The Edisto River Basin
Extending from the Carolina Sandhills to the tidelands at the Atlantic Ocean, the Edisto River Basin is a rich landscape which has attracted and supported people for at least ten thousand years. Residents and visitors alike continue to enjoy the natural and cultural features and rural lifestyles of the Edisto Basin.

The following descriptions, with links to related web sites, highlight various aspects of the Edisto River Basin which make this area attractive to Friends of the Edisto.

The Edisto -- longest free-flowing blackwater river . . .
The Edisto is a blackwater river system. The water has a dark tea color because the water is stained by chemicals known as tannins which are leached from the tree leaves and other organic material decomposing in the surrounding swamps. The approximately 310 unobstructed river miles from the headwaters in Edgefield and Saluda counties to the Atlantic Ocean have distinguished the Edisto as one of the longest free-flowing blackwater rivers in the United States.

Productive Ag and Forest Lands
The basin contains some of the most productive agricultural and forest land in South Carolina, contributing a major share to the state's overall production. The Edisto Basin yields about one-fifth of the state's total annual cash receipts for timber and forest products and about one-third of the state's cash receipts for crops and livestock; however, the basin's land area comprises only ten percent of the state's land area.

Manufacturing Industry
Within the past few decades, industry has expanded in the basin, with manufacturing now employing the greatest numbers. It is interesting to note that South Carolina has one of the highest percentages of manufacturing workers in the country (25.7 percent), and the Edisto River Basin area exceeds the state average.

Rural / Natural Landscapes
Even with these changes, the natural and cultural heritage of the area still plays a central role in the overall quality of life for residents of the Edisto Basin. The region continues to maintain its rural character and enjoys a bounty of natural beauty and rich cultural resources.

Forests and natural vegetative cover occupy over 60 percent of the basin's land area. And 85 percent of the Edisto's riparian habitats are intact. Riparian habitats are the wetlands and forests on the banks and flood plains of the rivers and streams. The resulting benefits, such as good water quality and healthy wildlife populations, enhance the quality of life for the basin's citizens.

More on Community Life and Economy
Web sites which provide more information on the lifestyles and economy of communities in the Edisto River Basin include the following:

City of Walterboro

• City of Aiken 
• Orangeburg County
• City of Walterboro and Colleton County
• Summerville and Dorchester County

Wildlife
The Edisto Basin supports 94 natural ecological communities (not including aquatic communities) which in turn support a wide diversity of animal species. Populations of several nationally threatened and endangered species are located in the basin and their presence suggests that the Edisto Basin contains intact and uncontaminated habitats that are rare or unique in the nation. These species include the red-cockaded woodpecker, southern bald eagle, wood stork,   loggerhead turtle, and shortnosed sturgeon. Large game animals in the area include the white-tailed deer, which is widely distributed, and the eastern wild turkey. These and smaller game species are abundant and continue to attract hunters to the Edisto Basin.

Fisheries
The free-flowing Edisto River provides habitats for both recreationally and commercially important fish species such as the anadromous striped bass and the American shad.   A total of 87 freshwater species and 120 saltwater species of fish have been collected and identified from the Edisto Basin. The redbreast sunfish, the flat bullhead, and channel catfish are the most sought-after sport fish on the river.

The ACE Basin
One of the most significant land conservation efforts in the eastern United States is occurring in the area known as the ACE Basin, a coastal wetland wilderness which lies at the mouth of the Edisto River.
The ACE Basin is a region of exceptional natural diversity within the coastal areas of the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto rivers of South Carolina. The area has been identified as one of the highest priority regions for protection under the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. The Nature Conservancy has called it one of the "last great places".  The ACE Basin has been classified as a nationally significant wildlife ecosystem by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The exceptional characteristics of this region have resulted in the focus of major national conservation efforts aimed at a contiguous 350,000-acre area comprising portions of four counties. The ACE Basin Project is a cooperative land conservation effort involving private land owners, the Ducks Unlimited Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. These groups are working to protect important habitats in the ACE Basin through land acquisition and conservation easements. Many of these protected areas are located within the Edisto River Basin, including the following --

• ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge
• Bear Island Wildlife Management Area
• Edisto Beach State Park
• ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve

Heritage of Colonial Rice Planting Culture
In the ACE Basin, one can see a distinctive feature in the cultural landscape of South Carolina: old rice field impoundments. After Charles Town (Charleston) was established in 1670, plantations and settlements of British colonists were spreading into the Edisto Basin and up the Edisto River in the early 1700s.   By 1750, rice planting was showing great success in the tidal river swamplands and thereafter rice remained a principle crop in South Carolina for nearly 150 years. The large-scale rice cultivation that was practiced along coastal rivers like the Edisto required a huge infusion of capital and labor to first clear the swamps and build the dikes and canals, and then to grow the crops successfully, and it was African slave labor that made this possible. Thousands of African slaves were brought to the area to work in the plantations. Along the Edisto River there are roughly 12,000 acres of rice field impoundments found in the tidal areas of the river system. Most of the rice fields are now managed primarily as waterfowl habitat, however, as structures that were built nearly 250 years ago they symbolize the establishment of the plantation agriculture system of the old South.

Francis Beidler Forest
Another protected area in the Edisto Basin is the Francis Beidler Forest located in the Four Hole Swamp of Dorchester and Orangeburg Counties. This braided-riverine bottomland-hardwood swamp is a National Audubon Society Sanctuary reported to contain the largest old-growth stand of tupelo-cypress in the United States. The 15,000 acre sanctuary supports a large variety of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians and many rare plants.

State Parks on the Edisto River and at the beach
Several State Parks offer access to the Edisto River, one even accesses the Atlantic Ocean--

• Aiken State Park
• Colleton State Park
• Givhans Ferry State Park
• Edisto Beach State Park
  

Edisto Memorial Gardens
Edisto Memorial Gardens is in the City of Orangeburg along the North Fork Edisto River. The gardens feature hundreds of species of roses, as well as wisteria, dogwoods, azaleas, and crape myrtle. The adjacent wetland park has a series of boardwalks through the riverside swamp. The Orangeburg Arts Center is adjacent to the gardens.

The South Carolina Heritage Corridor
A Congressionally designated National Heritage Area, overlaps eight counties of the Edisto River Basin. For visitors to the area, the Heritage Corridor unfolds a nationally significant story about the settlement and development of the United States; and the Edisto River is part of that story. The Heritage Corridor involves communities from a total of 14 South Carolina counties in a regional tourism effort that is developing and marketing the cultural, historic, geographic, and natural amenities of the region. This project, supported by the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism, is beginning to develop the tourism economy around many of the Edisto Basin's natural, historic, and cultural attractions.

Recreational Boating on the Edisto
The Edisto River Basin supports a variety of recreational boating opportunities. These range from paddling the narrow, winding, tree-clogged upper reaches to motoring the intracoastal waterway and sea kayaking the salt marshes. In between, one can find canoes, kayaks, small and large fishing boats, ski boats, and jet skis. Over 250 miles of the Edisto River system were classified as superior resources of statewide or greater significance for flatwater boating and backcountry boating in the 1988 South Carolina Rivers Assessment.

Access Sites of the Edisto River Basin -- A list of boat landings and nature preserves can be seen online at the Friends of the Edisto web site.  The list provides river mileage to help with trip planning. A large map shows geographic details and locations.  See Edisto River Access Sites.

The Edisto River Canoe and Kayak Trail is a 56-mile trail on the main stem of the Edisto River. Found along the trail are two of South Carolina's state parks: Colleton and Givhan's Ferry. Both offer camping and picnicking. The Edisto River Canoe and Kayak Trail Commission (ERCK) has information about the trail on line at - http://www.edistoriver.org/. See also the SC Trails web site.

Aiken State Park - Natural Area has a canoe trail on the South Fork of the Edisto River near Aiken. For more information go to the SC Trails web site.

The North Fork Edisto Blueway is a 34-mile river trail in Orangeburg County and online information can be found at the SC Trails web site.

The Francis Beidler Forest is a National Audubon Society Sanctuary in Four Hole Swamp with a braided-riverine bottomland-hardwood swamp reported to contain the largest old-growth stand of tupelo-cypress in the United States. The 15,000-acre sanctuary supports a large variety of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians and many rare plants. Call them at (843) 462-2150 or go to their web site.

The ACE Basin is a region of exceptional natural diversity within the coastal areas of the Ashepoo, Combahee, and Edisto Rivers of South Carolina. The Nature Conservancy has called the ACE Basin one of the "last great places.”  See the SC Trails web site for water trails in Colleton County/ACE Basin (here).