Lake Conestee Nature Park
Encyclopedia
Lake Conestee Nature Park is a 400 acres (161.9 ha) park along the banks of the Reedy River
in Conestee, South Carolina
. The National Audubon Society
has designated the park as an Important Bird Area. The park is home to numerous species of reptiles, mammals, and birds, and contains over two miles of paved trails and over three miles of natural surface trails.
Lake Conestee was created when the Reedy River was dammed at the Conestee Textile Mill in about 1892. At its largest, the lake covered about 130 acres (52.6 ha), but years of upstream industrial waste and discharge have filled about 90 percent of the lake with sediment. The Conestee Foundation, a 501(c)(3) conservation organization, was formed in 2000 to lead the revitalization of the lake as a wetlands through the development of the nature park.
Reedy River
The Reedy River is a tributary of the Saluda River, about long, in northwestern South Carolina in the United States. Via the Saluda and Congaree Rivers, it is part of the watershed of the Santee River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean....
in Conestee, South Carolina
South Carolina
South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...
. The National Audubon Society
National Audubon Society
The National Audubon Society is an American non-profit environmental organization dedicated to conservation. Incorporated in 1905, Audubon is one of the oldest of such organizations in the world and uses science, education and grassroots advocacy to advance its conservation mission...
has designated the park as an Important Bird Area. The park is home to numerous species of reptiles, mammals, and birds, and contains over two miles of paved trails and over three miles of natural surface trails.
Lake Conestee was created when the Reedy River was dammed at the Conestee Textile Mill in about 1892. At its largest, the lake covered about 130 acres (52.6 ha), but years of upstream industrial waste and discharge have filled about 90 percent of the lake with sediment. The Conestee Foundation, a 501(c)(3) conservation organization, was formed in 2000 to lead the revitalization of the lake as a wetlands through the development of the nature park.