The Catawba River corridor and adjacent uplands contain large acreages of undeveloped forestland, with a mix of agricultural and pasture lands. Natural communities with high resource value include the wet, rocky shoal areas in the river channel and the forested habitats of the river floodplain and its bluffs. This section of the Catawba is best known for its large stand of rocky shoals spider lily (Hymenocallis coronaria) which has a spectacular bloom in mid-May to mid-June each year and may be viewed by boat or along the shores of Landsford Canal State Park.

The 30-mile section of the Catawba River in York, Lancaster and Chester counties, extending from Lake Wylie dam downstream to the SC Highway 9 Bridge (near Fort Lawn, SC) was designated a State Scenic River in June 2008. The Catawba is a large dam-regulated Piedmont river which provides outstanding scenery, recreational fishing and boating opportunities, and other nature-based recreations.

Below SC Highway 9 Bridge, the river is impounded by a series of reservoirs, the first is Fishing Creek Lake, which extends 8.5 miles downstream to its dam just upstream of Highway 200 Bridge at Great Falls, SC. At Great Falls, there is an upper reservoir, Great Falls/Dearborn Lake, and a lower reservoir, Stumpy Pond/Cedar Creek Reservoir. Starting in 2023, the river flows are restored and recreational flows are scheduled at Great Falls between the upper and lower reservoirs. See American Whitewater info links for accessing the long channel and short channel at Great Falls. The last reservoir on the Catawba River is Lake Wateree, which extends 21 miles to its dam on the Wateree River.  Duke Energy provides information on recreational access to lakes and rivers and recreational flow releases on rivers at Duke Energy community recreation and water access - follow links to Recreation Information, Flow Releases, and/or Catawba-Wateree.

Adjacent Waterway: downstream, Lake Wateree.

Suggested Trips (5)

Featured trips for this waterway showing difficulty (circles) and current runnability status (squares). View key to icons.