January 05, 2009 09:58 pm
—
Greetings from deep Southeast Georgia, a land of blackwater, hunting and
fishing traditions, and lots of cypress and gum trees... but a LOT less than
there used to be, and less every day. It’s sad to realize that part of this
loss is driven by a market for cypress garden mulch. To add insult to
injury, companies based right here in Georgia are helping kill the region’s
beautiful swamps by spreading their components all over flowerbeds
throughout the country.
Satilla Riverkeeper is dedicated to the restoration and protection of the
flow and quality of water in the swamps and creeks that feed the Satilla.
This includes headwaters wetlands that are the flat cypress ponds and
branches that lace the Georgia flatwoods. We are hundreds of members
strong, with a conservative tradition of family and economic values
including hunting, fishing, baptisms in the creeks and rivers, and quiet
paddles on a Saturday afternoon. We are tree huggers: We hug them when we
ambush a wood duck, call a mallard, sit in a deer stand or coax a spring
gobbler close enough to shoot.
Swamps like Roundabout, Big Indian, Tiger Bay, Zero Bay, Little Okefenokee
and Kneeknocker, and all of their small tributaries are the key to the
health of the Satilla and coastal Georgia. These areas contain vast,
sustainable hardwood timber assets, but are increasingly targets for
residential and commercial development (yes, houses and businesses literally
in swamps), and are subjected to unsustainable clearcuts.
Supporting these unsustainable business models is the ready market for mulch
ground from cypress and gum trees, a wasteful practice at best. These
companies can help save our swamps by upholding their own environmental
policies and ending the sale of unsustainable cypress mulch. Boosting
incentives to foresters to harvest selectively, decreasing incentives to
clearcut swamps, teaming with developers to preserve and protect green,
productive, scenic swamps and wetlands: These are ways to maintain the
natural integrity of our culture and economy.
The milling of cypress and gum mulch should cease. The trees are much too
valuable for protecting property values through flood control and
sustainable harvest, and the alternatives are many. For example, in
Brunswick, just on the edge of the Satilla basin, an outfit called Golden
Isles Wood Products is processing only recycled woods and woods harvested
from upland settings to make good mulch.
Due to the good work of various organizations in Louisiana, Wal-Mart no
longer sells cypress mulch from Louisiana. Home Depot and Lowe’s have
stopped accepting cypress mulch from some of the coastal areas of the state.
This has, in effect, ended the unsustainable logging practices in those
areas. Now is the time for all the companies to expand that protection to
the entire region where cypress grows.
Saltwater creatures that we value, like Georgia blue crabs, and all the
creatures of our rivers, like the redbreast sunfish and largemouth bass of
the Satilla, and all other values of the river, are dependent on healthy
river flows. Healthy river flows come only from rivers with intact swamps.
Intact swamps exist only with well-managed stands of cypress and tupelo gum,
not clearcuts and other wasteful practices.
Conservative values include God-ordained stewardship of what has been
entrusted to us. We implore these companies to cease buying and marketing
any mulches with any cypress content. We thank them in advance for
partnering with us to restore and protect our heritage, economy, and culture
in South Georgia.
Gordon Rogers
Satilla Riverkeeper
Waynesville
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