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#05-238 November 7, 2005

Partnership To Restore Habitat In Jocassee Gorges Trout Stream

A conservation partnership of private landowners, conservation organizations and government agencies will restore trout habitat to Reedy Cove Creek in Jocassee Gorges in northern Pickens County.

Currently, Reedy Cove Creek is too warm to support trout in summer due to the Lake Chilly Water impoundment at Camp McCall, a Southern Baptist Convention boy's camp on US 178. Camp McCall is a partner in the project to divert water under the lake and back into the stream that would reclaim two miles of wild trout habitat in Reedy Cove Creek in Jocassee Gorges. The project should also have a positive influence on water temperatures and trout habitat from where Reedy Cove Creek flows into the Eastatoee River downstream to where the Eastatoee flows into Lake Keowee.

The conservation partnership responsible for the Reedy Cove Creek project includes Camp McCall and the Southern Baptist Convention, Partners for Trout, Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, S.C. Department of Natural Resources, Conservation Districts, Trout Unlimited, private landowners and The Cliffs Communities. Cliffs Communities contributed $100,000 in private money that will serve as match for the federal funds that will be used for the Reedy Cove Creek project.

Mark Hall, S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) wildlife biologist and forest planner who manages the Jocassee Gorges lands in South Carolina, said he will work with DNR Upstate regional fisheries biologist Dan Rankin to provide better access for the public to Reedy Cove Creek and to stock the stream with trout.

"Within a year or two," Hall said, "Reedy Cove Creek could be South Carolina's premier trout stream."

Waterfalls, green salamanders, black bear, rare plants such as Oconee bells and many long-range vistas are just a few of the natural wonders that may be found in the Jocassee Gorges in northern Pickens and Oconee counties. More information on the Jocassee Gorges may be obtained on the DNR's Web site at http://www.dnr.sc.gov/managed/wild/jocassee/indexfull.htm or by calling the Clemson DNR office at (864) 654-1671, extension 22.