Edwin M. Griffin Nature Preserve Wetlands EarthCache
Hidden : 12/25/2010
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: other (other)

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Geocache Description:

Another cache brought to you by a member of the USCGA


Edwin M. Griffin Nature Preserve Wetland

is accessible as part of the Cottonwood Trail, a walking trail that runs along part of Lawson's Fork. This area was once a cherished hunting ground of the Catawba and Cherokee tribes.

Since Lawson's Fork floodplain is not suitable for development, it has remained home to much of the wildlife for which this entire area was once known. Larger animals that can be found here include the white-tailed deer, raccoon, wild turkey, pileated woodpecker and snapping turtles. Wetlands are located within topographic features that are lower in elevation than the surrounding landscape such as depressions, valleys, and flat areas.

Wetlands function as natural sponge that traps and slowly releases surface water, rain, snow melt, groundwater and flood waters. This helps to lower flood heights and reduce erosion. Since this wetland is within and downstream of urban areas it helps to counteract the greatly increased rate and volume of surface water runoff from pavement and buildings. Wetlands are places within the landscape where water accumulates long enough to affect the condition of the soil or substrate and promote the growth of wet-tolerant plants. Places called wetlands include rivers, creeks, swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas, which, in effect, are components of the drainage system of the land. Three factors used to define wetlands include the presence of water, hydric soils, and wetland plants. Of these, the presence of water is the most important factor -- given its role in the formation of hydric soils and, with hydric soils, its role in promoting the growth of wetland plants. Identifying wetlands and delineating the boundaries between wetlands and adjacent non-wetland areas involves the search for evidence of all three criteria.

Water
The presence of surface water is an obvious component of wetlands such as ponds, lakes, and streams. A number of other wetland types, however, might have standing water or saturated soils only on a seasonal basis. These seasonally wet areas include some types of swamps and savannas. These wetlands undergo a yearly cycle that ranges from wet conditions when standing water is present and soils are saturated to periods when soils are dry. The length of wet or dry periods might vary from year to year, and some years parts of the cycle might be absent. When there is no standing water or saturated soils, other evidence for the presence of water is used to describe these wetlands. Such evidence includes watermarks on trees, or the presence of hydric soils. Watermarks can consist of dried sediment that coats the base of trees or watermarks can take the form of a "moss" line consisting of the lower limit of growth of common mosses found attached to tree trunks. In seasonally wet wetlands that have no trees, the presence of water is usually inferred from the presence of hydric soils that are formed under frequent (yearly) and relatively long (weeks) periods of soil saturation.

Hydric Soils
The term "hydric" reflects the effect water (from the Greek root hydro) can have on a soil or substrate when present (constantly or seasonally) for extended periods of time (typically requiring years, decades, or longer). Under this condition, the chemistry of the organic (carbon-based) and inorganic (mineral) components of the soil is said to be in a reduced state (i.e., without oxygen), and many biological processes, such as decomposition of organic matter, are slowed. Alternately, in the presence of oxygen, these components might become oxidized (i.e., oxygen chemically bonding with these components). These processes are often accompanied by a change in color of the soil itself. Soils that contain large amounts of iron, for example, are typically reddish in color, reflecting the "rusting" or oxidation of the iron. These same soils, if found in wetland areas that have been exposed to saturated conditions for long periods of time (years), will be in a reduced state and will be grayer in color. In many cases, hydric soils will show a mottled appearance of alternating gray and reddish (oxidized) areas that reflect an alternating pattern of wet and dry periods. Organic materials, such as dead leaves, also will take on a dark color under saturated or reduced conditions. Because of the effect reduced or anoxic conditions have on the color of soil or substrate, color is used to identify hydric soils (through the use of soil color charts). Because of the previously discussed relationship between water and soil conditions, the presence of hydric soils is often used as an indicator of soil type and the presence of water.

Vegetation
The presence of wetland plants is a function of the influences of water and hydric soils, both of which represent stresses to plant growth. Wetland plants must cope with an over abundance of water and the lack of oxygen in the soil. To a large degree, wetland plants are capable of growing under these stresses and, in many cases, there are physical or physiological mechanisms to cope with these problems.

This wetland is managed by SPACE, Spartanburg Area Conservancy, which sits on a 115 acre urban preserve and trail system. The preserve serves as an important water quality buffer in a fast growing region as well as providing habitat for a myriad of plants and animals. A 550 foot boardwalk and observation deck allows users to access this part of the preserve and learn about the different flora and fauna of wetlands.







According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service database, the wetlands here are a combination of various classifications.
P - System PALUSTRINE: The Palustrine System includes all nontidal wetlands dominated by trees, shrubs, emergents, mosses or lichens, and all such wetlands that occur in tidal areas where salinity due to ocean derived salts is below 0.5 ppt. Wetlands lacking such vegetation are also included if they exhibit all of the following characteristics: 1. are less than 8 hectares ( 20 acres ); 2. do not have an active wave-formed or bedrock shoreline feature; 3. have at low water a depth less than 2 meters (6.6 feet) in the deepest part of the basin; 4. have a salinity due to ocean-derived salts of less than 0.5 ppt.

EM - Class EMERGENT: Characterized by erect, rooted, herbaceous hydrophytes, excluding mosses and lichens. This vegetation is present for most of the growing season in most years. These wetlands are usually dominated by perennial plants.

FO - Class FORESTED: Characterized by woody vegetation that is 6 m tall or taller.

1 - Subclass Persistent: Dominated by species that normally remain standing at least until the beginning of the next growing season. This subclass is found only in the Estuarine and Palustrine systems.

A - WATER REGIME Temporary Flooded: Surface water is present for brief periods during growing season, but the water table usually lies well below the soil surface for most of the growing season. Plants that grow both in uplands and wetlands may be characteristic of this water regime.

B - WATER REGIME Saturated: The substrate is saturated to surface for extended periods during the growing season, but surface water is seldom present.

C - WATER REGIME Seasonally Flooded: Surface water is present for extended periods especially early in the growing season, but is absent by the end of the growing season in most years. The water table after flooding ceases is variable, extending from saturated to the surface to a water table well below the ground surface.

Your walk through this earthcache will take you through the following wetland classifications:
PEM1C, PFO1C, PFO1A, PFO1B

To get credit for this earthcache, you will need to email me the answers to the following questions:

1. What is the cause of the orange color that you see in the stream?
2. Which 2 types of woodpeckers that live in the SouthEast are nowhere to be found here in this wetland?
3. Explain why you won't find those two woodpeckers here in this particular wetland?
4. At the listed coordinates for this cache, estimate the depth of the water?
If you attempt to actually measure the depth, please be careful so you don't fall in.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Xrrc ba genpx naq lbh'yy or svar.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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