国家地理：大名鼎鼎的康加里沼泽(图)

　　Where is the　Congaree swamp?

　　The Congaree was once home to Ivory-billed woodpeckers, now believed extinct. In 2005 an ivorybill reportedly was spotted in Arkansas, sparking surveys by volunteers in other former habitats, including the Congaree swamp.

　　An expansive swamp that lies along the Congaree River southeast of Columbia, South Carolina, is home to one of the world’s tallest forests. The Congaree Swamp, designated as America’s 57th national park in 2003, contains the largest remaining remnant of old-growth floodplain forest in North America.

　　Soils and nutrients found in the swamp’s dynamic floodplain ecosystem fosters extensive tree growth, especially bald-cypress trees. The Congaree is home to several national-champion trees including a 16-story loblolly pine that is the largest in the U.S.

　　The swamp’s namesake, the Congaree Indians, called the region home until the early 1700s, when a smallpox epidemic — introduced by European settlers — wiped out the entire population.

　　The park contains numerous “cattle mounds” to provide high ground for livestock to climb onto during floods. In 1996 the mounds were added to the National Register of Historic Places.