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Waccamaw Refuge Gains Key Acreage

By Lynne Langley of The Post and Courier Staff

June 14, 2002

Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge acquired Yauhannah Bluff in Georgetown County Thursday to build an education and interpretation center for the young, growing refuge.

"It's one in a million, the most outstanding site we considered for a visitor center," said refuge biologist Craig Sasser.  "It is an incredible bluff overlooking the Great Pee Dee River and the beginning of Yauhannah Lake."

The U.S. Department of the Interior has earmarked $400,000 for an archaeological survey and master plan, which Sasser foresees completing in 18 to 24 months.  Construction could begin in about two years.

Yauhannah Bluff is particularly scenic and important for refuge use, said Willis Yarberry, director of protection for the S.C. Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.  The Conservancy worked with the refuge for three years on the purchase.

The bluff is 22 acres of high ground near a main road, S.C. Highway 701, which will provide public access.  Relatively inaccessible wetlands make up much of the acreage within the refuge boundaries.

Yarberry described Yauhannah Bluff as a high priority property for the refuge.  Primarily uplands, the property has mature pine, hickory and oak.

The bluff also overlooks 4,597-acre Bull Island, which the refuge has opened to the public for hunting, fishing, hiking, canoeing and kayaking and wildlife viewing.  This inland island, on the Horry-Georgetown county line, has the same name as a barrier island in Charleston County.

In June 1997, the federal government approved a refuge north of Winyah Bay that could ultimately measure about 49,800 acres.  The refuge was established in December of that year with acquisition of the first 134 acres.

The wildlife refuge along the Great Pee Dee and Waccamaw rivers, largely in Georgetown County, has grown quietly ever since.

With the new 22-acre bluff site, it now measures about 7,360 acres, an assemblage of more than 60 parcels obtained mostly from small landowners.  Some form blocks of four or five adjacent properties, Sasser said.

Neighbors are spreading the word to other willing sellers, and discussions are under way with owners of larger tracts, he said.  The latest purchase took three years of plans, discussions, complex legal work and special federal legislation.

"It was a complicated process," said Yarberry.  He credited U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., with helping on legislation and federal funds that enabled the purchase.

The next step will be an archaeological survey of the site, which was occupied by Native Americans during the Woodland Period.

In the 18th Century, the bluff served as a trading post and had a ferry to Bull Island, Sasser said.

The refuge's sole employee, Sasser envisions an environmental education and interpretation center that will explain Native American use of the land, the rice culture that changed so much of the area and the role of timbering.

Within the refuge boundaries are two black-water river systems, the Waccamaw and Little Pee Dee.  It also has one of the last free-flowing rivers on the East Coast, the Great Pee Dee, extensive forested wetlands, tidal freshwater wetlands and wetlands managed for waterfowl and other wildlife, Sasser said.

About 30,000 acres are already protected from development because federal or state agencies own the land or private owners have granted conservation easements.

That includes 9,000 acres on Sandy Island, once threatened by development but now permanently protected and managed by The Nature Conservancy.