Located in Aiken and Barnwell counties, South Carolina. Ditch Pond Heritage Preserve is owned and managed by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR). Comprising 296 acres, Ditch Pond HP contains a Carolina bay that was first documented in 1973. Carolina bays are elliptically shaped, wet depressions that range in size from one acre to more than 1,000 acres. Approximately 98 percent of Carolina bays in South Carolina have been altered from their natural state. However, the bay at Ditch Pond, consisting of approximately 25 acres, has remained intact. Eight rare plant species of concern have been found on the property. They include blue maidencane, Robbin's spikerush, creeping St. John's wort, piedmont water milfoil, awned meadow beauty, slender arrowhead, Florida bladderwort and piedmont bladderwort. While the bay has remained intact, the upland portions of Ditch Pond HP have been highly disturbed in the past and have experienced a wide range of land uses including asparagus farming, loblolly pine plantations, and prior to SCDNR's ownership, clearcutting and regrowth into a variety of scrub oaks. In the fall of 2014, SCDNR harvested approximately 100 acres of this scrub oak as the first phase of an ecological restoration plan for these upland areas. These sites will be prepared in the summer of 2015, and replanted to longleaf pine the following winter of 2015/16. Approximately 60,000 containerized longleaf seedlings will be provided through a partnership with the Longleaf Alliance and the Arbor Day Foundation. Ditch Pond HP is part of the Wildlife Management Area (WMA) program and provides both archery hunting for deer and gun hunting for small game. Refer to SCDNR Rules and Regulations brochure.