling...
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After the rock gets broken down into soil, the first species of plant life to grow in these areas are mainly Stonecrops, along with Rock Sandwort.
