Battle Creek Cypress Swamp

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Battle Creek Cypress Swamp


The Battle Creek Cypress Swamp, Maryland, in spring
Designation U.S. National Natural Landmark
Location Calvert County, Maryland
Nearest City Prince Frederick, Maryland
Coordinates ??°??.???′N″??, ??.????°W′″{{{8}}}
Area About 100 acres
About 0.04 ha
Date of Establishment April, 1965
Owner(s) Private

Battle Creek Cypress Swamp (BCCS) is a forested wetland near Prince Frederick in Calvert County, Maryland, USA. It is one of the northernmost sites of naturally occurring bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) trees in North America, and the only large stand of the trees on the western shore of Maryland. In 1965, the National Park Service designated the BCCS a National Natural Landmark.

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[edit] The BCCS Sanctuary

The Nature Conservancy purchased the wetland, which became the "Battle Creek Cypress Swamp Sanctuary", in 1957. It was the Conservancy's first preserve in Maryland and encompasses 100 acres (about 1% of the 10,060 acre watershed of Battle Creek). A portion of it is now open as a public park with a nature center and quarter-mile boardwalk through the swamp. Since 1977, the preserve has been leased to Calvert County and operated as a county park.

[edit] Natural history

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Cypresses, such as the bald cypress, and their relatives once covered much of the northern temperate zone. It is thought that these trees disappeared from the BCCS area, but then reappeared around 5,000 to 10,000 years ago.

In addition to the cypress, the Sanctuary protects many songbirds (prothonotary warbler, waterthrush) , frogs (green frog, spring peeper) and several wildflower species (cardinal flower, jack-in-the-pulpit). Skunk cabbages emerge early each spring.

The Nature Center at BCCS
The Nature Center at BCCS

[edit] References

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[edit] External links


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