{"id":1075,"date":"2020-05-20T09:10:13","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T09:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/intern\/sportsoptics\/birding\/en\/?p=1075"},"modified":"2020-11-23T07:25:57","modified_gmt":"2020-11-23T07:25:57","slug":"water-for-drinking-and-warblers-for-watching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.zeiss.com\/sports-optics\/birding\/en\/water-for-drinking-and-warblers-for-watching\/","title":{"rendered":"Water for Drinking and Warblers for Watching"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The South Carolina swamp forests <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In spring, the South Carolina swamp forests ring with the buzzy songs of Parula Warblers and the gobbles of Wild Turkeys. Swallow-tailed Kites and Wood Storks ride summer thermals. Fall brings flocks of migrating Common Nighthawks and Yellow-shafted Flickers. Duetting hoots from Great Horned and Barred Owls mark winter\u2019s onset. Each season brings new birdlife to this sprawling private plantation on the South Carolina side of the Savannah River. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Now, thanks to an unusual partnership, this land is forever protected from development.  But it wasn\u2019t just the birds that brought partners together to fund the largest private conservation easement\u201413,868 acres\u2014in South Carolina history.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Pine forests in this part of the country provide habitat for Endangered Red-cockaded Woodpeckers and at-risk species such as Red-headed Woodpeckers and Northern Bobwhite. Ribbons of cypress swamps and bottomland hardwoods bordering the Savannah River attract nesting Prothonotary Warblers, Northern Shovelers, Wood Ducks, and Black-crowned Night-Herons. These forests are essential habitat for hundreds of species of migratory and resident birds. But for hundreds of thousands of downstream residents in places such as Beaufort, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia, these forests are also important for drinking water. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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SO, WATER UTILITIES AND CONSERVATION GROUPS TEAMING UP TO PROTECT FORESTS IS A WIN FOR EVERYONE. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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The nearly 3 million acre Savannah River Watershed is still largely rural and forested, and that\u2019s just the way water utilities\u2014the entities that treat, transport, and store drinking water\u2013like it. Healthy, well-managed forests are good for birds\u2014and for drinking water. Forests filter pollutants from the water before it enters treatment facilities.  \u201cProtecting healthy, well-managed forests and other natural lands in the watershed is one more way water utilities help ensure clean, reliable water for our customers,\u201d said Joe Mantua, General Manager of the Beaufort-Jasper Water and Sewer Authority, located near Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. \u201cWe have state-of-the-art treatment facilities, but cleaner water coming into treatment facilities makes our job easier and helps keep costs lower for our customers.\u201d
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