• Home
  • How We Work
  • Where We Work
  • News Room
  • About Us
  • My Nature Page

The Nature Conservancy in Africa - Conservation in Africa

The Nature Conservancy in Asia Pacific - Conservation in Asia-Pacific

The Nature Conservancy in the Caribbean - Conservation in the Caribbean

The Nature Conservancy in Central America - Conservation in Central America

The Nature Conservancy in North America - Conservation in North America

The Nature Conservancy in the United States - Conservation in the United States

The Nature Conservancy in South America - Conservation in South America

Washo Reserve

©Rob Williams

Why You Should Visit
The Washo Reserve features a 200-year-old freshwater cypress lake and cypress-gum swamp, which harbors the oldest wading bird rookery in continuous use in North America.  Numerous pairs of osprey nest here, making the reserve one of the largest concentrations of this bird on the east coast.  In 2001, the Washo Reserve was named one of America's top 500 Globally Important Bird Areas by the American Bird Conservancy.

Location
Charleston County, near McClellanville, in South Carolina's lowcountry

Size
1,040 acres

How to Prepare for Your Visit
Call Santee Coastal Reserve at (843) 546-8665 for details about visiting the Washo Reserve.

Directions

  • Take highway 17-701 south from Belle Baruch Plantation.
  • Pass through Georgetown and continue on Highway 17-701 south
  • Cross over North and South Santee rivers
  • Turn left at the first paved road (Bonny's Barn and Santee Coastal Reserve signs will be on your left)
  • Follow for two miles and bear left on Santee Club Road (Santee Coastal Reserve sign)
  • Bear left at the fork in the road.  The parking area will be ahead on your right.

What to See: Plants
The maritime live oak - slash pine forest is a dominant community type for moderately elevated soils in the coastal plain.  The trunks of these majestic live oak trees often reach widths of 6 feet.  Live oaks and pine trees are interspersed with stands of swamp tupelo, bald cypress and black gum. 

What to See: Animals
The Washo Reserve is home to birds such as the yellow crowned night heron, osprey, great blue Heron, common egret, anhinga, white ibis and the pileated woodpecker.  Wood stork, bald eagle and American swallow-tailed kite also nest here.  Red-cockaded woodpeckers, Bachman's Sparrow and Brown-headed Nuthatch are found in the longleaf pine habitat of the reserve.  Thousands of shorebirds and passerines stop in migration, and up to 50,000 waterfowl spend the winter on the reserve.

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site
The Conservancy chose this site because of its national and global significance as a wading bird rookery. The Washo Reserve harbors the oldest wading bird rookery in continuous use in North America, and it serves as a nesting area for the federally endangered wood stork (as well as high concentrations of nesting ospreys). The Santee Coastal Reserve, of which the Washo Reserve is a part, is a critically important area for migratory waterfowl and other wetland-dependent migratory birds.

What the Conservancy Has Done/Is Doing

In 1974, the Santee Gun Club donated to The Nature Conservancy approximately 24,000 acres of property now known as the Santee Coastal Reserve.  While the Conservancy deeded most of the property to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR), The Nature Conservancy retained the ecologically sensitive Washo Reserve.  Though the Conservancy owns the Washo Reserve, DNR co-manages it with the Conservancy.  DNR and the Conservancy collaborate to perform periodic prescribed burns on the longleaf pine communities, manage aquatic vegetation and monitor the osprey, red-cockaded woodpecker and bald eagle populations.