Uprooted trees lie on the shores of Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge. All along this uninhabited shoreline, sea islands, salt marshes, and sandy beaches provide a perfect resting place for Tundra swans, coots, gallinules, and other water birds.

(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, the National Geographic book Our Threatened Inheritance: Natural Treasures of the United States, 1984)