The Nature Conservancy has purchased a conservation easement on 12,418 acres between the Savannah and Coosawhatchie rivers in South Carolina.
The easement, on The Westervelt Co.’s timberlands near the towns of Allendale and Hampton, is the fourth largest in state history and the largest since 2008, the conservancy said.
The easement creates a 12-mile protected wildlife corridor and includes more than seven miles of combined stream frontage on two of the rivers’ tributaries. A conservation easement is a voluntary, legally binding agreement limiting certain types of development, while protecting the property’s value for wildlife, forestry, hunting and other activities.
“More than 550,000 people get their drinking water from the lower Savannah River, and forests like this have a real benefit to water quality,” said David Bishop, The Nature Conservancy’s ACE Basin/South Lowcountry project director. “We also need wildlife corridors so deer, turkey, songbirds and other species have room to roam. This is a vital forested landscape that now will always be that way.”
The Westervelt Company, a 131-year-old organization headquartered in Tuscaloosa, Ala., donated more than 60 percent of the value of the easement. The remaining $2.4 million purchase is being funded by a grant paid over two years from the South Carolina Conservation Bank. A loan from the Lowcountry Conservation Loan Fund allowed the purchase to be completed before the Conservation Bank funds have fully accrued.
From The State: https://www.thestate.com/news/local/article29221921.html