The United States Congress established the Ellicott Rock Wilderness in 1975 and it now has a total of 8,274 acres. The Ellicott Rock Wilderness is managed as part of the Sumter National Forest in South Carolina (approximately 2,859 acres), the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina (approximately 3,394 acres) and the Chattahoochee National Forest (approximately 2,021 acres) in Georgia. Ellicott Rock Wilderness is found at the southern end of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The elevations range from 1,240 feet to 3,673 feet on Glade Mountain in North Carolina. The area straddles the 15,000 acre Chattooga Wild and Scenic River corridor.
The wilderness has steep rugged terrain with numerous cliffs and waterfalls. Clear perennial trout streams that occasionally drop over small waterfalls scour the numerous steep-walled gorges. Unusual rock formations hover above some of the streams, and several threatened or endangered plants have been identified.
Ellicott Rock was heavily impacted by logging operations in the early 1900s. Nevertheless, enough time has passed since the logging operations for impressive second-growth forests, typical of the Appalachian greenbelt, to reclaim Ellicott Rock Wilderness. Today dense stands of white pine and hemlock occupy the lower coves and areas along streams, upland hardwoods thrive on slopes, and scrub oaks and pitch pines grow on dry ridges. The region lies just south of the area that receives the highest rainfall in the eastern United States. Deer, squirrels, grouse, and wild turkeys are common sights in the Georgia portion of the Wilderness, along with the more elusive black bear and raccoon. Wild boars wander in from North Carolina now and then.
The Ellicott Rock Wilderness is designated as Class II air quality according to the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977.
Air Quality Values
Visibility
People visiting Ellicott Rock want to see scenic views and this is an important character of the wilderness experience. The Shining Rock visibility monitoring data (approximately 44 miles away) will be used to track the changes in the concentration of fine nitrates and sulfates particles in the atmosphere. Two other visibility measures to track are: 1) if there is a perceptible changes in visibility (as measured by deciview) and 2) comparing the visibility conditions at Shining Rock Wilderness (a federally mandated Class I area) to the uniform rate of progress required by the Regional Haze program.
Flora
A second-growth forest has become established at Ellicott Rock Wilderness and the health of the vegetation can be compromised by air pollution. Acidic deposition can accelerate the loss of base cations (calcium, magnesium, and potassium) from the soil into the soil water solution. Adequate supplies of base cations are essential to maintain healthy vegetation. Also, under certain conditions it is possible for aluminum to be released from the soils and increase to concentrations that can kill the fine roots. A significant loss in the amount of fine roots can decrease the uptake of base cations needed by the vegetation for growth, repair, and reproduction; and can exacerbate the limited water uptake during periods of low soil moisture. The modeled percent soil base saturation will be used as the sensitive receptor to monitor.
The vegetation at the Wilderness can also be impacted by ground-level ozone. Sensitive vegetation (such as white pines and tulip poplar) to ozone can exhibit symptoms on the leaves and/or suffer from reductions in biomass or seed production. Both the cumulative and peak concentrations of ozone contribute to impacts to vegetation. Therefore, two ozone metrics (the W126 and N100) will be used to monitor ozone exposures and assess the possible impacts to sensitive vegetation.
Water
The chemical composition of the streams at Ellicott Rock is one feature that determines if healthy aquatic communities of phytoplankton, zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, and fish will exist. The quality of water in the streams is dependent in part on what happens to any acidic deposition in the watershed. The sulfur and/or nitrogen deposition can be taken up and processed by the biota in the watershed and/or react with other compounds in the soils. Eventually, the products of the acidification in the soil make their way into the streams. The water chemistry sensitive receptors that will be tracked (or modeled) include the stream pH, and stream concentration of calcium, sulfates, nitrates, and the acid neutralizing capacity.
Wilderness description taken from the Wilderness.net site.
updated: 09/30/2009