Burns Bunched Arrowhead Preserve

The bunched arrowhead is one of the rarest plants in the US. It exists in a rare ecosystem, the Piedmont seepage forest and has been found only in two counties: Greenville County in South Carolina and Henderson County in North Carolina. Unfortunately, many of these seepage forests have been drained, damaged and leveled for developments. The bunched arrowhead thrives and only grows in this ecosystem and is an umbrella species for myriad plants, amphibians, reptiles and mammals who depend on these wetlands. It is federally-listed as endangered and the principal strategy for its survival and recovery as determined by the USFWS is protection of existing populations and their habitat. This project will protect hundreds of plants, a Piedmont seepage forest, and a stream that flows into SCDNR’s Blackwell Heritage Preserve.

We have been urged by state and federal biologists to protect land that contains the federally endangered bunched arrowhead whenever possible. Unfortunately, the heart of these plants’ population is in the bullseye of a development boom outside Travelers Rest, where prices are rising and even smaller properties are being subdivided to accommodate high density neighborhoods.

Over the last ten years we have made protecting the bunched arrowhead and its habitat a priority, working directly with SCDNR and USFWS. Millions of dollars have been invested to protect properties in this region, which has helped to stem the loss of ecologically sensitive properties, but there is still work to do and each opportunity to protect an endangered species is one we cannot pass up. Ultimately, the goal is to protect enough of these plants and their habitat to delist the bunched arrowhead from its endangered status.