Congaree Wilderness

 

Duration:

5 minutes, 16 seconds

During the winter months, waters from the Congaree and Wateree Rivers sweep through the floodplain of the Congaree National Park Wilderness in South Carolina - opening up a new, surreal world. Kayak through the forest and experience this special place through the eyes of local veterans who find a reprieve in the healing and dynamic waters.

 

                               

Wilderness Categories at Congaree

The National Wilderness Preservation System was established by the Wilderness Act of 1964. Today, this national network of more than 800 federally designated wilderness areas contains over 110 million acres in 44 states and Puerto Rico. The National Park Service, along with the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management, manage these wilderness areas as an enduring resource for present and future generations.

There are five categories of NPS wilderness: eligible, proposed, recommended, designated, and potential wilderness. Congaree has designated wilderness, as well as eligible wilderness.Click the panels below to read about each. 

Designated Wilderness

For this category, Congress has designated some or all of the national park as wilderness and a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System. The NPS is required to manage the wilderness area according to the Wilderness Act, a federal law, and NPS policy. Both law and policy emphasize the requirement to preserve the area’s wilderness character.

Congaree currently has 21,700 acres of designated wilderness. This area is named the Congaree National Park Wilderness. 

Eligible Wilderness

For this category, the NPS has determined through a Wilderness Eligibility Assessment that some or all of the national park possesses the qualities and character, as identified within the Wilderness Act, which would qualify it for possible future designation within the National Wilderness Preservation System. Eligible wilderness is not designated wilderness, and is managed to preserve its wilderness character according to NPS policy rather than the Wilderness Act, a federal law.

Congaree currently has 3,937 acres of eligible wilderness. 

 

Harry Hampton standing in front of a bald cypress in Congaree Swamp. Hampton was a journalist and major proponent for the preservation of Congaree. The park visitor center is named for Harry Hampton.

Congaree Wilderness Character

*Most of the following text was taken from Congaree National Park's Wilderness Character Narrative. Sections have been updated to reflect current information. If you are interested in reading the full document, please Contact Us.

Although up to a quarter of what is now Congaree National Park was either clear cut or selectively logged in the 19th and 20th centuries, the inaccessibility of some areas created pockets of old-growth forest which would become the 11,000-acre core area of the Congaree Wilderness. This small pocket of land managed to escape the intensive land use that occurred along the nearby Santee, Wateree, and Broad rivers. This tract, surrounded by mature second-growth forests, is now the largest contiguous stand of Southern old-growth bottomland hardwood forest in the nation.

Instead of the usual panoramic wonder of western wilderness areas, Congaree National Park Wilderness holds a sophisticated beauty within its old-growth forest and along the meandering waterways. Instead of absolute silence, the faint caws of birds and the chirp of crickets becomes soothing white noise, allowing visitors to ponder about their place within nature, not outside nor above it.Congaree National Park was not designated to preserve scenic mountain views or miles of open land, but as a means of preserving an incredibly diverse, biologically valuable ecosystem that once dominated the southeast. Entwined into this landscape are the important cultural histories that helped shape the South and the nation as a whole.

Historic and Ongoing Human Connections

National parks like Congaree, and the wilderness areas within, are the homelands of Indigenous peoples since time immemorial.This landscape here has been modified by humans in countless ways over thousands of years. Examples of cultural features in the Congaree National Park Wilderness include relict agricultural field sites, earthen mounds built to protect cattle during floods, bridge abutments to facilitate travel, and dikes intended to protect crops from flooding.

Most of the Congaree National Park Wilderness holds little sign of development, as historic developments are rapidly returning to their natural successive states. The resilience of the landscape mirrors the resilience of the people who inhabited this area from the pre-historic to the present.

 

Giant bald cypress protected in the Congaree wilderness

NPS Photo

Congaree Wilderness Today

Federal designation of wilderness is the highest degree of permanent protection. The Congaree wilderness spans 21,700 acres. For perspective, the entire park encompasses 26,692.6 acres. Along with being over 80% Federally designated Wilderness, the park also boasts global recognition as a UNESCO International Biosphere Reserve and an Important Bird Area (Audubon Society).

In 2023, Congaree National Park received 250,114 visitors, surpassing the park's previous record of 215,181 visitors in 2021. More people than ever are out enjoying the park's resources and experiencing what its wilderness has to offer. Opportunities for recreation in the Congaree wilderness include hiking, paddling, fishing, birding, and backcountry camping.

 

Congaree National Park Wilderness Boundary

NPS