On Saturday, the Georgia Conservancy, City of Springfield and Georgia DNR welcomed more than 30 paddlers on an exploration of lower Ebenezer Creek.

Participants got the chance to learn more about the conservation and recreations efforts of the Springfield Ebenezer Greenway as well as the historic importance of Ebenezer Crossing.

According to the Georgia Conservancy’s ‘Guide to the Georgia Coast’: “Only an hour’s drive from Savannah, Ebenezer Creek provides several leisurely day trips for canoeists. Ebenezer Creek is also the only coastal stream designated as a ‘Wild and Scenic River’ by the Georgia General Assembly and has been called ‘Georgia’s best example of a blackwater stream ecosystem’.”

The swamps boarding the creek contain excellent examples of water tupelo and virgin bald cypress bottomlands.

Many other aquatic plants such as parrot feather, pennywort, carnivorous bladderwort, tiny duckweed and the floating mosquito fern occur in abundance.

The bald cypress and tupelo that line the creek are hosts to such epiphytic plants as Spanish moss, resurrection fern, the uncommon green fly orchid and the parasitic American mistletoe.

Thank you to Sonny Emmert of Coastal Resources Division - Georgia DNR, Cathy Sakas, City of Springfield and BackWater Expeditions.