One step farther up in viewing the Sapelo marshes. The red is the infrared return from the terrestrial plant material. Sapelo Island is the one to the southwest, and Blackbeard Island is to the northeast. The islands are separated by smooth-cordgrass marshes, which show here as dark areas bisected by meandering tidal creeks. The Duplin River is just to the west of Sapelo, and the marshes stretch from the Duplin out of the picture to the west, as far as the eye can see, for 8 km to the mainland ("The Hill"). The University of Georgia Marine Institute leases property at the southern tip of Sapelo Island; the lease does not expire until 2056. See Chalmers, 1997, The Ecology of the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve, Sanctuaries and Reserves Division, Office of Coastal Resource Management, NOAA, Washington, DC.