(lively music)
- [Narrator] In the early to mid 1900s,
giant saw blades buzzed across
many of Florida's old growth cypress swamps,
threatening the wetlands
and the wading birds that relied on them.
The people of Southwest Florida did not want
to see this happen at Corkscrew Swamp,
where some of the trees were older than 500 years,
reaching girths of 25 feet around
and stretching 120 feet into the sky.
In 1954, just before the saws
cut their way into this forest,
local advocates raised the funds needed
to purchase a few thousand acres
and Audubon designated the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary.
Today visitors can still experience
the largest old growth bald cypress forest
remaining in North America.
It is indeed one of our nation's
most impressive natural landmarks.
(lively music)