Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge

Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge
IUCN category IV (habitat/species management area)
Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge, May 2012
Map showing the location of Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge
Map of the United States
Location Chesterfield County, South Carolina, United States
Nearest city McBee, South Carolina
Coordinates 34°35′01″N 80°13′59″W / 34.58348°N 80.23312°W / 34.58348; -80.23312[1]Coordinates: 34°35′01″N 80°13′59″W / 34.58348°N 80.23312°W / 34.58348; -80.23312[2]
Area 45,348 acres (183.52 km2)
Established 1939
Governing body U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Website Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge

The Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge is a 45,348-acre (183.52 km2) national wildlife refuge located in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. The refuge is managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from a headquarters located in McBee, South Carolina. The Refuge is served by U.S. Highway 1, which passes through it.[3]

Ecology and history

The Carolina Sandhills NWR, as its name suggests, is dedicated to the preservation of a portion of the Carolina Sandhills, a distinct ecosystem characterized by inland sand dunes[4], thin or absent topsoil, and frequent brush fires.

Recurrent, noncatastrophic fires tended to remove invasive shrubs and maximize the health of fire-tolerant species such as the longleaf pine. Pine-friendly birds, such as the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, also thrived in the Sandhills.[3]

After attempts to farm this portion of the Sandhills turned unsuccessful during the Great Depression, the region was consolidated by New Deal federal managers into the current National Wildlife Refuge in 1939.

Current Refuge management practices at the Carolina Sandhills NWR include a program of Sandhills prescribed burnings.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
  2. ↑ "Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey.
  3. 1 2 "Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge". United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  4. ↑ Swezey, C.S., Fitzwater, B.A., Whittecar, G.R., Mahan, S.A., Garrity, C.P., Aleman Gonzalez, W.B., and Dobbs, K.M., 2016, The Carolina Sandhills: Quaternary eolian sand sheets and dunes along the updip margin of the Atlantic Coastal Plain province, southeastern United States: Quaternary Research, v. 86, p. 271-286; www.cambridge.org/core/journals/quaternary-research
  5. ↑ "Refuge to Begin Conducting Prescribed Burns in February" (PDF). United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Retrieved 2011-12-14.

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

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