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Winter is a great time to get off the beaten paths and explore the more secluded parts of Cumberland Island. Seasonal cold weather has caused problem insects like ticks to become dormant, while reptiles such as venomous snakes are inactive as well. Actually, snakes are not much of a safety problem on the Island, but it’s comforting to know that this time of year they are most likely burrowed in the ground or under a log somewhere. On the other hand, some animals are very active now. This happens to be the breeding season for both raccoons and bobcats.
On a recent cross country hike I came upon many tracks from both of these animals. As I followed the trail it led me to a freshwater spring a little over one foot deep and maybe ten feet long by six feet wide. There are several of these natural springs on the Island that I know about and probably some more I haven’t found, but they usually occur where there is a significant elevation change in the land. After all, water flows down hill, even underground, so if it leads to a steep drop off, it will sometimes come to the surface nearby. These shallow ground water springs should not be mistaken with the man made artisian wells we also have on Cumberland. Part of the Florida aquifer that comes from higher elevations in north Georgia flows under the Island. If this deep (over 500 feet down) underground river is accessed by a pipe, a free flowing well is created because the water is under pressure coming from a higher elevation, but much further inland.
Fresh water sources however, either natural or man made, are magnets for wildlife. The spring I found had three game trails leading to it that were used so much, they were worn into ditches. A great number of oyster shells were exposed by all the animal traffic even though oysters don’t live in fresh water springs. This was obviously an Indian shell midden. The question in my mind was “Were the early Native American people who lived here attracted to this spot by an already existing spring or did they inadvertently create a spring by changing the relief of the landscape with centuries of discarded oyster shells covering acres of land?”. After looking around I could see this was a rather large archaeological site. Scattered about I saw some whelk shells that were worn down on the ends, suggesting they may have been used as tools of some sort by these early people. Nearby, I also found a fresh three-point deer antler. On Cumberland, male deer shed their antlers by late winter. How often I have heard people; even some deer hunters, refer to antlers as horns. The difference is; animals with horns, such as bison, do not shed them. On the other hand, members of the deer family, like our native white-tailed deer grow a new pair of antlers every year after they shed the old pair. Wandering around on the Indian site, I couldn’t help thinking about how these people utilized the plant and animal resources around them. If a deer antler was found, it would certainly be put to use as maybe an awl or some other tool. At this location there were a number of sabal palm trees. From these plants alone, the Native Americans could get both food and shelter. During Autumn, the palms produce huge clusters of berries that were eaten along with the heart of the palm itself, located near the top, where new leaves are formed. The mature fan shaped leaves were used to thatch the roofs of their lodges and could be woven into mats or clothing. Living close to the land as these people did; not much was wasted.
After leaving this area I walked for another hour surprising a couple of deer that were bedded down for the day and found the skeletal remains of another deer. This reminded me of a question I get sometimes, and that is “What happens when an animal dies out here?”. Well, that’s left to the waste management department. Out here, waste management are the vultures, both black and turkey vultures. Add to that a rapid decomposition rate from bacteria in a warm environment; and a carcass gets cleaned up rather quickly. The vultures are well adapted for what they do by not having feathers on their heads that could harbor harmful bacteria picked up while feeding. Just a reminder that everything in nature has its place.
Later, it was time for me to return to my place, but not before realizing these off the beaten path walks can be a very serendipitous way to experience the Island and winter is the most comfortable time to do it.
Here we are a couple months into winter with several cold snaps already that have dropped temperatures into the high 20’s for a few hours.
According to local weather forecasters these temperatures are below normal for us but the question is “What is normal?” I can remember the 1980’s on Cumberland when we would get prolonged pipe busting hard freezes several times every winter. In 1983 over Christmas the temperatures went down to twelve degrees and stayed near that for three days. On Christmas in 1989 there was four inches of snow on the ground and it also lasted for about three days. So, at best, our winter weather is erratic but usually pleasantly cool and as I have noticed, getting warmer.
However, cold fronts much further north have sent a great number of migratory birds our way: numerous shore birds like dunlins, sanderlings and red knots are affected by these weather changes.
The 2500 acres on the north end of the island that burned last summer are also attracting a lot of birds. Some of the grasses that quickly recovered after the fire have already gone to seed. So seed eating birds like sparrows and mourning doves are thick in these areas now.
The fire has also changed the locations of quite a few feral hogs as they moved into areas farther south where they were more accessible to hunters. Yet, many survived the public hunts this season and are now rooting up the main road and surrounding forest as they feed. Hogs are not only a blight on Cumberland, but thirty eight states in the country are having serious problems with them. It doesn’t look like there will soon be any changes to the better when it comes to controlling this invasive animal.
Some of the even more dynamic changes on Cumberland however have occurred along the island’s shoreline. There is a significant current that runs from north to south along Georgia’s coastal islands. Sand transported by the current will naturally build up on the north end of an island while sand from the southern end is carried southward to the next island in the group. On Cumberland, a two mile long jetty was built on the south end in the 1890’s to stabilize the St. Marys inlet for ship traffic. However, the jetty also interrupted the long shore currents transport of sand southward to Amelia Island. As a result, Cumberland has gained many acres of new ground on its southern end while Amelia Island has lost shoreline on its north end. So Cumberland is adding more sand at both ends but over the last quarter of a century since I’ve been here, has lost at least twenty yards into the shoreline over nearly a four mile stretch of beach in the middle of the island. The lesson here is that shorelines along the southern Atlantic coast are very active and it’s hard to figure out what they are going to do in the future. Also, things people do on one island can affect another island somewhere else. On Cumberland there has never been any ocean front development. But on other islands where people are allowed to build on beaches their fortunes often turn around rapidly when the sea starts to work against them.
Probably the most dramatic changes I’ve seen on Cumberland have been along the main dunes and adjoining interdune meadows. Heavy grazing from cattle years ago in the meadow areas exposed sand to the wind “allowing” large migrating dunes to form. Prevailing easterly winds moved the dunes inland covering and killing trees while also filling in some of Cumberland’s unique fresh water wetlands. In the 1970’s the cattle were removed and many of the locations that were impacted by the loss of interdune plants have recovered remarkably as the movement of sand has slowed. Now the main thing keeping these habitats from a full recovery are the free ranging feral horses that are still grazing in some sensitive areas. But I will leave them for another blog…
A more recent significant change to the island comes in the form of an exotic beetle from Asia. The ambrosia beetle was first introduced into the shipping port of Savannah by accident about three years ago. Since then, it has attacked red bay trees up and down the coast throughout the range of these trees. Entomologists have no practical way of stopping the beetle which is attracted to the sweet smell of the red bay. Scientists believe we could see the extinction of these trees in the not too distant future and then the beetle may move into other plant species. The red bay is a very common tree on Cumberland and many of them have already been killed. With these trees gone, no one really knows how the rest of the island’s forest will be affected, but it certainly will be changed.
Today, with a heightened public awareness of environmental changes, I thought I would pass on some of the changes here on Cumberland. But one can also see how closely related the island is to outside forces, both natural and man made. Never the less, this National Seashore remains to be one of the most scenic areas on the east coast.
