Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge

As part of our 50th anniversary celebration we are revisiting some of the sites from our first two years as an organization. We first visited Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge on November 20, 1976 and we are returning there for our March trip this year. We’ve had several return visits since that first one, but this will be the first spring visit specifically to the refuge. (There was a 1984 February trip that also included Sugarloaf Mountain.)

Previous trip dates: November 1976, December 1981, September 1992, October 2007, and December 2022.

We will meet in the parking lot at the visitor center of Carolina Sandhills NWR. The main entrance is on US Highway 1, about 4 miles northeast of McBee, SC. The address is 23734 U.S. Highway 1, McBee, SC 29101. Coordinates are 34.5044, -80.2249. Restrooms will not be available until later in the day, if at all. There are gas stations in McBee.

This is a joint trip with the Carolina Butterfly Society (CBS). John Demko will take the lead for CBS in looking for elfin butterflies, with a special focus of the endangered Frosted Elfin, and other spring butterflies. There is a lot to see at the refuge in addition to butterflies, so we expect that people will spread out to different locations. CBS will have an additional trip on Sunday to Cheraw State Park and Sand Hills State Forest.

Information for the CBS Sunday butterfly trip:
CBS will convene at 10:30 on Society Hill Road (AKA Teals Mill Rd) in Cheraw State Park. Park on the side of the road just past the Juniper Creek bridge. (GPS coordinates 34.6214, -79.9451) CBS will survey the sand myrtle on both sides of the road. Targets butterflies are Hessel’s Hairstreak, Brown Elfin, Henry’s Elfin, Eastern Pine Elfin, Holly Azure, and Great Purple Hairstreak. When finished, CBS will drive approximately 25 minutes west to Sand Hills State Forest to explore Horseshoe Mountain. (GPS coordinates 34.5896, -80.1170) The target species here is Brown Elfin. Restrooms may be available near Horseshoe Mountain, but they are sometimes locked. So plan accordingly.

For overnight stays, there are hotels in Cheraw and camping at Cheraw SP.

Background on the Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge:

The Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge was established on March 17, 1939 to: provide habitat for migratory birds, to demonstrate sound management practices that enhance natural resource conservation, and to provide wildlife-oriented recreation opportunities. The Federal government purchased land from willing sellers. Much of the land was eroded from poor farming and forestry practices and supported few populations of wildlife species; initial conservation efforts focused on restoring the barren land.

Located in the Sandhills Physiographic Region of South Carolina, the Carolina Sandhills NWR is one of the Southeast’s premier sites for viewing the longleaf pine/wiregrass ecosystem and is comprised of 47,850 acres, including fee ownership of 45,348 acres, and nine conservation easements totaling 2,502 acres. The majority of the refuge lies in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. There is one fee title tract totaling 210 acres in Marlboro County. Numerous small creeks and tributaries, along with thirty man-made lakes and ponds and 1,200 acres of fields, support a diversity of habitats for wildlife.

Along with rolling sand hills, the refuge is home to streamside pocosins (translated “swamp on a hill”), open fields, hardwood ridges, wetlands and open water ponds. This mosaic of habitats provides for the needs of more than 190 species of birds, 42 species of mammals, 41 species of reptiles, and 25 species of amphibians. More than 1,000 species of plants have been identified on the refuge, including rare species of pitcher plants, Well’s pixie-moss, and the white-wicky. The refuge supports a secondary recovery population of the red-cockaded woodpecker and numerous species of pine-grassland birds, including Northern bobwhite quail, Bachman’s sparrow, Chuck-will’s-widows, and American Kestrel.