2025 MARKS NEW HIGH IN LAND PROTECTION
SC Land Trust Network issues 'clarion call' for continued momentum
2025 was a record-setting year for land protection in South Carolina, the South Carolina Land Trust Network announced today. Statewide 102,300 acres of working farm and forestland, scenic vistas, and historic sites were permanently protected through conservation easements or through land purchases by twenty-four different network members or allied state agencies/local government entities. The 2025 results bring the new total of protected land in South Carolina to 3.24 million acres.
The list of 139 land transactions touches thirty-six South Carolina counties and one North Carolina county. “Private landowners are the true heroes in these results. Because of their land stewardship ethic and strong desire to solidify a vision for their special place, we all benefit,” said Jen Howard, executive director, South Carolina Land Trust Network. “This year’s protected properties list spans from a 62,000-acre conservation easement in the Pee Dee to a one-third-acre parcel within the footprint of a Revolutionary War battlefield, and many special places in between.”
Recently released census results rank South Carolina as the fastest-growing state in the country. “Our state is blessed with an enviable quality of life and robust economic opportunities,” Howard noted. “Our goal is to embrace this change while ensuring the natural spaces which have drawn people and businesses here are protected forever through voluntary, incentive-based measures.”
Network members work with private landowners to protect their land through conservation easements or acquire property for conservation purposes. “Conservation easements are by far the most valuable tool in our land protection toolbox,” noted Lyles Cooper, executive director, Pee Dee Land Trust, and board chair, SCLTN. “They are voluntary legal agreements shaped by a landowner’s vision to keep their property as working farms, timberland, wildlife habitat, or for recreational purposes.”
While leaders celebrate the record-breaking momentum of land protection in our state, they also note that the current pace isn’t enough. A recent study by the South Carolina Office of Resilience and the Open Space Institute found that between 2014 and 2024, more than 230,662 acres in South Carolina were converted to development. This trend has spurred Governor Henry McMaster to issue a challenge to permanently protect ten million acres by 2050- an average of 150,000 acres per year.
“The secret to our success in South Carolina is respectful collaboration and enduring partnerships. We encourage landowners to reach out to their local land trust to discuss their personal land legacy, and we hope that every South Carolinian will find a way to support our work by joining their local land trust, attending a special event, or making a financial contribution. This is a ‘clarion call’ to save the places that matter most.”
Click here for statewide land protection data/maps.
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