Sweetbay Bogs Preserve

Grass-of-Parnassus © TNC Mississippi

The Sweetbay Bogs Preserve was the Mississippi Chapter's first land purchase in December 1989. 

Location
This wetland preserve is located in Stone County near Red Creek in the Pascagoula River watershed.

Plants
The unique habitat of this preserve shelters several rare plant species:

• Southern butterwort
• Grass-of-Parnassus
• Coast sedge
• Large beakrush
• Harper's yellow-eyed grass
• Flame flower
• Pineland bog button
• Bog spicebush
• Various species of carnivorous plants:  These plants have evolved a way to capture and eat insects as a source of nitrogen. The pitcher plant has a pitfall trap as a way to catch bugs. Sundews and butterworts have leaves covered with sticky hairs and mucilage which entangle insects like fly-paper adhesive.

Animals

• Gopher tortoise
• Neotropical migratory birds

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site
So named because of the numerous Sweetbay trees found on the site, this 194 acre tract lies approximately nine miles west of Wiggins in Stone County. Long considered by biologists as one of the most critical natural communities in the state, Sweetbay is a classic example of a hillside seepage bog. Rarely found this far south, bogs are integral parts of the vanishing longleaf pine ecosystem that once covered the coastal plains.

Making Sweetbay’s protection even more important is the extraordinary flora found within its soggy borders. At least six rare species are found here. The grass-of-Parnassus is a delicate, thin-stemmed plant with a striking green-tinged white flower. The bog spicebush is less dramatic but still very rare. Also rare and endemic to the bog habitat are the large beakrush, Harper’s yellow-eyed grass and the coast sedge. Additional species include beautiful native orchids and several insectivorous plants such as sundews, bladderworts, butterworts and colorful pitcher plants.

The Conservancy's Work at Sweetbay Bogs
The longleaf pine uplands and the associated quaking bogs are part of a fire dependent ecosystem. The preserve depends on periodic burning to keep the bogs free of shrubs and also to provide new herbaceous growth for the gopher tortoises to forage on. The Conservancy implements periodic growing season prescribed burning on the preserve as part of its overall management plan.

The following groups have worked together to understand and protect the site's rare and interdependent communities of plants and animals:

• Conservancy staff
• Local neighbors
• Local volunteer fire department
• Mississippi Power Company
• Mississippi Heritage Program
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Due to the sensitivity of the Sweetbay Bogs habitat, field trips are available by appointment only.

For more information on the Sweetbay Bogs Preserve, please contact Rebecca Stowe, Director of Stewardship.

The Nature Conservancy

Mississippi Stewardship Program
138 Main Street Merrill
Lucedale, MS  39452
(601) 947-3111