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Accessibility at Beidler Forest

At the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest, one of our most important priorities is ensuring our facilities are accessible to everyone. Please read below about what to expect when visiting our site or joining one of our programs. If you require any further accommodations, please reach out to us directly by sending an email to beidler@audubon.org or calling 843-462-2150 (press 1 to speak with a staff member). We want to ensure that all people from all backgrounds have the opportunity to explore and enjoy Beidler Forest.

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Facilities

Parking & Entrance: The visitor center is accessed via a one-mile-long gravel driveway. Our parking lot is a one-way loop, and it includes 50+ gravel parking spots for small vehicles and 6 parking spots for buses and RVs. We have two handicap parking spots located in from front of the center. A slightly elevated concrete path leads from these two spaces to a ramp that then leads up to the center’s entrance. There are two entrance doors into the center; at present, neither open automatically.

We have two handicap parking spots at Beidler Forest, both of them are on a flat cement platform.
Photo: Matt Johnson

Picnic Tables: We have a number of picnic tables scattered throughout our parking lot. Most are accessed via dirt paths off of our gravel parking area and width of these trails varies greatly. The back porch of the visitor center has bench seating that is easier to access, but no tables.

Our picnic tables can only be reached by traversing uneven ground and in some cases the width of the pathway is limiting. However, have bench seating on the backporch of the vistor center.
Photo: Richard Covey

Visitor Center: There’s plenty of room in the center to move around as staff ensure to leave avenues open between furniture and gift shop displays when possible. There are a few transition areas on the ground that are approximately 1/2 tall. These are located at our front and back entrances, as well as one in the middle of the visitor center where tile transitions to vinyl flooring. 

Restrooms: We have one ADA accessible stall in both of our bathrooms. There are no restrooms available out on the boardwalk or along our grassland/woodland trail.

We've left plenty of room to move arounnd inside out visitor center, but there are a few room dividers that are higher than the floor that can be a small bump for wheels.
Photo: Richard Covey
Both the front and back door have an elevated weather strip that can create a small challenge for wheels.
Photo: Richard Covey

Equipment: We have an electric wheelchair, an electric scooter, and a push wheelchair. All you have to do is ask if they are available when you arrive, or call ahead of time and see if we can reserve one on the day you’d like to come. These three items are available on a first come, first serve basis.

From left to right, an electronic wheelchair, a push (analog?) wheelchair, and an electric scooter. All three are available to borrow for the boardwalk at no cost.
Photo: Richard Covey

We also have binoculars that you can use, though we do ask to hold an ID at the front desk while you are using them on the boardwalk.

 

Boardwalk

Our boardwalk is mostly level across its 1.75 mile span. The boardwalk is on average 5 feet wide, and wider where it is not.
Photo: Matt Johnson

Our 1.75-mile boardwalk is ADA accessible. It's width is five feet wide or wider for the entire length. It is on average elevated a 1 to 6 feet above the ground and is mostly level, except for the front and back ramps.

Our back ramp has an average incline of 4.8 degrees but there is one section that is at 7.5 degrees. Also, the ramps can be slippery when wet.
Photo: Matt Johnson
Our boardwalk's railing is just under 3 feet and there is an 8 inch gap between the handrail and the highest midrail to allow visibility.
Photo: Matt Johnson

The handrail is 2.8 feet high from the deck. There are three mid-rails along most of the boardwalk, but we maintain an 8 inch gap between the last mid-rail and the handrail. Interpretive signage found along the boardwalk can be viewed from above or below the handrail.

Our two large shelters have lots of bench seating and provide cover from the rain.
Photo: Matt Johnson
Our smaller rain shelters have a long bench and an angled roof, it will help with rain directly above, but they don't do so well if it's both rainy and windy.
Photo: Matt Johnson

There are two large covered shelters and six additional smaller covered rest shelters with seating along the boardwalk. No rest shelter is more than 1000' (or 1/5 of a mile) from another.

Along the boardwalk, especially (but not always) along the corners, there may be a few elevated boards. Most of them can be pressed down once weight is put onto them, but none of them are higher than a half inch.
Photo: Matt Johnson

Staff regularly check the boardwalk and remove downed sticks, leaves, and other debris. While the decking is flat, there may be a few boards that are raised slightly higher than others, especially where the boardwalk turns.

Here is a map of our boardwalk.

Photo: Richard Covey

 

Grassland/Woodland Trail

This trail is not ADA accessible. It involves a combination of dirt paths that may be uneven depending on the season. It is occasionally disced for prescribed burns, which means that the path is basically shredded to reduce plant growth in order to create a barrier that fire cannot cross outside of the intended burn area. The other half of the trail consists of a winding path through the woods that is usually 2 to 3 feet wide with roots and other elements along it. There are also numerous bridges (which you don’t have to use to do most of the trail) that require a step up and down to cross.

The path through our grassland trail varies depending on the season, it can be lumpy with dirt if it was just cleared for burning, or lumpy with grass when it's not burn season. Did we mention its lumpy?
Photo: Richard Covey
The path through the woodland area is very tight, low ground plants crowd in, eager for the space, so there are times when the path itself is no more than a foot across.
Photo: Richard Covey
There are a number of bridges over ditches (put in place before we managed it) and they have low steps in order to get up and over them.
Photo: Richard Covey

Here is a map of our grassland/woodland trail.

Photo: Richard Covey

 

Deaf/low hearing

The boardwalk is a visual splendor of life, with rich greens in the spring, an orange carpet in the fall, and stark whites and black in the winter. It’s very common to see animals like warblers, owls, otters, snakes, and so on, but sometimes you still have to hunt for them as most wild animals survive best by not bringing attention to themselves. Our boardwalk also has a lot of signs detailing the natural and cultural significance of Beidler Forest.

In the spring and summer our boardwalk is full of life, leaves crowd in and the sun is left to poke through every remaining gap. Steam rises as the sun hits the water in the morning, and birds and insects flit about, fighting for territory and food.
Photo: Richard Covey
In the winter the swamp is much more open. All of the leaves have fallen and the trees are left bare. The water also tends to be higher, and is flowing strongly arounds the trees as it travels towards the Edisto River.
Photo: Richard Covey

We also recommend the Cornell Lab's Merlin app for detecting birds. Even if you can’t hear them yourself, the app can assist your birding by telling you who’s singing nearby. Then like with any bird search it’s up to you to find them.

 

 

Blind/low vision

The boardwalk is rich soundscape whose chorus shifts depending on the season. Even during the day owls can be heard calling to each other, and songbirds like Prothonotary Warblers, Northern Parulas, Carolina Wrens, Yellow-billed Cuckoos, and more compete for attention. In the winter, a silence can settle about the forest, a soft breeze trailing overhead occasionally interrupted by the stark call of a Pileated Woodpecker.

If you have any questions regarding accessibilityaccessibility, please send them to Beidler@audubon.org

 

 

Service Animals

We allow service dogs on our boardwalk and other grounds, as classified by the ADA. We do not allow emotional support animals or pets in general, even if they are carried or in a backpack. This is a wildlife sanctuary, so the presence of pets (which are often predators, domesticated or not) are not beneficial in any way to our native wildlife. We love pets, but there are plenty of other places you can go to spend quality time with them outdoors.

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