Fire in North American Wetland Ecosystems and Fire-Wildlife Relations: An Annotated Bibliography

54. Cypert, E. 1961. The effects of fires in the Okefenokee Swamp in 1954 and 
         1955. Am. Midl. Nat. 66:485-503.

During an extended drought, five major fires occurred in the Okefenokee Swamp of Georgia and Florida. More than 128,695 ha (318,000 acres) of the swamp and 56,658 ha (140,000 acres) of adjacent upland were burned. There was considerable destruction of pine timber on the upland, and some damage to the baldcypress and swamp tupelo forests within the swamp where pockets of peat were burned out. But the belief that the whole character of the swamp had been altered was erroneous; most of the area was only lightly or moderately burned. Coppice growth rapidly replaced the timber which was killed in the more severely burned areas. The number of river otters, raccoons, snakes, and most fish was drastically reduced during the drought. American alligators, sandhill cranes, herons, waterfowl, and black bears were not adversely affected; some of these may have actually been favored. Recurrent droughts and fires have long played an important part in the ecology of the swamp as is evidenced by charred stumps embedded in the peat and by charcoal deposits several feet below the surface. [From author's abstract]

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