One of the values of the Old Growth Bottomland Forest Research and Education Center
here at Congaree National Park
is a sense of hope going forward.
And hope that if we can understand this place--
special as it is, significant as it is--
as a legacy in terms of what we have inherited from our forebears,
and legacy in the sense of what we will leave to future generations,
then the real hope for me
in going into the future is in that human connection.
And we have a place like this,
like this floodplain that has endured.
This system has resilience and therein I think lies an important part of hope.
So with hope we have maybe two main thoughts:
one is connecting us to what it is to be human
and the other one is showing examples of how systems
cope with change and adapt with change and respond to change and resilience,
and together I think therein lies, lies the hope.