The Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment is a region of spectacular beauty and biodiversity. An abrupt wall of mountains rising from the lower Piedmont, the escarpment captures moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, giving the region the highest rainfall east of the Pacific Cascades. Rushing rivers carve deep gorges through extensive forests, creating a unique habitat for plants and wildlife. The combination of high rainfall, abrupt elevation change, and extensive woodland leads to extraordinary species diversity throughout the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment.
Although comprising less than 2% of South Carolina’s acreage (approximately 400,000 acres) these mountains are habitat for more than 40% of the rare plants in the state. Rare species include:
- Endemic plants, such as Mountain Sweet Pitcher Plant, several rare Trilliums, and the well-known Oconee Bells (a species lost to science for almost 100 years).
- plant species at the southern end of their range, including Swamp Pink (common in the New Jersey Pine Barrens) and Bog Rose (a Canadian species).
- many tropical ferns and mosses, thriving in the moist, humid landscape after drifting as spores from Central or South America.
- animal species such as the black bear, native brook trout, green salamander, peregrine falcon, and Rafinesque’s big-eared bat.
Over 300 instances of rare species and natural communities have been recorded in the Southern Blue Ridge Escarpment – a number equal to those in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. No wonder the ecoregion is recognized as a “hotspot” of North American biodiversity!
Who has been working to protect this landscape?
The mission to protect the SBRE has brought together many diverse partners. Public organizations, private companies, and individual landowners alike have recognized the value of the SBRE area and worked together to insure its protection. Public partners such as:
- U.S. Forest Service
- S.C. Dept. of Natural Resources
- S. C. Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Tourism
- N. C. Wildlife Resources Commission
- N.C. State Parks Department
and private partners like:
- The Nature Conservancy
- Naturaland Trust
- Upstate Forever
- Pacolet Conservancy
- Carolina Mountain Land Conservancy
- Highlands Land Trust
- Southern Appalachian Highland Conservancy
are among those who have contributed to the SBRE’s protection. Together, they have set aside 85,000 acres of National Forest, several state parks, 2,400 acres of Heritage Trust Preserves, and Ellicott's Rock, a 9,000 acre Wilderness Area on the Chattooga River at the boundary of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. In addition, the city of Greenville, SC has protected its two watersheds of over 30,000 acres that supply the drinking water for the city.
The combined conservation record of these public and private organizations is already impressive, but the land needs more than simple conservation. In order to maintain the health of the ecosystems, these partners must continue to identify and protect tracts of interest, combat a variety of conservation threats and restore already damaged populations of rare species.
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