Annual Meeting

February 2010
Hello Everyone,
We had an entertaining and informative group of speakers at the annual meeting last month. I would like to thank them again for taking time out of their busy schedules to spend a Saturday with us. There are always folks that attend the annual meeting that do not get out on field trips very often and it is always good to see them and chat for awhile. This year we had a few new faces in the crowd and a former member (Betty Jo Segal), who now lives in Illinois, stopped in for a visit. For those of you that couldn’t join us this year, we hope you can make it in January 2011.
Most of our officer positions this year are being filled by last year’s volunteers, with the exception of one. Jan Ciegler will return as the western regional coordinator along with Phil Harpootlian in the northern region, Peggy O’Neal in the eastern region, Wayne Grooms in the southern region, and John Cely in the central region. Greg Mancini has agreed to serve as treasurer. Pat Bright will return as vice president and Kay Hollis will continue as secretary. Claudia Raines will relieve Dee Hope of the historian position. Mary Garland Douglas and Tom Jones will maintain the flora and fauna lists. No one volunteered to take my spot so it looks like you will have listen to me for another year.
In the January newsletter, I neglected to thank Tom and Mary for their hard work in maintaining our flora/fauna data base. I would like to take this opportunity to say a special THANK YOU for your hard work and dedication.
We have a great list of fieldtrips scheduled for 2010. With all of the rain that we have had this winter the wildflowers and wetland areas should be spectacular this year. This year we will be visiting a couple of private properties as well as a couple of new public destinations for SCAN. The 2010 schedule is attached to this newsletter and I would encourage you all to mark your calendars now to avoid future conflicts.
If you have not done so already, please take the time to renew your membership. When filling out the membership form, please indicate whether you are willing to receive the newsletter via email. This has been a real cost saving change for SCAN in the past year.
Our first trip this year will be to Wateree Floodlands Memorial Forest (formerly referred to as English Swamp). This is one of the private properties that we will be visiting this year so you don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to visit a place that is not open to the public.
I hope to see you on the 27th.
Gordon

English Swamp
(Wateree Floodlands Memorial Forest)
Kershaw County, SC
February 27, 2010, 10:30AM

English Swamp, now officially known as the Wateree Floodlands Memorial Forest, is a 1,500 acre tract of bottomland forest and cypress/tupelo sloughs recently enrolled in the Wetland Reserve Program. Much of the tract is old growth, with a great diversity of native wetland forest plants. A new trillium species discovered and named Trillium ostingii (Wateree Trillium) by Chick Gaddy exists here. The land is bounded on the west by Spears Creek and to the east by the Wateree River.
With all of the recent rain the site may still be very wet, so plan on bringing appropriate footwear. Plan on packing a lunch and water for the trail.