The Clemson University Forest is a large natural area used by tens of thousands of visitors a year for birdwatching, hunting, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding – and many other activities that bring joy, improve health, and develop a conservation-conscious community. This is all a good thing – part of Clemson’s Land Grant mission, and valuable to students, faculty, and members of the public alike.
Clemson University is proud to offer such incredible outdoor experiences. The Forest is unique in that it is not a park. Rather, it is maintained by the University for multiple purposes – teaching, research, outreach, and recreation. The small CU Forest staff supplies many hours of assistance for recreation, but it is the users themselves that are the most important people in the recreation equation – as trails, and many recreational structures have been maintained, through time, by volunteers.
Since its inception as the Clemson Land Use Project of the 1930s, outdoor recreation was seen as one of the benefits of setting aside the land. It was thought at the time that the public, increasingly drawn to working in the mills of the Upstate, needed to be able to go outside and enjoy themselves. “The Weekend” had recently been granted by law, and factory owners supported the Clemson project because they saw the benefit to their workers.
So, as the Clemson Land Use project was launched to restore marginal agriculture land and fragmented forests, water quality, and wildlife – it was also launched to provide outdoor recreation for an increasingly industrial populace.
Eventually, wildlife populations rebounded, forests were regrown, and people came to enjoy its natural beauty built atop the old farms and fields. It is poignant to see the ruins of old homes in the midst of a vibrant forest, knowing that there were people who once lived their whole lives here.
At the same time, natural beauty returned to this part of the Upstate and with it, people seeking solace, exercise, pursuit of fish and game, and connection to the natural world.
At different periods in the last couple of decades a substantial trail system was built by recreational users – primarily the mountain biking and horseback riding communities. Staff supported these groups, but by and large the work was done by volunteers on their time.
It is the management of this trail system that is the most challenging part of recreation on the Forest today. With a small staff who has a broad mandate, we have learned that cooperation and coordination with the volunteer community is the only way that this incredible trail resource can be maintained.
If new to volunteering in the Forest we invite you to learn more:
https://www.clemson.edu/campus-life/cu-forest/support/volunteer.html
