Hitchcock Woods Foundation

06/23/2026

Happy National Pollinator Week! We hope you take a few extra moments out of this week to appreciate all that our amazing pollinators, from birds to insects to bats, do to help our ecosystems and food supply.

Happy National Pollinator Week! In South Carolina, our native flora heavily depends on pollinators such as birds, bees, butterflies and other insects to assist in spreading pollen.

National Pollinator Week is an annual celebration in support of pollinator health that was initiated and is managed by The Pollinator Partnership. It is a time to raise awareness for pollinators and spread the word about what we can do to protect them. The great thing about Pollinator Week is that you can celebrate and get involved too! Popular events include planting for pollinators, hosting garden tours, participating in online bee and butterfly ID workshops, and so much more.

From birds and bats to bees and butterflies, all pollinators play a crucial role in the ecosystem because they support not only the food we eat, but also the food and habitat of other species of wildlife. A lot rests on their wings, but they face many threats like habitat loss, invasive species, disease, and pesticides. For , enhance your garden by planting native plants for pollinators! Learn more at the link below: https://www.scwf.org/enhancing-pollinator-habitat/

Photo credit: Melanie Gallant

06/15/2026

ATTENTION RIDERS: Throughout this week, the City will be performing their annual maintenance on the stormwater trap at the Gateway. The machines parked along the South Boundary entrance to the Woods will be loud and scary to horses. For your safety, please use the Coker Springs entrance this week.

06/10/2026

Always a special day for Hitchcock Woods -- a full day of sharing our amazing forest with Clemson University Forestry students! For 30+ years, Hitchcock Woods has welcomed the Clemson group of rising juniors for their "Summer Camp" -- an intensive, required seven-week course for their major.
Bennett Tucker, Hitchcock Woods Superintendent, relayed a poignant moment during the session. "We were on the west side of the Woods talking about how our years of longleaf pine restoration efforts are paying off with an improved habitat for many species. And immediately, we started to hear a variety of birds. With my Merlin app I identified Brown-headed Nuthatch, Northern Bobwhite, Yellow-breasted Chat, and Red-cockaded Woodpecker!"

06/04/2026

June 3/26- HWF Woods staff-Rx Fire Team conducted our first growing season prescribed burn of the spring-summer season. Thanks to the recent 5-6” of rain to replenish our fuel and soil moisture to makes conditions safe we were able to burn a total of 46 acres at Ridge Mile Track and Foxes Den. The purpose of our burn was for wildlife habitat management, scrub oak control, hazard (fuel) reduction and groundcover restoration. Conditions were ideal for us to meet our goals for the day. During the burn we witnessed our Red-cockaded woodpeckers in the canopy in and around the burn unit foraging. A special thanks to our volunteer fire team members who help HWF staff execute these burns as our burn crew, we could not do it without our team! Thank you. In the weeks ahead, check out the recently burn stands as they come back to life with fresh growth to benefit all of our native wildlife species!
Good Fire-“a safe way to apply a natural process, ensure ecosystem health and reduce wildfire risk.” -GoodFires.org.

06/03/2026

Great to see a happy group from enjoying a hike in the Woods today!

06/03/2026

Rx Burn Notice, 6/3/26- Greetings! With the recent replenishing rains HW is kicking off our growing season burns tomorrow, June 3rd. We will be conducting an approximately 50 acre burn on the north end of the property at Ridge Mile Track and Foxes Den. These units were both burned in 2022, so this will be a maintenance burn for wildfire hazard reduction, will benefit wildlife habitat and promote native ground cover. Another lesser know reason for prescribed fire is also to reduce our tick population. Our weather for Wednesday is looking great for burn conditions as well as smoke dispersion. Our winds will be out of the NE, so our smoke sensitive area will be the Hitchcock bypass fortat 1.5 miles downwind. We hope to begin around 10:30am and be wrapped up by 4pm!
Thank you! -HWF Staff

06/02/2026

RING FOUND -- on Devil's Backbone trail. Call the office, 803-642-0528, to identify.