Catawba Nation Trailways

After an excellent director’s special, the official June SCAN outing is to York County, home of the Catawba Nation. We will be meeting at the boat launch parking lot at the end of Charley Horse Road. There is not a restroom in this parking lot, but you could stop at the cultural center to use the restroom before arriving, which is located HERE. We will be strolling through a series of trails and looking at a small grassland area. We will be parking in the middle of the greenway trail which will allow for options going north and south along the trail to other points of interest. None of the trails are particularly long but if it is as blazing hot as last Saturday that will be a good thing. Most of the trail is well-shaded and the Greenway trail parallels the river where you could cool off when needed with easy access at the boat ramp. We should have plenty of time to explore the bottomland flora and fauna along the river.

The Catawba Nation has a long history along the river and claimed land (~ 144,000 acres) all the way into present-day Virginia. They are currently the only federally recognized tribe in SC. They began the process in 1973 and it took 20 years to finally come to a settlement that awarded them 4200 acres. However, that number has been slow to come to fruition. Just this March they were able to acquire an additional 200 acres, which now brings their total to around 1500 acres. You can check out more about their history at their website: https://www.catawba.com/index.php

Rivercane was an important part of their culture and ecosystem (used for basketry and musical instruments) and they have begun a restoration project of creating a rivercane buffer along their section of the Catawba River. Rivercane can pull out between 80-85% of Nitrogen and Phosphorus agricultural runoff before it enters the waterway.

Also, if anyone has time on their way out please stop by the food distribution center as there is a small grassland that they are beginning to restore and would love to know what we find there. Please see the attached photo for location.

We should be able to find some cool spiders, dragonflies and other insects along the vegetation. Along the trails and forest edges, there were a number of birds and during the scouting trip an osprey and bald eagle were seen over the river. Come join us for another June SCAN soodle, this time up in York County.

Regional Director: Todd Johnston