Clemson Experimental Forest, a 17,500 acre forest surrounding
Clemson University
Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...
, is a natural resource laboratory. It is a product of a land reclamation project funded by
Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
's
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
programs.
The forest is habitat for more than 195 species of birds and more than 90 species of trees. The forest is used for research, education, and recreation.
History
The United States Congress addressed the problem of sub-marginal agricultural lands in the Agricultural Act of 1929. In 1933, with an effort to improve economic conditions, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
issued an executive order establishing public funds to be made available to acquire worn-out farmland.
In August 1933, Dr. George Aull, a 1918 graduate of Clemson Agricultural College, sent a proposal for Fant’s Grove Community Development Project to Washington. He proposed that the government purchase 8,500 acres. This proposal was turned down. He adjusted his proposal, now named the Clemson College Conservation Project, and resubmitted it. Under the condition that the government would own and manage the land, the proposal was accepted. E.W. Sikes, president of Clemson College at the time, named Aull project manager. Work of the project started in August 1934. Starting off, Aull directed men to clear stands of timber, to build fire lanes, and to clear streambeds. Aull hired two Clemson College engineers to design and build a dam on Six Mile Creek to form Lake Issaquena. He also started them planting seedlings. In particular, the men planted gum, pine, poplar and oak. At the end of his second year as project manager, Aull decided to resign his duties and regain his position as chairman of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Clemson. Between 1942 and 1945, one hundred thirty-five acres of northern forest were leased to the United States Air Corps for bombing practice. In 1946, Clemson’s President R.F. Poole hired Norbert B. Goebel, a graduate in forest management of
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
, as Forest manager of the project, then known as the Land Use Project. On December 22, 1954, a bill introduced by Senator
Charles E. Daniel and Senator
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond Sr. (December 5, 1902June 26, 2003) was an American politician who represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 to 2003. Prior to his 48 years as a senator, he served as the 103rd governor of South Caro ...
was passed deeding the 27,469 acres of land of the project to Clemson College for the price of one dollar. This bill reserved the United States certain mineral rights and restricted the lands to be forever used for public purposes. In 1977, the Forest was selected by the Institute of Ecology as one of the 67 primary experimental ecological reserves in the nation. Only 17 of the 171 considered ranked higher than Clemson.
Geography and geology
The Clemson Experimental Forest lands extend eight miles north and eight miles south of the Clemson University campus.
The land is in the Southern Piedmont Soil Resource area. The parent soil consisted of granites, phyllites and various schists and gneisses formed in the late
Precambrian
The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...
to early
Paleozoic
The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon.
The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838
by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...
age. Elevations of the forest range from 650 to 1,000 feet above mean sea level. The northern section of the forest is in the transition zone between the Piedmont and Mountain Physiographic regions. The southern section of the forest is of the Piedmont physiographic region.
Ecology
Trees
The Clemson Experimental Forest is home to more than 90 species of trees. In the dry ridges, these species include
blackjack oak
''Quercus marilandica'', the blackjack oak, is a small oak, one of the red oak group ''Quercus'' sect. ''Lobatae''. It is native to the eastern and central United States.
Description
''Quercus marilandica'' is a small deciduous tree growing to ...
,
post oak
''Quercus stellata'', the post oak or iron oak, is a North American species of oak in the white oak section. It is a slow-growing oak that lives in dry areas on the edges of fields, tops of ridges also grows in poor soils, and is resistant to ro ...
,
shortleaf pine
''Pinus echinata'', the shortleaf pine, is a species of pine native to the southeastern United States.
Description
The tree is variable in form, sometimes straight, sometimes crooked, with an irregular crown. The tree reaches heights of with a ...
and
Virginia pine
''Pinus virginiana'', the Virginia pine, scrub pine, Jersey pine, Possum pine, is a medium-sized tree, often found on poorer soils from Long Island in southern New York south through the Appalachian Mountains to western Tennessee and Alabama. The ...
. In the mid-slopes of the forest the major species of trees are
bitternut hickory,
black oak
Black Oak may refer to:
Places in the United States
* Black Oak, Arkansas
* Black Oak, Daviess County, Indiana
* Black Oak, Lake County, Indiana, a neighborhood of Gary, Indiana
* Black Oak, Missouri
Other
* Black Oak Arkansas
Black Oak Ar ...
,
black gum,
flowering dogwood
''Cornus florida'', the flowering dogwood, is a species of flowering tree in the family Cornaceae native to eastern North America and northern Mexico. An endemic population once spanned from southernmost coastal Maine south to northern Florida ...
,
sourwood
''Oxydendrum arboreum'', the sourwood or sorrel tree, is the sole species in the genus ''Oxydendrum'', in the family Ericaceae. It is native to eastern North America, from southern Pennsylvania south to northwest Florida and west to southern I ...
,
southern red oak
''Quercus falcata'', also called southern red oak, spanish oak, bottomland red oak or three-lobed red oak is an oak (part of the genus ''Quercus''). Native to the southeastern United States, it gets its name the "Spanish Oak" as these are the ar ...
and
white oak
The genus ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many large genera, is divided into subgenera and sections. Traditionally, the genus ''Quercus'' was divided into the two subgenera '' ...
. In the lower slopes of the forest, the main species of trees include
American beech,
northern red oak
''Quercus rubra'', the northern red oak, is an oak tree in the red oak group (''Quercus'' section ''Lobatae''). It is a native of North America, in the eastern and central United States and southeast and south-central Canada. It has been introdu ...
,
sweet gum
''Liquidambar'', commonly called sweetgum
(star gum in the UK),
gum, redgum, satin-walnut, or American storax, is the only genus in the flowering plant family Altingiaceae and has 15 species. They were formerly often treated in Hamamelidaceae ...
,
tulip poplar
''Liriodendron tulipifera''—known as the tulip tree, American tulip tree, tulipwood, tuliptree, tulip poplar, whitewood, fiddletree, and yellow-poplar—is the North American representative of the two-species genus '' Liriodendron'' (the othe ...
and
white pine
''Pinus'', the pines, is a genus of approximately 111 extant tree and shrub species. The genus is currently split into two subgenera: subgenus ''Pinus'' (hard pines), and subgenus ''Strobus'' (soft pines). Each of the subgenera have been further ...
. In the bottom lands of the forest, the species of trees include
black walnut
''Juglans nigra'', the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south t ...
,
box elder
''Acer negundo'', the box elder, boxelder maple, Manitoba maple or ash-leaved maple, is a species of maple native to North America. It is a fast-growing, short-lived tree with opposite, compound leaves. It is sometimes considered a weedy or inva ...
,
green ash
''Fraxinus pennsylvanica'', the green ash or red ash, is a species of ash native to eastern and central North America, from Nova Scotia west to southeastern Alberta and eastern Colorado, south to northern Florida, and southwest to Oklahoma and e ...
,
hackberry,
river birch
''Betula nigra'', the black birch, river birch or water birch, is a species of birch native to the Eastern United States from New Hampshire west to southern Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and west to Texas. It is one of the few heat-tol ...
and
sycamore
Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the ancient Greek ' (''sūkomoros'') meaning "fig-mulberry".
Species of trees known as sycamore:
* ''Acer pseudoplata ...
. There are three South Carolina champion trees that are found in the forest: a 115-foot
white basswood, a 97-foot
chinkapin oak, and a 20-foot
rusty blackhaw.
Wildlife
Birds of the forest include
bald eagle
The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche as ...
,
broad-winged hawk
The broad-winged hawk (''Buteo platypterus'') is a medium-sized hawk of the genus ''Buteo''. During the summer, some subspecies are distributed over eastern North America, as far west as British Columbia and Texas; they then migrate south to wi ...
,
Cooper’s hawk
Cooper's hawk (''Accipiter cooperii'') is a medium-sized hawk native to the North American continent and found from southern Canada to Mexico. This species is a member of the genus ''Accipiter'', sometimes referred to as true hawks, which are f ...
,
northern harrier
The northern harrier (''Circus hudsonius''), or ring-tailed hawk, is a bird of prey. It breeds throughout the northern parts of the northern hemisphere in Canada and the northernmost USA.
The northern harrier migrates to more southerly areas ...
,
osprey
The osprey (''Pandion haliaetus''), , also called sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor reaching more than in length and across the wings. It is brown o ...
,
kestrel
The term kestrel (from french: crécerelle, derivative from , i.e. ratchet) is the common name given to several species of predatory birds from the falcon genus ''Falco''. Kestrels are most easily distinguished by their typical hunting behaviou ...
falcon,
merlin falcon,
barn owl
The barn owl (''Tyto alba'') is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds, being found almost everywhere except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalaya ...
, and
barred owl
The barred owl (''Strix varia''), also known as the northern barred owl, striped owl or, more informally, hoot owl, is a North American large species of owl. A member of the true owl family, Strigidae, they belong to the genus '' Strix'', whic ...
. Mammals of the forest include
beaver
Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...
,
American black bear
The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bear ...
,
bobcat
The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...
,
coyote
The coyote (''Canis latrans'') is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. It fills much of the same ecologica ...
,
gray fox
The gray fox (''Urocyon cinereoargenteus''), or grey fox, is an omnivorous mammal of the family Canidae, widespread throughout North America and Central America. This species and its only congener, the diminutive island fox (''Urocyon littora ...
,
raccoon
The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...
,
red fox
The red fox (''Vulpes vulpes'') is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the Order (biology), order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe ...
, and
white-tail deer
The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...
.
Management and protection
![clemsonforest2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Clemsonforest2.JPG)
The Clemson Experimental Forest is managed for maintained yield of forest products including timber, clean water and air, and wildlife. The revenue generated by the forest supports the forest personnel, and forest equipment and supplies.
A continuous forest inventory, CFI, system was launched in 1958. Measurement locations were set at grid intervals, 2000 ft apart, over the entire forest. The data recorded from the CFI system is used to adjust allowable harvest, schedule harvest and evaluate forest health.
In 1978, The Management Alternative Research Project, MARP, was initiated to evaluate the long-term effects of three management strategies on large forest areas. For this, the forest was divided into three separate forests: the commercial forest, the multiple-use forest, and the protection forest. MARP’s purpose is to measure the biological, economic, and social responses to the effects of forest cultural practices and to interpret those responses on the environment and society. The forest is a member of the
American Tree Farm System and the
Sustainable Forestry Initiative
The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) is a sustainability organization operating in the U.S. and Canada that works across four pillars: standards, conservation, community, and education. SFI has two youth education initiatives: Project Learning ...
.
Research and teaching
The Fire and Fire Surrogate study is conducted by the
USDA Forest Service
The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...
along with
Clemson University
Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enro ...
's Experimental Forest. It is part of a national network of research sites analyzing the effects of fuel reduction techniques on ecosystems. The Clemson Experimental Forest serves as an outdoor laboratory for many disciplines at the university. In 2012, 37 classes utilize the forest. Clemson and Furman University Army
ROTC
The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces.
Overview
While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...
use the south forest to perform dismounted tactical maneuvers and orienteering training.
Recreation
The Clemson Experimental Forest trail system is divided into three areas: Todds Creek, Issaqueena, and Fants Grove. The trails are used for teaching, research and public recreation. Public recreation use of the trails includes birdwatching, mountain biking, hiking and horseback riding. Fishing and hunting are also allowed in the forest and are regulated by
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is a South Carolina state agency charged with regulating hunting, fishing, boating, duck stamp orders, and the conservation efforts of the state government.
It is directed by seven-member ...
.
Waterfall:
Waldrop Stone Falls- The location for parking is at the corner of Madden Bridge Road and Waldrop Stone Road. The waterfall is a one-mile hike that leads to a 50-foot tall waterfall. The trail difficulty is easy, and it is dog friendly. Camping and mountain biking are not allowed on this trail. The GPS coordinates are as follows:Parking Area: 34.738505, -82.826153 Actual Location: 34.739568, -82.820751
Mountain Biking:
Issaqueena Mountain Biking: Located at the Old 6 Mile Road and Issaqueena Lake Road, there are various trails that consist of intersecting courses. Some of the trails are maintained while others are not and contain various routes. The outer loop trail around the lake is 10.3 miles long. All trails are also open to pedestrians and people on horseback.
Fant's Grove Mountain Biking: Parking area is located on Seed Orchard Road, and this location consists of three separate trails: Fant's Grove Trail (4.3 Miles long), Quarry Trail (5.9 miles long), and Swine Farm Trail (2.6 miles long). The trails are open to the public for pedestrians, people on horseback, and mountain bikers.
[http://www.sctrails.net/trails/alltrails/Multi-use/FantsGrove.html Web Access 5 September 2016] A map is available thanks to Clemson University if you clic
here.
References
{{Reflist
Research forests
Geography of Pickens County, South Carolina
Clemson University
Forests of South Carolina