New Nature Sanctuary Rests Along Savannah

Mar 23, 01:49 AM

Current Headlines: By Michael M. DeWitt Jr.

GARNETT, S.C. - Nature lovers from South Carolina and Georgia now have an additional 13,281 acres of state-managed wilderness to stomp around in.

Hamilton Ridge, one of the state's newest wildlife management areas, is next to the Webb Wildlife Center area and contains almost nine miles of land along the Savannah River.

Add Hamilton Ridge's 13,000-plus acres to the Webb and nearby Palachucola wildlife areas, and you have more than 26,000 acres.

"This area is already helping the local economy and businesses and bringing money into Hampton County," said state Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Jay Cantrell. "A lot of folks from out of town come here to hunt, and we are already seeing a lot of public use from the Beaufort and Jasper areas, but we would love to see more local folks taking advantage of this area."

Hamilton Ridge is part of the largest habitat conservation purchase in the state's history.

Last March, The Conservation Fund, The Nature Conservancy and the state announced an agreement to purchase two forest parcels from International Paper: 25,668 acres in Marion County known as the Woodbury Tract and 13,281 acres in Hampton County known as Hamilton Ridge. Undivided interest in the tracts was later transferred to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

The department used $10 million from the South Carolina Conservation Bank and about $20 million from the Heritage Trust bond bill legislation to acquire a majority interest in the property, and it expects to take full ownership of the properties within the next month, Mr. Cantrell said.

There is an extensive network of marked roads and unmarked trails throughout Hamilton Ridge, so many that the Department of Natural Resources is still in the process of mapping them all. But many of the existing roads are in need of repair and are accessible only by four-wheel drive, a problem the department is working to correct, along with the lack of hiking trails..

"But it is still a good place for folks to walk, get some exercise, and view some wildlife," Mr. Cantrell said. "A lot of people don't feel comfortable being in the woods when others are hunting, but since there are no Sunday hunts, that is a good time to fish, hike, or just get outdoors."

Two natural oxbow lakes, Fowl Craw and Jordon, and man-made Dunn's Pond provide good areas for waterfowl hunting and fishing.

"These lakes have been so isolated and protected for so long that you will probably find some of the best fishing around," said Natural Resources Wildlife Technician Dan Peeples.

The area is also steeped in history. American Indians once inhabited the river shores, and the pre-Civil War Hamilton Ridge plantation house, a six-chimney, two-story home dating to perhaps the 1830s, is intact on its original site.

"DNR doesn't really have it in the budget to restore old houses, but we would like to see it somehow restored for some use the public can benefit from," Mr. Cantrell said.

The Hamilton Ridge forest protects large tracts of habitat for several important wildlife and aquatic species, including birds such as the Kentucky warbler, Louisiana waterthrush, rusty blackbird, swallow-tailed kite and Swainson's warbler.

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