The Francis Marion National Forest is located north of

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. It is named for revolutionary war hero

Francis Marion Brigadier-General Francis Marion ( 1732 – February 27, 1795), also known as the Swamp Fox, was an American military officer, planter and politician who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. During the Amer ...

, 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 and is in size. The forest contains the towns of Awendaw,

Huger Huger is a surname of French origin. It may refer to: Five brothers from a prominent South Carolina family of Huguenot descent who served in the American Revolution: *Benjamin Huger (American Revolution), killed near Charleston *Daniel Huger, memb ...

, Jamestown, and

McClellanville McClellanville is a small fishing town in rural Charleston County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 1,040 at the 2010 census. It is situated on the Atlantic coast, on land surrounded by Francis Marion National Forest, and has trad ...

. Charleston provides emergency services to the southeastern portions of the forest. Forest headquarters are located in

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

, 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 Hurricane Hugo was a powerful Cape Verde tropical cyclone that inflicted widespread damage across the northeastern Caribbean and the Southeastern United States in September 1989. Across its track, Hugo affected approximately 2 million peopl ...

; 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 Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

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 The National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) of the United States protects federally managed wilderness areas designated for preservation in their natural condition. Activity on formally designated wilderness areas is coordinated by the Na ...

. *

Hell Hole Bay Wilderness Hell Hole Swamp is a swamp in northeastern Berkeley County, South Carolina famous for its unique name. It is located entirely within the Francis Marion National Forest and contains , all of which is designated as a wilderness area. Origin The ...

* 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