A Great Egret stops for a rest on a rice trunk at Bear Island in the ACE Basin, South Carolina. Now protected, this tall, thin elegant bird was hunted to near extinction in the 1800’s for its long, white feathers. The ACE Basin is a 350,000-acre area of diverse habitats formed by the Ashepoo, Combahee and South Edisto River basins. It combines publically managed lands with private property to protect one of the largest undeveloped estuaries on the east coast of the United States.