The Ashepoo Combahee Edisto Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve (often shortened to ACE Basin NERR) is a reserve area located in the

ACE Basin The Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto Basin (abbreviated as ACE Basin, spoken as ''ace basin'') is one of the largest undeveloped estuaries along the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic Coast of the United States. Located primarily in Colleton County, South Ca ...

, one of the largest undeveloped

estuaries An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

on the Atlantic coast of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It is named for the Ashepoo, Combahee and

Edisto River The Edisto River is one of the longest free-flowing blackwater rivers in North America, flowing over 250 meandering miles from its sources in Saluda and Edgefield counties, to its Atlantic Ocean mouth at Edisto Beach, South Carolina. It rises ...

s, which flow past

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs from the ''Cupressus'' genus of the '' Cupressaceae'' family, typically found in temperate climates and subtropical regions of Asia, Europe, and North America. The word ''cypress'' ...

swamps, historic

plantation house A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and ...

s, old

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

fields and tidal marshes to meet at South Carolina's biologically rich St. Helena Sound. The ACE Basin NERR is intended to protect the natural environment,

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animals and uncultivated plant species which can exist in their natural habitat, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introdu ...

and cultural heritage of the area. The reserve also preserves the habitat of a number of endangered or threatened species, such as

shortnose sturgeon The shortnose sturgeon (''Huso brevirostrum'') is a small and endangered species of North American sturgeon. As with most sturgeons, it is an anadromous bottom-feeder, which migrates upstream to spawn but spends most of its life feeding in rive ...

wood stork The wood stork (''Mycteria americana'') is a large wading bird in the family (biology), family Ciconiidae (Ciconiiformes, storks). Originally described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus, this stork is native to the subtropics and tropics of the Americas ...

loggerhead sea turtle The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of sea turtle, oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the Family (biology), family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around ...

s and

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

s. Commercial fisherman harvest supplies of

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but no ...

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve mollusc. The word is often applied only to those that are deemed edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the sea floor or riverbeds. Clams h ...

and

finfish Fishery can mean either the Big business, enterprise of Animal husbandry#Aquaculture, raising or Fishing, harvesting fish and other aquatic life or, more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place (wikt:AKA, a.k.a., fishing grounds). ...

each year in the ACE Basin. Recreational fishermen ply the mudflats for spottail bass,

flounder Flounders are a group of flatfish species. They are demersal fish, found at the bottom of oceans around the world; some species will also enter estuary, estuaries. Taxonomy The name "flounder" is used for several only distantly related speci ...

and shrimp, while paddlers visit the

salt marsh A salt marsh, saltmarsh or salting, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. I ...

creeks and the black waters of the rivers. Research conducted at the ACE Basin NERR enhance the protection of these commercial and recreational uses by monitoring water quality, providing information on the number and types of plant and animal species, and evaluating the overall health of the ACE Basin ecosystem. Through a number of educational programs, the reserve provides information to coastal decision makers, lawmakers, teachers, students and the general public. The reserve sponsors a summer lecture series, develops curriculum materials for teachers, offers a touch tank program for children and conducts educational cruises where students and teachers learn about estuaries and their values to marine, avian and human life.

References

Ashepoo Combahee Edisto Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve
at the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...

Protected areas of South Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserves of the United States Protected areas of Colleton County, South Carolina Estuaries of South Carolina Landforms of Colleton County, South Carolina {{SouthCarolina-protected-area-stub