United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service Francis Marion National Forest Draft Forest Plan Assessment Francis Marion National Forest, Berkeley and Charleston Counties, South Carolina Section 15: Designated Areas 15.1_Statutorialy Designated Areas 15.2_Administratively Designated 15.3_Regional Forest Designated Areas 15.4_Administrative Sites December 2013 The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination against its customers, employees, and applicants for employment on the bases of race, color, national origin, age, disability, sex, gender identity, religion, reprisal, and where applicable, political beliefs, marital status, familial or parental status, sexual orientation, or all or part of an individual's income is derived from any public assistance program, or protected genetic information in employment or in any program or activity conducted or funded by the Department. 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Francis Marion National Forest Draft Forest Plan Assessment Berkeley and Charleston Counties, South Carolina Lead Agency: USDA Forest Service Responsible Official: John Richard Lint, Forest Supervisor Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests For Information Contact: Mary Morrison, Forest Planner 4931 Broad River Road Columbia, SC 29212 803-561-4000 Email Comments or Questions to: [email protected] Documents are Posted at: http://www.fs.usda.gov/scnfs Table of Contents 15 Designated Areas ....................................................................................................................................... 15.1 Statutorily Designated Areas .............................................................................................................. 15.1.1 Wilderness ................................................................................................................................... 15.2 Administratively Designated .............................................................................................................. 15.2.2 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 15.2.3 Inventoried Roadless Areas ......................................................................................................... 15.2.4 Swamp Fox National Recreation Trail ........................................................................................ 15.2.5 Santee Experimental Forest ......................................................................................................... 15.2.6 Research Natural Area ................................................................................................................. 15.3 Regional Forest Designated Areas ..................................................................................................... 15.3.2 Historical Areas ........................................................................................................................... 15.3.3 Botanical Areas, Geological and Research Natural Areas........................................................... 15.3.4 Scenic Areas ................................................................................................................................ 15.3.5 Eligible Wild and Scenic Rivers .................................................................................................. 15.4 Administrative Sites ........................................................................................................................... 15.4.2 Seed Orchard and Progeny Test Areas ........................................................................................ 15.4.3 Francis Marion Office and Ranger Station .................................................................................. 15.4.4 Witherbee Office, Work Center and Housing Complex .............................................................. 2 15 Designated Areas This chapter assesses current conditions and trends for designated areas on the Francis Marion National Forest, including wilderness, wild and scenic rivers, research natural areas, inventoried roadless areas, botanical areas and others. Some categories of designated areas may be designated only by statute and some categories may be established administratively in the land management planning process or by other administrative processes of the Federal executive branch. For this assessment, there are three categories of designated area, by statutorily designated, administratively designated, or by regional forester. This chapter shall identify and evaluate available information relevant to the plan area for existing designated areas located in the plan area including wilderness and wild and scenic rivers and potential need and opportunity for additional designated area (36 CFR 219.6(b)). The assessment does not require an inventory and evaluation of individual land areas within the plan area for potential designation. 15.1 Statutorily Designated Areas The Francis Marion National Forest has four statutorily designated wildernesses established by Congress in 1980 (Public Law 96-560 od 1980). Additional information about these wilderness areas and other information can be found at [www.wilderness.net]. The Francis Marion does not have any of the following statutorily designated areas located on the Forest: national heritage area, national monument, national recreation area, national scenic area, national trails, national scenic trails, national historic trails, designated wild and scenic rivers, or highway systems, interstate and national. 15.1.1 Wilderness 15.1.1.1 Preliminary Findings Since the 1996 Forest plan was written, an information needs assessment was completed. In 2011, several concerns were raised about effects to wilderness character from a variety of sources include recreation use impacts, historical exclusion of fires, effects of nonnative invasive species plants and animals, effects of air pollution, aquatic habitat degradation, unmanaged illegal use and effects of climate change. The 1996 Forest plan contains direction on management of wilderness areas in management area 2 in chapter 4. This Forest plan direction protects the wilderness character of the four designated wilderness areas. NVUM (National Visitor Use Monitoring, FMS, 2008), found that over 11,000 people visit the wilderness on both the Francis Marion and Sumter National Forests. The monitoring does not provide the use on each wilderness individually, so it is not possible to assess what percent of that use is on wilderness on the Francis Marion. However, managers can determine that of the four wildernesses on the Francis Marion, Wambaw Creek receives the majority of the use. 15.1.1.2 Introduction In 1964, Congress established the National Wilderness Preservation System. This legislation was enacted to permanently protect some of the most undisturbed Federal natural lands in the United States. At its birth, the National Wilderness Preservation System included just 54 areas and a little over 9.1 million acres. Congress has since added hundreds more areas and millions more acres, increasing the system to 702 areas and over 107 million acres. For the most part, these are 3 the wildest of Federal lands in the nation [Wilderness.net at http://www.wilderness.net/index.cfm]. The Wilderness Act of 1964, as enacted September 3, 1964, and amended October 21, 1978 (16 U.S.C. 1131-1136), specifies congressional policy to secure for the American people an enduring resource of wilderness for the enjoyment of present and future generations. It defines wildernesses as areas untrammeled by people that offer outstanding opportunities for solitude and directs agencies to manage wilderness to preserve natural ecological conditions (section 2320.6). With certain exceptions, the Act prohibits motorized equipment, structures, installations, roads, commercial enterprises, aircraft landings,