Nemours Wildlife Preserve Winter Tour...

Field trips with the CMNA group carry some of the same excitement for me that I remember from field trips as a young kid, with added benefits that we all have longer attention spans and a passion for the natural world that has had more time to simmer! I’m sure I’m not the only one to feel this way… when the opportunity for a mid-week jaunt to the ACE Basin came up, the field trip filled quickly!

Nemours is comprised of almost 10,000 acres of land that was consolidated from 5 plantations and other parcels by Eugene duPont II. He named it after the village in France that his family originated from (their family name, and also the full name of the business we know as DuPont, is DuPont de Nemours.) His son, Eugene duPont III, resided on and managed the property for several decades, and upon his death in 1995, he left the property for purposes of research, stewardship, and education.

While wildness abounds at Nemours – the property is serene and seems to be very much a microcosm of the ACE Basin -- there are human forces at work across the land. The expanse of land on both sides of Highway 17 is managed as a living laboratory of sorts. It is a lovely example of a symbiotic web of public and private partnerships that are focused on research and conservation.

For instance, restoration of pine savannas is being accomplished through prescribed burns, reintroduction of longleaf pines (many of the pine trees there now are loblolly, as is the case across SC), and selective thinning of trees to allow grasses and wildflowers to thrive in the understory. White painted stripes on several of the loblolly pines that we passed marked where manmade nesting cavities were excavated to encourage red cockaded woodpeckers to breed at Nemours. This species of woodpecker nests in living trees, traditionally long-living longleaf pines, which are more susceptible to heart rot. The fungus softens the longleaf and makes it easier for the birds to excavate cavities. We were able to discern which manmade cavities had been successful in encouraging woodpeckers by telltale rings pecked around the trees. The bird family using the nest will drill rings below the entrance so that tree sap runs down the trunk, thwarting predators such as tree-climbing snakes (and perhaps catching some insects as an added bonus.)

Of course, perhaps the most impactful story of human management of this land is a heart wrenching one that Nemours shares with many sites across the Lowcountry. Centuries of rice production were only possible because of intense and dangerous land-clearing efforts led largely by enslaved West Africans. Over time, 235,000 acres of land in our coastal region were cleared of trees and converted into rice fields. Following the Civil War, this form of agriculture was no longer viable in South Carolina. “However, the impounded rice fields remained a haven for ducks and other waterfowl, and soon, wealthy northerners began purchasing the large tracts of inexpensive historic plantation land for use as recreational and hunting retreats.”

At Nemours, water levels in old rice fields are managed to create habitat for a large variety of birds and other wildlife. For instance, dabbling ducks that are migrating through in the winter require 6-18 inches of water for their needs. Interestingly, rice would not survive in the fields as they are today; sea level rise has resulted in salinity levels that are too high for rice agriculture.

The biodiversity of the ACE Basin is definitely apparent here, where over 400 different plant species and 100 bird species have been catalogued. Interns are working on a fuller accounting of all the flora and fauna present at Nemours. The newest species? Pineywoods cattle, a heritage breed of livestock, are part of the brand new Ecopasture Initiative at Nemours. You can read more about this creative new venture on their website. They hope to prove some economic and ecological benefits that landowners with similar properties could imitate.

Also of note:

• Want to see for yourself? Nemours gives public tours about once a month. https://nemourswildlifefoundation.org/tours/ I also recommend watching this episode of Coastal Kingdom that features Nemours Plantation. It also features Heather Kraus, who was our guide for the morning! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOshjzcejF0

• Judy Fairchild kept an eBird list for our trip. We saw 35 species of birds, including a harrier, avocets, tree swallows (the only species of swallow here in SC during winter), a white pelican, and three bald eagles (there are eight bald eagle nests at Nemours!) Judy also sent us this 2023 blog post she wrote on red-cockaded woodpeckers and longleaf pine ecosystems that you might want to check out: https://naturewalkswithjudy.com/2023/01/20/red-cockaded-woodpecker-thrives-in-dwindling-longleaf-pine-ecosystem/

• Heather’s Pro Tip: Visit places with managed wetlands (like Nemours or Donnelly) at high tide. As the tide comes up, shorebirds are flushed out of their normal tidal areas into the shallower managed areas and can be more readily observed.