The Francis Marion National Forest is located north of
Charleston, South Carolina. It is named for revolutionary war hero
Francis Marion, who was known to the British as the Swamp Fox. It lies entirely within the
Middle Atlantic coastal forests
The Middle Atlantic coastal forests are a temperate coniferous forest mixed with patches of evergreen broadleaved forests (closer to the Atlantic coast) along the coast of the southeastern United States.
Setting
The Middle Atlantic coastal fore ...
ecoregion
An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of ...
.
The park is also entirely in the Subtropical coniferous forest.
This National Forest is contained entirely in the counties of
Charleston and
Berkeley
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
and is in size. The forest contains the towns of
Awendaw,
Huger,
Jamestown, and
McClellanville. Charleston provides emergency services to the southeastern portions of the forest. Forest headquarters are located in
Columbia, together with those of
Sumter National Forest
The Sumter National Forest is one of two forests in South Carolina that are managed together by the United States Forest Service, the other being the Francis Marion National Forest. The Sumter National Forest consists of which are divided into 3 ...
. There are local
ranger
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
district offices located in
Cordesville.
In 1989, the forest was nearly destroyed by
Hurricane Hugo; only the young growth survived the storm and its aftermath. Today, most trees in the forest do not predate this hurricane.
The forest is a multiple use area. Recreation opportunities include campsites, rifle ranges, boat ramps, and several trails for hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, including the
Palmetto Trail, as well as off-road motorcycling and atv riding specifically at the Wambaw Cycle Trailhead. (OHV) The Forest Service also administers wilderness areas, experimental forests, timber production, and protection and management of
wildlife
Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted ...
and the
watershed.
Wilderness areas
There are four officially designated
wilderness area
Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
s lying within Francis Marion National Forest that are part of the
National Wilderness Preservation System.
*
Hell Hole Bay Wilderness
*
Little Wambaw Swamp Wilderness
*
Wambaw Creek Wilderness
*
Wambaw Swamp Wilderness
File:Francis Marion Forest.jpg, An image of the forest next to the Santee River in Berkeley County.
File:Francis_Marion_NF2.jpg, Information in Palmetto Trail.
Bibliography
*Jerman, Patricia (2000). ''South Carolina Nature Viewing Guide''. Charleston: University of South Carolina Press.
*(1941). ''South Carolina: A Guide to the Palmetto State''. New York: Oxford University Press.
External links
*
{{Authority control
National Forests of South Carolina
Protected areas established in 1936
Protected areas of Berkeley County, South Carolina
Protected areas of Charleston County, South Carolina
Tributaries of the Santee River