ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge

Enjoy kayaking in the Ernest F. Hollings ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge with an America Outdoors outfitter! 

Refuge Facts:

• Established: 1990.
• Acres: 11,815.
• Made up of two separate units, the Edisto River Unit (7,200 acres) and the Combahee River Unit (4,564 acres).
• Located in Beaufort, Charleston, Colleton, and Hampton counties, SC.
• Refuge is part of the ACE Basin Project, a joint venture in which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, The Nature Conservancy, and Ducks Unlimited are working with private landowners to protect and enhance the natural resources of a 350,000-acre area.

Natural History:

• The refuge area consists of 3,950 acres of tidal marsh, 3,000 of managed wetland impoundments, 1,200 acres of bottomland hardwoods, 2,800 acres of upland forest, and 700 acres of grass and shrublands.
• Bald eagles nest on both refuge units. Endangered wood storks utilize the area during the summer months. Concentrations of up to 30,000 ducks use the impoundments in winter months. Large numbers of wading birds, shorebirds and raptors are present in seasons.
• Songbird (neo-tropical migrants) use in all areas of uplands and bottomland forests.

Refuge Headquarters:

• The Grove Plantation House, built in 1828, is one of only three antebellum mansions in the ACE Basin area to survive the Civil War. Former owners ensured it would be preserved by placing it on the National Register of Historical Places.