A bill passed by Congress in October has granted part of the funding to expand Congaree National Park—South Carolina’s only national park and home of the nation’s largest tract of old-growth bottomland hardwood forest. By adding 2,000 acres to the park, the expansion will unite the park, which currently exists in two separate neighboring units. Connecting the eastern and western portions of the park, the land is almost completely acquired and will offer a refuge to songbirds, owls, woodpeckers, white-tailed deer, otters and raccoons. The addition will also create protection for trees including dwarf cypress, large swamp cottonwoods and rare water hickories. Congaree needs about $1.37 million to complete the acreage.
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