North Inlet-Winyah Bay Reserve, South Carolina




Location: The reserve is located in Georgetown County, S.C., 30 miles south of Myrtle Beach and 50 miles north of Charleston. Total Acreage: 12,327 Designation: 1992 Lead State Agency: University of South Carolina Baruch Marine Field Laboratory Mailing Address: North Inlet-Winyah Bay Reserve P.O. Box 1630 Georgetown, SC 29442 Phone: 843-546-3623

The reserve features the salt marshes and ocean dominated tidal creeks of the North Inlet Estuary plus the brackish waters and marshes of the adjacent Winyah Bay Estuary. North Inlet is a relatively pristine system in which water and habitat quality are much higher than those in Winyah Bay. As the estuary with the third largest watershed on the east coast,Winyah Bay has been greatly influenced by agriculture, industry and other human activities. More than 90 percent of North Inlet's watershed is in its natural forested state

The reserve is home to many threatened and endangered species, including sea turtles, sturgeons, least terns and wood storks.

Reserve resources range from tidal and transitional marshes to oyster reefs, beaches, and inter-tidal flats and from coastal island forests to open waterways.