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Clemson Experimental Forest

Recreation Plan Update

Purpose

To update users on the process of the Forest relative to planning for recreation, given administrative changes. Outdoor recreation was made a priority for the forest during its Strategic Planning Process (see Strategic Plan Summary). Since January 2025 a new Forest Manager has been hired with a background integrating recreation and forest management, and for the first time, a Recreation Manager. Together with input from the community, they are building a long-term recreation management plan within the context of the Strategic Plan and Forest Management Plan. In the meantime, they have prioritized short term goals to address immediate needs. Below we outline background information, the planning process, and short-term recreation priorities and processes.

Background

Recreation has always been part of the Clemson Experimental Forest (Forest) story. In the 1930s, New Deal programs built Lake Issaquena, picnic shelters and trails to help people enjoy the outdoors. The tradition continues today with miles of trails for hiking, biking and horseback riding, as well as spots for birdwatching, fishing, hunting and volunteering. Our goal is to enhance the outdoor experience while protecting what makes the Forest special. As always, our focus remains on education, research and responsible forest management.

The Forest contains approximately 150 miles of trails, 101 unique trails and segments, and 40 trailheads and parking areas. Visitors to the Forest interact with water attractions such as Lake Hartwell, Lake Issaquena, Meadow Falls, Wildcat Falls, Six Mile Creek, Waldrop Stone Falls and Todd’s Creek Falls. Significant historical features and sites are also highlights for many visitors.

Cell phone data suggests that there are about 60,000 visitors annually to our trailheads and shorelines. There are four major recreation user groups that we interact with, the Greater Clemson Mountain Bikers Club, Greater Clemson Trail Users Coalition, SC Upstate Equine Council, and SC Department of Natural Resources. Communications occur in person, through phone calls, and by social media. The Clemson Forest FB page posts recreation updates that are frequently shared to user group pages. SC DNR updates information on Wildlife Management Areas.

Recreation is financially supported by Clemson University, revenues from timber sales, philanthropy, and other sources. A small recreation staff and interns manage the resource in conjunction with an active, equipped and trained corps of volunteers who conduct significant projects as part of the stewardship team. Volunteers donate materials, equipment, and time.

The recreation program receives significant professional advice and support from faculty and staff throughout campus including from Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management, Forestry and Environmental Conservation, campus recreation, Clemson University Extension, and Emergency Services.

Clemson University instituted a new classification process for the Forest which is reflected in the Forest Management Plan. Each Zone has a specific recreation goal, relative to other goals of the Forest. The Forest Management Plan and map of the classification system is provided on the website.

Recreation Planning Process

During the previous few years, insightful University committees and administration recommended that recreation be made a priority of the management of the Forest. This would improve the outdoor experience for students, faculty, staff, and members of the surrounding community. As a result a number of administrative changes took place during 2024-25 to enable a more comprehensive approach to maximizing the value of the Forest as a resource for recreation, with an eye to being the top University Forest recreation experience.

The Forest hired its first dedicated recreation staff member in 2025. Their primary task in their first year is to learn the resources of the Forest and lead a process to plan and prioritize recreation projects, all the while maintaining key assets.

In the short term, a backlog of maintenance of basic infrastructure has top priority. These include repairs to bridges, kiosks, picnic areas and shelters, degraded trail sections, and updates of obsolete and confusing signs, maps, website, social media, and other communications.

A large effort is underway to revamp communications and data infrastructure of the Forest, including providing accurate map information to trail APPs, on kiosks, on the website, and in other accessible locations. This effort is being supported by University-level computing, communications, and data management sources.

In the long term, once basic infrastructure is working more smoothly, then larger, more creative projects can be considered. The Recreation Manager will lead the process, seeking and integrating advice from campus experts and the user community.

Short Term Focus Areas

Safety

Working with Campus EMS, we have clarified the responsible parties and processes needed to improve the overall safety for visitors. By working more closely with professional providers, we can anticipate and plan for events, crowded holidays, responses to weather, and other safety situations, and communicate more clearly when needed. Likewise, in conjunction with Risk Services, we have identified the specific needs and processes for training and coordination of volunteers who work in the Forest, which will be formally integrated into the Recreation Plan.

Trails

Trails are a key component of the CEF and form the largest recreation user interface opportunity. The goal of our trail design is to have an optimal size and distribution of a network that can be sustainably maintained at a professional level, that meets the right number and level of recreational uses while supporting environmental sustainability, in keeping with the Classification system. Priorities will be on improving trail design and management to extend the trail’s lifespan, reduce erosion, minimize conflicts, and protect nearby water quality.

A majority of the trail network requires significant updating. Maintenance approaches will be sustainable in their design, leveraging staff and volunteer expertise. Trail management will focus on addressing basic maintenance concerns prior to the pursuit of any new initiatives or expansion projects. Routine trail maintenance (benching, small tree removal, overgrowth clearing, and leaf removal) that requires no substantial change to the trail structure or path can be performed by organized user groups, provided there is prior communication with the Recreation Manager. The Recreation Manger can provide resources, time, equipment as needed.

Larger maintenance efforts will be a part of quarterly trail workdays. These will be arranged with and facilitated by the Recreation Manager but may be led by volunteers, as needed. Structural maintenance activities (items requiring machinery, bridges, large trees, etc.) are the primary responsibility of the Recreation Manager who will arrange other staff expertise, materials and equipment, and volunteers.

As the recreation program matures, there will be more formal mechanisms to organize student and community volunteer projects; for the short-term communications should proceed through the user groups and staff as they have been in 2024-25.

As specified in the Forest Management Plan, recreation will be managed differently by zone. Overall, it will be protected to the best of our ability during harvest and silviculture operations. Advance notice utilizing social media and on-site signage will provide users with alternate routes or information regarding closures.

Signs

In conjunction with a PRTM class and members of the user community, in 2025 Forest staff undertook at comprehensive review of signage in the Forest and identified short and long-term needs.

Key principles emerged: 1) Signage in the Forest is an important part of a safe, welcoming and meaningful experience for users, 2) the current system of signs, especially in the North Forest, has elements that are confusing, 3) many people do not associate the Forest as Clemson University property, 4) there are historical and overlapping signage systems that need to be cleaned up. In addition, Clemson students conducted a mapping project for all existing Forest signs that will guide future planning and design efforts.

The Forest will incorporate a comprehensive approach to recreation signage and communications including 1) appropriate demarcation of the Forest as a Clemson University property, 2) updated phone and internet based mapping systems that mirror in-Forest signage, 3) revise and simplify trail signs and naming, 4) repair and replace kiosks and update them with accurate information, 5) improve the quantity and quality of intersection markers, 6) install inner-trail confidence markings and 7) create interpretive signage especially to explain forest ecology, cultural assets, and management systems.

By summer 2025 most of these goals had projects underway to meet them. A new trail marking system incorporating confidence markers, new kiosk map, and Clemson signs will be deployed in the North Forest, where the problems are the most acute, in the near term. The Recreation Plan will incorporate larger, Forest-wide goals.

Trailheads/Parking

As we see increasing numbers of visitors to the CEF we recognize that some trailheads and parking areas need expansion and improvement. These improvements require substantial planning and design input. Among other considerations, there are environmental, safety, forest management, and user experience priorities. We will utilize collaborative efforts with stakeholders and subject matter experts to determine what is feasible and appropriate.

A much larger and more expensive issue has been discussed and that is the problem of restroom facilities at trailheads. Tied to both environmental and safety concerns, restroom facilities are being discussed for a small number of the busiest trailheads but thus far, no concrete plans exist. Restrooms at trailheads will be part of the long-range recreation planning process.

Operational Efficiency

During their first year the recreation staff has invested considerable effort in prioritizing activities so as to be maximally efficient with resources and people’s time. A small staff and large number of self-organized volunteers has been able to accomplish extraordinary work, such as the clean up after Hurricane Helene.

A new app developed by a volunteer allows users to pinpoint the projects they see that need attention and update them as they receive attention. This app is in use by the Recreation Manager, and numerous volunteers.

A new truck, fully equipped trail work backpacks, and other tools purchased for dedicated use by the recreation program improve the ability of staff and volunteers to accomplish work efficiently. The Recreation Plan will lay out how all of these tools and approaches will be integrated into an overall communications and operations plan.

Community Engagement and Fundraising

The Forest has been blessed with a cadre of highly dedicated and involved volunteers from the campus and off-campus communities. During previous decades these volunteers have been largely self-organized and self-funded and operated outside of most University decision making processes. The new Recreation Plan will specifically embrace how to professionally integrate these resources into an overall plan for excellence.

A Friends of the Forest concept has been discussed for many years. In 2025, the concept was launched as an Annual Giving Campaign (on website).

Planning Process

As the short-term priorities are addressed, the staff will begin a formal planning process to make a long-term recreation plan. This will evaluate major infrastructure improvements such as new or altered trail systems, parking, trailheads, restrooms, shelters and camping, and programmatic improvements including planned events, interpretive signage and communications. The question of fees or other revenues will be addressed. In the planning process the staff will engage our recreation partners on and off campus. The perspectives of each major user group including horseback riding, biking, hiking, birdwatching and hunting will be sought and balanced with University budgets, capacities and the mission of the Forest. The planning process will be expected to be complete in 2027.